The Observation Deck

As a partisan Democrat, I have enjoyed watching Republicans squirm in recent months during the Trump candidacy. Elected officials like Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and Rob Portman have tried to avoid speaking about "the elephant in the room"...that is, Trump's numerous outrageous and offensive comments and scandals.
The recent "Access Hollywood" revelation crossed a line, so many of them tried disown Trump while not offending his followers.
Some that originally endorsed Trump unendorsed him on Friday, then re-endorsed him by Monday.
That's classic case of political cowardice.

We have a similar situation here in Lakewood.
The Lakewood Democratic Club recently did an unprecedented purge against opponents of Republican Mike Summers's Hospital Deal.
Rather than being outraged, most of our elected so-called "Democrats" have been painfully silent on the issue.
I asked for a comment on the Dem Club Facebook page, and got none.
I repeated here on the Deck for those that don't do facebook.
Mr. Anderson has spent a lot of time here in recent days, but has not responded to the straightforward question: Do you support the recent purge?

These folks are hoping that the Purge issue just "goes away"....just like how Ryan and Portman hope that Trump just "goes away".
They don't want to offend Karolyn Isenhart, but they don't want to be on record publicly defending a purge against members.
Let's keep in mind....one of "The Purged" was an actual delegate to the DNC in Philly.

Thanks to Dan O'Malley for already addressing this issue here over a week ago.
Cindy Marx addressed the issue when I spoke to her, but has refused to comment online.
As for the rest...why are they hiding? Is that leadership?

And the Democratic Club's website is still down. Apparently they don't want anyone to see the bylaws which clearly showed the club leadership was making up the rules as they were going along.

Kate McCarthy wrote:And the Democratic Club's website is still down. Apparently they don't want anyone to see the bylaws which clearly showed the club leadership was making up the rules as they were going along.

Post the bylaws here.

Our best friend ever, the Internet Archive, has several captures of the site, e.g.

https://web.archive.org/web/20160403111 ... crats.com/

Bylaws are available from most of them:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160404050 ... e-2014.pdf

Let us not forget that up until some persons that want to save the hospital joined the group, it was the Mayor's private country club. It appears that when he realized he could not force his will on some of the members, he allegedly turned to unethical means to purge the group.

I've been a lifelong Dem.

I thought it was the party of fairness, decency, and inclusion.

The Lakewood Dem Club is an affront to any principled person.

It is a sick and twisted "country club" for a select few. Don't try to pretend you are a legitimate dem club anymore because you've all shown, quite publicly, that it's a charade.

I hope Tristan and others can take back the group and restore it to a REAL Democratic club.

Bridget Conant wrote:I've been a lifelong Dem.

I thought it was the party of fairness, decency, and inclusion.

The Lakewood Dem Club is an affront to any principled person.

It is a sick and twisted "country club" for a select few. Don't try to pretend you are a legitimate dem club anymore because you've all shown, quite publicly, that it's a charade.

I hope Tristan and others can take back the group and restore it to a REAL Democratic club.

The current club caters to the needs of upscale white folks. It is completely out of step with the demographics of the National Democratic Party and the City of Lakewood.

I think I'm "upscale white folks" and this Dem Club doesn't apply to ME, EITHER.

Anderson is spending lots of time on the Deck these days, which is interesting since "Team Summers" claims that only six people read this forum.

So why won't he address the "Democratic Purge" issue?
The questions are very simple.

Michael Deneen wrote:Anderson is spending lots of time on the Deck these days, which is interesting since "Team Summers" claims that only six people read this forum.

So why won't he address the "Democratic Purge" issue?
The questions are very simple.

It's "post" Mike. Not "read". Go back and find that screen shot of what posted and get back to me.

And to be fair, there is a couple of new names (to me anyway) that have posted in the last day.

I'm here everyday buddy. Not going anywhere.

Patrick Wadden wrote:It's "post" Mike. Not "read". Go back and find that screen shot of what posted and get back to me.

Your implication was that this forum gets little traffic....which is obviously not true.
However, I appreciate that you didn't deny being part of "Team Summers".

My implication and statement earlier in the week was to be exact that it gets limited participation (posts). And that all threads are hijacked by the 6-7 that post here and get turned into hospital threads.

The amount of times that a thread is viewed is clearly stated.

Call me anything you want. If voting for 64 makes me a part of team summers. Then I am a part of team summers.

Patrick Wadden wrote: I'm here everyday buddy. Not going anywhere.

That's good to read.
Also, Councilman Anderson's comments here. I wish more members of our government would join in, regardless of whether I personally agree with them.