And over in West Vincent, the song remains the same.

Children, we are grading on a new scale today: “O” for Obvious.

‘West Vincent Voices”?  Really ? So obvious in its intent and deliberately close to West Vincent Infos A/K/A Chickenman? (I am sure I will get hate mail on how this is all altruistic and genuine, but define genuine and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?)

Anyway, I got this mailing of a new West Vincent newsletter and had to giggle.  My first thought was I hope they have better virus software when they do this given the issues with the actual township-sponsored website. (And wow remember the explanation on why this occurred? Talk about tall tales, right?)

Not  that this new newsletter isn’t township sponsored, after a fashion. It definitely is.  It is what my jaded political sensibilities would call a cheerleader effort.

This all might be new fangled in West Vincent but they have been doing this for years on the Main Line. And as one of the Supervisors David Brown not only hails from the Main Line but was once aligned with certain factions and is a big part of this missive via e-mail list, well, yes, somewhat predictable.  You see they used to do that all of the time in Lower Merion and these websites and “informative newsletters” still pop up whenever an election season is on the horizon or they felt threatened over issues.

Here is what Dave Brown had to say on this open, unbiased, and ever-truthful latest installment of “As The West Vincent Turns”:

There has been another anonymous attack on a West Vincent citizen. This one was aimed at me; I’m accused of trying to throttle public participation in meetings.

Here’s the truth:

In Ken Miller’s temporary absence, I opened the January 27 Board of Supervisors meeting as Vice Chairman. I asked Tammy Swavely, our Township Secretary, to make careful note of questions asked during the “Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items” part of the meeting, so that, instead of answering them off the cuff, we could get and present full, careful answers at the next meeting.

Questions during the Non-Agenda Comment period are often out of left field, and neither supervisors nor staff may be prepared to answer them knowledgeably.  I think someone who asks a question deserves an accurate answer, instead of one given on the fly.

It’s different with questions about an agenda item: we’ll be acting on that item, and will have done our homework on the facts and issues, and can be expected to give informed answers.

The attack makes it look as if two of the supervisors conspired against the third. The three supervisors have a friendly, cooperative relationship, and as far as I know no two of us would betray the trust of the third.

And isn’t it interesting that this sort of gratuitous attack should be flung at township government when it was?

The very night before, there was a terrific public outpouring of support and appreciation for the performance of township staff and government during the ice storm.  That’s news.   And that’s also reality in West Vincent.

David Brown

Dave, I am not anonymous and even I said you were trying to thwart public participation, because you were. Tell the truth and shame the devil as my Pennsylvania German Grandmother used to say.  And I won’t even touch the ice storm comment.  Because while staff like the police and fire department-type personnel were fabulous all over Facebook the complaints about the beloved Roadmaster and his snowplowing abilities were rampant.

You learned this very tactic in Lower Merion Township.  This is what those commissioners do: they can blather on ad infinitum as long as they speak, but the public is put on a three-minute egg timer (five minutes if you are a group).  At the start of any public participation they tell you they will listen to what you have to say but won’t respond to you.  As a matter of fact, they as commissioners can decide to pull apart what a member of the public is saying but the public in question cannot comment back, or offer rebuttal.  Interactive dialogue is a four letter word. And trying to end run another supervisor to try to render them useless is one of the oldest political tactics in the book of political tricks.

Most of these people in West Vincent have no idea of what your old political ties were like all your years in Lower Merion, nor the political company that you kept.  And that is indeed a shame.  Because if they knew, they would have your play book, wouldn’t they? I remember the look on your face at that very nice cocktail party in the New Year. At first you were so thrilled that someone knew all you had done in Lower Merion.  Then I told you who I was and wow, Dave, you aren’t always such a good poker player.  Your face gave you away as you scurried away as fast as humanly possible.  You still don’t get that I would never have been rude to you in a social situation as someone else’s guest or anything remotely close.  As opposed to you, I wanted to make sure the playing field was level and you knew to whom you were speaking (as in a fan of actual good government and Chickenman.)

This newsletter is just the latest attempt to divert the public from Chickenman and a continued effort to try to undercut actual reforms.  It is the 2014 version of that Good Government for West Vincent and who did that again? Dave Brown and that Kit Troiler person? And isn’t it funny that this pops up but that old website favorite Government for West Vincent Township  and David Brown’s old campaign or whatever website appears to have been taken down?

My guess is they will have a website at some point because they have “parked” some web addresses:

Here is who is doing this  special newsletter.  I do not object to informative newsletters.  It’s just this is so politically obvious it is almost painful. Listen to what they have to say:

Change is hard for people and change is obviously not an easy thing in West Vincent.  But the truth is if you live in West Vincent you need to cut the old political regime out for the cancer it is.  Yes West Vincent is a lovely place.  But it won’t stay that way as long as 2/3 of the Board of Supervisors is who they are.  You could stand to get a new Township Manager too.

It’s a shame that for every two steps forward in West Vincent you get these other steps backwards.

It’s also a shame that certain factions in West Vincent don’t get it. They don’t get that people don’t want to live in fear of government and elected officials (or their supporters) where they live. They don’t get that at the end of the day, people don’t want to go to meetings, they don’t want to have to speak up but if a system is broken and they are paying for it, what other recourse do they have? These people fear Chickenman for one simple reason: he tells the truth.

However, if you want to check out this newest latest and greatest version of Good Government for West Vincent the spin version, e-mail westvincentvoices@gmail.com

I really wish I could just say this newsletter was fabulous, but I can’t. It is just more  political chicanery and I find that so disappointing.