Controversial Island Lake political website edited
A controversial website targeting Island Lake mayoral candidate Charles Amrich and trustee hopeful Tony Sciarrone has been edited to remove content about their supporters.
The site, sourgrapesgang.com, was created by local activist Daniel Field, a supporter of Mayor Debbie Herrmann's bid for re-election.
Campaign manager Wayne Schnell and two civilians supporting Amrich and Sciarrone were in the site's cross hairs as well. But after inquiries by the Daily Herald on Thursday, information about Schnell and the two supporters was removed.
When asked about the changes Friday morning, Field said he had planned to change the content after 36 hours but decided to do it sooner. He said he wanted people to focus on what he had to say about Amrich and Sciarrone, “not the site itself.”
Field launched the website a few months ago but pulled it down in January after it was featured in a Daily Herald article. It resurfaced this week.
Fields said he targeted the two Amrich supporters in addition to the candidates and Schnell because he sees them “as foot soldiers, not civilians.”
Amrich and one of the civilians, Greg Jenkins, criticized the site Thursday in interviews with the Daily Herald.
Amrich and Sciarrone are part of the For the People slate in the April 9 election. The other members are clerk hopeful Teresa Ponio and trustee candidates Mark Beeson and Keith Johns.
Herrmann leads the United for Progress slate. The other members are incumbent Clerk Connie Mascillino and trustee candidates Ed McGinty, Ken Nitz and Josh Rohde.
Field has worked against Herrmann's political foes in a number of ways.
He and former trustee Louis Sharp filed formal objections to Amrich's and Sciarrone's candidacies this year, hoping to knock them off the ballot.
Field and Sharp also tried to keep a citizen-created advisory referendum off the November 2012 ballot in Island Lake.