ATRO Spring Reception and King James III

Dear Readers,

I attended (for the first time) ATRO's annual dinner - about 125-150 people were in attendance. It was at North Hills Country Club in Abington.

Amidst rumors that he wasn't going to be well received, King James III actually showed up. He arrived in time for the cocktail hour. Some of his "traditional" supporters were very cordial, but I did witness at least FIVE different committeepeople who came up and had heated exchanges with him over his deal with Hoeffel and his damage to the Republican party. Some went on for extended periods of time.

After a while, Matthews was heard to remark to one person he was talking to that he was "just saying my hellos and then I'm getting out of here".

True to his word (this time), Matthews left once everyone sat down to dinner. Did he have somewhere else to go? No. He went next door to the members only dining room at North Hills (where Matthews is a member) and enjoyed himself at the bar, safe from his Republican critics. I suppose James Rex preferred to dine with the Lords and Ladies of North Hillshire rather than mix with the common folk of ATRO.

It's a shame he left before the festivities started. If he had stayed he would have heard the rousing cheer a tuxedoed Bruce Castor (coming from a formal event) got when he was introduced.

Our Sovereign also would have heard himself get booed when Area Leader Jon Fox mentioned his name.

His Majesty also would have heard his former colleague Tom Ellis address the crowd. He missed hearing Ellis lambaste his (Matthews') decision to flood the government with Democrat cronies, specifcially Jeff Albert.

Had he stayed, he then would have heard Commissioner Bruce Castor give the crowd a pep talk telling them not to "fret over the loss of our registration majority, that if Republicans act like Republicans and govern like Republicans that we will in 2011". Castor said he'd be running for reelection and both he and Ellis (in separate speeches) pledged to win back the 5 row officers that were lost."Bruce continued: "we have an important leadership election coming up. Please carefully analyze the credentials of all the candidates running....and then vote for Bob Kerns!" to great laughter and applause.

Col. Tom Manion gave a moving speech about his efforts to win back the 8th district from Patrick Murphy. His speech focused on core values. Shame Matthews missed it. He could do with a talk about core values.

As for me? I had the fish (excellent, by the way), great conversation at the table, and enjoyed a very nice program from Chairman Bob Griffith and Area Leader Jon Fox.

For the record, nobody got "shusshed" all night. MCRC Chairman Ken Davis apparently had some teeth pulled today. I heard they were his "wisdom" teeth, but I ain't buying it. One has to first be blessed with wisdom...but I digress

Oh, and for my own safety, when I saw King James III enter the room, I thrust my hands deep into my pockets.

Once bitten, twice shy, I guess!