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May
27, 2005
Attention
Paul Holland:
Apparently,
the information referenced by ACRE's attorney in his letter
to the UTU as available only through Metro-North is a mailing
list. Several ACRE officers have advanced several implausible
theories regarding how a mailing list was obtained.
Several
years ago, I sent a mailing to train service employees in
response to a Jack Gaines letter. A new employee inquired
of Paul Holland on the ACRE website why he did not receive
my letter. Holland responded that I was working from an
old mailing list and his name did not appear on that list.
ACRE did not offer any objection concerning possession of
a mailing list at that time. The mailing list I have is
still not complete. A hint for ACRE, a method of expanding
a list is through personal contact.
If
you are an ACRE member, and you are reading this letter,
take a moment and reflect about some mailings you have received
over the past few years. Did you receive a letter soliciting
your business or a calendar from an FELA attorney? Maybe
you received a letter(s) from a mortgage bank/broker in
the White Plains area offering service for ACRE members.
Have you received a letter or a phone call from the partner
of an insurance agent? How about a solicitation from Grand
Central Optical?
I
have received letter(s) from all except the insurance agent.
Several FELA law firms have forwarded me information. I
contacted two of these firms. My most recent call was this
past December, and inquired if my address was proffered
by ACRE? I received an evasive response in both instances,
and informed both firms that I wished to be removed from
their contact list. I stated my intention based upon my
resolve not to ever do business with a law firm that associates
with ACRE.
The
solicitations from the mortgage bank/broker received no
consideration.
Recently
I went to Grand Central Optical to find out the limits of
my coverage for a pair of glasses. The gentlemen behind
the counter offered to obtain my information if I provided
him with my social security number. I asked him if ACRE
provided Grand Central Optical with my information, he said
yes. I also stated that I had received at least one letter
from his establishment and asked if ACRE had provided the
mail list. He said yes ACRE had, but said he did not handle
that aspect of the business. I excused myself and said I
would return at a later date. I returned to the shop the
next day. A young woman attended to me. I asked her the
same questions about the mailing list and received the same
responses. I wrote down my social security number on a piece
of paper and she retrieved my information from her computer.
Obviously the mailing list is not available from just Metro-North.
By the way, both my wife and I have been victims of identity
theft.
I
am not surprised ACRE is confused by the response to their
attorney from the UTU legal counsel's office:
•
The 4/13/05 letter ACRE's attorney forwarded to the
UTU was not the letter mailed to train service employees.
The 4/30/05 letter was two pages in length and was completed
about 4/8/05. I intended this letter as a draft and
forwarded it to various sources requesting feedback
to a rhetorical question “have you overheard of this
type of arrangements”? My letter was edited to a single
page and dated 5/2/05. That letter was forwarded to
train service employees.
•
The mailing did not include any e-mail “purported to
be from Mike Doyle”.
•
In an 8/1/02 article in the N.Y. Daily News entitled
“Rail Union Double Dipping” Columnist Juan Gonzalez
reported the MTA's compensation package for Doyle and
Bottalico. ACRE did not threaten any legal action against
the Daily News or Mr. Gonzalez.
Memo
to Jack Gaines: Your response to Senator Spano described
to me by an AFL-CIO official as “long, truculent and informing
the Senator that he did not know what he was talking about.
Your letter would possess a modicum of accuracy if you had
been privy to some inside information. According to a Metro-North
Coalition member, in a recent mediation hearing, Ray Burney
confessed to the Coalition and the mediator that ACRE overpaid
for their contract. Factual statements in a letter are generally
an asset, but in ACRE's experience facts are a liability.
Sincerely,
Art May
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