ANC Campaign Gets Ugly
I woke up this morning to find two fliers stuck together in the fence out front. One concerned something called "Great Streets"--a program of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Development. The other was distributed by "HALT (Homeowners Against Leroy Thorpe" and contained material about a court case more than 20 years ago and remarks he was reported to have made about 9/11.
Several things bother me about the latter. The main one is the anonymity of the flyer and who "HALT" consists of. This sort of stuff smacks of the 'Swiftboating' that was directed at John Kerry in the last presidential election. I don't know who HALT is, but by remaining anonymous, the group creates suspicions that Mr. Thorpe's opponent and anyone who may support him may be involved in this flyer even if they had nothing whatever to do with it. I should note that an anonymous flyer of a similar nature was passed around a couple of months ago by something called the "ANC 2C-01 Dump Padro Committee", which alleged that Mr. Padro wanted a gay nightclub next to a church daycare center and is against the black people and poor people of Shaw.
Second, the material on the flyer really has little, if anything, to do with the issues of the ANC. The court case appears to have been resolved and settled two decades ago. I don't agree with the remarks on 9/11 Mr. Thorpe was reported to make, but he was within his rights to make them. In any case, they are no worse than similar pronoucements made by prominent so-called "Christian" preachers like Falwell and Robertson.
My point is that this kind of thing just adds to the tensions within the neighborhood and promotes suspicions and hostility. We don't need that. Everyone should remember that what goes around, comes around.
posted by DaddyFiveOh @ 4:48 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
chairman thorpe may have a right to turn a legislative meeting into a moralistic scold bit i think it's inappropriate, disresepectful and out of order.
i wish we got trash mail like that in our neighborhood. who knows, we're early in the campaign season. seeing homophobic fliers could rally my base of fair minded, taxpayers.
i just remembered back to 1991 when jim zais the white homosexual with a black boyfriend, a liberal employed by the urban league was running for city council to replace john wilson who was elected chairman of the city council. circulated in shaw was a one sided cartoon flyer depicting jim zais chasing dudes with large cooks. who created the flyer?..i dont know..but we have the usual suspects. i bring this up because daddyohfive you are new here and dont know what goes on during an election cycle. trashy flyers are part of the shaw culture.
DaddyFiveOh and the residents of ANC 2C02
I assure you that neither I, nor my campaign had anything to do with the production and dissemination of the flyers distributed by "HALT." I do not support nor condone these tactics.
It is my sincere desire to earn the support of the voters of 2C02 through a positive campaign. It is my belief that change on the ANC is essential for the continued progression of our diverse community. I want the voters of 2C02 to vote for me as oppose to solely voting against my opponent.
Sincerely,
Kevin Chapple
It hardly seems like we need to reach back 20 or even five years to find reasons for Leroy to step aside. Mr Thorpe's gaffes are excruciating too listen to, to hear about, and embarrassing to the communities he is supposed to be representing when managing the business of ANC 2C.
He said something recently that got City Paper attention about Illinois Sen. Barak Obama and other officials being "house negroes". It's time for all these backwards, clichéd, racially denigrating characterizations, and race baiting insults to end. I wish I could vote him out tomorrow.
you know, i would be happy to share whatever i recall about history, archives, culture and politics. but i'm clueless at this point about what you speak of. this might be the springtime of my senility so if you could say a phrase or two i might better remember. :) thanks.
It's not a very nice tactic for whoever did it to go around distributing flyers anonymously.
However ... don't worry about getting sued for libel for repeating publicly anything that was in that flier. To be libel it has to be false ... and sadly everything in that flyer is true.
Everything in that flyer has already been tested in court. Thorpe tried and failed to have a web site with all that stuff (and more) on it shut down.
I'd remain anonymous too with a thug like Leroy looking for retribution.
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