The Pot Calling the Kettle Black: Bruchey vs Spong (with Bruchey's Response)

  I haven't written about politics in Washington County or the City of Hagerstown for quite sometime. My last post regarding Washington County was an interview with County Commissioner Woody Spong (http://tinyurl.com/otoq3eh). Coincidentally it is a matter regarding Commr. Spong that compels me to write again about issues in Washington County. 

     
ISSUE 1: Commr. Spong is accused of making a "vulgar, inappropriate, and sexist" comment to BOE President, Donna Brightman. Was it sexist or does it actually diminish the seriousness of real acts of sexism?  

Brightman wrote a letter to the Herald Mail claiming that he said:

"FACTS are like whores, once you get them on their back, they'll do whatever."

 She said that it was in a conversation just between the two of them where they: 

"were talking about facts and figures that had been presented about the school board's budget."        

 My first reaction was to wonder if she swooned and had to have someone with smelling salts to bring her back after such a blow to her....facts and figures. He clearly was not talking about her, or about women, and definitely not about the women on the BOE. In context, the statement may not be PC or polite, and maybe it was a little vulgar and inappropriate with someone of Brightman's sensitivities, but:

It made his point that facts and figures can be manipulated.

Commr. Spong later, much later, claimed that he said "lady of the night." It is her word against his. Whatever. Sometimes you have to learn how to react and handle other professional's unprofessional behavior professionally.     
    It would have been far more inappropriate had he blurted it out in a public forum. At most I might have winced at his lack of social skills. It would kind of be like the time when Mayor Bob Bruchey,in a public forum, talked about not being able to find a strapless bra for his wife in downtown Hagerstown because everything closed up too early. However, even if it were a conversation between me and my most vicious adversary it would have rolled off of me like water off of a duck's back. (I hope I am not offending any ducks.) 
    I started my career in the 1970's in the then male-dominated field of electronics. I was the only female as an electronic technician for two years, and later the only female engineering writer for about the first three years. I grew the thick skin necessary to succeed. As a technician, I faced income inequality, no chance of promotion, sexual harassment, bullying, and sexual assault. I received a little more respect from most of my colleagues and customers as a writer, but there was the occasional good old boy with no sense of boundaries. With this in mind, I find petty accusations of sexism to be counterproductive to the cause of women. I had to choose my battles when the battles were new and fierce. So I find it laughable that a strong, intelligent, professional like Donna Brightman is cut to the core over the word "whore" as an adjective for facts and figures. To be a female political activist I have also had to have very thick skin. In my opinion, if Brightman is going to serve as president over an organization as large as the BOE and participate in the necessary politics...she is going to have to learn to handle uncomfortable conversations without running to the local newspaper. I pick my battles and fight the ones that I choose wholeheartedly. Of course I am a crusty old woman from Baltimore, but Commr. Spong's comment would not even make it onto my radar.  
    In my opinion the letter to the local newspaper was not about Brightman's feminine sensitivities to the word whore, but more about offending her facts and figures and thwarting her plans. I would not be surprised to find out that Brightman has been encouraged to make this big to-do-over-nothing by Commr. Spong's haters. Make no mistake. He has them.

ISSUE 2:  Was this comment so egregious that Commr.Spong should be forced to resign from the Board of County Commissioner? 

    We have people ready to rend their clothes and wear sackcloth and ashes in the square until Commr. Spong is driven from politics. It is no surprise that it is the same people who were spitting mad about his appointment. It has been suggested that because he spoke to a lawyer he must know that he is guilty of being a sexist. Are you kidding me? The sexist card used by political adversaries can be as destructive as the race card. It can ruin careers and lives. It can lead to lawsuits and your assets could be threatened. It can adversely affect your family. Of course he spoke to a lawyer first. Anyone who is saying that in his position they would not have been concerned...even afraid...is a liar. As I said before, I don't think a remark is sexist just because it has the word whore in it, especially as an adjective for facts and figures in a political discussion. I absolutely do not think it is grounds to have him removed from the Board of County Commissioners. 
   
ISSUE 3:  Are politicians and other political operatives exploiting this accusation for political purposes?  

    It appears that the same people who were so vociferously against Commr. Spong's appointment are the same people who appear to be exploiting this situation to try to have him removed from office and replaced with someone that they deem more suitable. I know because of the phone calls, texts, Facebook messages, flaming blogs, etc, that I received when I interviewed Commr. Spong just after he was appointed. I see the same people spreading it all over Facebook, writing flaming blogs, and going on the amateur local talk show, The Flip Side, to keep it alive and in the public eye. There have been whole segments on this show about this non-issue of a sexist remark. On all of the other unrelated segments there have been obvious attempts to bring it up even when it doesn't quite make sense. I don't see any serious activist for women's rights taking note of this comment. It is only Commr. Spong's detractors keeping it alive. 

ISSUE 4:  Is it acceptable for politicians to be hypocrites, or should they be called out on blatant acts of hypocrisy? 

   I am not a fan, friend, or  foe of Commr. Spong. I have not thought about him again since interviewing him in May 2015. I wouldn't have written this blog at all had I not watched an episode of The Flip Side and witnessed a politician shamelessly not only exploiting this lame comment, but the hypocrisy was mind blowing. This was a politician who I often find to be offensive, sometimes sexist, and certainly inappropriate beating that dead horse about Commr. Spong's alleged offense. This is the pot calling the kettle black and his name is Bob Bruchey.  Bruchey has said things and overlooked sexist statements said to me by others. They weren't so offensive that I ran to the local newspaper. In fact I never spoke of it. It was something that did hit my radar, but I am can handle it. Only after watching him angling for opportunities to disparage and disgrace Commr. Spong in every segment of the show did I sit up and take note of this issue. I was thinking of all the people....he needs to shut up. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and contacted him online via Messenger to ask him why he kept harping on Commr. Spong's comment when he is not exactly against rude and sexist remarks. For example:

"Nah, you never bothered me. After all, I enjoy a smart woman who can stand up and give me shit. Well, just as long as she sits back down and keeps her mouth shut afterwards I mean."

    This is not a she-said-he-said. I saved the conversation on Messenger. I found this much more offensive and sexist than the whore analogy of facts and figures. There is no question that this statement is sexist and was meant to put me in my place. As you can see in the picture below, I took a deep breath and decided to keep it classy, but when I saw him repeatedly raking Commr. Spong over the coals for being not even half as obnoxious it made me angry.

   There is another incident that I feel depicts Bruchey's lack of regard for belittling women. This one is my word against his, but I bet I could find it if I looked hard enough. Bruchey didn't deny it when I asked him about it on Messenger. I had jumped into a political discussion on Facebook that included Bruchey and his most public admirer who will remain unnamed at this point. This guy loves Bruchey. He never misses an opportunity to flatter and fluff him publicly. So we were talking about Hagerstown issues when Bruchey's friend said to me,

"Why are you even in this conversation? Shouldn't you be in the kitchen making me lasagna?"

I was stunned. I think I responded that I do indeed make a mean lasagna, but I can also carry my own in a political discussion. Bruchey never said a word. I think that could be called offensive, inappropriate, and sexist. There was not one single word in my defense from Bruchey. In contrast, he can't stop talking about what poor Donna Brightman endured from that "stupid" man Woody Spong. When I asked Bruchey about this incident he said that he confronts this guy all of the time about the things that he posts on Facebook, but he does it privately. He even denied being his friend. He went on to explain, "We don't hang out together or have beers at each other's houses on the weekend." I pointed out that that was the exact same thing that Commr. Spong said about his relationship with Terry Baker when he was unfairly accused without evidence of getting the appointment because of his "friendship" with Baker. Ironic or hypocritical?

    I got the same "explanations" from Bruchey that Commr. Spong's haters are calling "excuses". He didn't really mean it like I took it. I should have known that he was joking. Why should Bruchey get the benefit of the doubt that he would not allow Commr. Spong? 

    Hypocrites can't take their own advice. 

     On The Flip Side, Bruchey said that all Commr. Spong had to do was apologize. If he had taken his own advice and apologized to me when I contacted him I would not have written this blog. He didn't. He is a politician; he doesn't have to apologize to someone like me. In my opinion he owes me an apology and Commr. Spong too. I saw the flipside of Bob Bruchey, and I didn't like it. He said that The Flip Side is "just entertainment...nothing more, nothing less." Let's see how entertaining he finds this blog. 

God I hope another Republican runs for mayor!

Bob Bruchey's Response

"Lynda, as I read your post, blog and subsequent comments, I was saddened. I have always enjoyed our back and forth on issues. If I had known that the private message from 10 months ago had offended you, I would have immediately apologized. I sincerely thought I was joking around with you and absolutely wasn’t trying to say anything that would hurt your feelings. I also didn’t realize that I needed to defend you against negative comments, since you can most definitely stand your ground with anyone. You and I have been friends for quite some time and I don’t take friendship lightly; therefore I stick up for friends that I think are being mistreated.  I do apologize if I have offended you it was definitely never my intention to do so. Hopefully we can remain fb and real friends and continue to converse on subjects important to you and I. I respect your opinions and enjoy your, at times, humorous posts. Again, I hope you can accept my apology and I look forward to many more conversations."

Bob, How could someone who is so concerned about Cmmr. Spong's comment not have known that his own comment was offensive? I think you are being a bit disingenuous.

Would you say:

I like a smart black who can stand up and give me shit. Well, just as long as he sits down and keeps his mouth shut afterwards I mean. How about a smart Jew? A smart homosexual?  Of course this would have to be said to a black, Jew, or  homosexual to make it truly comparable. Would you expect them to get "the joke"? Of course not, and neither were you joking to me. It was your passive aggressive way to put me in my place.

This is your apology to me? Answering via a comment on a post on Facebook? I wonder if you would let Cmmr. Spong get away with that?

You are right that you don't need to defend me against sexist comments made by your friends in your company, but you should have. I guess it didn't have the political expediency as you had hoped Cmmr. Spong's comment would have.

You said that we have been friends for a long time. Not so. We should be friends. It's actually quite mystifying to me because although we belong to the same party, I have most often found myself at the opposite end of issues regarding taxpayer money and how it should or shouldn't be spent. I can't ever recall being anything more than a Facebook friend, which we all know doesn't amount to much in the real world. Whether or not we remain so is up to you.

None of this matters to me at all. I could care less if you talk down to me. What bothered me was how you publicly raked Cmmr. Spong over the coals for so much less! Are you going to apologize to him? Are you going to publicly admit that you really have done worse? You are running for mayor again, so I am sure that you want this to blow over. Couldn't you have allowed the same for Cmmr. Spong? I have to say that I have never seen a politician so viciously attacked before ever casting a vote much less from his own Party as Cmmr. Spong. I don't know him, and he may vote like a Liberal for all I know, but you and others are crossing lines in your hatred of him and your displeasure with his appointment. This Donna Brightman hysteria was not a fair fight and you exploited it.

On your last segment of The Flip Side you were softer, yet you found Cmmr. Spong's waiting 6 days to apologize unexplainable and unforgivable. Well it took you being called out after 10 months for this lame apology. Something tells me that Cmmr. Spong will be waiting much longer. 

   

    

HERALD MAIL GIVES THREE CANDIDATES FOR BOE A CLEAN SLATE: THREE OPENINGS ON BOE

JACQUELINE FISCHER, MELINDA MARSDEN, AND STAN STOUFFER ONLY THREE BOE CANDIDATES WITHOUT DIRT TO REPORT BY HERALD MAIL: THREE OPENINGS ON BOE

Is it just me growing more cynical or is this truly a coincidence? These candidate's profiles for the Board of Education were published two-at-a-time, and the first thing that struck me was that the HM is not exactly known for its investigative work. So what's up? Why this election? Why only the BOE candidates? One of the candidate's told me that when they were interviewed the reporter justified publishing this information because the BOE has a large budget, if not the largest budget, in the county. OK, but what about the dirt that wasn't related to finances? Certainly there is dirt that could be dug up on other candidates for other races; in fact, I know that there is.

The second cynical thought came after reading the first profile that was without dirt. The article did not state that they had investigated this person and was unable to find anything to report. There just wasn't any. In fact, that statement did not appear in any of the profiles without dirt. Intentional?

After reading 6 of the 8 profiles and realizing that there were only 2 so far without dirt, I predicted that there would only be one candidate of the final two profiles to be published that would report a bit of dirt, giving us exactly three "clean" candidates. Guess what? Three clean candidates and three openings...imagine that.

IS THE HERALD MAIL HOLDING A GRUDGE AGAINST THE CITY OF HAGERSTOWN?

 The Herald Mail was a huge proponent for the new stadium to be built partly on property that they own. 

   The Herald Mail published an editorial in their newspaper today that was in my opinion harsh and unproductive, criticizing the current Hagerstown mayor and council for the "loss of the BOE," among other things. I have written several posts that questioned the city, mostly during the last administration and almost entirely about the proposed new Suns stadium that was to be located on Summit Avenue and W. Baltimore Street. The Herald Mail was a huge proponent for the new stadium to be built partly on property that they own. You can imagine their disappointment when the voters decided in the recent election that they did not want a stadium at that location and they did not want the taxpayer to almost exclusively pay for it. It seems that they may be carrying a grudge.  

"If, like a scorned lover, the city is looking for reasons why the school board was hesitant to commit, it need only cast a glance into last week’s mirror." 

   The editorial begins by blaming the new administration for the Board of Education deciding to relocate outside of the city limits. The mayor and three of the five council members were newly elected only five months ago. The BOE has been talking with previous administrations about relocating downtown since February of 2000. They began talks with the most recent past administration two years ago, commissioning a task force established by the Greater Hagerstown Committee to explore possible locations downtown. Apparently, it took GHC two years to present a report. By then it seems it was too little too late. How can they expect this administration to do in 5 months what previous administrations did not do in 13 years or even the last two years? If they erred at all it was having confidence in the groundwork laid by the outgoing elected officials and the GHC, and assuming that the BOE was communicating honestly with them and truly interested in downtown. Just look at the facts:

Feb 12: The GHC presents their report after be commissioned two years ago.

Feb 19: Mayor and council make their pitch to the school board to relocate downtown.

Feb 19 (3 hours later): The school board voted unanimously to enter into a purchase agreement to explore buying the former Allegheny Energy headquarters off of Downsville Pike for its administrative offices.

The school board did not communicate to the city that it was seriously looking elsewhere, and did not even give them the courtesy of letting them know that they were ready to sign an agreement with Allegheny Energy. At this point I think everyone knew that the board had no intentions of moving downtown. The BOE then asked for hard figures. I am not sure how much more they wanted in addition to what GHC provided in their report. The mayor became visibly angry with me when I asked him that question at a meeting of the Citizens for the Protection of Washington County. In hindsight, I understand why he did. 
  
   The Herald Mail editorial went on to say,   

"Yet individual council members seem more concerned about justifying questionable actions of the past. Councilman Kristin Aleshire in particular has taken to public message boards trying to explain why the decision to let the Suns stadium proposal die was not really a mistake."

   I think this quote is very telling about what really motivated this scathing editorial. They obviously think that not building a stadium on property that they own needs justification. They show no respect for the community or the taxpayers who did not want it. Just a reminder: the mayor and council are elected to represent the people who elect them. They are not crowned; they are elected. 

"...the problem is that not enough people are profiting [in Hagerstown]."

     The editorial then mocks the city for signing a non-binding agreement with Sora to allow them to develop a plan and seek private and public funding on behalf of the city. It is non-binding because you can bet that they would be writing editorials about how it was unethical to make Sora exclusive without giving other developers the chance to bid on the master plan wholly or on individual projects within the plan. They further mocked them for developing a task force of individuals who have nothing to gain and who have had experience in P3s to advise them in their possible partnership with Sora. They imply that the city is afraid that Sora, or anyone else, will make money in this town. Actually, they are making sure that Sora or anyone else, including the Herald Mail, does not profit at the expense of the taxpayer. They are doing their jobs! 

   Finally, they use a small unrelated matter to somehow prove that this administration is unwelcoming to businesses. They refer to the task force that was formed and reported to the mayor and council regarding a dog park for downtown. It is a dog park not a business. The mayor and council want a dog park and one will be approved. It is simply the location that is in question and certainly the city has a right, no a duty, to question the data provided, and based on that data deliberate and decide on a location that the community will appreciate and that will not become a burden to any of its citizens.

Get over it!

   This mayor and council listened to the voters and decided not to build a stadium on Herald Mail property. If the Herald Mail has a grudge about losing out on the possible sale of their property for a stadium, it is misplaced. Their issue is with the community and the taxpayer who support their business. That is not a good idea, so I suggest that they get over it!