KnightNews.com gave Kilbride’s SGA a chance to answer some straightforward questions on the controversy. Kilbride’s spokeswoman refused to answer the questions, and instead tried to place the blame on KnightNews.com for the problems plaguing Kilbride’s administration.
Based on the statement, it is not clear whether Kilbride is even looking into the allegations members of SGA behaved inappropriately — or if he is taking it seriously.
You can read the chain of emails between Kilbride’s PR office and KnightNews.com below. The most recent is at the top, the first message is at the bottom.
KNIGHTNEWS RESPONSE TO SGA’S STATMENT IGNORING QUESTIONS:
On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 8:50 PM, KnightNews.com
Kayla,
After your office sent us a statement Thursday attributing a statement to a senator she confirmed to us in writing she never made, we have decided that we must thoroughly vet anything coming out of your office to ensure it’s actually truthful and not libelous.
It’s disappointing we can’t rely on what you say to be accurate, but based on the facts at hand, it seems SGA will show a reckless disregard for the truth and release false information in hopes of political gain, with your blatantly false statement DeSanti indicated you released last week.
We can point to a specific example of you providing false information. You, however, can point to no specific proof to back up your assertion that the “incident at hand was misreported” by us. We strive to tell both sides and be truthful, and only published the story after confirming it with multiple, unrelated sources.
You have not answered our questions with your “official” statement on the matter. Therefore, we will most likely be forced to assign a camera crew to ask Mr. Kilbride our questions directly. If Mr. Kilbride refuses to “dignify” our simple questions point by point, the student body will simply see for itself how someone they are paying about $20,000 refuses to answer such reasonable questions following the unflattering behavior of SGA “leaders” reported to us, and even demonstrated by photos.
Also, without providing any details to back up your allegation that “Knightnews continues to manufacture non-existent connections between Student Government business and unrelated events,” it appears you’re just making statements which are deliberately malicious and showing a reckless disregard for the truth. That’s also unfortunate, when your office should be providing accurate information to the students paying you to do so.
Also as a heads up, we have received our public records request regarding Mr. Meckler, and are working on a major story regarding some questionable things we’ve already noticed there. We will seek comment from Mr. Meckler and Mr. Kilbride soon regarding this story, once we have time to review all the material.
Sincerely,
_________
Cliff Jett
News Director & Content Manager
KnightNews.com
‘OFFICIAL’ RESPONSE FROM SGA
On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 5:58 PM, SGA Public Relations Specialist
Cliff,
The incident at hand was misreported by Knightnews, therefore we are not going to dignify allegations point by point.
It is also unfortunate that Knightnews continues to manufacture non-existent connections between Student Government business and unrelated events.
This will serve as our official and final comment on the matter.
Sincerely,
Kayla Torpey
Public Relations Specialist
Student Government Association
University of Central Florida
sga_pr@mail.ucf.edu
Kilbride & Lochrane
“The Difference Is You”
ORIGINAL REQUEST FOR COMMENT:
>>> “KnightNews.com”
Hello,
We broke a story last night about alleged unflattering behavior by some of President Kilbride’s top appointees, Shane Meckler, Joey Femia and Darren Kaplan.
Femia denied there was a confrontation, yet he also denied crawling on the floor at Devaney’s a few weeks earlier, while photo evidence shows otherwise. As such, it’s hard for us to take any comment he gives on these situations at the bars seriously — especially without verifying it with other sources.
We were wondering if Kilbride’s administration has a comment on the allegations of unflattering behavior at Devaney’s, and how Kilbride plans on handling these allegations, given that they involve some of his top appointees. Does he consider this behavior acceptable for such high-ranking student leaders?
Should anybody feel intimidated by apparent retaliation for how they vote? Please let us know if anything will be done to address it.
Sincerely,
_______
Cliff Jett
News Director & Content Manager
KnightNews.com
