After receiving a particularly nasty email from AHNA founder John Joseph on April 7, one-time mayoral candidate Sarah Reveley filed complaints with the Alamo Heights Police Department, FBI, and the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. All told her the same thing: as there was no physical threat, they could not be considered criminal. But she said she received extra surveillance at her home that week, which is four blocks from the police station and city hall.
“The whole tone of the letter was just terrible,” she said, though she admits she had to consult Google to get the meaning behind “Germanic extremist,” which Joseph called both Reveley and Kiel after also calling the local League of Women Voters chapter “dimwitted racist anti-Semites.”
The group’s misstep? Apparently scheduling a candidates’ forum to conclude a few hours before the start of Passover.
Reveley began thinking about Joseph, a one-time friend and colleague. “I said, wait a minute, this guy’s evil. And he’s supporting `Mayor` Louis `Cooper` and Bobby `Rosenthal`*. And he’s head of this PAC. And we’ve got to get rid of him. And we can’t do that by splitting the vote.”
That’s when she decided to drop out, throw her support to Kiel, and plant a monstrous sign in her front yard spelling out the reasons for her actions, which includes Joseph’s alleged spread of “hate mail” among the candidates.
Joseph called the move to schedule the candidate forum before Passover “certainly distasteful,” and then asked, “Have you done your research on Ms. Reveley?”
You mean that manipulative way she saved the Alamo — the Shrine of Texas Liberty — from its neglectful keepers? Horrific.
“I’ve had three lawyers tell me that it’s not a hate crime to accuse someone else of a hate crime,” Joseph said. “She (Reveley) is also telling people that I’m Jewish. And for the record, I’m half Lebanese and I went to Catholic grade school.”
Well, pass the dolmas and a side of sexual guilt. That changes everything.
— Greg Harman, Michael Barajas
*Originally reported as "Hasslocher."
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