WITH ADDITIONAL TEXT
Quakertown Borough Council - I challenge you to a public duel. The Truth at twenty paces.
You were offended that my column revealed your illegal no-bid contracts. You were offended that I questioned your paying over $170,000 in bills, knowing that you had never signed the necessary resolutions. You were offended that I exposed the stone delivery to Councilman Dan Williams, at taxpayer expense, and then asked why no one has been held accountable.
You were offended when I told the people about the Krupp disaster that cost them millions; about the bungled zoning negotiations with Richland for the age-restricted development; about the vote on unionization caused by your insensitivity to your employees; about the raw sewage flowing into the Tohickon Creek; about your failure to test the pool water over Memorial Day weekend; about David Woglom's no-bid top-of-the-line car.
And you were greatly offended that The Free Press editorial staff joined in the demand for public answers. Call me crazy, but aren't you supposed to be answerable for what you do? Richard Nixon hated the Washington Post.
Your long letter to borough residents ignored almost all of these wrongs . But it did make a ton of personal accusations against me, and the newspaper staff, the folks who were your buds before they started asking embarrassing questions. Qtowners didn't learn much about why you were so negligent, but they learned a whole lot about politicians being evasive, and blaming the messengers for the bad news.
So, elected leaders, let's get it all out on the table. LET'S DISCUSS ALL OF THE ISSUES IN AN OPEN SESSION OF COUNCIL. You and me. Under oath . No coaching from the borough manager, or solicitor, or audience. With your 80-something collective years of service, you certainly should put a (gasp!) non-resident to shame.
Show the people that I was wrong when I said that you don't understand what is going on around you. Show the people that I was wrong when I said that there were illegal no-bid contracts. Show the people that I was wrong when I said that council doesn't know what Woglom is doing. There are plenty of open questions, and plenty I haven't yet written about, so each of you can showcase your knowledge. We'll really set the record straight!
We can invite the local newspapers, and maybe a television station or two. But, most importantly, we can invite the residents of Quakertown to judge for themselves. Let them see the documents you've been hiding. Let them hear your explanations. Let them decide if I have only a "cannon of rhetoric", whatever that is.
And, I confidently offer this: If you can prove that I am wrong about the nine illegal no-bid contracts I found - based on the documents the borough has provided under Pennsylvania's Open Records Law - I will apologize and never write another bad word about you. However, if I am right, you must apologize to your town, and resign from council.
Here's your golden opportunity to silence me for good. If my columns are "insinuation, exaggeration, and speculation", expose me. In public. Show all of Quakertown the truth. No personal attacks. No name calling. Just my documents against yours.
P.S. A word about my working as an unpaid, volunteer columnist. Last month, my "reckless and destructive" column was honored for the second time by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association as the best in the state. Ahead of all of those "real" paid journalists, who write for a living. Some may even live in the towns they write about!
This was no accident. I was the Chief Investigator for the CBS-TV Factfinder Investigative Unit in Chicago. The PNA plaque fits right in with my three Emmys, three National Press Club Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize for television. The judges' comments included "I'd bet that some readers of The Free Press probably buy the paper simply for Woldow's column".
By the way, three other Free Press staffers have been similarly recognized by their Pennsylvania peers. Not bad for a small-town newspaper that Ray Fulmer laments has "forfeited its integrity".
The initial question raised in your letter bears an immediate answer: What do I want? Why have I revealed all of these problems? Apparently it is difficult for you to believe that someone - especially someone who does not live in the borough - actually cares about honesty, ethics, and proper management in government. I point the public finger on behalf of everyone you have disregarded over the years, and who do care, but don't have the public voice to say so. Silent Majority, this one's for you.
As to Mr. Fulmer's allegation that I am a "carpetbagger" who gives nothing back to the community: Ray, the "community" doesn't stop at the borough line. Perhaps it has escaped your notice (as so much has) that my 73-year old business right next door provides the livelihood for more than 600 people. And, remember the Hometown Heroes program I started last year that sent food and comfort items to Quakertown servicemen in the Middle East? I paid $600 in postage. Your council refused to donate a single penny.
In January, Councilman Dave Wilsey wrote to me, " Quakertown Farmers Market has always been perceived as part of our community and I dare say that for many people it put Quakertown on the map. I know of your long time commitment to the community at large, and your generosity, and I sincerely thank you for that".
He added "I wanted to be rid of Chief McFadden for many years. Everything you say on that subject is true. Thank you for putting the heat on until it got too hot for him to stay. You saved me alot of trouble.... I am not a supporter of everything council has done."
Council members, your letter claimed that I am "held to no standard of fact verification other than what we, the public, know to be true". You are not the public. The public is all of those people who elected you, and to whom you owe honesty and open government. I want them to "verify" our sworn dialogue. And you?
We'll all be waiting for your answer.