I was present at the Silent No More meeting on April 6.
I am not a member or follower but wanted to hear what the candidates had to say. State Representative Bill Ruppel spoke and took questions for about 40 minutes. He was asked by someone about when an explanation was going to be given by the federal government on why Tower 7 fell during the September 11 attacks.
There is this belief out there that the federal government is involved in some conspiracy and is hiding the truth. Ruppel did not simply say "no" in answering if he knew anything about it. His response in a letter to the Times-Union the other day misrepresents what he really said.
Ruppel had a good opportunity to dispel the myths floating around out there about conspiracy theories but he didn't take the chance to show real leadership. He did say he did not know the answer but he said a lot more. He said that when he goes to Washington to talk about health care he is "stonewalled" too. In other words, he fed the suspicion.
If Mr. Ruppel really believes there is a conspiracy out there he should say so. If he doesn't then he lacked the courage to confront the myth at that meeting. What's even worse is he is trying to mislead the rest of us on what his full answers were by writing to the public in the Times-Union.
The thing we need most from politicians is honesty and courage and in this instance one or both is missing.
