It's About Time for this Turkey!

From the Delco Times:


The long overdue conviction of Fred Moran has finally arrived. He was found guilty on a felony charge of extortion.

In his typical public attitude of denial: "I have no comment except to say Happy Thanksgiving," said the white-haired Moran as he left the courtroom.

This is reminiscent of his behavior following his original arrest and indictment. At the subsequent Haverford board meeting days later, Fred walk in handing out coffee and acting like he had just won the lottery.

While getting rid of this turkey is a win for Haverford, it barely scratches the surface of Fred's decades of mishandling his responsibilities to the voters and taxpayers. Of course, Fred did not function in a vacuum. His political cronies that voted with him share scorn, but not the penalty.

There is a second article in the Delco Times that gives a little history of Fred and his cronies, as well as some info on the rules for ousting Fred. Apparently, the other commissioners have to wait for the actually sentencing hearing to evict Fred from the Board. They can then appoint some to serve until the spring election, during which the voters pick Fred's replacement.

Many have their fingers crossed for Jan Marie Rushforth. She lost to Fred by about 80 votes in 2005 (without the Quadrangle).

We Got Our Asses Kicked.

It's all over, but the crying.

There are few other ways to put it. County-wide Democrats got crushed this year.

The next days and weeks will be filled with analysis, blame, finger-pointing, and recriminations. I have a big smack-down on where I think the blame lies... but I will leave that for another, more public, venue.

The GOP candidates raised a ton of money and worked together (they were almost indistinguishable from each other). The Dems did not raise as much money nor work closely together. I believe that had the Dem money all been pooled into a single joint campaign, they would have done better. Frequent, joint-campaign, mailers would have helped get out our message.

That aside, the GOP did a great job of turning out their voters. It is currently an open question as to whether the "case against the courthouse" energized the GOP to protect their patronage, or the Dems to fight against it. If the final vote analysis resolves that question, I'll discuss it at some point.

I would like to give Andy Lewis credit for one thing. In Haverford, the Twardy/Moran faction of Haverford Republican party actively and maliciously campaigned against Andy. Their actions made this blog look like a love-letter to Andy, by comparison. For those wondering, Andy earned their wrath by helping expose their corruption of Haverford politics. So, Andy deserves credit for putting up with this on top of legitimate criticism from the Dem ticket.

The Dems put up a good fight all over the county, and will have to cherish the few local victories they did win.

GET OUT AND VOTE!

I'll repeat: GET OUT AND VOTE!

It's Election Day and Democrats need to get out there and vote.

For those looking to change Delaware County for the better and break the monopoly government that is wasting their tax dollars, stagnating the local economy, and mismanaging the County and your local townships, you need to vote straight-Democratic Ticket.

ONE PARTY - ONE TICKET - ONE VOTE

Council: John Innelli, Ann O'Keefe, David Landau
Common Pleas: Frank Daly, Mike Farrell
Supreme and Superior Court: the DEMS McCaffery, Todd, Young, etc.

Local township: vote Dem for school board and commissioners and judges.

GOP Council Plays Politics. Risks Progress with FAA Issue

Andy Reilly and the GOP Council candidates can't keep their partisan politics out of the way of the public good.
Delco Times: Democrats slam GOP mailing on FAA issue

This week, the GOP sought to undermine progress made by Joe Sestak and Bryan Lentz by putting out a mailing claiming that the Democrats have no plan. This break from bipartisanship shows how irresponsible the GOP council candidates are.

Here's a Democratic "plan" for you: Work with your congressman and legislator, instead of working against them.

Clearly, the GOP would rather undermine Joe and Bryan to make themselves look good, rather than work in the public interest on the FAA problem.

Delco Times Endorse BOTH Democratic Judge Candidates

In a uncommon burst of common sense and concern for public welfare, the Delco Times endorses BOTH Democratic Judicial candidates for the Court of Common Pleas.

Their reasons for endorsing BOTH Frank Daly and Mike Farrell were simple. Daly and Farrell have experience at EVERY level of the court.

On the Democratic side, longtime Media presence Frank Daly, 58, brings a wide array of legal work at every level of court in his 33 years of practice. He also points out that a Democrat has never been elected to a judgeship in the county, and paints himself as a viable alternative to the longtime practice of having “bosses” wielding a heavy hand in the selection of who gets to be a judge in this county.

He is joined by Michael Farrell, who seems to have the perfect disposition for someone looking to join the bench. Farrell, 41, a commercial litigator from Springfield, started as a defense lawyer and also has experience at every level of court...

To the end that a judge needs as wide a view of the system as possible, the Daily Times endorses Democrats Frank Daly and Mike Farrell for seats on the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas.