Former Assembly candidate Frank Conrad says he dropped out of the race for business reasons, and not because of a conflict with his running mate's campaign manager, Peg Emberger.  Conrad's complete e-mail is printed below:

Dear Wally Edge:

I wish to formally inform you of the complete inaccuracy of your current piece related to my withdrawal from the Assembly race.  It is unfortunate that you decided to run with unattributed comments and create a false impression.  Let me say this so it is clear to you, at no time was there ever any problem between me and Mike Donohue or Peg Emberger.  Mike and I were a winning team and we have been and will remain friends and political allies.  The fact that people operating on behalf of our opposition are taking shots at Peg and Mike just proves that these are people who know how to win.  I intend to work with Mike and Peg to help the Donohue-McCann ticket win this election.  Again, it can't be said enough.  Your story is wrong and completely inaccurate. Mike and Peg and I were a winning team and now John and Mike and Peg will be the winning team with me helping in any way I can.

Thank you.
Frank E. Conrad

The Inside Edge stands by our original report.