So we discover the Sussex GOP Treasurer called the police on the Sussex GOP on the same day that the Sussex GOP called the police on Blogger Frank Knotts. What’s wrong with these people and get a load of the lecture we got from a member of the executive committee.
Ladies and gems I just do not have a clue what’s going on with the Sussex County GOP and I lament. Many of these people are my friends, acquaintances, good people.
Then they elected a new guy as Chair and it went downhill from there.
First, well it’s just the strangest thing. But at the meeting, after carefully seated at the spot for the public, I was given two pieces of paper written by Vicki Carmean, the Sussex GOP Treasurer.
The entirety of Vicki’s brush with the law was covered Here in Frank Knotts’ Blog post.
I read the entirety of the story of how Carmean was confronted by Vince Calabro, Fred Silva and Bruce Fitzgerald during an Advisory Board meeting.
It’s quite a harrowing story though I never did quite understand what Vicki did that so angered these people. They demanded she resign, they accused her of causing the Sussex GOP great embarrassment (the Sussex GOP causes its own embarrassment, more on this later), they accused her of all sorts of things and ,according to Carmean’s version of events, would not even let her get out the door from the accusing fingers and loud voices.
It would seem that Carmean called the police for: “intimidations, Reckless endangerment, terroristic threat”, as indicated on the police report.
Is that all?
This happened on the same night that the powers-that-be called the police on Frank Knotts because he refused to sign in or used an X for a signature.
Carmean’s “crime” seemed to be dealing with unusual checks made out to disparate and confusing payees. Well she is the Treasurer and such positions require some sense of ethics.
Still and so, Carmean’s story, as told, is one-sided, to be sure. I’d be a willing ear to any of those attendees who wanted to tell me an alternate side to the story.
I knew about Frank’s brush with the police but this Treasurer thing has me spooked.
What the hell happened to all my friends and hard-workers in the Sussex county Republican party?
For we also have the matter of the “Western Sussex County Republican Party”, that so-called “unity dinner” to honor departing Chair John Rieley.
It was a confusing mess back in January when a dead organization was used to sponsor a party. Only the organizers didn’t know that Western Sussex County Republican party was bureaucratically deceased . So another group jumped and revived the dead group and meanwhile attendees to the Unity Dinner wrote checks to somebody here and somebody else here and….well it was a mess.
Right along, yon ladies and gems, I didn’t believe anything bad about this quagmire. Calabro was newly elected, his intentions were good.
In fact, the “solver” of this paperwork nightmare, the RD Chair of the 39th representative district, Don Petitmermet, a real nice schlub, picture below, said that the road to hell was paved with good intentions and he intended to re-pave the way.
So there were questions asked but Fred Silva, the Co-Chair, was abrupt. These people did not want to talk about this and throw in a couple of calls to the Delaware State Police and we have a mess.
Add to the mess that…VINCE CALABRO was nowhere in sight last night. Add a growl fest between Sherman “Duke” Brooks-former PR Guru of the Sussex GOP, and an ED in the 20th district, my own pal and buddy Bob Clark….and some on guys…..
WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD GUYS GONE?
I look around at John Rieley, Linda Creasy, Fred Silva….these are hard-working people of the local Republican party….good people. There’s Laurie Purdy, Duke Brooks and Rom Sams…former Sussex GOP Chair who asked compelling and right-on questions.
How could good people like this just let some kind of scam go on right in front of their eyes?
Because it was revealed on Knotts’ Blog earlier that Vince Calabro was listed as Treasurer of Lacey Lafferty’s PAC and what I’d been pooh-pooing right along seemed to be the case.
It certainly looked like Calabro was orchestrating a fundraising mechanism where monies could be filtered through to the Lafferty campaign. For it would not do for the Sussex GOP to donate money to any particular candidate’s campaign while the Western and Eastern Sussex counties can contribute to candidates according to their members or however it is done.
I really didn’t believe this but for all the hemming and hawing and calling police and rather silly explanations from the Lafferty campaign….and now Vince Calabro doesn’t show up at one of the more important meetings of his Chairmanship thus far?
There was confusion as to how much money, in terms of checks or checks AND cash, for this unity dinner, with a variation of over $1,000 between cash and checks. Where did the cash go?
Fred Silva told us that Vince tends to run like the dickens once he gets the “bit” in his mouth and I’m not at all sure that’s what we need in a Sussex GOP Chair.
But the absolute awful, most horrific thing of the night, was Ken Currie’s wife…I think, got up and chastised those of us DARING to question all this confusion.
I resented that tirade and left immediately after. What the hell is wrong with wanting all this explained? I know Ken Currie makes a lot of money and his wife thinks a couple of thousand bucks is but small change. But to many of us out here in la-la land that’s a lot of money and for an ED to carry on like this woman did makes me ill.
No class. No class at all.
So there it stands yon ladies and gems, a Sussex GOP in tatters, fighting with its Treasurer, Chairman that does not show up, ED’s that flip the public the bird and call us names.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL MY FRIENDS?
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NEXT : The Sussex County council, food carts and why can we rip out signs improperly placed on state roads but NOT trash?
