Friday, October 28, 2011

ANSWERING JOHN TEDESCO’S WAKEED BLOG RESPONSE PART 1

                                           TEDESCO
    
            I have been reading, with great interest and equal amusement, Wake School Board Vice Chairman John Tedesco’s response to my story, "“Chairman” Tedesco An Issue in District 3 Wake School Board Race."
           
            The detailed story, tracking Tedesco’s career in government over the past decade, raises the reasonable question of not only the District 2 school board member’s maturity, temperament and leadership abilities - all qualities that any decent elected head of a governing body should have in respectable measures - but also, what do we really know about John Tedesco after watching him in action after the past two years.

            Most importantly, the story asks, should the school board member we see today, be the next chairman of the Wake County Public School Board that parents, children and citizens can trust to lead with honesty, integrity and skill tomorrow, especially if Republican - Tea Party candidate Heather Losurdo defeats Democratic incumbent Kevin Hill in the Nov. 8th District 3 runoff?

            As most citizens who are paying attention know, the official outcome of that important contest will determine not only the balance of power on the Wake School Board, and the direction of the board for at least the next two years, but also who will indeed lead the board during that time.

            So a lot is at stake, no matter what the voters of District 3 decide, and it is my job, as a journalist, to accurately review, report and, yes, expose the record in that regard.

            To be blunt, Heather Losurdo isn’t the 800 lb. gorilla here.

            John Tedesco is.

            With fellow Republican board member Debra Goldman having already served as vice chair and still really not trusted by her GOP colleagues; Chris Malone leaving soon to run for the state House (though adding school board chair to his campaign flyers couldn’t hurt before he leaves); and Deborah Prickett not likely to be chosen over the current vice chairman to replace the dethroned Chairman Ron Margiotta; pure logic suggests that if the board Republicans hang on to their 5-4 majority after Nov. 8th, then John T. Tedesco will be the next chair.

            So despite Mr. Tedesco’s bloviated “Who me?” protestations to obscure the obvious political pot-of-gold he knows is in store for him if Losurdo wins, make no mistake, this runoff is as much about him and his leadership, as it is about the next Wake School Board.

            That was the premise on which I began to research my story. And because I did, and found both previously unknown pictures...
          Tedesco, as Borough Administrator of HighLands, NJ at a 2001 holiday party (courtesy Highlands Business Partnership website)
 ...and solid facts about John Tedesco - a public official of which all of us know really very little  - he accuses me of lying about, and “demonizing” him.

            If by “demonizing” Tedesco means I’m exposing what he’s up to, or what he really means, or a truth he’s not telling, then I plead very guilty.

            But he also uses my alleged “demonizing” of him as an excuse for not once in two years, sitting down, face-to-face, like men, and interviewing with me, taking the tough questions like a true leader of character and fortitude should. If I’m doing something wrong, or acting dishonorably, the best way to stop me and expose me is to confront me…with the truth, to my face, for all the world to see.

            Not hide from me. How could a “liar” damage you, if you have the truth, and can prove it?

            If by “lying” Tedesco means I’m deliberately setting out to deceive my readers about him and his actions, not a chance. You don’t last in journalism as long as I have in this market, or anywhere, for that matter, with that kind of behavior. In fact, it’s because I have relentlessly sought the truth about those elected officials sworn to serve the public, but do a better job serving their own interests, that I’m trusted to do my job, and have been so for over twenty-years.

I’ve learned during that time that when a politician starts screaming “liar” after I’ve exposed them, it’s their way of saying, “Ouch,” when I’m getting close to the truth.

            So I understand Mr. Tedesco’s overheated reaction very well. It’s typical.

            So let’s check the record and see if any of John Tedesco’s accusations against me and my story hold any water, shall we? This is part 1 of my two-part reply.

            Mr. Tedesco’s remarks and accusations from the 10-27-11 N&O WakeEd Blog are in red:

            Cash,
            I understand it serves you well to keep demonizing me. Try not to use so many lies with only a sprinkle of truth. Not that I could ever correct all your lies, but let's try a few.

            Actually, Mr. Tedesco, it serves my readers “well” to be kept informed about what you, and the rest of the Wake School Board are up to. When you make political speeches at Tea Party rallies regularly across the state, telling folks about instilling your “conservative values” into our education system...


             ...instead of good, sound apolitical instruction and guidance, believe me, it serves us all “well” to keep an eye on someone who is two weeks away from actually carrying through with his political agenda.
            By the way, your repeatedly stated angst about my reporting “so many lies” about you that it would be hard to “correct all,” is an old worn out rhetorical cover for the basic fact that you have no factually-based, truthful answer for much of what I’ve uncovered. For if you did, you would revel in knocking them ALL down, one-by-one.
            But we’ll do it your way, by looking at the “few” that you did brave to tackle.

            Outright lie #1. I NEVER attempted to take credit for a rise in 2008 graduation rates because it never happened. I have repeated numerously that our graduation rates declined 5 consecutive years in a row from 05-06. Only now in 2011 did they rise for which I credit our teachers, principals and students.

            Nice spin, but let’s go to the WCPSS website at http://www.wcpss.net/news/2011_august4_graduation_rate/ for the correct answer:
            The state defines the 2010-11 four-year cohort graduation rate as the percentage of students who entered the 9th grade for the first time during the 2007-08 school year and who earned a diploma by June of 2011. Students who transfer into a school on grade level are added to that school’s cohort, and those who transfer out are removed. Students who earn a certificate of completion are in the cohort, but are not counted as graduates.

            The students who graduated in 2011 “entered the 9th grade for the first time during the 2007-08 school year,” WCPSS says. That is one whole year before John Tedesco was elected to the board, and that is the last cohort anyone has figures on. Those students entered high school under the old student diversity policy, and matriculated under that policy even after the Republican-led board took office in December 2009.
            The record will show that the current board spent most of its time from 2009 to 2011 dealing with student assignment issues, doing very little at all to address student achievement. Indeed, the record will also show that the board’s Republican leadership was willing to put the accreditation of the system’s high schools at-risk in its fight with AdvancEd, almost rendering the hard-earned diplomas of the 2007-2008 class worthless to most universities after four years of hard work.
            So the improvements put in place over four years ago by Supt. Del Burns and Academic Officer Donna Hargens, per the curriculum management audit they conducted, bore fruit with the 2007-2008 class, that led to 2011’s much improved graduation rates.
            Did Tedesco try to take credit for this? He says he “NEVER attempted to,” but a posting on his Facebook page (which has now been render “unavailable”) and a Sept. 15th email from Tedesco titled “Dollars and Sense - Results Matter,” suggests otherwise.
            In a missive to “Friends,” Tedesco wrote:
            In 2009, the Wake County Public School System had just completed 5 consecutive years of declining graduation rates, broadening achievement gaps, climbing suspensions (21,000 in Wake led NC which is 4th in US), skyrocketing expenses, 24,000 students had been reassigned with the continued quota-based busing, and Wake had laid-off hundreds of our dedicated teachers.
            Our parents and tax-payers demanded better and elected a new board. At that time I was honored to join that new team with nearly 77% of the vote. The contentious status quo supporters loudly proclaimed the sky would quickly fall due to the new family friendly conservative leadership. Well, results matter.
            Two years later:
            We now have 165 schools serving approximately 147,000 children with 18,000 employees and a $1.5 billion budget. Graduation rates are heading up, suspensions are down, schools are safer, we are at an all time efficiency rate, and performance gains are being made for all children.
            This year graduation rates exceeded 80% posting the first gains in 7 years and placing Wake as number 3 in America of the nation's top 100 large districts. The 62% for African American students was a 6% gain over the past two years.

            Now I don’t know about you, but when someone writes that “Two years later” after he and his group came on a school board, the improvements “our parents and taxpayers demanded” are now coming into reality, I think most reasonable people would say, yes, he’s attempting to take credit.
            And just why would John Tedesco “attempt” to do that?
            Let’s go to the bottom of his email:

            We are grateful to the countless teachers, administrators and parents who help our schools achieve new heights every day. I am honored to serve as our Vice Chair along side of our Chairman, Ron Margiotta. I think we as a community owe Ron Margiotta a note of appreciation for his leadership in these efforts and a big thank you to the rest of our team as they stand strong as servant leaders (Deborah Prickett, Debra Goldman and Chris Malone).
            Be sure to tell all your friends of the School Board elections Oct.11th.  Keeping Mr. Margiotta and adding a couple of more board members who focus on students first this October can ensure that the best is yet to come.

            Notice how Tedesco shares “credit” with Margiotta and the rest of the board Republicans, but absolutely none of the board’s Democrats, as if they had nothing to do with any of the alleged “successes.”
            So yes, Mr. Tedesco, in your own writing, from your own email, you DID “attempt” to take credit for success Del Burns and Donna Hargens were responsible for long before you set foot in the system building!
            So much for “Outright Lie #1.”

            Lie #2. I was never FORCED to apologize to Mrs. Goldman for my inappropriate emotional moment. I chose to apologize to her publicly within 24 hours because that is what human beings do – they make mistakes and then seek forgiveness. I made a mistake and sought forgiveness out of humility.

            Extreme embarrassment is more like it, Mr. Tedesco. Your extraordinarily undignified outburst at a public meeting, rhetorically and relentlessly attacking and bullying a female colleague personally in front of television cameras and the public, raised very serious questions about your fitness for office and mental stability, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of even your staunchest supporters.

            The raw videotape of your Oct. 6th, 2010 incident where you called Debra Goldman “prom queen,” and “Ms. Pinky Hairdo,” an insensitive slur to a breast cancer survivor that you denied to WRAL-TV, even though they had you dead-to-rights on video saying it, also shows Chairman Margiotta finally barking “Enough!” to shut you down, and board members Carolyn Morrison and Anne McLaurin reacting in visible and audible disgust.

            I never said that anyone specific "forced" you to apologize (though I'm sure someone proverbially took you by the ear to read you the riot act). I said that you WERE forced to apologize, whether you’re honest enough to admit it or not, because you were in a no-win situation. No matter what Debra Goldman did, you knew (and I’m sure you were told) that what you did threatened your credibility, and the longer you allowed it to grow, the more your actions and behavior endangered not only your personal agenda, but the board majority’s political agenda.


            None of what I've laid out is guess work. It’s logic, Mr. Tedesco. You were the absolute villain on every TV station and in every newspaper and blogsite in the market. Your family, friends and neighbors saw it. The people in your church, where you profess to be a Christian, saw it. Heck, the Wake Republican Party saw it. You were radioactive! If you didn’t fix it fast, with full and unadulterated contrition, it would have been a complete disaster for you.
           
            And you knew it!

            I might also add that with little more than a polite smile and a “Calm down now John,” Debra Goldman had you where she wanted you. She was getting support and sympathy from people who didn’t even like her. Remember, Tedesco, her “treachery” of voting against the 16-zone plan you worked so hard on was supposed to be a campaign issue in 2011 (don’t bother denying it, I have Margiotta and Malone saying exactly that).

            After what she publicly did to you, you couldn’t possibly let Goldman win! In fact, forget 24-hours. For many months after, you still treated her like an outcast. The subsequent tapes from WPTF-AM’s Bill Lumaye Show prove it!

            So yes, you were FORCED, Tedesco, you had NO options BUT to be contrite a lot sooner than you had planned. You had no other options! Save that, “because that is what human beings do – they make mistakes and then seek forgiveness. I made a mistake and sought forgiveness out of humility…” masquerade for Halloween, where it belongs!

PART TWO FORTHCOMING!

14 comments:

  1. If John Tedesco chooses to post a response to part one, he is free to do so. I don't know what happened previously when he allegedly tried to post, but I'm testing it now, and it seems to be working fine!

    John?

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  2. Oh he didn't attempt to post anything because you wore his backside out. Damn you were good!! But that is who you are.

    If folks can't see who they have on this board and not vote Democratic in the run-off then it will just be a sad day in Wake County.

    Keep educating the people about what is going on around them. Is that not what a journalist suppose to do? And then ain't that what one who are deeply concerned is suppose to do?

    Thank you my friend.

    Curmilus Dancy II Edgecombe County
    thepoliticalagitator . com

    Oh by the Dr. Del Burns is here as my interim Superintendent, very wise move on behalf of my board members.

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  3. I see some folks at the N&O's Wake-Ed blog have some problem with my blogstories concerning Mr. Tedesco. Not by accident, some of these are the same people who routinely support Tedesco and the GOP majority on the board, and mercilessly vilifies anyone they see as contrary to what they want. Take this blog story for instance.
    The 2001 pictures of Mr. Tedesco were posted without editorializing. They were already online, sources in Highlands, NJ just directed me to them. Once I clearly determined that they were, in fact, John Tedesco, I gathered as part of my research per his tenure there as borough administrator.

    I actually have more than the four pictures displayed of Tedesco from the 2001 holidays in Highlands, but he can't be clearly identified in some because he's dressed as Santa Claus.

    It has been suggested that the pictures were posted to mock Tedesco's weight. If the pictures were in altered, that would be a point. If I posted only pictures of Mr. Tedesco at that size, and not any at any other size, that would be a point. If I made any editorial comment about any of the pictures, other than to describe where and when the pictures are from, and whom to credit for them, point would be made again. But NONE of those are true.

    On this blog, in referencing the true consequence of Heather Losurdo possibly winning the Nov. 8th runoff, I used the very pedestrian term "800 lb gorilla" to dramatize that she isn't the one to fear, but rather a Wake School Board Chair John Tedesco.

    Given the pictures that I displayed of Mr. Tedesco from his past, should I have used a different catch-phrase? No, but clearly I made absolutely no relationship between what I had written, and the pictures...NOT ONCE! In fact, I posted a more recent picture of Mr. Tedesco in a leadership position discussing the Wake student assignment map right after that line.

    It's not until I actually mention that pictures were discovered as part of my research, that I displayed one of them of him alone from that holiday party.

    Is the picture uncomplimentary in terms of Mr. Tedesco's behavior in it? That depends on how you think your municipal administtrator should be behaving himself in public, at a function with other public officials and business leaders.

    I made no judgment.

    So to those who felt I was making comment on Mr. Tedesco's appearance then, if all you can come up with is an unrelated common variety catch-phrased that's used hundreds of times a day, then that tells me more about Mr. Tedesco's supporters than I thought. Even he didn't complain in the error-riddled rebuttal to my story.

    As for my own weight, yes, I have weight issues, no question, all the more reason why i'm the last person to mock someone else's weight.

    It's Mr. Tedesco's duplicity on the Wake School Board, and about his own public service records that I go after him about, not his weight, which is his business. I'll gladly take any slings and arrows for going after him on that, because there is no defending Tedesco on his proven dishonesty.

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  4. On the 10-31-11 Wake Ed blog, Mr. Jeffrey Wotus, formerly of Assignment By Choice - an old, but failed neighborhood schools group, asked some questions of my Tedesco posting that, quite frankly, I have no problem answering. Poor guy put a lot of work into them. Since he took so much time away from his tech company to do it, the least I can do is answer them. After all, it's apparent that my very existence, my very BREATHING...is a source of discontent for Mr. Wotus.

    Here are Wotus' questions, and, after a deep and satisfying breath, my answers afterwards:

    1- Ask him why it was necessary to post 5 consecutive pictures.

    2- Ask him how those pictures supported his story.

    3 - Ask him if the pictures were related to his tenure as city manager.

    4 - Ask him if there were any professional pictures of him as the city manager that he could have used instead (I'm betting there were).

    5 - Ask him why he only needed one picture of Kevin Hill for the story.

    6 - Ask him why he rarely posts more than a single picture with any of his stories.

    7 - Ask him if he has ever posted non-professional pictures of anyone featured in any of his stories.

    8 - Finally, ask him why he prefaced his remark about the 800 lb gorilla with the phrase "To be blunt."
    --------------------

    It was “necessary” to post all five Highlands, NJ pictures of Mr. Tedesco, of the many that sources directed me to from 2001, because, to be blunt, we don’t really know who John Tedesco is. Certainly he has shared some of his life with people from time to time over the past two years he’s been in office, but all that ends up being John Tedesco filtering what he wants us to know, and not to know about him.

    Now, when he’s just a District 2 school board representative, that’s not too much of a big deal. When he becomes board vice chair, then his influence on board policy becomes more noteworthy, and newsworthy.

    But when Tedesco’s literally one election runoff from indeed leading the Wake School Board, there must be serious examination of who he is, where he came from, what has he done, and what is he likely to do. Admittedly, the news media in this market, myself included, haven’t done a very good job of really knowing who this up-and-coming conservative leader is.

    So I chose not to wait to start digging. That’s my job. This man could determine policy for our county’s children. My readers, and the citizens of Wake County have every right to know more about John Tedesco, in order to better keep him accountable.
    END OF PART 1. GO TO PART 2

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  5. PART 2

    I set the parameters of my research into Mr. Tedesco’s history to focus only on any known government service, to see if he had prior experience as a public servant, and how did he perform. I deliberately left out a decade of private sector and nonprofit roles he’s had, primarily because as public servant, it’s easier to track a record of success or failure.

    So anything that spoke to his performance in any government capacity, was fair game.

    That included pictures, because how else would we get some sense of Tedesco’s tenure and behavior?

    Imagine my surprise when I began my research, to get so many replies per my inquiries. Many people in Highlands, NJ still remembered John Tedesco. Unfortunately, much of it wasn’t positive.

    There were no “professional” pictures of Mr. Tedesco that I could find on the Highlands website, and given that he served from 2000-2002, I was surprised that the Highlands Business Partnership still posted the 2001 holiday pictures.

    Some of the pictures purportedly were of Mr. Tedesco dressed as Santa Claus. Indeed they were the first ones I was shown. Problem was you had to know that it was him, because his face was virtually covered with the beard.

    If Tedesco were willing to stop running from an interview with me, and instead allowed me to ask him about the Santa pictures, I would have. Since he’s made it clear for two years now that he’s afraid to answer tough questions from a journalist who knows him better than most, then that opportunity was not possible.

    So I used the ones where he could be easily identified. Those are the five that I posted. I properly identified them per when they were taken and for what occasion. Because they were the only usable pictures I had access to, I published them all online, where I have the appropriate room to do so.

    All five pictures were worthy of being seen because they added to the emerging profile of Highlands, NJ Borough Administrator John Tedesco. If Mr. Wotus believes the pictures, without any commentary on my part, portrayed Mr. Tedesco unprofessionally, don’t blame me. They’ve been up on the Highlands Business Partnership website for the past ten years. If there’s any outrage to be had, Mr. Wotus is a decade late to the party in having it.

    By the way, Mr. Wotus apparently prefers to believe Mr. Tedesco’s definition of his official job title, than that of his employers and the state of NJ. Boroughs are part of county system in NJ, as are cities. Highlands is a borough in Monmouth County, NJ. So John Tedesco was hired as the borough administrator, not the more glamorous and professionally sounding “city manager,” as Tedesco erroneously, and admittedly portrays on his Facebook page.

    It’s little things like that, that clues an investigative reporter that there may be more that’s being hidden (lying about your job title is, in fact, hiding your true job title).
    END OF PART 2. GO TO PART 3

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  6. PART 3
    Mr. Wotus wanted to know if the pictures posted, “…were related to his tenure as city manager (borough administrator)?” The answer is yes, since he was at a holiday party with his bosses - members of the Highlands Borough Council - other public officials and prominent businesspeople, sponsored by the Highlands Business Partnership. His behavior in that setting, which I did not write about, but pictures that the partnership chose to publicly post speak for themselves, is certainly fair game to judge.

    If anything, by his reaction, Mr. Wotus is apparently expressing embarrassment for Mr. Tedesco per something he sees in some of the pictures. That is his judgment. My job was just to provide the information for wake citizens, like Mr. Wotus, to judge for themselves.

    And again, since Mr. Tedesco refuses to display courage in interviewing with me, if there are “professional” pictures of him from 2000-2002, I did not have access to them.

    Why one picture of District 3 candidate Kevin Hill in the story? Because the story wasn’t about Kevin Hill, simple. And that wasn’t a picture of Hill from a school board meeting, but a picture I took of him at the District 3 candidates’ forum in Sept. as he waited for a question. I took a similar one of Heather Losurdo, and all of the other District 3 candidates.

    My problem with Mr. Wotus’ contention is that the very first picture you see is a recent one of Mr. Tedesco taken at WRAL-TV earlier this year. I used two YouTube videos to breakup the rest of the story. The Highlands, NJ batch earlier up because that was my focus, so it made sense to keep them all together. Simple.

    Per posting more than one picture per story, if the picture is being used for the newspaper, then that is the purpose. But if I’m doing an extended online story, then I post and link everything I can get my hands on so that the page is more dynamic, regardless of the story. That’s easily seen if you go to http://thecashroc.blogspot.com/2011/10/gov-perdue-other-top-democrats-hail.html, or http://thecashroc.blogspot.com/2011/10/if-republicans-win-district-3-tedesco.html, or http://thecashroc.blogspot.com/2011/10/celebrate-gospel-great-mahalia-jacksons.html, among many others since I started the blog months ago. Nothing insidious.

    Mr. Wotus asks if I ever post “nonprofessional” pictures of people featured. Depends what the story is, and what’s available. If he’s insinuating that the only time I do is when I want to embarrass somebody, I’ll remind him to check all of the current pictures I’ve posted of Losurdo, Margiotta, Tata, Peyton, and Tedesco. Nothing wrong with them, is there?

    As I’ve said, the 2001 Tedesco pictures were new information for this market, from a period in his history I was focusing on for the first time. They were fair game. Any reporter will tell you that. And by the way, nonprofessional pix are used all the time in media, especially in murder cases of the victims.
    END OF PART 3. GO TO PART 4

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  7. PART 4
    And finally, why did I preface my “800 pound gorilla” remark with, “Let me be blunt?” Because, as a writer, when I’m going to abruptly change my style of writing to make a bottomline point, that’s what I do, as I did earlier in this post. There was no special occasion. I just wanted to make the point as clear and as forcibly as possible - the Nov. 8th runoff isn’t really about Losurdo filling a seat, but about Tedesco becoming the new leader. Period!

    I wanted to be sure that none of my readers forgot that point as they continued on. Anyone who thinks that was in relation to Tedesco’s 2001 holiday pictures, is deliberately reading more into it than ever originally conceived.

    In closing, I read the Wake Ed blog from time to time, and I’m always impressed with the high degree of pure and sheer hatred that supporters of Tedesco, Margiotta and the rest of the GOP majority have for anybody who simply sees things differently. They are more than willing to deny adversaries their humanity, and quick to take offense or make suspicion if somebody does or says something, no matter how small, that they don’t like.

    To be clear (and blunt), I’m not interested in hurting Mr. Tedesco. My interest is in keeping him accountable, and where I find evidence of duplicity, I go full force to expose it.

    My readers have absolutely no idea of the stuff - things of an intensely personal nature - that has been alleged from Highlands, NJ about Mr. Tedesco that I did not print. If I were out to truly hurt him, trust me, that last thing Mr. Wotus would be upset about would be some ten-year-old party pictures.

    People have an internal indicator of what’s fair and what’s not. If you notice, I didn’t identify other people in those pictures, though I’ve confirmed exactly who they are. Why, because the story was strictly about Tedesco.

    So, the reaction to my story my Mr. Tedesco and his minions like Mr. Wotus tell me that there is so much more to learn. Indeed, there is much more I’ll be reporting that I didn’t get a chance to last week.

    And if I get more pictures that help us with our profile, with or without Mr. Tedesco, I’ll use them.

    If Wake School Board Vice Chair John Tedesco intends to be chairman, then he better learn that THIS comes with the territory!
    -30-

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  8. Hey Cash, why don't you come on the Wake Ed Blog and discuss this where we don't have the problem of your lame website rejecting posts.

    In the meantime, keep living in your own white world in Cary, and driving your precious daughter to an all white school.

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  9. Gee, Mr. Wotus (yes, i know you coach a baseball team too, nice try), if I came to Wake Ed, I couldn't say everything I wanted to say. i like it better here where I have control, and nice folks like you can drop by every now and then, and sit a spell.
    Apparently my "lame" blogsite accepts your posts fine. I'm reading it, aren't it? You just have to learn how to post. Being head of a tech company, that's not to hard, is it?
    Finally, last I looked, like today, neither my neighborhood, nor my kid's school, was all-white. You must be mistaking it for where YOU grew up! I accept your apology.

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  10. Michaels knows there's a problem with his website. It's well document that the blog software he uses has problems with some browsers. But just like most facts, he refuses to acknowledge them. If you'll recall, JT had trouble posting his response here, too.

    Unlike you Cash, I don't mind the challenge of coming to your hood, where you have the control. Too bad you don't have the courage to face your opponents outside of the precious confines of home.

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  11. Cash is busted. He cherry picked his photos. See my last post on Wake Ed blog.

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  12. For the record, Mr. Wotus, I never saw these Memorial Day 2001 pictures. But I'm also bemused that because Mr. Tedesco is seen taking part in the ceremony as a borough official, with no tie or jacket to pay his respects, that these pictures, somehow, portray him better than when he did don a tie and business shirt for a holiday party. Tell you what, I'll post these two and give you the credit for finding them. Thank you so much!

    And by the way, i don't control this site nor the software which operates it. You really need to climb down off that hate ladder you're on. If you read your stuff on the Wake ED blog, you are really going off the wall. it's almost criminal. I might have to fear for my safety if you keep this up, Mr. Wotus. Be careful now!

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  13. "I'm also bemused that because Mr. Tedesco is seen taking part in the ceremony as a borough official, with no tie or jacket to pay his respects, that these pictures, somehow, portray him better than when he did don a tie and business shirt for a holiday party."

    OK, got it Cash. You place more emphasis on appearance, while the rest of us stick with substance. That explains most of your blog entries. It's all crystal clear now. Thanks for coming clean.

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  14. Actually, I wish that John Tedesco had "come clean" to that solemn ceremony honoring our war dead. For a town leader, he looks so unkept, so sloppy and careless, and so disrespectful of the occasion. If I were on the Town Council there, I would be so embarrassed that our top administrator didn't have the decency to respectfully honor the solemn occasion enough to wear a decent tie, suit jacket, dress shirt and SHOES! This was truly a disgrace, and anyone who thinks differently is either lying or demented! Right, Wotus?

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