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George

A Wilkes-Barre mayoral candidate featured in a political flier mailed to residents on the eve of the municipal primary election says the ad was purchased seven days ago by someone from the city.

Featuring a prominent picture of Tony George, the mailer makes references to the former chief approving training for Wilkes-Barre officers by members of the Nation of Islam in 2001. It reads: “Who would invite a hate group to sensitive city police officers? Tony George did.”

Reached by phone Monday afternoon, George said he contacted USA2Me.com, the company behind the ad, and was told by its general manager that an account was opened seven days ago by someone from Wilkes-Barre. The manager would not divulge the account holder’s name without an official investigation, George said.

According to the mailer, the ad is not affiliated with a candidate or committee and was paid for by the Concerned Citizens for Transparency and Equality. However, George said the general manager told him he was not aware of such a committee.

According to their website, the company is located in Houston, Texas.

In a news release Monday, mayoral candidate George Brown — one of George’s three Democratic opponents on Tuesday’s ballot — said he had no role in the ad and was “offended and outraged” by it. He called for voters to “ignore this third party propaganda” and vote for the best qualified candidate.

“I take credit for all the ads that were printed because they came from my campaign. This did not,” Brown told the Times Leader Monday.

Regarding the training offered to officers, George simply met with around eight or nine members of the group because they were invited by a community activist, the late Stan Hamilton, and George “wasn’t going to throw them out.”

“I told them problems we were having and what we doing and they were satisfied. They said they wanted to teach some diversity classes, but I told them I didn’t handle training decisions.” George told them to contact the Municipal Police Officers’ Training Commission, he said.

“You have to listen to their complaints no matter who they are,” he said of the meeting.