Wake County Republicans Call for Civility in Personal Facebook Attacks | Eastern NC Now

Press Release:

    MORRISVILLE     The Wake County Republican Party today calls on Morrisville voters to reject local candidates who spread hateful messages on social media.

    A "liar, a dealer in deceit, and simply an ugly human being... simply not a good person... the living 'Pennywise'... seriously 'extra'".

    These are the comments former town councilman Jerry Windle made against a private citizen, Patty Cheng, on Donna Fender's Facebook campaign page on Oct. 4th.

    Donna Fender, who is a candidate for Morrisville Town Council Dist. 2, has allowed that post to remain on her Facebook campaign page for over three weeks. Anne Robotti, a candidate for Morrisville Council District 1, "liked" the post. Both of them, along with Windle, are Democrats.

    "Donna Fender continues to allow myself and others to be attacked by Jerry Windle on her Facebook Page," says Cheng. "How would she represent the people of Morrisville when she allows a platform for such behavior?"

    Fender is running in a special election for Windle's open council seat, from which he resigned earlier this year.

    Ms. Cheng had pointed out that Donna Fender was given Windle's Town Council Facebook page and simply changed the name. Facebook's publicly available date shows that the name of the page was changed from Morrisville Town Councilman Jerry Windle to Morrisville Town Council Candidate Donna Fender on June 13, 2019. Ms. Cheng also noted that since the switch, many people who originally signed up to communicate with their then-councilman have been blocked by Fender.

    "I am amazed that a town council candidate who has never dialoged with me sees fit to have me and many other constituents blocked from her Facebook page," said Cheng.

    "If Donna Fender and Anne Robotti believe that this vile and hate-filled attack on a private citizen is acceptable, how can they be expected to represent all of Morrisville's citizens?" asked Darren Eustance, Chairman of the Wake GOP. "Community leaders need to challenge this type of behavior, not give it a platform and support. Shame on both of them for not standing up against this bullying."

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    WINDLE'S FULL POST:

• To Morrisville Residents: I have held off on posting much but, I am compelled to fight back. Patty Cheng is a liar, a dealer in deceit, and simply an ugly human being. (Not talking about physical characteristics). She is simply not a good person or she would seek the truth before spreading lies. I can only guess she is a very lonely person who would normally have my sympathy but has somehow become the living "Pennywise". She recently posted that Donna Fender, a woman whom I met twice in my lifetime, "took over" my FB page and inherited my page likes after I "left" town. Patty Cheng is seriously "extra". I resigned my seat on Council for two reasons: Michael Schlink goaded and goaded me with homophobic slurs, cursing and screaming in my face and threatening me in order to get me to respond physically - the Mayor and Town Manager, the Chief of Police and Town Attorney all were aware of this, but because the Mayor has no authority over the action of Council, and words are not illegal, nothing was done. For those who know me, you also know my mom died of a glioblastoma brain tumor, well, my younger brother is now fighting the same killer and he lives on the West Coast and because they removed so much of his brain, he is unable to fly. I wanted to spend time with him and my family. I made the decision to resign my seat and relocate for significantly more profound and simple reasons than Patty Cheng would try to get you to believe. I AM NOT the admin to Donna's campaign page. I NEVER have been. I asked my page administrator to take my page down upon my resignation - a pretty typical thing to do. He asked if I would object to his repurposing my site. I told him as long as the site had no reference to me nor to my campaign, I did not mind. There was no compensation of any kind, nor any financial exchange. Donna L. Fender is a strong, independent thought leader who certainly doesn't need me to get elected. She is a mother, an engineer, a manager, a LEADER who is the BEST person on the ticket to sit upon the Morrisville Council Dias. I have not spoken with Donna since I before I moved from Morrisville. I have not worked a single minute on her campaign. I have not even donated a penny to her campaign- not because I haven't wanted to, but because I did not want there to be any question whatsoever that Donna is standing on her own, and not as a "Windle" protege. This hatred and disgusting vomit Patty Cheng spews is sickening. She was one of the leaders of hate against me, and it appears she will do it against any true Democratic leader. Send Patty Cheng a message that Morrisville is better than she. That Morrisville isn't a town that accepts ugly vitriol. Donna is not aware that I am posting this and if she so chooses, she has my permission to delete this post.