As The Screw Turns...Pt 1

Well, good readers, it's officially become a soap opera with some of the most pitiful "scripting" ever witnessed by your humble blogger...

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

King James the Third, (so dubbed because he actually came in third place in the last commissioner's election) enters into a power sharing agreement with 2nd place finisher, democrat and perpetual candidate, Joe Hoeffel (hence referred to as "J-Huff").

King James III and J-Huff have pretty much shut Republican Commissioner Bruce L. Castor, Jr., Esq. out of all governmental decisions to date, sometimes even awarding contracts to vendors without Castor's knowledge. Because the commissioners are solely responsible for awarding contracts to vendors, not keeping one of the three commissioners "in the know" may violate the commonwealth's "Sunshine Law".

So, how has this been working so far? For starters, a bond issue that was passed by KJIII and J-Huff has cost Montco taxpayers a million dollars so far, after warnings by Castor that this would happen. That's a million that would have been saved, had the other two commissioners actually heeded Castor's advice.

Next, it has been found out that most every contract dole out by King James III and J-Huff has been done so without the required (by county ordinance 98-02) RFP (request for proposal). The county solicitor, Barry Miller (henceforth referred to "B.A.B."-"Back Alley Barry") has decided that since 98-02 hasn't been followed since the three took office in January '08, that breaking the law was the "de facto" way to do business in the county.

"De Facto". Breaking the law. Let that sink in for a bit. Let me do a comparison...since the drug dealer on the corner has been selling valium illegally for so long, his way is now the "de facto" way of getting valium to people, so, you no longer have use of your neighborhood pharmacist, right?

Yeah, it sounds just as stupid.

So, enter County Controller Diane Morgan. Ms. Morgan has touted herself as the "Watchdog of the People" when it comes to your tax dollars.

When getting wind of the illegal contracts, Morgan said she wanted the paperwork on each and every contract for the past 2+ years, and that she would stop payment on those deemed "suspect".

As of this week, Morgan is singing a different tune, (maybe one that J-Huff wrote for her?) and now claims that she doesn't think they actually "broke" the law, just bent it a bit.

While this is all going on, J-Huff is conveniently out campaigning for governor. (Cliffhanger!)

This is just the tip of the iceberg...stay tuned for the next installment of "As the Screw Turns".

B.