After seeing all of the flaming jack wagons coming out of the woodwork at the last minute on the Village of Clarkston Facebook page, a friend of mine reminded me of a post that I wrote just before the last election, linked below.
Back then, I had this to say about Clarkston’s “old guard,” and it’s still true today:
They think they are our betters just because they have lived here longer. Most are in their 70s and 80s, but some of their poisonous beliefs have managed to seep into the Millennial and Gen Z generations too. They want you to pay your taxes and keep quiet about how they spend that money. No matter how much you object, they will find a way to take care of their friends and do what they want. They perceive the city as an “us versus them” schism. They would rather destroy you than reach across the aisle. There is no cooperation; everything is a zero-sum game to them. They don’t like you.
Let’s talk more about these “village idiots” – and yes, if you’re an old guard idiot making vitriolic attacks that lack any substance on the Village Facebook page about a candidate for city council, that makes you a village idiot. Wear it proudly as a badge of honor, I guess? 🙄
There’s one person who thinks she’s ever so clever, spending hundreds of words bizarrely attacking Cory Johnston on his Village of Clarkston Facebook group page, making up her own “facts” as she goes along, apparently unaware that Mr. Johnston isn’t a candidate in this election. She claims that the candidates she doesn’t like are the ones filled with anger (projection much?), adding that “[i]f anyone doesn’t think a small town with less than a 1000 people isn’t transparent I have a bridge over here on Washington Street I’ll sell them.” Considering that I spent five years as a plaintiff in a case that went all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court that arose solely because of the city’s lack of transparency, she might want to dust off her for sale sign for her invisible Washington Street bridge. She was forced to sit for a deposition in my FOIA lawsuit, so it’s odd that she doesn’t remember what it was about. Poor dear. Borrowing a phrase from Mr. Jagger, “what a drag it is getting old.”
If you want people like her involved in city government, then by all means, vote for the candidates she supports. After all, she did such an awesome job when we were paying her salary. 🙄 Frankly, it’s a testament to Mr. Johnston’s belief in freedom of expression that she hasn’t been banned or her comment deleted (and yes, he can see all of your venomous comments and has deliberately chosen to let them stand, so I guess you’re not as clever as you thought you were, eh?). Frankly, I support a group rule that removes people who block group administrators. Again, to Mr. Johnston’s credit, he has yet to adopt that rule.
And then there is the bizarre suggestion from another commenter that one of the candidates doesn’t pay taxes, an accusation that’s not even worthy of the energy it would take to refute. Simply put, it’s a false statement from someone who doesn’t understand taxation in Michigan. Or another someone who took a photo of trash bags and claimed that they were left by one of the candidates. Village, meet your idiots.
I can’t help but think that they all seem to be pretty worried about Paul Angelini, Steven McLean, and Christopher Moore. It’s not surprising, since these three candidates want to make positive changes for all of Clarkston, not just a small group of people lashing out in anger and who seem very concerned that their gnarly old hands might be losing their stranglehold grip on power.
And they should be concerned. Because more and more people want to see a positive change that embraces everyone in Clarkston – and yes, this would also include the village idiots. Out with the moldy old, in with the new.
We are legion. And we will win. And, even if it’s not today, it will be soon. Because time is on our side, not theirs. And given the way that they are acting out, they know it too.
Please vote for a positive change for the City of the Village of Clarkston.
