The Farce That Is The League
While the NFL debates taking a knee, let's zoom in on a local problem, that of the League of Women Voters and the softballs they lob at their preferred candidates in their orchestrated, televised "Voter Forums".
Not 10 seconds after it became apparent the current interim hospital board would be unsuccessful in suppressing outside candidate registration, and would have to actually hold the election they were appointed to organize, I get an email in my box (a long-retired "burner" email address I only resurrected to register as a write-in, not one I use currently or give out for any other reason) from the new president of the LWV, informing me there was going to be a candidate forum, and here's how to prepare for it. (Interestingly, they have already provided the theme for each candidate's opening statement, which was not: Explain how, in a free and fair process, the county commissioners came to town in May and, after interviewing 15 candidates, chose 80% of the interviewees proffered by their friend our former mayor, 10% of the interviewees not proffered by their friend our former mayor, and 0% of the interviewees who signed the only verified recall petition.)
Now, the LWV burns through officers like Snoop Dogg burns through Zig Zags, so I was sympathetic but unimpressed. In their rush to please Billy "I may not be a clinically-diagnosed Alzheimers patient yet but I sure as hell am getting there fast" Pinkham, whose wife is the de facto LWV Kommissar, they forgot their own rule, that write-in candidates cannot participate in LWV forums, as I discovered when I ran for town trustee as a write-in candidate last election cycle, and was barred from participating.
Apologies all around, I'm new here, blah, blah, but I made it clear the League, or any of their hand-petted cadre, had better not announce at any point during the proceedings that I had been invited but chose not to participate. In fact, since I know this is going to happen early in the event anyway, I already have a sign made up, and am going to march down in front of the camera when this occurs and launch a loud seated protest.
I wish other candidates not hand-stroked to join the Pinkham 5 (notice how all or almost all of the Pinkham 5 are Rotarians and members of the EDC?) would just boycott the event, and host their own candidate forum at a different location on the same night. We have a mayor that is not suckling from Bill's teat in 2017 only because other organizations in town held their own forums last mayoral election cycle, dispersing some of the LWV fog. The League had Chuck so prepped in advance for their last performance, the moderator just said "Chuck, Question #4" and he rattled off a memorized response.
Sadly, the opposition is disorganized, and currently clueless about how to utilize the one bullet they have in this election - the list of 500 petition signers that took a stand against corruption and dishonesty six months ago. Without this, the sorry slate of candidates who filed to unseat the hand-blown have zero chance, and Bill and Lorence were so giddy the last day of filing when this became apparent, they practically spasmed the drainage bags off their indwelling catheters. The opposition claimed they didn't really want to field legitimate candidates, because they have inside information the hospital is going to collapse within the next few months, and they didn't want to be on the board when that happened to receive bystander blame.
The hospital as an honest broker and money generator not dependent on taxpayer subsidies for survival collapsed a decade ago, and the Pinkham 5 has already demonstrated their one true proficiency, that of controlling the narrative. Who, pray tell, is going to "transparent" the truth when Bill drafts a release post-resignations assuring the public the hospital is just going through a zonal reconfigurization, and besides, monthly revenue is up 2400% compared to 1968, when Estes Park didn't have a hospital?
Maybe the League can organize a hospital board member recycling project, and clone Diane Van Der Ploeg pods so she can continue advising the current board in perpetuity. She certainly controls things from behind the curtain now.
Not 10 seconds after it became apparent the current interim hospital board would be unsuccessful in suppressing outside candidate registration, and would have to actually hold the election they were appointed to organize, I get an email in my box (a long-retired "burner" email address I only resurrected to register as a write-in, not one I use currently or give out for any other reason) from the new president of the LWV, informing me there was going to be a candidate forum, and here's how to prepare for it. (Interestingly, they have already provided the theme for each candidate's opening statement, which was not: Explain how, in a free and fair process, the county commissioners came to town in May and, after interviewing 15 candidates, chose 80% of the interviewees proffered by their friend our former mayor, 10% of the interviewees not proffered by their friend our former mayor, and 0% of the interviewees who signed the only verified recall petition.)
Now, the LWV burns through officers like Snoop Dogg burns through Zig Zags, so I was sympathetic but unimpressed. In their rush to please Billy "I may not be a clinically-diagnosed Alzheimers patient yet but I sure as hell am getting there fast" Pinkham, whose wife is the de facto LWV Kommissar, they forgot their own rule, that write-in candidates cannot participate in LWV forums, as I discovered when I ran for town trustee as a write-in candidate last election cycle, and was barred from participating.
Apologies all around, I'm new here, blah, blah, but I made it clear the League, or any of their hand-petted cadre, had better not announce at any point during the proceedings that I had been invited but chose not to participate. In fact, since I know this is going to happen early in the event anyway, I already have a sign made up, and am going to march down in front of the camera when this occurs and launch a loud seated protest.
I wish other candidates not hand-stroked to join the Pinkham 5 (notice how all or almost all of the Pinkham 5 are Rotarians and members of the EDC?) would just boycott the event, and host their own candidate forum at a different location on the same night. We have a mayor that is not suckling from Bill's teat in 2017 only because other organizations in town held their own forums last mayoral election cycle, dispersing some of the LWV fog. The League had Chuck so prepped in advance for their last performance, the moderator just said "Chuck, Question #4" and he rattled off a memorized response.
Sadly, the opposition is disorganized, and currently clueless about how to utilize the one bullet they have in this election - the list of 500 petition signers that took a stand against corruption and dishonesty six months ago. Without this, the sorry slate of candidates who filed to unseat the hand-blown have zero chance, and Bill and Lorence were so giddy the last day of filing when this became apparent, they practically spasmed the drainage bags off their indwelling catheters. The opposition claimed they didn't really want to field legitimate candidates, because they have inside information the hospital is going to collapse within the next few months, and they didn't want to be on the board when that happened to receive bystander blame.
The hospital as an honest broker and money generator not dependent on taxpayer subsidies for survival collapsed a decade ago, and the Pinkham 5 has already demonstrated their one true proficiency, that of controlling the narrative. Who, pray tell, is going to "transparent" the truth when Bill drafts a release post-resignations assuring the public the hospital is just going through a zonal reconfigurization, and besides, monthly revenue is up 2400% compared to 1968, when Estes Park didn't have a hospital?
Maybe the League can organize a hospital board member recycling project, and clone Diane Van Der Ploeg pods so she can continue advising the current board in perpetuity. She certainly controls things from behind the curtain now.
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