Thursday, September 13, 2012

Letter to the Editor: Ben Florsheim, Chair of Wesleyan College Democrats

Ben Florsheim, Public Figure
You are within your rights to make wild, baseless accusations and live your life in an alternative reality of paranoia and ignorance. You are not, however, entitled to use my image on your website in association with this behavior. Take it down immediately.
Sincerely,

Ben Florsheim
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Insider never labeled Florsheim's picture, however, he has chosen to identify himself in the post previously published here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/09/whats-up-did-anybody-in-2011-vote-2x-in.html .
Florsheim is president of the Wesleyan College Democrats, a Middletown Democrat Town Committee elected member, and the vice president of the National College Democrats. He worked on the Gov. Malloy campaign and aided MDTC in providing buses and pizza to bring students to the polls. Florsheim helped to register over 400 students last election.
Florsheim made false accusations towards former Mayor Sebastian Giuliano,  and then P.Z. Candidate Molly Salafia, Registrar Janice Giofriddo in an SEEC (State Elections Enforcement Commission) complaint filed by a fellow College Democrat. All allegations were dismissed, and in fact the SEEC ruled all were actually PROMOTING voting in their actions in which the complaint was based on. 
Several letters of protest from Florsheim and other  Wesleyan students seem to have aided in the retraction of the appointment of Giuliano to SEEC chair last year. The full ruling, which is also publicly available on the SEEC website can be read here:http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/06/state-elections-commission-throws-out.html 
Had they not been, each could have faced up to 5 years in prison with a minimum mandatory 1 year served for the felonies..... Florsheim circulated
  propaganda like flyers on campus alleging voter intimidation on the part of the above mentioned persons and instructing students not to vote for them because of this reason. He also accused Middletown Police officer Thomas Sebold ( whom was never a volunteer for the Giuliano campaign as alleged) of voter intimidation and circulated flyers with his name and the allegation around campus. No public apology has ever been made to the individuals who's lives he attempted to ruin for having different political views than he. Below he attempted to retract statements in a media statement below, which the Press or other local media sources never picked up. Because Florsheim is an elected official as a part of the MDTC and a nationally recognized organization, satire of a public figure is permitted under the First Amendment.

It appears, Mr. Florsheim believes only the First Amendment applies to him.


23 comments:

  1. Is it possible to make false accusations against Guiliano?

    Or Drew?

    Hats off to you for your courage Mr. Florsheim.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just shows how out of touch Ben is with his false allegations. I wonder if he can be sued for slander for his allegations against the four individuals.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is very hypocritical of Ben to demand that the post be taken down. I mean he was allowed to exercise his 1st amendment rights during the election, but now when he is called on his actions it's pouting time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The only one who may be able to sue is Sebold. This Ben kid was way out of line putting anothet student up in attempts to persecute these 3 innocent people. For God sakes they could have gone to jail! Notice the Press kept this whole thing out of the news. You can bet it was orchestrated by the Dem Town Committee, they are too spineless to get their hands dirty

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm not saying he is not a public figure, but how is posting a picture and making accusations "satire"?

    By that logic, what Florsheim did to Giuliano, etc is just that, satire.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ben, what's up son? Up to you old tricks. Surprised you didn't use your favorite blog pseudonym, "Ben Dover."

    All I have ever done is to inform you and your fellow students that when you become a "bona fide" resident of the CT, which is what you are swearing to under penalty of fine and imprisonment when you sign the Voter Registration card, you have legal responsibilities under CT General Statutes.

    To: "Annonymous"

    I ALWAYS identify myself in these posts. Also, I have no intent or desire to sue Ben. In many ways I admire him for his political involvement.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dear ANON 8:00A.M. 9-14:

    What accusation was made? Be very specific and clear about this.. The bottom line is you can't do that and you don't have a case. You also admitted he is a public figure so, once again your argument has lost ground. If BF was a private citizen you would have a point..

    ReplyDelete
  8. He is definitely a pubic figure and this falls under the 1st amendment rights of the publishers. Florsheim would have to challenge all charges and put his reputation up for grabs i order to prove to a judge that his being and livelihood was in jeopardy.. Since he is public and not private this falls under a different category, he, like anybody else in the limelight-local or universally- can be mocked. The issue with the DEMS is that is funny and cute to mock REPs, but if the GOP does it to the DEMS it becomes hate speech or some type of ism..

    Judge Judy

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous 1:04 what are you talking about? I'm not trying to make any argument except that there's no satire. Just a strange choice of words to call it that.

    As for an accusation: it seems that he sent the email because the author accused Wes students of voter fraud right? not hard to see why he wouldn't want his picture associated with that kind of an accusation. This post also ties him to a complaint filed by another student. Anyway I'm not trying to start an argument or take anyone's side, just saying that none of the above is satire and curious why anyone would call it that.

    Kind of funny how obsessed you guys are with this Wes student though, this post and the original one are by far your most popular on the main page (along with the one about Lisa with the made up quote from him). A little weird, maybe that's why the author wanted to call it "satire"

    ReplyDelete
  10. He's a Dem so leave him be- he can do anything he wants!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Is he a public figure??? Can't have it two ways!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wait.. BF can hand out flyers accusing Sebold and other of voter intimidation, but when the tables are turned it's: "That's not satire, I'm not a public figure." Go figure, LIBERAL LOGIC!

    ReplyDelete
  13. poor choice of words satire, call it commentary, discussion it doesn't matter its perfectly acceptable. Obsession? This student Ben Florsheim was obsessed with the MRTC for a whole year and no one cared!Good for the Insider for standing up for these people once and for all and for standing all the political bullies that have plagued Middletown for over a decade! The article never accused Wes students of voter fraud or Ben merely brought was a open discussion, local liberals do that stuff all the time so in my book, turn around is more than fair play it is genius.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The quote by Florsheim was not made up. Although it would have been legal for use to do so, we did not wish to publish his campus email address which it was sent from. Maybe we will post the original email.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Filing an complaint to try and pin manufactured felonies on people is not satire or free speech, it is vindictive and evil. Our article above has been truthful with no constructed facts about Florsheim.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ben also attacked Gopers who attended an open forum that candidate Drew appeared at at WES. I was there as was Ben, and he was growling the whole time.. IT was a nice event and the biggest surprise was the appearance of the Mayor... Ben then wrote a letter claiming that the mayor and company disrupted the forum when he showed up unannounced to a public forum.. IT's the usual bait and switch with him: "Let's have an bi-partisan event, but don't invite the other side" When the other side catches wind of this and show up.. "Foiled again, let's write lies to the press!"

    ReplyDelete
  17. No idea what his beef is, the same photo of him is on his Twitter account too.

    https://twitter.com/bdflorsheim

    That the picture in question shows the young shoe company scion surrounded by small children is troubling.

    Interesting too is that Florsheim seems hell-bent on beating up Republicans while ignoring the fact that his own family's once proud company no longer manufactures their products with union labor in the United States while their competitors, Alden and Allen Edmond have both prospered.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Dear Authentic CT Republican:

    Are you serious? Is Ben really a member of the show family.. ? Would that qualify him as a member of the 1%?

    This is nuts..

    ReplyDelete
  19. >>Is Ben really a member of the show family?

    Here's a screen-shot from his facebook page, it looks like he's an actual "Florsheim" to me.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Ugh, the comment about manual labor..

    http://classof2014.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2011/09/12/ben-florsheim-working-in-politics-in-wisconsin/

    ReplyDelete

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