"Do you really want Orloff and his puppets controlling QCSD? Do you want your kids entering a public school system on par with some Christian school, where kids are socially inept, ill-prepared for human sexuality, learn creationism instead of evolution, and most importantly, are overlooked by colleges and universities? There are some things more important than low taxes." - Richland candidate for supervisor Brian Kline, May 22, 2007.
There you have it. The real Brian Kline - the man who claims to be defending "our Bucks County values" - venting his twisted, personal anti-religious, anti-tax control, anti-Rick Orloff agenda in one neat little paragraph. For anyone who might have even considered that Brian Kline would make a rational supervisor, fuhgetaboutit. His true ideals were revealed in his May 22 email rant to Richlandtown councilman John Norvaisas, who has long begged his fellow Democrats to stop their personal attacks and deal with real issues. And there is more:
Norvaisas: "Brian, it's about our taxes, not Rick Orloff or the other side. Don't you get it? The Dr. Leight types keep our raising our taxes and the schools are not getting much better. I am a taxpayer first, not a councilman, not a Democrat, I'm a fed-up taxpayer! I guess I'm sick of you RCA people only caring about what Rick Orloff is doing, and not caring about what's best for the taxpayers".
"I think you need to get away from Patrick Murphy (the Richland hearing aid salesman, not the Congressman) and his hate for Rick Orloff and start to worry about the taxpayers! Who cares what Rick Orloff is doing! What are you going to do as a candidate for supervisor? Are you going to hate and point fingers like Patrick Murphy, or are you going to lead and show people what you want to do to clean up the township? Thanks, John".
Kline: "No, this is about Rick Orloff. It's about Orloff trying to gain control of the school board. Why? Out of revenge because the board denied him a $10K contract last year, and for right-wing political reasons. If the 'reformers' gain control, Orloff has been promised Sylvia Lentz's $100K (Business Administrator) job."
Do you folks who choose Christian schools agree with Kline that your kids are socially inept, ill-prepared, and ignored by colleges? Or how about Kline's fantasy that Orloff is spearheading a right-wing takeover of QCSD, complete with Creationism? Actually, three of the four "Reformers" belong to St. Isidore's Catholic Church in Quakertown, along with current board president Kelly Van Valkenburgh, administrators, teachers, and counselors. Not exactly a hotbed of religious zealotry.
An equally ridiculous belly-laugh is that Orloff has been promised, or would even want, the Business Administrator job. Legally, the only position the board has direct responsibility over is the superintendent. Even a full board of nine "reformers" could not target any other employee for termination. Kline's lack of knowledge of the law is as laughable as his "prediction", which would require Orloff to take a substantial cut in pay, and a quantum leap in aggravation.
"Revenge" for being denied a $10,000 contract? Kline never lets the truth get in the way of a good accusation. Orloff is a CPA, a Certified Internal Auditor, and a member of the state committee that oversees accounting standards of municipalities and school districts. His full-time business is saving these agencies money - saving citizen tax dollars. His bid to perform an Operational Audit of QCSD's budget was $5000 less than the other bid received, but the directors chose not to open their finances to professional scrutiny.
Despite not being hired, Orloff still demonstrated his good faith intentions by showing the district, at no charge, how to increase income by up to $1.2 million, simply by developing a more sophisticated approach to cash management. And that was just one small area. Apparently the change was never made, but Orloff still contends that far more of your tax dollars can be saved if the thousands of budget items are studied by an expert.
The fact is, if anyone is seeking revenge here, history seems to show that it is Kline! Those who know him say that he is obsessed with besting Richland Township, and particularly Orloff. This vendetta started back in 1995, when Orloff defeated Kline for supervisor. In 1999 Kline ran again, and lost to Steve Tamburri. Then, Craig Staats overwhelmed Kline's buddy Vic Stevens in 2005. Finally, George Dager topped Stevens in the primary for school board last month, in a contest that was particularly embarrassing because Stevens even lost the Democratic vote to Republican Dager.
Kline's defeats aren't limited to elections. Earlier this year, he filed suit to invalidate the petition signed by 1400 people to change the way school directors are elected. Orloff was one of a group that circulated the petition, intended to allow all QCSD residents to vote for all directors, instead of the current regional system that unfairly protects incumbents. The judge embarrassingly threw out Kline's challenge without even a hearing.
Kline's supposedly pro-QCSD stance reeks of hypocrisy. Unlike you, he personally pays nothing to support our school district. No school taxes. No real estate taxes. That 50 percent increase didn't affect him one penny. For most of the last 12 years he lived, and worked, in Virginia and Washington D.C. He still registers his car down there, 200 miles away. Why? He wrote to Norvaisas "We have to pay our dues at the local level to get real power in Harrisburg or DC". He is almost 40, single, no children, and, when in Richland, lives with his father.
Aside from his radical views on religion and taxes, Kline's overall attitude is entirely out of touch with those "Bucks County values" he trumpets. And, he is actually comfortable having his intolerance and deception published to the community. He smugly taunted Norvaisas "Now run off John and go report to Woldow".