to be a democrat in chester county is like a game of project runway: you’re either in or you’re out

Things I learned from the Prison Board Meeting yesterday: If you can’t be a rah-rah Democrat, keep your mouth shut.

News flash: I was an inconvenient Republican before this and you all liked me well enough most of the time except when you decided once in 2013 I was a Tea Partier.

I am who I am. So now the Chester County Democrats perceive me as public enemy number one for being essentially an inconvenient Democrat. Like I said before it takes me back to 2013 when it was declared I was a tea partier.

Yesterday I offered public comment at the beginning of the Prison Board Meeting in West Chester:

Well then when the rest of public comment rolled around up popped two ride or die Democrats who not only seemingly leave no room for independent thought as well as no room for anyone to challenge the machine, which was rather ironic considering who one of the speakers was and how she was treated in the past by this very county party and I supported her. That is kind of sad, right? I think so.

Now while I respect these women for speaking on what they believe to be true even if people disagree, I don’t respect misquoting me from the same meeting barely an hour before if that. And the passive aggressive “teased out” of it all made me laugh out loud and if I open my mouth for public comment anything, I do my homework ahead of time.

So I offered rebuttal. I do not like being misquoted or a victim of a sniper attack from other Democrats because they think people owe abject loyalty to political parties at all times no matter what even if that kind of makes something more of a cult instead of a functioning political party:

So I have been thinking about this. What does it mean to be a Democrat in Chester County if they attack you for being independent minded? Doesn’t that make them everything they said they wouldn’t be when they took majority in Chester County?

I point you back to JudgeGate from the spring 2023 primaries.

And speaking of JudgeGate will we have StateRepGate again next primary season? Seems like Grandma Charlotte erstwhile head of the Chester County Democrats is at it again? Just visit this website to see. Now this is a person who ran unsuccessfully for Downingtown Borough Council in 2015. She’s part of Mid Chesco Dems, AKA where some of Grandma Charlotte’s filing five came from when they did Paige Simmons dirty in May. (Which was withdrawn in June.)

So unlike others, I pay attention to whom decides to follow me on socials, especially if they are very chirpy. All of a sudden this new Chesco Dem was following. So I kept an eye peeled. And she is running for State Rep. She is a Democrat. She has headshots out there and then there is her Twitter handle and her friends announcing on message boards that she is running for State Rep. That would put her in Legislative District 155, or Danielle Friel Otten’s district.

It doesn’t take new math to figure out this chick has her eyeballs focused on Danielle’s seat, does it? It also doesn’t take much of a reach to figure Grandma Charlotte Valyo of the Chesco Dems must have her paws in this somewhere, does it? So they are gearing up for more Dirty Dems Primary Tricks Done Dirt Cheap, eh? And it’s not like they haven’t done this before, right? I will say sorry if I am wrong, but past being prologue and all say I am right, doesn’t it? We have recent shenanigans and then the others they have primaried against Danielle Otten like Rose Hogan Danese.

Oh and I mentioned JudgeGate in the spring primary, but there was another JudgeGate this summer wasn’t there? Something about just endorsing current sitting GOP judges? Kind of funny after they went after a fellow Democrat who is a Magisterial District Justice who was looking to run for Common Pleas in the spring?

And now this other thing related to that – a rumor of planning to do the sample ballot to the entire county on behalf of CCDC leaving judicial retention question blank? Supposedly local areas/zones are losing their minds because they want to vote NO on the Republican and Indie candidates there, because well Democrats are supposed to elect Democrats, and Republicans wouldn’t support a Democrat, etc? But Grandma Charlotte supposedly thinks this might still achieve retaining the Republican judges? Now to be honest, I have Republican judges I will vote for, but I don’t run the party and that is my personal choice as an inveterate ticket splitter, so Grandma Charlotte are you all there? Je ne comprends pas.

All this strife and controversy from within the Chester County Democrats since Grandma Charlotte Valyo took the wheel, isn’t there? Does she think it’s Phoenixville Country Club or something? She and her hubs were on the board during that whole space oddity of the bailout of that club once upon a time, right? I mean for what the bailout was, isn’t it still surprising that is not a public course since government monies from Schuylkill Township bailed them out? We the people and all that jazz?

The Chester County Democrats always SAY they are different from the GOP but when they do the same stupid tricks now that they are in power are they actually different? Inquiring minds want to know. Want to know what I think?

I think power always corrupts and political power is no different. I think with every leadership change with the Chester County Democrats there is not enough cleaning house of deadwood and the past people who made local paper headlines are still too involved in the running of the party and I am allowed that opinion. I think independent thinking is discouraged and everyone is supposed to walk lock step with whatever leadership is word salading that day, week, hour.

So am I surprised that the claws came out at me at the meeting yesterday? Nope. The Chester County Democratic Committee is like Project Runway: one day you are in, the next day you are out.

Obviously I am out. I was ok to Democrats as an inconvenient Republican, but I am not ok as an inconvenient Democrat. Thanks kids, duly noted, and perhaps Independent is in my future except then I lose right to primary voting.

But their nasty Project Runway behavior seems to be constant and can it be said only pet committee people and zone folks aren’t harangued? I point you to the pet squad of Mid Chester County Dems in particular. Freedom, fairness, opportunity is somewhat subjective with Grandma Charlotte, yes?

I am beginning to feel like the Chester County Democratic Committee want us to be like 1950s housewives: obedient and silent. Sorry doesn’t work for me. And aeresol hairspray isn’t environmentally friendly and went out with Barbara Hafer circa late 1980s- 1990s.

I have a theory. I think there needs to be new leadership with Chesco Dems and a housecleaning of old leadership hanging about. They have become so much like what they criticized and replaced that if that doesn’t happen, mediocrity will reign supreme. Without change there will not be growth. And Chester County Democrats need to grow away from all the current petty bullshit. And there is too much petty bullshit which comes from the top as acceptable behavior. They will have kittens over my opinions on this and I will get nasty comments, but so what? I became a Democrat because I thought they would actually live their mission and they are not. It’s that simple.

All Democrats are not welcomed equally is the clear message. Individuality is not welcome. And they tell their committee people whom they want endorsed. There really is no natural selection, it is pre-ordained.

And I am not letting the Republicans of Chester County off of the hook, either. Most of what CCDC is playing at is out of the age old playbook of the RCCC. It’s all stupid, kind of like their QAnon Princess West Goshen Republican Committeeperson Ada Nestor and her latest obsession: saying Chester County is a Sanctuary County. And also saying that Chester County Prison doesn’t work with ICE. The prison follows the law, they work with federal officials…they have to. And then there is the latest fakakta lawsuit. And the fact that they try to hide it, but still very much cater to extremism groups including those poorly disguised as suburban moms like it is totally normal for a soccer mom to show up at school board meetings in a gas mask, right?

I guess I am waiting for Chester County Democratic Committee and the Republican Committee of Chester County to stop acting like teenage mutant ninja turtles with vertigo and blindfolds. Both parties need work. But the Chester County Democratic Committee should be ashamed of themselves for becoming exactly what they said they wouldn’t when they attained their historic majority. Here’s an idea Chesco Dems: ditch current leadership and their gross and continual stupidity and try to keep your majority because after all, elections are also like Project Runway: one day you’re in, the next day you’re out.

Those who want to tell me how wrong I am? Save your breath. You will need it when I can say told you so, and that day is coming if you don’t get it together.

Ciao for now sports fans.

unacceptable

I am starting this post with humor. Why? Because by the END of this post, you will appreciate a little humor.

Saturday Night Live had a skit recently on what school board meetings have become from coast to coast.

Why?

Because from coast to coast, people have just plain lost their damn minds.

I have written about the school board meetings here. I have written about the anti-masker, anti-vaxxer protests. I have written about the QAnon school board candidates…and the anti-masker, anti-vaxxer candidates.

Now it occurred to me with posting the cartoons and Saturday Night Live skit and cartoons that this is what I find unacceptable. Ummm, no, and nice try. I find the election season bull sheit unacceptable.

Let’s start with Caroline O’Halloran’s startling revelation in the recent Savvy. I will be quoting liberally:

For the last month, we’ve been trying to decipher the new forces in play in local school board races.

It hasn’t been easy.

We sought answers from four new groups: Reimagine Radnor PAC, Back to School PA PAC, Pioneer PAC and Neighbors United PA. In an age when campaigns clamor for “transparency,” our questions were straightforward: Who are you? Do you have ties to statewide or national groups? How are you funded? What is your purpose?

At the same time, we reached out repeatedly to Conservative Women of the Main Line (CWML), a one-year-old PAC with T/E roots that hosts monthly speakers for paid members.

CWML’s September speaker was high-profile Stop the Steal activist Scott Presler, who’s been traveling the country helping the GOP “take back the school boards.” A lightning rod for progressives, Presler has been blasted for his work supporting the anti-Muslim group, Act! for America, and for calling the January 6 insurrection “the largest civil rights protest in American history.”.For weeks, we didn’t know if we’d even run a story. We were simply gathering information to see if there was a story worth reporting.

And then a few days ago, we received this from an encrypted – and therefore, untraceable – IP address. A pre-emptive strike to scare us off the story? You decide. Here it is, copy-pasted, unedited and word-for-word:

~ Savvy October 21, 2021

Now before I get to THAT, let’s talk about the other part of this article:

About that photo with far right activist Scott Presler: 

Tredyffrin Republicans Chair Raffi Terzian and CWML President/Tredyffrin Republicans Vice Chair Rosanna Hagg ignored our repeated questions. We tried three times.

We did, however, hear back from T/E’s best-funded school board candidate, Deana Wang, who was also pictured with Presler. Wang said she was “not aware of any of those events associated with Scott Presler” and attended the CWML event “to meet more voters.”

When we asked in a follow-up email if she regretted posing with Presler, Wang suggested that Presler may have been mistreated by the press. “We should stop basing all our opinions about a person … based on what the media publishes,” she said.

We also took the opportunity to ask about her funding. Wang had already amassed $16,000 in the spring and who-knows-how-much since then – huge dollars for a school board candidate. Hence, her omnipresent yard signs and polished mailers.

~ Savvy October 21, 2021

Deana, Deana, Deana…if you expect us to believe that you knew NOTHING about this long haired conservative Jesus, is the Tooth Fairy your running mate? If you actually for reals know nothing, you are a dangerous candidate for your ignorance alone, but my take? You all in that dumb photo thought you would enjoy 15 minutes of Internet fame, so honey how is that working out for you?

These people are exhausting. PACs popping up faster that dandelions in June.

Now back to the nasty-gram sent to the ever so nice Savvy Caroline:

So now this journalist is getting nasty comments threatening her publication?


This is unacceptable. I will note that I have had comments come in from protonmail as well. The latest one was from someone who didn’t like me mocking the anti-masker anti-vaxxer protest I saw on 100 in Exton in front of the mall.


These people told the writer to stick to writing about Kentucky Derby Hats and her writing was poor and she was political, etc. etc.


Really Trolls? She’s a great and seasoned writer, is polite and respectful to those she writes about and interviews, and then you threaten her site and advertisers?

And her writing isn’t remotely political – she is covering local stories and hey now y’all do your crap for attention, right? And then you complain when you get attention and threaten? Nice. Pretzel logic. Awesomesauce.


These are total troll moves, what many of you attempt with me a blogger quite often. It’s not acceptable with me either, which is why some comments over the past few months have actually been reviewed by police in more than one jurisdiction, and PS they came to me after they read them. I actually didn’t go to them.


The first amendment entitles me to my opinions and Savvy to their local reporting of whatever THEY choose to cover. It’s not Pravda on this bus, Comrades.


This is why no matter where you are in Southeastern Pennsylvania whether it’s on the Main Line or in Chester County you need to send these school board candidates that these threateners, meeting disrupters, and harassers are backing… packing.

I will also note that although Caroline O’Halloran has always written about fashion and style (she had an awesome section once upon a time when Main Line Media News/Main Line Times was still a real newspaper, as opposed to the hedge-fund eviscerated shell), that is not all she has ever done. And for what it is worth, she has never written about Kentucky Derby Hats BUT she has been a guest judge at Devon Horse Show’s Ladies Hat Day. THAT makes me laugh because I am sure many of those broads in Conservative Women of the Main Line have paraded in front of her and other judges like tarted-up Thanksgiving turkeys and well the humor in the hypocrisy of it all much?

Keep exposing the nasty comments, Caroline. Bullies breed in the darkness. Bring them into the light. You keep doing you, it’s why we think you are wonderful, no matter what our political persuasion. With the distinct lack of local news reporting, you keep us in the know, accurately and fairly. You share all sorts of things with us of all topics, and we thank you.

The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - FlaglerLive

These school board races.

They are hideous.

Can we talk West Chester Area School District for a Nanosecond? We’ll start with Anonymous Ada Nestor. After all, she claims she ain’t no QAnon Hussy BUT…

And of course lil’ Ada isn’t Q’Anon according to her mouthpiece Stacey Whomsley, until you see this:

For more on the crazy that is West Chester Area School District candidates please visit HERE. And HERE.

There are all sorts of pages and blogs cropping up which seem to be targeting West Chester and Downingtown. Can’t keep up with them, don’t want to it’s like the fake news express with a few thees and thous thrown in and potential “a-ha” moments that are more accurately “D’oh we already knew that so what?”

In the Great Valley School District the “Republican” candidates are as scary as their counterparts in Downingtown School District and West Chester Area School District. Here is their latest propaganda (their mistakes included):

May be an image of text
No photo description available.

I like fiction, don’t you? So is Lauren Dicranian able to legally drink yet? You have to laugh at the home printed literature that is being distributed by the 2 Region 1 candidates- ZERO attempt to look professional by having a real flyer. A bunch of nonsense put together on lunch break or something, with typos…By the way…The survey mentioned has been around for years and it is not mandatory, it’s an easy opt out; students also have the option to skip questions they don’t want answered.

5 cartoons about America's school board battles

Now onto the other “unacceptable” because the Great Valley School District loving hands at home literature isn’t unacceptable, merely pathetic. West Chester Area School District’s triplets of crazy (Whomsley, Nestor, Edgarian) are also ridiculously predictable in their onbviousness. Everyone knows they are generally unacceptable, but we go next to Downingtown.

Yes that sign is popping up all over the Downingtown Area School District.

This is the crappiest campaign stunt yet from the lunatics in Downingtown. These women referred to (Rebecca Britton and LeeAnn Wisdom) also happen to be friends of mine. They are among the nicest, most genuine, thoughtful women I know.

I stand with them, and condemn the bull sheit being hurled and spewed at them. No one is claiming production of these signs and a lot of them are appearing where not invited, so I am guessing a lot are disappearing, as well they should. One little child of one of these candidates keeps asking their mommy why these people say these things? How do you explain to an innocent child that there are just people as mean as snakes? Oh wait, I just did.

But these signs? Unacceptable.

Folks this is all I have got on this topic. At least for now. Send the nutters packing on election day. Our democracy and public school system depend upon it.

Peace, love, and candy corn (it is almost Halloween, after all.)

The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, August 19, 2021 | FlaglerLive