Keep It Clean

I find it disturbing that in our community the local paper can get away with so blatantly manufacturing accusations to smear a good person’s name. I find it humorous that the editor of the paper had the gall to fain indignation when I suggested that, in light of these spurious accusations, it might have been appropriate to disclose that members of his (Donnis Baggett’s) family had held a fund raiser for Mark Conlee. It is distasteful for Conlee to take every opportunity to insinuate this manufactured malfeasance on Mary Kaye Moore. The Eagle did a fine job of distinguishing itself this time around with intentionally half-baked slanders. They knew, from his mouth and his long and stellar history of service to the city that John Crompton will be the model of a responsible Council person. Yet, even after singing his praises, they chose to endorse his opponent, because they claimed that Crompton would be away from his post for the full summer. They endorsed a lesser candidate on information that they knew to be wrong? What is their motivation? Or should that be, what is their agenda?

The Eagle also chose to mischaracterize Dennis Maloney’s passion for our community as ill temper. I assure you that it is that “temper” that the citizens of College Station count on from their council members to stand up for our quality of life.

Unfortunately, Maloney, too, has chosen to insinuate spurious charges against his opponent. While it is true that Ben White was on the council that was reprimanded for a violation of the open meetings act, it is very disingenuous for Maloney to make this calculated insinuation out of what was an understandable, honest mistake unrelated to the true crime.

I am proud of our citizens for having recognized the indecency that surrounded the late night firing of City Manager Tom Brymer. Ben White had nothing to do with it, did not vote for it and was thrown into a lousy situation by the misdeeds of the council members who orchestrated this. Maloney knows this, yet has chosen, in a very cowardly way, to insinuate that White was involved.

Not only is this grossly unfair to White, it also obscures the real issue that was at hand in that affair. Although that whole council had their hand slapped for having violated the open meetings act, the real issue was that the four council members who voted to fire Brymer, including candidate John Happ, very clearly worked outside of the constraints of the open meetings act to sand bag Brymer as well as council people White, Lancaster and Mayor Silvia. There was a large amount of evidence showing that Happ, Gay, Scotti and Berry colluded outside of Council Chambers to surprise the other council members with this last minute and, as it turned out, illegal move. Unfortunately the DA did not feel that there was enough evidence to push those more serious charges of the four conspirators, but chose the safe route of slapping all hands instead. Besides, as bad as College Station's “Firing Squad” was, they were rank amateurs compared to Bryan’s good old boy syndicate.

Luckily, most of our candidates have been able to resist the ugly side of politics and run clean campaigns. Especially notable has been Mary Kaye Moore who, despite being unfairly attacked for manufactured un-events, has not only resisted throwing mud at her opponent, but she has also refused to talk about the legitimate issues of his record and behavior in the campaign. Hopefully the people of Bryan will recognize that not only is Moore the far better qualified candidate, she is also much classier than her opponent.

I may still cast a vote for Maloney because I think that he is a bit more likely to stand up to the single interest developers who wish to exploit and diminish our good quality of life for their personal gain. But I am compelled, before considering casting that vote, to make clear my disappointment in his decision to insinuate that Ben White had done something more than make an honest mistake, while defending decent behavior in the city. It is especially disappointing to have it done in such a cowardly way. If you think that this is an issue come out and say it, if you don’t, then keep it out of your rhetoric. Shame on you Dennis, Ben is a good man who has the entire city’s best interest at heart; he deserves better from you.