mikemcgann.org

I admit with some shame that I was a Boy Scout. And frankly, I’m kind of angry that I have to be ashamed — and that I feel even more ashamed today to have worn the uniform.

Certainly, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) have given many of us alums something to be shamed about. Their open and institutional discrimination against gay troop leaders/volunteers is pretty pathetic. They claim, does BSA, that they do so to "protect" their scouts from pedophiles. Of course, since gays are no more likely to be pedophiles than straights — or conservative radio talk show hosts (and frankly, based on Rush Limbaugh’s body of work, I’m thinking gays are probably less likely to be pedophiles — and yes, by all means, Rush, please — PLEASE — sue me for holding that opinion, so we can finally burn the last vestiges of the U.S. Constitution and any remaining pretense to citizen rights). But no matter, BSA is free to make that choice and, as they teach their scouts, Be Prepared to live with the consequences.

Oooops. Except for this one thing: BSA seems only prepared to call their lawyer to demand a taxpayer freebie.

The BSA today filed suit in federal court to stop the City of Philadelphia from charging it rent. The city previously had been giving the local BSA regional HQ its offices for $1 a year. But the city passed a wide-ranging anti-discrimination law, which meant the city could no longer subsidize groups in violation of said law. So then the city said, "get out or pay $200,000 a year for rent" which is about fair market value.

Aside from teaching an awful lesson to our youth — imagine the KKK suing a city for free rent to subsidize discrimination against black people — it further proves that conservatives don’t really believe the crap they spew. They vilify trial lawyers and litigation — and then run right to court to get free rent for a bunch of avowed bigots. It’s hypocritical, of course, but frankly, kind of pathetic.

Frankly, with this sort of management, one has to wonder what lessons are being taught to today’s scouts and whether the leadership of the organization is, in fact, nearly as dangerous as letting pedophiles run loose (interestingly, consider for a moment, the irony of how many troops meet in Catholic Churches — and I’ll note the BSA doesn’t prevent Catholic priests from being leaders). The BSA is teaching kids to discriminate on the basis of label, embrace junk science, disrespect the rule of law, and demand taxpayer welfare. I can only imagine the wing-nut reaction if some left-wing group tried something as lame-brained as this.

From my perspective one thing is clear: the average gay person is a much better, much more responsible role model than the average BSA honcho. And maybe that’s the saddest thing about this in the final analysis, because these are people helping shape another generation of hate.

One of the good things about being out of politics is the ability to let it loose again when I write and not soften what’s on my mind.

So here goes: Hillary Clinton is pushing the Democratic party to its death. What George W. Bush is to America, Clinton is to the Democratic Party.

I don’t write this out of misguided love for Barack Obama. Sure, I support him as a less evil, less divisive option to Ms. Clinton, but I’m well aware of his flaws, much as I was aware of the flaws of Bill Clinton back in 1992 when I thought he was the best option for America. But so much has changed in 16 years.

Maybe it’s the constant calls from Emily’s List in the weeks coming up to the Pennsylvania primary. Maybe it’s the combination of experiences from many years as a candidate, local party leader and campaign manager. I’m a white, straight male and frankly, I don’t much feel like I belong in the Democratic Party anymore. Goodness knows, I feel even less comfortable about being a Republican these days (something shared by a lot of Republicans, I might add).

So if me, a partisan, active Democrat feels shunted aside (and let’s be honest, there’s a small minority of women in the party who treat men like having a penis equals being Adolph Hitler), what do the average, boring white guys think? Well, pretty much the same thing. A lot of them see Obama as being someone they can relate to, drink a beer with, play a little pickup basketball and maybe, trust. Hillary comes off as a shrill, uber feminist who seems to dislike most men, Bill included, truth be told.

Of course, none of that is fatal for the Democratic Party, candidates come and go. If you can survive Mike Dukakis, you can survive any single candidate.

But see, here’s the problem: by any sensible mathematical metric, Hillary Clinton cannot win the nomination. She can’t claim the most popular votes. (counting Florida and Michigan while discounting all of the caucuses? C’mon.) She can’t claim the most pledged delegates. So basically, she can only win by strong arming the party and the superdelegates. After Pennsylvania, Clinton cannot win the nomination by getting the average voter to vote for her, but rather by backroom deals in defiance of the voters’ will.

And if that happens? Well, Clinton might be the last nominee of the Democratic Party as we know it. A lot of people will walk. A lot. Some smart people — people smarter than I, which I suppose doesn’t limit the pool much — will start a moderate party, one less interested in pandering to the extreme right or the extreme left and I think it could get traction, from disaffected Democrats and Republicans.

And that could mean the end of the Democratic Party. While the GOP will always get the backing of big business, a diminished Democratic Party will struggle to find support among its fractured remaining base and may have to merge with the Green Party just to pick up an occasional seat in Congress. People say such a thing is impossible, but American history proves otherwise. The Federalist Party imploded and was replaced by the Whigs, which also imploded and was ultimately replaced by the Republican Party. Thanks to the Internet, the creation of a new party is a lot easier than it might have been even a decade ago, so I’m willing to bet this will happen.

Look, it seems obvious that Hillary Clinton doesn’t care about the future of the Democratic Party. But I know for a fact that many of her supporters do. I’m hoping they can step back for a moment, look hard at the numbers and understand the consequences of what may play out over the next 60 days.

The future of the Democratic Party is in their hands.

Today, for a complicated combination of reasons, my political career came to an end.

It was entirely my choice and not prompted by a scandal or any kind of illegal act. And it wasn’t in protest of anyone else’s conduct or behavior.

I came to the painful realization that it was too difficult not to be a candidate for office and remain around politics. Not just the issue of not now being a candidate for office, but the issue of never again being a candidate for office. Until a couple of weeks ago, I assumed, as most of the people I knew within politics that I would eventually return to the field of battle as a candidate. But within the last couple of weeks, it became clear that the only person in my life who has a veto over whether I run again was very vehement about my never running for office again.

That realization made being around politics like asking a starving man to sit in a kitchen and watch a delicious meal be prepared and tell him he can never eat again. I could no longer find the fire and the passion for the race I was working on — one hell of a good race, I might add — so I knew it was time to hang it up. It wasn’t fair to me, it wasn’t fair to the candidate I was working for and it wasn’t fair to the people on staff looking to me for guidance. So, on this last day of March, I pulled the ripcord and walked away.

Now, this doesn’t mean the end of this blog. I remain first and foremost a writer. It’s been my official occupation for more than 25 years, and one I intend to continue. But it does mean that this blog will probably be less about politics and more about other things.

So, to all who have been friendly and supportive over the years, I thank you, each and every one. It was more appreciated than you could ever know.

I know not what the future holds, but I plan to move boldly into it. Well, as boldly as an old, fat guy with a bad back can move. Stay tuned.

In Pittsburgh, about 200 miles west of where I sit right now, there’s a famous radio guy named, wait for it, Mike McGann, who amazingly, is not me. (Truthfully, a fact he should be rather relieved by, too.)

While he probably doesn’t know who I am, I became aware of him when I applied for an AFTRA card back in the early 80s trying, foolishly to use my own name. Back in those days, on-air guys all had their own names and there was some rule about using the same name within a certain amount of distance or something. I didn’t stay in radio long enough to figure out what the deal was thanks to the poor money and went into print work instead.

Through something akin to Web alchemy, when you search my name, a decent number of listings come up for me, and even this site, not to mention all of the magazines and Websites I’ve written for over the years. By all accounts, though, the other Mike is a beloved figure — and I’ve heard him on the Web, he has a fabulous set of pipes.

Although I wasn’t named after him, I was named after another Mike in radio, a guy named Mike Botula, who introduced my parents when he was working in radio on Long Island. He and my parents all ended up in southern California and he went on to become a fairly famous news radio voice in LA. I, as many of you who followed my 2004 campaign for state rep. know, attended kindergarten and apparently, according to my former opponent and the current holder of that office, was a member of the Weather Underground, helped found the SLA and caused a number of earthquakes, floods and the Phillies’ 1964 collapse.

All he did was vote for a pay raise in the middle of the night . Amazingly, he’s still on the public dole and I have to work for a living.

Anyhow, to all of you looking for the other Mike McGann, I’m not him. And don’t even ask about me playing QB for Temple. I was an offensive tackle, thank you, and I’ll note I’m now down to almost to my high school playing weight.

Well, I suppose the good news is this: 14 weeks after serious surgery, I’m almost back to myself, which is to say, 80 pounds lighter than I was last summer. My back is still a mess and the primary reason I’m still not up to full speed.

My break during December, January and February from this blog was planned, although I’d hoped to be back writing here by mid-Feb. But, as seems to be the the usual course of events these days, politics got in the way. No, I won’t be appearing on the ballot this fall, which is probably good news for the 60-plus percent of people in this state house district who didn’t vote for me four years ago. And, frankly, I haven’t decided about running for township supervisor again in 2009.

But one thing appears to be true: I’m going to run for something at some point again. Not this year and maybe not even next year, but the time will come.

In the meantime, I’m managing races — I’m signed to a house race this year in the northern part of Chester County and expect to run one and maybe two county-wide races next year. I’m really OK with the idea with helping other smart talented people get elected. Change is what you make of it.

As for my relationship with the Chester County Democratic Committee: it’s probably not a big secret that I’ve had some rocky moments with the organization and some of the leaders. But it would be hypocritical of me to call for changes, see them start to be made and not embrace them and support them. And so I have. Aside from managing a race, I’m now co-chair of the county party’s communication committee and I will have a hand in how we present message, both to the media and to voters. It’s an exciting prospect from my standpoint.

And as a party, we’re about to reach an important milestone: 100,000 registered Democrats. Combined with the number of registered independents, we’re coming very close to equaling the total number of Republicans in the county, which means despite last fall’s results, we should again see county-wide races in play in 2009. It also means that in addition to defending our two current legislative seats — Sen. Andy Dinniman and State Rep. Barbara McIlivane Smith, we should be able to snag a couple more seats in 2008.

We have open seats in the 13th and 157th Districts and with strong, strong Democratic candidates, I’m feeling bullish about winning both. Maybe more impressively, I think we’ll knock off at least one incumbent, too. I wish it were more — because with a couple of exceptions our Republican state house members generally only get to stay in office through the luck of the demographics of their districts, not because they’ve done such a great job. Some, frankly, have been deplorable, but that is a discussion for another day.

Chester County will also be among the key areas for the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton battle. Who’d have thought the Pennsylvania primary would matter? And maybe even be decisive? I’m impressed at the passion of both sides in the county and the way it seems to be driving excitement for Democrats, independents and even some Republicans, who are switching registration to vote in the primary.

Me? I can’t lie or play it down the middle. I’m an Obama supporter, although I have many friends supporting Clinton. I expect whichever candidate wins, and I expect it to be Obama, Democrats will form up into one united, powerful mass and support the nominee.

Well, here I am again dissecting a personal campaign loss.

I’ll figure out the whys and wherefores later and just thank those who decided to support me. The school referendum made it a strange and complicated contest. I, as the Democrat, opposed the $62.5 million bond issue, while Steve Conary, my opponent, supported it.

Life in America is about choices….although I’ll admit that it seems a little confusing that a measure that went down so badly led to a supporter of it getting elected, but such is politics.

And I have to be honest, a lot of my fellow Democrats supported the referendum and many told me not to admit that I opposed it. But those of you who know me, that’s not my style, I tell people what I really think, even if I know they don’t agree with it. The Bond issue was an overreach, an excessive grab at money without looking at the overall consequences of the expense. We quite literally cannot afford to govern like that.

Hopefully, the school board will come to its collective senses and present an affordable, reasonable plan for fixing the high school — renovations that almost everyone agrees are needed. I’ll be happy to support a package of about $40 million — still a great deal of money and a burden for those on fixed incomes, but one that better balances the entire community’s needs.

If, however, the board comes back with another package similar to this one, (and the rumor is now $70 million) I will work actively against it and more importantly, make sure board members pay the political price in 2009.

As for my own future, I hope to be invited to serve the township in some capacity and beyond that, well, we’ll see what the future holds.

Again, thanks to all who supported me and my efforts to bring about change in Pocopson Township. That fight continues.

It was kind of hard to miss, former Penn-Delco school board president Keith Crego doing the perp walk on the 11 o’clock news, his attorney crying foul because he wasn’t allowed to surrender himself away from the prying eyes of the TV camera.

Obviously, I know that Crego is innocent before proven guilty — this is America, after all. But I also know a few more things, too. Crego was the VP of the Aston Republican Party and identified himself as state Rep. Steve Barrar’s campaign manager in 2004 when Crego was at his full power — and saw himself ultimately replacing Barrar in the state house. And while I did a pretty good job of shooting myself in the foot in Aston — having totally misread the township — Crego’s non-stop whisper campaign, which basically amounted to "Mike’s really fat and dresses funny" didn’t help much either. So, I can’t describe myself as a Crego fan.

In my opinion — and that’s all there is, at this point — Crego was dirty long before the whole Quick Start scheme was launched. I had bits and pieces about a phone-system bid-rigging scheme he was tied up with in 2003 and 2004, but never could put all the pieces together. Why go after my campaign opponent’s manager? Source after source kept suggesting that if Keith Crego was involved, so was Steve Barrar — joined at the hip — even allegedly in their social pursuits of the two married men of young women in the bars of Aston. Barrar has denied that allegation, repeatedly, although he has been dogged by stories about his alleged infidelity both in Delaware County and in Harrisburg. An unfair whisper campaign by his political opponents? Possibly. Although the same whispers about Crego turned out to be true.

Frankly, though, one’s personal behavior probably shouldn’t be enough to get people asking questions about whether someone belongs in office — one of the truisms of politics is that politicians screw around, just like journalists do, and probably metal workers, cops, and donut makers. Maybe we should be more shocked when we discover someone not cheating on their spouse. (Which, by the way, would be me. I’m married to a woman who owns a lot of sharp instruments and knows how to use them to painful effect — so while I can’t claim moral superiority, I’d like to think common sense — and the fear of pain — keeps me out of trouble).

But now the questions have to run much, much deeper. Did state grant money end up in this alleged day care scheme cooked up by Crego? Was Barrar an innocent victim of his association with Crego? Or a participant? These are unpleasant, uncomfortable questions. But they must be asked. And we need to have real answers.

In the larger sense, Crego’s alleged behavior is a symptom of a larger problem in Delaware and Chester County: because of decades of political domination, the Republicans feel a little bulletproof, that they can do virtually anything and not be made to pay for it at the ballot box. Let’s not forget the saga of Curt Weldon, who was so out of touch, he thought the law didn’t apply to him — and often defied the president. Joseph "Skip" Brion, the chair of Chester County GOP feels like he can put up virtually any candidate, no matter how unqualified, as a reward for service rendered to the party (usually bringing in money). And to date, the people of Chester County have been unable to do anything about it.

This is the year that changes that. The Democrats have strong, highly qualified candidates — which differ greatly from what the GOP is dishing out: for Register of Wills, they have a housewife; the Democrats have an experienced bank trust officer with vast experience at dealing with wills; for Recorder of deeds, they have a young attorney, with a curious record of police incidents and no experience managing a budget and equipping an office on the taxpayer’s dime, while the Democrats have a candidate who does exactly that for a large school district; they have a sheriff candidate who had no law enforcement experience when she took office, the Democrats have a candidate with 27 years of state police experience — the list goes on, of course, but you get the idea.

The Republicans keep showing that they think they can do pretty much what they want and you, the voter, won’t do anything about it.

On November 6, you have a chance to send a reality check, let them know you will do something about it. Really, you’ll be doing yourself and the GOP a big favor. Because if the Republicans don’t get a wake-up call shortly, how long do you think it will be before we see our very own "perp walk" in West Chester?

If you’re reading this, there’s a 50-50 chance you know that there’s a new front end for this site, and this blog has been relegated to the back corner, where it is supposed to behave (at least for the time being).

As a Web development guy, I think my site is pretty sharp…and I hope that people find it easy to use and find the content worthwhile. I’d like to point you to another site I just finished, www.timtrott.com

Tim is running for Chester County District Attorney and is one of the sharpest, most talented guys I’ve ever worked with — in or out of politics. I’m hoping the people of Chester County take a close look at this race — and all of the others — and not just vote out of habit.

In another of the races I’m working on, Kevin Fitzpatrick is running for Recorder of Deeds and he has a very nice Website of his own. His opponent is Ryan Costello and I’ve been working on opposition research on him — and some of the stuff that’s coming up, police reports and all, is, well, a little concerning. While I can’t go into detail at this point — I’m trying to firm up all of the details — you have to wonder what Joseph "Skip" Brion was thinking when he decided the Chester County GOP would support Costello over David Jenkins, the former deputy in the office. Sure, Costello appears to have a ton of money and is spending it like water, I’m hearing — but you have to hope that at the end of the day, it wasn’t just about the Benjamins for ol’ Skip.

Of course, with the way Brion has comported himself, attacking freshly-minted widows for daring to take off a few days, to well, grieve, and the way he totally tap-danced around the whole "selling off the county pension plan to the highest campaign donator thingy," you wonder whether estimable Mr. Brion is sharing tips on denial with our beloved President.

Makes you think, though, doesn’t it? Wait, wasn’t I supposed to be behaving? Darn. Gotta work on that.

Having spent most of the summer either working feverishly on getting a book out the door or away on vacation, finally, I can say I’m back. Mildly sunburned, of course, as I remain the world’s whitest man (even with SPF 50, I burn like a marshmallow kissin’ a blowtorch) , but I’m back and ready for action.

And I have a bit of news: in addition to running for Township Supervisor, I’ve been asked to help out on the Democratic Row Office races. While I have a new front end of this site coming for election purposes (look for it at the end of next week) I’ll be discussing some of the county-wide issues here (and the new site has link to this blog, so it won’t be much harder to find my crazed rants), albeit less like the cranky old journalist I was and more like the cranky old political operative that I am.

I’ve promised to be nice to my fellow Democrats (for now) and if I don’t have something nice to say, I won’t be saying it. Which means you probably won’t be seeing references to Gov. Ed Rendell or State Rep. Bill DeWeese until sometime in January. Thankfully, I will be able to honestly write lots of nice things about all of the Chester County Democratic Candidates for 2007 — the single best, most qualified slate of candidates this party has put up in decades and maybe longer.

Credit for that must go to party chair Michele Vaughn. While I’ve had my issues with her (and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look back through here and see those issues) in the past, since becoming chair, she’s worked to unify the party, get things organized and she’s been highly supportive of party candidates. Vaughn has helped to create an atmosphere were we can finally run real and competitive county-wide races and she deserves the credit for it. Obviously, she’s not alone in doing this work, but I think it merits mentioning in this space.

I’m not going to discuss our plans for the fall because I know how much GOP County Chair "Skip" Brion enjoys surprises and I’d hate to ruin some good ones.

So stay tuned.