The city’s daily newspaper got it right: We never said it.
In July, we published a story about proposed cannabis growing facilities in Sangamon County. We quoted Jeff Fulgenzi, spouse of Annette Fulgenzi, who is running for re-election to the Sangamon County board. Jeff Fulgenzi is an elected official in his own right, by virtue of his position on the Lincoln Land Community College board of trustees, and he was aiming last summer to get into the marijuana game.
That’s as far as our story went, in terms of Annette and Jeff Fulgenzi. Now, Democrats have put out a mailer, saying we’ve reported that the Fulgenzis wanted an “exclusive” cannabis license — there is no such thing — and a bunch of other stuff that we never said. The state, not the county, issues licenses to grow pot. A county board vote on a rezone request happened after we published our story, but Democrats nonetheless cite Illinois Times as their source for a vote that we never wrote about that took place long after we published our story about rezone proposals for cannabis cultivation. Don’t believe us? Look at the mailer, then look at our coverage.
Fake news and inaccurate mailers are bad, no matter where they come from, and politicians and political parties should be held accountable for the things they say.
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com
This article appears in Best Of Springfield 2020.
