A WORD ON ‘THE PUBLIC GOOD,’ CHIEF WYNN RESPONDS, MORE QUESTIONS on STEROIDsGATE, and THE PLANET CHALLENGES TIM FARKAS TO A BOXING MATCH
BY DAN VALENTI
‘Phony Bastard’ Apparel, Items: A Sensation Waiting to be Born
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, APRIL 20, 2001) — SECOND ADD — We have slapped a copyright (C) on “Phony Bastard,” and have our second fortune lined up with PB T-Shirts, Mugs, Keychains, and the like. There will be a Phony Bastard float in this year’s parade. We will license Phony Bastard stemware.
For example, the T-Shirts will come in a variety of colors and sizes. Each will feature the city’s famous checkerboard seal. There will be three basic wordings, depending upon who wears it or, if a gift, who is the intended recipient:
Model 1 — “I’m a phony bastard.” Perfect as a gift for Jonathan Lothrop, for example, or, if you are upset at that, Dan Valenti.
Model 2 — “I’m NOT a Phony Bastard.” Perfect for Mike Ward, because he told us he was not. The Planet will receive lots of these as gifts. Joe Nichols, Melissa Mazzeo, and kevin Sherman also come to mind.
Model 3 — !NEW! Added to the line for The Planet’s fashion consultant, Da Gen. This one reads: “I’m with Phony Bastard” with an arrow pointing to your side. Perfect for when you’re walking with someone like Lothrop, or, again, if you are one of The Planet’s many critics, Dan Valenti.
SEE YA TONIGHT, CHAPTERS BOOKSTORE, AT 6 PM FOR BASEBALL, GOD, & OTHER NON-SEQUITURS. “OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.” LOVE TO ALL.
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Wynn, Granger, PPD, and Planet: We’re All in It for The Public Good
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, APRIL 20, 2011) — FIRST ADD — Busy morning on The Planet, with media commitments, a deadline just met, and other fun stuff. We again thank Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Wynn for his response to our recent postings and questions raised.
The Planet is second to none in respect for Wynn, both as a man and as a cop. We know him mostly in the latter capacity, through personal interaction and from reading his book on leadership (a topic which interests us greatly, since we have often spoken on it to businesses and conferences). We take the chief’s information at face value, realizing that as #1 command, he must balance a slew of interests that few realize. These interests involve many “audiences”: His officers, citizens and taxpayers, the mayor, city hall, home and family, the criminal justice system and courts, and others. It reminds us of the great Cuban righty, Luis Tiant, who could throw five different pitches from four different release points and six different moti0ns.
We also realize that Captain David Granger, as the man in charge if the internal investigation into SteroidsGate, has as a main loyalty the best for the men and women under his command. We fully understand why he would be concerned that there are leaks coming from the department. Every official agency reacts this way to leaks. It’s all about the flow of information. In a free society, and without compelling reason, information belongs to the public. The agencies generating that information, especially when it involves security and law enforcement issues, have a responsibility to control the information flow.
Information becomes a medium of exchange, a coin of the realm, that pays interest, can determine fortune or debt, be used to gain access or not, and, like other “coin,” be used as a measure of deciding the value of the objects to which they attach.
The Planet remains open to both and all sides of this story. We would love to sit down, on or off the record, with Chief Wynn and Capt. Granger, and we will do our best to make our time available if they think that will be helpful for the public good.
The Planet assumes that the chief, the captain, and the entire PPD shares the public good as our overriding, and practically ONLY, interest in the relevant topics.
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Chief Wynn Responds
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, APRIL 20, 2011, THE 1-STAR) — First in with Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Wynn’s reponse to our phone call of April 19. The chief responded by e-mail, which is great, because it is in writing.
Here’s what the chief wrote in an e-mail sent and received at 2:49 p.m. April 19:
Comments: Dan,
Got your message, left at the office this morning. Sorry for the delay in responding. I think this response fully states my position on these issues:
1. The “investigations”: Neither of the investigations identified on your site has a known connection to the PPD. The local LE agency investigated a steroid “importer,” who subsequently identified two local LE personnel. The Federal investigation targeted the alleged source of the steroids. We have no information that either of these investigations has any Pittsfield connection, beyond that already identified.
2. OT: I haven’t stopped all Drug Enforcement OT. I have asked all command staff, across all divisions to monitor and limit discretionary OT spending. We go through this process every year, as we closely monitor our budget, in order to stay within budget.
3. Road Jobs: All sworn personnel below the rank of Lieutenant are eligible to work outside overtime details. Many plain clothes personnel do so regularly. The decision by Investigators to work details is probably based more on scheduling changes, than any lost OT.
4. I have not issued any order to the Drug Unit to stay in Pittsfield. Our unit’s members are assigned to the Berkshire County Drug Task Force and have the authority to work county wide. Drug traffickers don’t respect jurisdictional boundaries and our investigators go where the cases take them. These operations generate leads which often develop into Pittsfield cases. The Drug Unit’s supervisors did request that they be allowed to temporarily focus their efforts closer to home and cut back on the number of operations they are running. This request was based on the demands presented by current investigations. I approved this request.
Much of the cost associated with our investigators working extra-jurisdictional cases is reimbursed through our Task Force agreement. The benefits to the City from participating in the Task Force far outweigh any other costs.
5. We have experimented with different schedules for the Drug Unit and many other personnel. We’ll keeping doing so until we find the schedules that work the best for everyone.
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The Questions Won’t Go Away, and Neither Will the Story Until there are Believable Answers
The Planet thanks the chief for this response. There are, of course, many outstanding questions:
* The two investigations into steroids, the chief says, have no “known connection to the PPD.” On the other hand, that does not say there is no such connection. There may be a connection that is unknown to the PPD and to The Planet.
* What does Chief Wynn make of the Granger Memo? He does not deny the veracity of the memo, with good reason. The veracity of the Granger Memo is beyond all reasonable doubt. For example, does the chief think it is an appropriate memo in content and tone?
* Does the chief share Captain Granger’s opinion that Planet Valenti is a “malicious and self-serving” website?
* Is the chief satisfied with the extent and scope of Capt. Granger’s investigation — five days long — into steroids that “nabbed” officer David Kirchner?
* Why did Granger’s investigation take only five days, when routine matters of far less importance often take up weeks and months of internal probe?
* Did Kirchner get favored treatment compared to other officers, who — according to PPD inside sources — say were railroaded because they didn’t have the right connections. If so, why? What, if anything, makes Kirchner special? Does he know too much? Having been cut a huge break in the slap on the wrist he apparently received, does that make him less apt to spill the beans on compromising information he may know pertaining to command rank within the PPD?
* Why did the actions of officer Kirchner come as a surprise to the PPD command?
* If Kirchner was involved in illegal drug activity and the PPD didn’t know it, what is the assurance to the public that Kirchner is the only PPD staffer involved in such activity? In light of this, does Capt. Granger recommend an independent top-to-bottom internal probe?
Boring Broadsheet: A Lack of Balls and a Challenge in the Square Circle: Tim Farkas, Will You Accept The Planet’s Offer to a Match?
Many more questions remain outstanding. SteroidsGate as a story will not stop until they have been answered. And where, in all this, is the Boring Broadsheet, that emasculated shell of its former shell. Tim Farkas, man up. Show you got a pair. Wait, on second thought, we can’t ask the impossible.
OK, so here’s the deal. Since you won’t debate The Planet on the role of journalism in the era of cyberspace and the media’s responsibility to the citizenry, The Planet makes this offer, of our own free will:
*We challenge you to a boxing match at Beloved Wahconah Park, three rounds, as the undercard when Jose Canseco and celebrity boxing comes to the ballpark. We have been working out on the heavy bag. You have the advantage of size and reach. We have the advantage of speed and stamina. The Planet vs. FarkMan? We box for our favorite respective charities. What say?
And riddle me this. A dog licks its balls because it can. Why doesn’t the Boring Broadsheet doesn’t lick its balls?
Answer: Because it has none. Phony Bastard.
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FIRST ADD LATER TODAY. UNTIL THEN, “OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.” LOVE TO ALL.
Nicely done! Who the hell is Tim Farkas?
The executive liar, oops I mean editor of the Berkshire Eagle.
Tim Farkas is the executive editor at The Berkshire Eagle who opted not to publish the fact that Angelo Stracuzzi was originally charged by Biddeford Maine police with soliciting 13 and 15 year-old boys for sex.
Rather, Mr. Farkas felt obliged simply to let it be reported that there was just one incident rather than the two that actually occurred.
All that Mr. Farkas could muster up is that it was only an assault and battery, and malicious destruction of private property involving one ‘young male’.
Mr. Farkas let stand the perp’s — Stracuzzi’s — version of events without publishing a single word of the Biddeford Police detective’s report on the two incidents.
Apparently, all the unseemly facts got in the way of The Eagle’s protecting Mr. Stracuzzi and Mr. Farkas was in the middle of that cover-up — along with his sleazy publisher boss, Andrew Mick.
Hope that answers your question as to just who Tim Farkas is.
Thanks for the answer. He does seem like a PB.
Speaking of Mr. Stracuzzi there is a rumor that he is working for Jack Downing at Vet. Home (not sure correct title) on West Housatonic St. Also something about Mr. Stracuzzi starting a credit union for the vets. I know he has been seen in town on several occasions. Has he no shame ?????
Why should he he is in good company after all here in the Beautiful Berkshires if you know what I mean…
Mr. Heller,
You win: So, I’m feeling some pressure, as a reporter, to peel the onion further, especially since the “citizen journalists” of the online world are mentioning the awful, tawdry details of the Greylock CEO case and I haven’t written word one — though I did, in a rather delphic way, allude to some bizarre sets of circumstances.
Didn’t the CEO’s mother warn him against picking up hitchikers?!
I was originally told, point blank, by two well-placed law enforcement sources that the underlying charges, the ones The Eagle avoided covering initially, stemmed from allegations that the CEO in question solicited sex from a group of boys or pre-teens up in Biddeford, ME.
At that point, I had no idea the allegations stemmed from two separate incidents spread over two evenings. I actually learned that from you, Mr. Heller. My source said, and I quote: “He offered money to some boys for a [blank].”
Once I learned of the disposition of the case from Maine law enforcement officials, I was disturbed by the underlying charges — the ones that were dismissed by the state of Maine.
I was fully prepared to report on these original, more disturbing charges, but my editor told me to hang tight until he ran it by the publisher (understandably, my editor didn’t want another Massimiano story on his hands, and frankly I didn’t want to be maligned in another full-page color ad in my own paper! Incidentally, what kind of thought goes through a publisher’s head when he accepts $20,000+ for an ad mocking his paper, his editor and, arguably, the only reporter at his paper who was asking any intelligent questions?).
Hold on, Heller, here it comes: The publisher barred us from reporting the awful details in the CEO story.
I was told by my editor that, according to the publisher, if the bank CEO had incurred more recent charges, whether they be in Maine, Connecticut or Massachusetts, for that matter, we could proceed. But we were NOT to focus on charges that were, by then, already a half-dozen years old. Particularly charges that weren’t ultimately pursued by the state of Maine, but rather dismissed by the state of Maine.
I’ve alluded to all of this before, Mr. Heller, but you apparently weren’t satisfied with my allusions.
Not for nothing, but this sort of back-and-forth discussion is nothing new in the world of newspapers, but rather something that boils down to “news judgement.” I’m sure you’ll have a field day with that phrase, but every paper in America, depending on its trajectory and mission, has its own sense of news judgment. Some papers are more to the left, others more to the right.
For a small, regional daily such as The Eagle, there is a pronounced sensitivity to the “names in the news,” the “power structure,” or, as you fellows frequently refer to them, the “GOBs.”
During my 3 1/2-year tenure at The Eagle, I was called into my editor’s office several times so he could give me “heads-up” about the publisher hearing such and such about me … that the publisher had heard that I was asking this guy about this matter, and that gal about that matter, etc., etc.
It wore on me, frankly, and I did feel that it inhibited me from doing my job as a reporter, which is to dig and ask questions, regardless of how unsavory the issue at hand is, or regardless of how powerful (or delusional?) the subject of the questions may be.
Very disheartening, indeed.
And I can honestly report that this was the first time, in my relatively long journalism career, that I ever felt the long arm of the publisher’s office sticking itself into places it had no right to be stuck. Pardon whatever unsavory imagery that phrase may conjure …
I won’t detail other cases of pulisher intrusion, but I often found myself in a defensive posture, defending myself against crimes, rumors and innuendo that simply weren’t true. In a word, I was disgusted, and my frustration was well known in the newsroom.
That aside, I can’t say enough good things about my managing editor, a native son of the county, who never shied away from hard news or news that may have rocked the boat. He was my rabbi, and I’ll always respect him for that.
On a final note, when an editor picked up a proof of the full-page ad (the one in which Massimiano, that powerful little man, maligns me as a reporter and threatens to sue me) and brought it into the executive editor’s office so we could digest its contents, the publisher very angrily stormed into the executive editor’s office and chastised we goofy news guys for examining the ad, which was promptly taken away from us. Again, welcome to bizzaro world.
Respectfully,
CONOR
PS — I aplogize, Mr. Valenti, for using your forum to respond to Mr. Heller, but his own blog spots don’t get any traffic, and, for better or worse, he seems to have found a new home on PlanetValenti. You should charge him rent, Dan!
CONOR
Many thanks for this revealing and honest-to-a-fault post.
I’ve always respected you, your work, and your methods.
You have given us “inside baseball” for what we’ve known for a while: The Publisher is running scared.
As for GMH, yes, his site gets no traffic, and he likes to leech aboard battleships like the SS Planet.
There will not be rent charged but we may be making some changes to the comments feature. GMH, naturally, won’t be pleased. Then again, nothing pleases him. I shall be in touch. I get to S’field now and then, and I’ll look you up.
Best of luck with the Republican. The Boring Broadsheet lost a good one,
DAN
CONOR BERRY!
Your reportorial presence in Berkshire County has been sorely missed!
Thank you for fleshing out more of the details regarding the Stracuzzi matter and how it came to be reported in The Berkshire Eagle.
“Cover-up! Eagle CEO ‘Barred..Reporting’ on Stracuzzi Sex Cases! — Awful Details”
SEE:
http://berkshireeagle.blogspot.com/2011/04/cover-up-eagle-ceo-barredreporting-on.html
Conor,
You will be missed. I cancelled my subscription the day you left (I was going to anyway). Do you have any insight on the SteriodsGate?
exec edittor of the boring broadsheet, refused the planet’s challenge for a debate. i like this approach, maquis queensbury rules. buddy lewis as ref
I wonder if Acting Chief Michael Winn knows that everyone thinks he is a big fool and an idiot. Not one person beloved a word of what he said. Not one person does not believe there is so much more going on and whatever it is, it must be UGLY.
Dan your Bloggs should be on topix. Shame on you for stooping to name calling. Grow up Dan! Show that your a man not a pussy.
You’re* Also as a feminist I find the word “pussy” highly offensive.
SCOTT
Agreed. This is GN’s weak attempt at relevancy. Humor him as best ye can.
OK How about girly boy?
Regarding Angelo… he has a gravestone at St. Joe’s cemetary with his name on it AND his now ex-wife’s name too. I wonder how she feels about that.
Thank you Mayor Ruberto for taking the time out of your schedule to do the event tonight at Chapters with Dan tonight, see you guys there.
Well Dan as I have said before your site is grate and I don’t care if some captain doesn’t like it. As far as Kirchner is concern I think the chief should have got rid of him because of what I have read about steroid use a how it could jeopardize someone employment in law enforcement and if that is true then this officer should have been sent on his way. I suggest that this officer resign and put this whole matter to rest and PPD can get on with their work and not worry about what is on your site.
Mr. Valenti,
Rather than waste time and energy with a lightweight like Tim Farkas, recommend you extend your challenge to Andrew Mick or hizzoner himself, James Ruberto.
I think Paul Dowd even with ALS can whip Dan’s Butt!!
Maybe. But can Tim farkas? He’s got his chance.
Heard the Punisher is wearing a t-shirt with Jose Canseco’s arm on it with a needle, (steroids) not cool for kids to look at, Charity or not. Then Canseco will be the Colonials first base Coach after the fight. So what does this message send to our youth? One thing is for certain after Canseco beats up the Punisher, Canseco will coach first base. The Punisher will be first base.
What about the undercard?
The Planet vs. Tim Farkas, executive editor of the Boring Broadsheet? What does Vegas have for a line?
There is no line, Planet. Farkas can’t make the weight by fight time. Everyone in Vegas knows the Planet is always on top of his game.
Diagnosing Siggies Freud’s letter, one could gather the half truth that is mentioned is probably the factor that would not want to be exposed, that would be the other half.
Dan Valenti:
In your First Add today, you write:
“We also realize that Captain David Granger, as the man in charge if the internal investigation into SteroidsGate, has as a main loyalty the best for the men and women under his command.”
Excuse me, but as the guy in charge of PPD’s Internal Affairs Unit, isn’t David Granger’s real job to ferret out corruption and wrongdoing inside the department and bring those people to justice?
If that’s what you think his gig is, and if Capt. Granger’s ‘main loyalty’ is ‘the best for the men and women’ of the department, then Capt. Granger is in the wrong job; he ought instead be the local police union president.
Right on T.V the IA guys are always dicks and feared by the regular cops.
Dan Valenti,
You write:
“The Planet is second to none in respect for Wynn, both as a man and as a cop.”
Question: Why?
Especially if this public official is not doing his job well and, at best, is being disingenuous with the public he is supposed to serve.
Chief Wynn intentionally kept you out of a press conference ultimately held privately behind closed doors with Berkshire Eagle editors.
Further, chief Wynn has done nothing so far but dissemble and mislead in every one of his public statements regarding the federal steroids probe.
Further, chief Wynn has not announced that he was undertaking any internal investigation of any kind into steroids usage in the department he controls.
Mr. Valenti, when you make public statements espousing grand admiration for a local public official who in reality has not proven his ability to deal honestly with what is going on under his watcch, then you do disservice both to your readers and to your publication’s own oft-stated goals.
Mr. Valenti, One additional point.
If you have such admiration for Chief Wynn’s leadership, why do you express so much indignation with the email Capt. Granger sent out to the police rank and file?
Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that Capt. Granger’s email was vetted thoroughly before it was sent by chief Wynn before the ‘send’ button was pressed on Capt. Granger’s computer keyboard?
Clarification: Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that Capt. Granger’s email was vetted thoroughly by Chief Wynn before the ‘send’ button was pressed on Capt. Granger’s computer keyboard?
GMH
You seem incapable of nuance and the multifaceted nature of The Truth of any event or person. It’s isn’t black and white. That IS Granger’s job, his men and women under command. If you give it more than your blind, knee-jerk though, you will understand what that resposibility truly entails. Geez, do I have to draw you a map. As for Chief Wynn, have you read his book? If not, buy it, then come back. You are many things, but naive isn’t one of them. Suggest you drop the ideological glasses and assess information in a more neutral way.
Mr. Valenti,
It wasn’t me who chief Wynn intentionally kept out of a press conference.
Had that been me, the chief would not have been able to get away so easily. He would first have been photographed attempting to slam The Eagle’s editor’s office door in my face.
Then, had he still made an attempt to prevent this journalist attending his press conference, then he would have had to call for police backup to make an arrest because this journalist would not have left so peaceable.
Matt Drudge would have been sent the story that same afternoon: Massachusetts Police Chief Arrests Journalist Seeking to Attend Chief’s ‘Private’ Press Conference.
But that’s the difference between your glowing admiration for these incompetents and my lack of same.
GMH
Yes, and that’s the point. It wasn’t you. You wouldn’t have gotten near this story. Your approach would have shut down all avenues. It’s clear you’ve never actually been a journalist or reporter, much less an editor. I’ve been all three, for a long time, and my methods work. Matt Drudge? Spare me? I am not him, either. I laugh at your proposed methods, which seem to come from the movies of other fiction. That’s not how it works in the deep muddy.
Mr. Valenti,
You do your way and I’ll do my way and we’ll see who breaks the most stories.
Refresh our collective memories, how many big stories have you broken using your methods?
Must you embarrass yourself this way. In 1976, I broke the Son of Sam story in Central NY. I was supervising coverage when the the Wilkes-Barre daily broke the story of Three Mile Island. Kid, I’ve broen more stories than you’ve written.
Mr. Valenti,
The two stories to which you refer, one in 1976 and the other in 1979: Please link to your by-lined initial report for each respective ‘scoop’, or post a PDF of the newspaper clipping on PlanetValenti.
What stories have you broken in the last five years using your methods?
No chance. We’ve broken a slew. More than you’ve written. You’re the great researcher. Do a content analysis going back to 1976 and up through yesterday.
Mr. Valenti, there’s a story about you giving a talk about writing and baseball back in 2008; is that the scoop to which you refer?
SEE:
http://nepamedia.blogspot.com/2008/03/former-tl-editor-dan-valenti-to-speak.html
Mr. Valenti:
You write:
“That IS Granger’s job, his men and women under command.”
Then what you are saying is that Capt. Granger has a built-in conflict of interest in his job description.
How can the guy in charge of the Internal Affairs Unit — charged with rooting out instances of corruption within the department — simultaneously be charged with keeping the troops happy?
I say meet u’s at the gig tonight and we’ll all break bread, what is exactly on the menu, Planet? Also, just ran across Jonathan Levine, say it isn’t so Planet, you haven’t been sparring with him for the undercard with fartass, have you? He had some sort of busted up right arm.
Say hey at the gig. Menu: eats, soft drinks, vino, literature.
you’re match with farkas would be interesting – how about a few more that would pack the place
jimmy g vs jimmy r. or johnny b. or
tom h. vs jimmy r. or
how about nichols-krol, marine vs, brown nose
for the main event Trish vs Pam – no last names needed – their faces flash across the mind like Snookie vs Madonna –
if Trish’s got anything left, one on one with Melissa, my $ on Mel, in like 15 seconds, but she’ll still lose, 8-3.
These are excellent, AB. Main Event: Pam vs. Trish. We could charge $500 a ticket for that one.
If I’m a betting woman, I’m going with the following:
*Jimmy G vs. Jimmy R (Jimmy R, by split decision)
*Nichols (Marine) vs. Krol (the nose that knows a powerful rear-end, when he can get his nose in there)-Nichols in a 80’s style Tyson knock-out
*Yon vs. caffeine (caffeine in the same fashion as Nichols)
*J. Lo (American Idol diva) vs. J. Lo (Pittsfield’s own divo)-Draw
*Lee vs. Budweiser-Lee DQ’d 30 seconds into fight. Lee shown in replays biting into Budweiser that would make even Mike Tyson jealous.
Dr. Adamo can do the testing before the matches. And the time keeper at the bell, of course, Gerry Lee. Three minute rounds. Mel would knock your fillings out.
@G M and Planet….It isn’t what you know its what you can prove….Training Day…. And a good reporter will go on to the next one!
Exactly. Knowing is one thing. Proving is another.
They said that in “Law Abiding Citizen”.
VALENTI ate at the Red Lion Inn tonight with Jim Ruberto and Deval PAtrick (and wives). This is from the phony who is the Champiopn of the Little Guy. Partick. I kid you not. Crawling to Valenti like he’s something. Little guy to little guy. Two Napoleons. Ask Nancy Fitz if the table received a bill,. This was the post-party dinner, VIP private room after the events at chapters in downtown pittsfield. I can forgive Mayor Ruberto. He’s on his way out. But Patrick. With Valenti? Ask that phopny bastard Valenti to deny all this and he wont.
If that were true, it’s like asking Liberal reporters in main stream media who party with Bill Clinton or Barack Obama to be impartial in their coverage of the guy– yeah, right.
Mr. Valenti,
Does Pittsfield Believer’s allegation hold water?
Did you dine this evening with Ruberto, Patrick and Co.?
I will not respond to the feverish comments of Pittsfield Believer. Why should I? We produced an event in downtown Pittsfield. Packed house. Chapters made money. The Pittsfield COlonials got great PR. Dinner after the event. Private.
For anyone to suggest that Gov. Patrick, an independent man, His Own Man, would want to dine with me … well, I won’t honor that with a response. GMH. Get a grip, man. The governor is a fine man, great politician, but please, get a grip.
Just for the sake of argument, mind you: What if I had dinner with Deval Patrick? He lives in Richmond. He’s a “neighbor.”
Better question who cares, that your business Dan, I bet Pittsfield Believer wish he could have dinner with Gov. Patrick.
Bet your ass. Pittsfield Believer would sell his first child to have the governor the way The Planet did tonight … That is, IF — IF — he did. We’re not saying!
Mr. Valenti:
You are dissembling.
Just answer the question:
Did you dine this evening with Ruberto, Patrick and Co.?
Yes or no?
Mr. Valenti,
If you dine as friends with the Mayor, and if that Mayor is stage-managing the Police Department’s ham-handed response to a federal steroids probe whilst simultaneously (and intentionally) NOT instructing that department to investigate and discover the extent of steroids usage and dealing within that department, then how do you honestly expect to be able to pose the tough, totally unfriendly questions that need to be asked of that Mayor with whom you just broke bread?
a valid point and one I think I have heard Dan make himself at one time
it does seem strange Dan that one minute you are ripping Marchetti a new one and then you dine and chat with him in the company of the exalted mayor and all of a sudden he is now Gods gift..
certainly took me back a step
DUSTY
We didn’t “dine” with PM. He showed up at “Baseball, God, and Other Non-Sequiturs.” We had a private talk before the event got started. The mayor wasn’t in “our company.” It has nothing to do with out past views or future views of his work. People need to understand that one can offer commentary and criticism at actions and still maintain relationships with people (or repair broken relationships that have no reason to be that way).
The Planet often “takes” people “aback,” so don’t let it concern you. Appreciate the honest input.
I think it was brave to write that about the intimidation, we back you 100%. It just goes to prove there is some really really evil stuff being hid. I like Glen also. I enjoy reading you both very much. There has been a lack of good reporting for a long time.
Would not dine withDeval if you paid me and paided for my meal,how did he ever get re-elected.Was really hoping Obama was going to get him away from us.
For the record, if I was paid and if my meal was paid for, I would indeed dine with any Liberal Democrat.
My preferences when dining out are Lobster and Oysters on the half-shell.
Isn’t phony bastard an oxymoron? Isn’t it good to be a” phony bastard”? Or a “fake illegitimate child”
It depends on how you think about it but you’re right nice job using your brain.