\u201cThe enemy of my enemy is my friend.\u201d \u2014 Ancient Sanskrit proverb.<\/p>\n
Wendy Wilson was one of the first friends I made when I moved to Scranton 30 years ago. I was new to the area and this newspaper, and many were not shy about their fervent belief that I didn\u2019t belong in either. Some of them were sitting in desks next to me.<\/p>\n
We were regional correspondents then, a tough West Scranton rumble doll and a clueless, transplanted \u201cyinzer\u201d learning about life and local journalism by doing both the best we could. Wendy eventually moved on to new things and I stayed here.<\/p>\n
All these years later, Wendy is still one of the best friends and best people I\u2019ve ever known. She is also a campaign spokeswoman for Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti. To some, this is somehow a scandal, as if long-term friendship is as transactional as a mortgage or a car loan.<\/p>\n
In my Wednesday column, I reported on MAGA Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan\u2019s \u201csurprise\u201d appearance at a Democratic fundraiser for Scranton School Board candidates. In the course of my reporting, I spoke with Director Robert J. Casey, who, unsolicited, texted me a 4-year-old photo of him with Bresnahan\u2019s now-wife, Chelsea Strub.<\/p>\n
Casey challenged me to ask why the mayor wasn\u2019t at the fundraiser, which I did. In that conversation with Wendy, I mentioned the photo and texted it to her so she could see it herself, something done millions of times a day by millions of people worldwide.<\/p>\n
Wendy shared the photo in what she thought was a private Facebook group and, as usual, it quickly hopped the fence, along with her ugly commentary on Casey. Casey then went on MAGA Republican convicted felon Bob Cordaro\u2019s WILK \u201cNewsradio\u201d show to cry foul to Bob\u2019s tens of listeners.<\/p>\n
I was disappointed that Wendy shared the photo and called to tell her so. She apologized and assured me the campaign will not use it. I considered the matter closed until pearl-clutchers in the MAGAcrat and MAGA Republican ranks predictably clamored to inflate \u201cPicturegate.\u201d<\/p>\n
My inbox soon swelled with unhinged accusations that I had \u201ccrossed a line\u201d and was \u201cworking with Wendy to get Paige elected.\u201d An email chain from one MAGAcrat in particular personifies the histrionic, hypocritical \u201cbacklash.\u201d In a series of screeds titled \u201cA step too far,\u201d a critic whose name I\u2019ll keep to myself let me know that I had angered and alienated \u201clong-term, stalwart Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have gone too far, Mr. Kelly. You should not involve yourself in a political campaign.where are your boundaries???!!!\u201d he wrote, wasting a bunch of punctuation and making a mockery of basic grammar.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have ruined your reputation with me and you have denigrated the role of news reporters\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
I responded firmly but politely that I shared the photo with Wendy simply so she could see it and had no clue she would share it. This guy was not about to fall for anything so simple as the truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Casey tells a different story and he is a democrat!\u201d the critic shot back. \u201cIt\u2019s his word against yours, and apparently most people are going to believe a lifelong Democrat over a biased, liberal \u2018opinion writer.\u2019 Again, I say shame on you!\u201d<\/p>\n
I gently reminded the guy that, \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be talking about this if Casey hadn\u2019t sent me the picture unsolicited. You seem like a decent guy. I like to think I am, too, but I don\u2019t take unfair attacks on my reputation lying down.\u201d<\/p>\n
The critic\u2019s tone softened a bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are well gifted as a writer; you are smart; you\u2019ve overcome a lot of adversity in your life\u2026,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI apologize if you thought I was attacking your reputation.\u201d He persisted in insisting I had a sinister motive for sharing the photo, but ended this installment with, \u201cGod bless you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought you were attacking my reputation because I read what you wrote, which was a series of attacks on my reputation,\u201d I replied. \u201cI did answer your question. I sent the photo to Wendy so she could see it for herself. That\u2019s it. No other reason. I\u2019m happy to communicate with anyone, especially people who don\u2019t agree with me. Sometimes I learn something or understand a different perspective. I\u2019m nobody special, just a fellow child of God trying to figure it out as I go. God bless you too.\u201d<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t bore you (or myself) with any more of this tedious exercise in futility. We may as well have been dickering over a mortgage or a car loan. The critic\u2019s relentless refusal to accept my good-faith answer reflects a fundamental flaw common among old-school Machine Democrats and hardcore MAGA Republicans alike \u2014 the cynical assumption that everyone is as disingenuous, paranoid and perpetually aggrieved as they are.<\/p>\n
My 20-plus-email exchange with the \u201clong-term, stalwart Democrat\u201d convinced me that this tempest in a teapot was a golden opportunity to spill the tea on what I see happening as the leaves fall and the faux outrages pile up on the rough road to November.<\/p>\n
Winter is coming for Machine Democrats and MAGA Republicans. The Old Guard is lashing out as fed-up voters dump antiquated, avaricious crony politics into the dustbin of history and Trump voters slowly awaken to the fact that they\u2019ve been had. (Soaring grocery prices and insurance company notices that health care premiums will double next year have a naturally chilling effect.)<\/p>\n
Desperate to cling to power, MAGAcrats and MAGA Republicans have quietly and clumsily cozied up to take down a common enemy \u2014 an outsider progressive woman mayor who embodies the overdue change they can\u2019t allow even themselves to admit is happening. The county and city Democratic parties are riven with civil war. The county Machine\u2019s cynical bid to install a replacement for departed Commissioner Matt McGloin failed. Voters will decide in a special election, something the party should have called for from the beginning.<\/p>\n
City Democratic voters backed the mayor in the primary. Their party \u201cleaders\u201d backed former failed School Board President Bob Sheridan, a supremely unqualified middle finger to the mayor. Machine operators don\u2019t seem to get that it was also a middle finger to many of the voters they claim to represent.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve known Robert J. Casey almost as long as I\u2019ve known Wendy. He\u2019s a longtime political fixture in city politics and we\u2019ve always enjoyed an amiable relationship. Our conversation on Monday was characteristically congenial. I didn\u2019t \u201caccuse\u201d Bob of inviting Rob, but merely asked him if the rumors were true. He said no, and that\u2019s what I reported.<\/p>\n
I spent much of last week trying to learn who extended the invite. No one will claim it. I\u2019ve emailed Bresnahan\u2019s spokeswoman asking who invited the congressman. No response. If Bresnahan\u2019s \u201csurprise\u201d appearance at a Democratic fundraiser for Scranton School Board candidates was such a noble, normal occurrence, why all the secrecy and phony opprobrium?<\/p>\n
Because to own up to the invite would give away the game, and the game is the Machine\u2019s only reason for being.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m still around by the grace of subscribers who don\u2019t always agree with me but appreciate local journalism that doesn\u2019t bow to fear or favor. Spite can be a powerful motivator. I used to joke that it was what got me out of bed in the morning, but I was kidding myself. Spite only breeds more spite, and it is the toxic lifeblood of the mean season we find ourselves stuck in.<\/p>\n
I like the mayor. I have since I met her and I\u2019ve mostly been impressed with her performance in City Hall. Call me crazy, but I like Scranton mayors who don\u2019t use the office as a springboard to prison. The last Machine Democrat to hold the office set the bar so low all Paige had to do was not trip over it.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s done better than that, which is one reason she keeps winning elections. Another is that the opposition has picked weak candidates to run against her. Eugene Barrett, 78, a former city councilman and former executive director of the zombie Scranton Sewer Authority, is the strongest opponent she\u2019s ever faced. He\u2019s running as an independent because he decided not to stand for election in the primary.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t live in the city, but Scranton has been immeasurably good to me. I care deeply about it and the people who call it home. Some of those people are not happy with the mayor and want to hear from other candidates. I\u2019m happy to provide space for all of them \u2014 with the understanding that I\u2019m not a stenographer. I will ask for specifics that set them apart.<\/p>\n
Not being Paige is not enough for me, although it may be at the polls. It\u2019s possible Paige will fail in her reelection bid and her campaign to unseat Bresnahan, but if she loses either race, it will mark the first time she\u2019s been rejected by a majority of voters. The thing the mayor\u2019s critics hate most about her is that she Just Keeps Winning.<\/p>\n
Back to \u201cPicturegate.\u201d For all the performative pearl-clutching and Cordaro-clinging, there are no victims here. Casey sent me the photo. I sent it to Wendy. She shared it along with some ugly commentary on Casey and she regrets it.<\/p>\n
We are all adults and all played a part in this regrettable peccadillo. We\u2019ve all had our egos bruised by below-the-belt insults over many years in the ring. Nothing but feelings got hurt, along with the flimsy robe barely covering the naked fact that MAGAcrats and MAGA Republicans are punching from the same corner this fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cPicturegate\u201d is a momentary distraction from a long-simmering showdown between the Democratic Party Machine and its voters for the present and future of the party. Nov. 4 is the main event, and I\u2019m blessed to have a front-row seat. If I were a MAGA Republican congressman, maybe I could score a backstage pass.<\/p>\n
The thing my critics hate most about me is that I Just Keep Writing. I\u2019m immeasurably grateful to have this platform and I take it seriously. Myself, not so much. I\u2019ve learned the hard way that my ego is not my amigo.<\/p>\n
Wendy Wilson is my long-term, stalwart friend and I never would have survived to thrive in Scranton without her support. She made a mistake and will learn from it, just as I have from the countless times I let my immediate emotions override my better judgment.<\/p>\n
The mayor\u2019s political enemies are hers to overcome. I\u2019ve collected many friends and enemies \u2014 and even some \u201cfrenemies\u201d \u2014 over the 30 years since I moved to Our Stiff Neck of the Woods. In one way or another, I\u2019ve been blessed by every one of them.<\/p>\n
CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, is just happy to be here. Contact the writer: ckelly@scrantontimes.com; @cjkink on X; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook; and @chriskellyink on Blue Sky Social.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe enemy of my enemy is my friend.\u201d \u2014 Ancient Sanskrit proverb. Wendy Wilson was one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1590,1591,182,139,1559,1560,178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-1611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-chris-kelly","9":"tag-facebook","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-opinion","13":"tag-opinion-columnists","14":"tag-scranton","15":"tag-scranton-headlines","16":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}