Mister Tredyffrin and Friends

This post is part of a series dealing with decisions made by our local newspapers this week:

• Part 1: Does Republican Candidate Tom Like Farm Animals?
• Part 2: All Hail C.T.
• Part 3: Debbie Nails Yale
• Part 4: An Editorial Decision

All Hail C.T.!

Second is the paper’s decision to give John C.T. Alexander, Chairman of the Tredyffrin Township Republican Committee, yet another chance to brag about the TTGOP’s so-called accomplishments. Far too often C.T. gets to stick his thumbs behind his suspenders, tilt back, and say, “Ayup, ayup we’re doin’ durn good, huh? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It’s one thing to make space for a message from the chair of one of the local political parties, but C.T. gets far more than that. It must be part of the contract between the newspaper and the TTGOP. Oh, make that plural - newspapers. You see, C.T.’s schtick is in the Suburban and Wayne Times this week, too. I guess they also are under contract to run his letters.

Anyway, along with the generic horn-tooting for the Republican candidates, C.T. spends some time denying the township’s problems.

The literature handed out by the local Democrats this year claims vaguely they are “restoring public trust.” Really? In what way? Ask them.

While he goes to the trouble of mentioning TTDem literature, he obviously has not read the extensive accounts of corruption, cronyism, and pay-for-play reported therein, or within detailed white papers on the ttdem website, or on my blog here or here or here or … well, you get the picture. There’s nothing vague about the TTDems observations and discoveries. Plenty have asked, C.T., and all, Democrat, Republican, and Independent alike, have left with raised eyebrows, sharing a knowing smile.

They have heard about the problems with detailed cases of transparency issues, of cronyism, and of the lack of reaction in the face of embezzlement. They have noticed how, for example, storm water problems at long last are finally getting addressed by Democratic supervisors. And far from taking responsibility for their active ignorance of the problem, the Republicans cast themselves as champions of the issue! As if the public didn’t notice their deaf ears for thirty years!

No, it is far easier to just not see the problems than to try and address them. The local Republican “leadership” motto would seem to be, “Ignore as long as you want, as long as later you say you’ve been paying attention since the start.” One has to wonder if the typical Tredyffrin voter ever really buys into this garbage? Does he really think we are just sheep? (Steady, there, Tom) No, the facts are clear: the Republicans have become lazy in their leadership, and are corrupt, inattentive to the needs of the community, and need to be called to account.

Taking the prize in this column, though, is the most illogical comparison he has ever attempted, and that’s a low limbo bar, folks…

Tredyffrin is the polar opposite of the Democratic-run, inherently corrupt, Philadelphia.

Um, are you absolutely sure you want to go there, girl? Just how much bathroom stall tapping goes on during your monthly TTGOP meetings? How many young male interns have you molested lately? Will the local madame’s black book list all the names of your officers? Will you see to it that your Republican township supervisors vote themselves a pay raise like their brethren in Harrisburg did?

Or, hey, C.T. - are you going to lie to get us into a war with Easttown? The TTDems have nothing to do with the Democrats in Philadelphia. Nothing at all. And yet the TTGOP actively campaigned for and elected those two nightmares of social conservatism Senator Rick Santorum and President George Bush.

Those kinds of comparisons are ludicrous, C.T. Get over yourself.