Carlat’s response to statement regarding ‘inflammatory accusations’

OPINION — We are writing to address the inflammatory accusations written in a statement from Peoria City Councilmember Jennifer Crawford.

Her statement is an attempt at a redirection from a citizen claim that she does not live in the Acacia district but is running for office to represent the citizens of that district. It does not seem to be an oversight that her statement does not confirm her primary residence but instead tries to deflect and defame Dennis Carlat.

Apparently in 2023, someone delivered a FedEx package to the Crawford home using a label that they claim was tied to Dennis Carlat, a former FedEx employee. After his retirement from FedEx, all the shipping supplies from our home office were thrown away.

Someone may have accessed discarded airway bills to ship the package or hacked his computer to get his account information, but obviously no one would be stupid enough to send a package anonymously with their own personal information on the label! Any connection with a package delivered to the Crawford home is beyond our knowledge.

There was apparently nothing threatening in the package or about the delivery, nothing to resemble a crime. While it is a strange and suspect reaction to involve the police about an innocuous package delivery, the police did confirm that the delivery person was not Dennis Carlat.

Ms. Crawford goes on to write that Dennis Carlat has multiple fake aliases and uses them to perpetuate disinformation about her residence on social media. This is blatantly false and resembles the rhetoric of the intensely paranoid. 

Crawford issued a statement as if she is a victim because a citizen requested proof that she lives in her district. As a public official, she has an obligation to the Peoria constituency to prove that she is adhering to the rule of law as written in the city charter. This is not an outlandish expectation; it is the very minimum she can and should do. Instead of answering a simple citizen request, she is trying to avert attention from the issue of her residency and shift it to a false narrative concocted years ago.

Crawford should apologize to the citizens of Peoria for her attempt to deflect attention from real issues by defaming the Carlat family.

It is time to either step down from her seat or exhibit the responsible actions of an official elected serve the public.