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Truth be told

Dear Editor:

My name is Gina Boccadoro. I have worked for Scott and Liza DeGraff for more than nine years. I have taken part in opening more than 20 hospitality venues through the years that have employed thousands of individuals in multiple cities. I must say that I take your vicious words as personally as his family does. I can no longer sit back and allow you to attack them without speaking my mind.



Your redundant, weekly front-page accounts of the news (if that is what you choose to call it) that concern the legitimate business disputes in question are disheartening, slanderous and damaging to him and his family. It is obvious that you, among others in this small-minded town, have made this personal and by doing so have poisoned many minds along the way. Your reporting wouldn’t land you a job or even be worthy of going to print in a real city, never mind being chosen as the editor of a newspaper.

Maybe we should all take a hard look at our own behavior and moral character before we sit back and judge anyone else on hearsay and third-party information. The forum and criteria for deciding good moral character seemed to have changed Tuesday at the hearing from the written description of how the law reads. The rules need to be the same for everyone, not changed to fit the situation at hand. A judgment was made on the premise of a business dispute that is still pending a civil court hearing and should not be a factor in the decision for this new license.




Scott DeGraff is a loyal employer, dear friend, outstanding family man and resident of this community. For the past two years, he has had to endure your unfair personal attacks and has found himself on the receiving end of an unfortunate business situation, which you continue to inaccurately report.

The one thing that really bothered me during the liquor board hearing was observing Andrew Kole hand you a note and then watching you whispering and rolling your eyes, and second was witnessing a certain member of the board taking short naps in between his biased statements. Based on his personal relationships with certain opposing members of the community, he should have recused himself from the motion vote based on his conflicts of interest. I sat there in complete awe as I watched. It was unprofessional and extremely unethical.

Who are you to decide any man’s fate and future, when you don’t even have one-fourth of the facts? I do not blame Scott for refusing to comment when you call or e-mail. Not once have you taken a neutral position and just reported the news. All you have done is continue to rehash the same old stories week after week and put your own negative spin on the facts. Your behavior makes more than a few people around town question your vested interest in your attempt to ruin a good man’s reputation.

As a former director of media relations from Las Vegas, you are as bad, if not worse than, the paparazzi who I wouldn’t give the time of day to. Trust me, the stories I could write after 22 years in that town are not only AP worthy, but would monopolize Page 6, if you are even familiar with what Page 6 is.

I sat there with tears in my eyes yesterday while listening to Scott’s wife Liza have to defend her family, who have been subject to your personal attacks while being unfairly judged. Last time I checked you are innocent until proven guilty in a formal court of law. I couldn’t bring myself to speak on behalf of the DeGraffs yesterday because it was too emotional for me at that moment. Today I am beyond emotional; now I’m just really angry! Do you have any compassion? You sit back and write only about them in the most hurtful and biased way. It so very obvious that there is a personal benefit to your one-sided reporting. The question that members of this community should ask is what is your personal stake in all of this?

You make even the most positive comments on their behalf seem so insignificant and irrelevant. Just because he doesn’t air his business publicly or give up after each attack doesn’t make him your personal punching bag. He just chooses not to participate in your ugly campaign against him.

I consider Scott and Liza family; where I come from you defend your family.

In retrospect, the owners of the Aspen Daily News should clearly reconsider their decision to have made such a poor excuse of a staff writer the news editor of their fine paper.

As everything in life, our paths are based on the karma we put out to the universe. With that being said, I can sleep at night knowing that you will one day suffer the consequences of your unprofessional and malicious reports of what you call the news.

Gina Boccadoro

Aspen