November 2, 1948. The Chicago Daily Tribune, using a skeleton crew because of a newspaper strike, needed to get its election edition on the streets. Returns were slow coming in, but the staffers were sure that Harry Truman, the seemingly-unpopular successor to Franklin Roosevelt, would be soundly defeated by New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey.
Thus was born the infamous banner headline "Dewey Defeats Truman". Printed and delivered to hundreds of news stands. Oops . Late returns showed that the gap between Truman and Dewey was closing. Panic gripped the Trib office. All able bodies were sent out with cars and trucks to retrieve the thousands of papers already on the stands, and outside the homes.
Surviving copies today can bring over $1000. And the story is legend in every American newsroom and press shop. Especially on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. No one wants to be the next Chicago Daily Tribune.
No wonder this week is the Black Hole of Politics for The Free Press. Because we go to print late Tuesday morning, and the election results aren't available for twelve more hours, management has made the very wise decision not to predict the future. They don't want to be seen sixty years later as an Oops . Even for $1000 a copy.
But there are still election stories to be told. The votes have been cast. The winners are celebrating, and the losers aren't. But if the old adage "It's not if you win or lose, but how you play the game" is applicable to politics, the final tally doesn't tell the whole story.
Let's start with borough council president Ray Fulmer's letter to The Free Press on November 3, criticizing his opponent, David Zaiser. The problem isn't so much what he wrote as what he left out...
What he wrote: "In the past four years council has worked successfully to provide the borough with a $3 million state-of-the-art swimming pool."
What he omitted: That $3 million pool was supposed to be a $2.2 million dollar pool. The final cost was a full 33% higher than the borough's "expert" architect, Ted Wallover, calculated. The mistakes was known before construction began, but council kept him as the "expert", and paid him in full, more than $130,000. You, the taxpayers, paid for the mistakes. And fees went up dramatically.
What he wrote: " Two years ago council hired a new police chief and, with his valuable input, upgraded the department's law enforcement tools including weapons, clothing, and vehicles".
What he omitted: Scott McElree is an excellent chief. But the borough needed to hire him because they had totally lost control of Jim McFadden, who isolated Quakertown from the rest of the county, incurring the wrath of other departments and county officials. The upgraded tools and weapons were necessary because McFadden kept the department twenty years behind. Officers reported having to defend themselves with flashlights!
What he wrote: " The rate increase for water and sewer service was necessary to finance a major $10 million upgrading of the borough's infrastructure, an upgrading that will serve the community for the foreseeable future."
What he omitted: The $10 million upgrade was required today because council had deferred the necessary maintenance and replacements for decades, forcing the cost, which should have been shared by all residents since the 1970's or 1980's, to fall entirely on the people who live in the borough now.
What he wrote: "Implementation of an historical overlay to protect our historically significant structures is nearing completion."
What he omitted: Quakertown is virtually the last municipality in Bucks County to have its historical buildings unprotected. Other towns safeguarded their history 30 or more years ago. Borough council did nothing. And, despite Fulmer's rosy outlook, the overlay still isn't done, two years after it was started - by Quakertown Alive!, not council.
What he wrote: "Zaiser also suggests that Quakertown citizens need a reason to be proud of their community. He must have missed the entire Sesquicentennial Celebration."
What he omitted: No one missed the Sesqui. It was a wonderful celebration of Quakertown's past. And the past is what Fulmer understands best. The borough would be far, far better off if council, and those energetic volunteers who made the Sesqui memorable, put even half of that effort into planning the town's present, and future.
And over in Richland, consider the November 3 ads in The Free Press, noted as (exact quote) "Paid for Stevens for Supervisor courtesy of Patrick M. Murphy" Two quarter-pages, costing over $600, claimed that Richland was "wasting our tax dollars with expensive lawsuits" . And "For every dollar spent on Philadelphia lawyers is a dollar taken away from our police force, our road crew, our park and recreation committee".
The ads then urged residents to vote for Vic Stevens, who"promises to stop these expensive lawsuits threatening our quality of life".
What was omitted: One of the lawsuits was filed by - Patrick M. Murphy! His wife is Stevens' campaign manager. The only way for a defendant like Richland Township to "stop" an active lawsuit is to fail to defend it, or negotiate a settlement. Either way, Stevens' buddy Murphy gets a payout, from those same taxpayer dollars, for a lawsuit where he was replaced as township Emergency Management Coordinator by Governor Rendell. And, on top of that, Murphy is also suing Stevens' opponent, Craig Staats, for calling the suit "bogus"!
It will be the best $600 Murphy ever spent if his ads helped get Stevens elected, and get Murphy paid. Of course, those taxpayer dollars would be taken away from our police, road crew, and parks. Threatening our quality of life. Along with "Dewey Defeats Truman", lets also avoid "Murphy Defeats Richland".