It looks like the political honeymoon is over for Mike and Amy Zowniriw.
Sources in the Richland Democratic party say that, although Mike is a Greenie, he and his wife hoped to influence the Dems to endorse the Zowniriw's personal choice for supervisor in the upcoming election. Sue Cooke. A registered Republican. And co-chair of the Richland Citizens Alliance.
If the Zs thought that the Dems would just say "Yes, sir! Yes, ma'am!", they received quite a shock. Mike's former allies had no interest in his hand-picked buddy. Instead, they went with a 67-year old retired school teacher, Vic Stevens, who, along with wife Lois, are also original RCA members.
Apparently the Dems concluded that it would actually be bad for a candidate to be endorsed by, and associated with, the RCA. So Stevens now claims to have resigned from the group months ago! Cooke and Amy Z removed Stevens' picture from the RCA website, and now refuse to endorse their long-time member. And Stevens himself seems to be ignoring his connection, perhaps hoping you, too, will ignore it.
It must have been embarassing to Stevens that Mike publicly echoed Republican candidate Craig Staats' plan of controlling development by consolidating the township's water and sewer service areas. So Stevens took a backhanded slap at Z: "We have to break the cycle of supervisors rubber-stamping each other," he said. "We need another person in there to balance it off."
If you like controversy, you're going to love Vic Stevens. He's been the center of lots of it. Win or lose, he is upholding the tradition of confusion in local Democratic politics. The man has switched his party registration five times in 14 years . 1991 Dem. 1992 Patriot. 1993 Dem. 2000 Republican. 2002 Dem. But the donkeys in Richland are famous for this type of identity crisis.
Their last candidate for supervisor, in 2001, lived in Virginia. The woman who ran in 1999 and 1997 was a self-described "conservative Republican". Their hopeful for State Representative last year was caught falsifying his resume, and lost in a landslide. Many Dems even split their ballots to vote against him.
Two years ago, Governor Rendell removed a fellow Democrat from his appointed position as Richland Emergency Management Coordinator. The last Blue to be elected here was in 1987, and he later switched to the GOP. So it comes as no surprise that the current candidate has a checkered past.
It started in 2001, when Stevens was a member of the Preservation Board. The PB's stated mission was to purchase local land for open space. Grant money was available if the task was completed by a certain date.
However, three members, including Stevens and Cliff Annis, set off on a mission of their own, writing ordinances and doing plan reviews. This violated Pennsylvania's Township Code, and Municipal Planning Code, which reserved those functions solely to the Planning Commission. In fact, Richland almost lost the grant because they missed the date by which it had to be spent.
The board was in turmoil, and Annis was asked to resign. Stevens followed. Since then, PB members have worked together peacefully and successfully.
And, while Stevens claims to embrace preservation, in 2002 he appeared before the Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee to pitch his idea for a Route 212 Bypass that would take it around Richlandtown, cutting across active farms. The plan entailed condemning the land of a dozen Richland residents.
Most upsetting is the debacle at the Main Street Theater in Quakertown. Stevens, who had already quit once, was president of the board in July, 2004, and the finances were in disarray. They could not pay the bills, and had to ask Borough Council for $12,000 just to cover the electric.
Not surprisingly, board members were voted out. Stevens was removed as president. But, instead of honoring the results of that election, Stevens' group filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stay in power. The new board was appalled, and tried to work out a solution, but, according to the new president, Hazel Hilliard, they "were met at every turn by resistance and hostility".
In fact, according to news reports at the time, " Borough manager Dave Woglom offered to serve as an arbitrator. Hilliard agreed to sit down. Vic Stevens, head of the old board, did not, said Woglom."
It is now irrelevant who was "right". We know the result. The theater was closed and sold. The dramatic productions that should have been a part of this area's revitalization are gone. We all lost, and Stevens is as guilty as anyone.
The former owner of MST, whose dream was to bring Broadway to Quakertown, lamented, "How can these lawsuits be good for the community? The only good Vic Stevens is getting is his name in the press more because of the lawsuit. Maybe that was the plan? Currently the court is in the process of scheduling the second 'contempt of discovery' hearing. (Stevens) keeps refusing to provide information that the judge has ordered be provided."
Stevens began his 2005 campaign negatively, attacking a former supervisor, and a retiring one, although they are not even candidates. Perhaps this is an attempt to draw attention away from his likely opponent in November, Craig Staats, whose well-publicized plan to control development is already being implemented by Richland engineers.
Vic Stevens has been on the fringes of Richland politics, but never played a significant role. His time and energy have been spent mainly on the local historical society. He has a lot of history to overcome to reverse the Democratic curse.
As he himself said about Richland, "they'll have to live with what they choose."