This seems to be an issue that won't go away. A small cadre of Democrats loyal to our County Chair have been spreading lies and misinformation about Commissioner Tom Gajewski's position on open space preservation. This began last spring when an unnamed Republican faxed false information that the Home Builders Association had given Tom $90,000 to end the farmland program. Lou Wentz, a Committee man from Pike Township then emailed the information around the County and to Dems in his township.
Since then the myth has taken on a life of its own. I wrote here after seeing the Wentz email and debunked the claims. They continue including a letter to the editor in this week's Eagle. Let's set the facts straight...again.
I attend the County Commissioners meetings and have been for about three years. I was there when the bond issue extending the open space program was discussed and voted upon. I sat there and watched Barry Rohrbach from the HBA storm out in anger after the vote. All three of our incumbent Commissioners are staunch supporters of farmland preservation. All three faced the HBA and voted against them, including Tom Gajewski.
I sat there and listened to the debate. Never have I heard Tom Gajewski say he doesn't support this issue. The only questions he had back in December 2006 when this was approved was how much more to spend and whether the taxpayers should have some input on the amount via referendum. The latest bond issue was for an additional $25 million, an amount which isn't chicken feed. Tom's only concern was getting feedback from the county residents to be sure they continued supporting the program.
The Home Builders Association has endorsed him again this year and many are assuming that means he's selling out to the developers and they are spreading this tale. Sadly to say the people doing this not only are fellow Democrats but Party officials. The County Democratic Party has been actively working against one of our elected officials.
Tom Gajewski was in the real estate business and is active in real estate. He and his wife own numerous properties. As such they interact with and know numerous members of the HBA. If you examined their membership list you'd discover the vast majority of HBA members are your regular tradesmen, remodelers, contractors, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, etc. These are the people Tom knows and who know and support him. Please don't assume that because of this Tom Gajewski is going to pave over Berks County. That's Leinbach, not Gajewski.
Committee people have jumped to conclusions based on lies, lies perpetrated to bring down our Democratic majority. Unfortunately some of our own people bought into the scheme and spread false rumors. It's one thing to have to fend off baseless attacks from the other Party, another to have them coming from behind your back.
Where is our County Chair in all this? He should be getting the message out that actions such as these aren't to be tolerated. Those involved are his supporters however, his band of loyalists. Perhaps that's why he's tolerating the intolerable. Our County Party is disintegrating around us and becoming a train wreck and it's because of Tom Herman's leadership at the helm.
Correction: I meant to say it was Ron Rohrbach of the HBA, not Barry Rohrbach. Sorry for any inconvenience to Barry who does a fantastic job with Crime Alert Berks County.
John--after the primaries you praised a burying-the-hatchet ceremony in Delaware that symbolized rivals for nominations joining in party unity. Today at the County Committee Meeting, there was loud applause, led by Tom Herman, when Kevin Barnhardt said that he and Tom Gajewski would run together as a unified Democratic ticket. It appears to me that the candidates and the Committee members and the Party Chair have put the primary behind them and are now focussed on electing all of our Democratic candidates. Lou apologized months ago for reporting that Tom received $90,000 from the HBA, when in fact he had only received $4,000. (Lou said he'd received bad info from a source he considered reliable.) Lou is working hard for entire Democratic ticket, and has been a terrific grassroots leader. He and his team inspired me to become a Committee person, and I admire their hard work.
Land preservation is very important to many of the Committee members and they will surely continue to press that cause with Tom Gajewksi and elsewhere. Every morning I wake to the sounds of a once-beautiful farm down the road from me being turned into McMansion blight by the Heritage Building Group, which has destroyed a Native American archaeological site eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and polluted the historic canal here. I deplore the HBA and, while I regret Lou's numerical error, I am grateful for all efforts to expose the HBA's involvement in county and state politics--including yours. I hope that you write more about that.
Posted by: Cynthia Baughman | July 28, 2007 at 09:34 PM
I had to write this because some members of F Troop have taken that hatchet and planted it in Tom's back...again.
Posted by: John Morgan | July 28, 2007 at 10:04 PM