CliffWeber.com

I first want to thank all the people who have made my first blog an overwhelming success. I would not be the least bit surprised that my first blog has had more readers, than I ever had reading my “letters to the editor” in the local newspaper. I want to thank all of you both friend and foe.

People I chat with seem to be so fed up and disgusted with our political leaders these days. It seems every other day one of our politicians is in the news for some form of corruption, immoral conduct or questionable behavior. This past weekend, I read in the Philadelphia Newspaper that Pennsylvania is ranked the fifth worst state as far as corrupt politicians.

People of the Valley, we have it in our own back yard. For many years now I have been trying to alert you to the fact that there is major deplorable governing in this area by those not capable or with hidden agendas. I am a registered Republican and I must admit I’m totally embarrassed and ashamed with what the controlling Republican Party has done to this area.

You just have to look at the former Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Robert Kern, who about six months ago was criminally charged with several major felonies by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office headed by Risa Vetri-Ferman. Since former Republican Chairman Kern’s felony charges, Republican District Attorney Risa Vetri-Ferman has made a public appearance on TV. On TV, she admitted her office made serious mistakes with evidence in Kern’s felony cases, thus making it necessary for the State Attorney General to take control of Kern’s case.

Worse yet, just a couple of weeks ago an article appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. It seems District Attorney Risa Vetri-Ferman has cost the taxpayers of Montgomery County $1,650,000.00 by inappropriately bringing unjust criminal charges against a building contractor. The article furthermore seemed to bring forth questionable methods used in the case, involving county employees. The contractor sued Montgomery County and District Attorney Risa Vetri-Ferman and won a judgment of $1,650,000.00. I can’t believe District Attorney Risa Vetri-Ferman cost the citizens of Montgomery County this kind of money. Why is she still in office? If you or I cost our employer that kind of money we would be out of a job.

A later Philadelphia Newspaper article addresses the issues concerning Vetri-Ferman and the problems she has created for the county. From the article, I got the impression that she seemed more interested in getting TV coverage to further her political career than doing her job as District Attorney for Montgomery County.

The next Republican that has become nothing more than a total disappointment to the area he serves is Republican State Senator Bob Mensch. Thank goodness for the reporters of the Allentown Morning Call newspaper, who brought to the attention of the public with several articles in the Morning Call the shameful bill Mensch wrote, possibly causing electric bills in Pennsylvania to sky rocket. The bill was bizarre, and when questioned, Mensch didn’t even know what was in his own bill, and it was so ridiculous, Mensch ended up, I’m sure with his tail between his legs, pulling his outrageous bill.

I believe I have already mentioned the issue of several years ago, of moving the Area One voting site for Upper Hanover Township. At the time, Committee persons Mr. Gene Fried and Mr. Lee Slack made every effort to have the voting site moved from the then current site to the new Educational Center for Upper Perkiomen School District. This move would make a far more safe and convenient site for the area one voters. My understanding was that the then Director of the Board of Elections had toured both sites and concluded that the change would be a much improved transformation and that it should happen.

The next time it was being verified that in fact it was being moved, everything had changed. It was discovered that our elected official Bob Mensch felt he had to throw his weight around and proceeded to stop the move dead. Only Mr. Mensch knows why he did this, I do have my suspicions, but it did show just how little concern he really has for his constituents.

Fortunately several years later when the County, after 140 years, elected two Democratic Commissioners Mr. Josh Shapiro and Ms. Leslie Richards and with help from local individuals Ms. Elaine Hannock and Mrs. Joan Smith the election site changed for the benefit of the area one voters. I for one want to thank the commissioners and the two individuals for having the understanding that this should have been done from the beginning. Since then and during their tenure the area two voting site in Upper Hanover Township has also changed to better accommodate the area two voters.

Then we come to the local level and the all Republican Upper Perkiomen School Board, I don’t think I have ever heard so many citizens in this valley as disgusted with a school board as with the Board now seated. These citizens have every right to be disgusted, remember the outrageous retirement package given to former Superintendent Tim Kirby? The amount was so immoral it became a major article in an area newspaper.

Now I have little doubt the mindset of this current Board was that we throw a preposterous amount of money into the pot, so we get the best possible candidate to fill the Kirby vacancy. The newly hired Superintendent, her pockets filled with money, and the board, thrilled with hiring the very best superintendent money could buy, thus considered we were all set.

The paint for her name on her door wasn’t even dry and she hadn’t even had time to sharpen her pencils, the next thing you know she’s gone, missing in action, never to be seen again. So much for the School Board’s ability to select a new superintendent, even with their ability to throw massive amounts of money in the pot to hire a new superintendent.

Now this Republican School Board isn’t done. The next thing they do is to hire wealthy (courtesy of the taxpayers of the District) Tim Kirby back to fill the vacant position, until they find a new superintendent. With their hiring ability this could take a long time. But there is no reason to worry; we have wealthy Tim Kirby filling in the meantime. In case you might be thinking Kirby is doing this for free, think again, my understanding is he starts out at over $325.00 per day and at a given point it increases to about $725.00 per day, what a bargain. All this money being wasted because the Republican School Board did such a horrific job at hiring a new superintendent. Now you know why you will be paying more school taxes this coming year. This current Board under the leadership of Republican William Scott has to be the worst board we have ever had in all the years I lived in this valley. Yes I understand why so many citizens are disgusted with this Republican board.

Next we have Republican Mayor of East Greenville, Ryan Sloyer. This past winter at a police commission meeting, there was a loud exchange of words between Mayor Sloyer and members of the Upper Perk Police force. At one point one of the police officers shouted out to Mayor Sloyer never again ask him to fix a traffic ticket.

I discovered a few months before this commission meeting, June 19th, 2013, to be exact, a traffic arrest was filed for reckless driving and disregard of traffic lane by the Collegeville Borough Police Department. This involved one of Mayor Sloyer’s immediate family members. I think it is appropriate this issue with Mr. Sloyer should be investigated by the District Attorney’s office and if something inappropriate did happen, he should be dealt with accordingly.

I think the citizens of Upper Hanover Township have witnessed the questionable practices of the Republican Party when they support people such as Steve Rothenberger, who is a partner with the real estate firm of Brode and Brooks, to the Board of Supervisors of Upper Hanover Township. I think you should ask yourself why certain individuals would support someone who does so much real estate business in the township, and would possibly smack of possible conflict of interest, and want to support them for the Board of Supervisors.

As I have already stated I’m a registered Republican, but I think many citizens beside myself are as disgusted and ashamed as I am and feel it is it is about time concerned Republicans, Democrats, and Independents come together and clean out the plague that has encompassed this beautiful community.

P.S. Upper Hanover Township residents you can enjoy the incompetence of the supervisors and their efforts in doing the speed limit signage in the township. We now have in the township a road designated at a slower speed but when you come to an S-curve in this same road it is posted allowing you to go faster around the S-curve then you can go on the rest of the road. I’m sure our township paid LTL engineering group or whoever else good money to afford this incompetence.

May I first offer the reason why I have gone to this format to be able to inform residents of happenings within the Upper Perkiomen Valley.

I feel other outlets of mass communication within the Valley have not been unbiased in their manner of reporting responsibly to the community.  A perfect example is the manner the local newspaper handled several letters to the editor concerning “The Wayfinding Signs” article. After the letters appeared critical of the “The Wayfinding Signs” issue, we were besieged with front page articles two weeks in a row exclaiming the wonders of spending possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money for the idiotic idea of inundating the valley with needless signs. 

Even with the articles appearing on the front page of the newspaper, I believe certain individuals became quite concerned with the mounting disdain the community was developing and it seems a much more conservative approach was instituted by the individuals so wanting these signs. 

I also felt I could not provide the names of individuals in questionable activities being done by special interest groups, political organizations, or government agencies within the valley. 

I also look forward to being able to expand on topics in reference to the positive input individuals such as Upper Hanover Township Supervisor Ben Fiorito has offered the township.  Also the positive input local private citizens such as Stefan Laessig of Upper Hanover Township provided saving the Township approximately thirty thousand dollars.  Plus giving credit to the individuals who had taken the special effort to have the Area One voting site in Upper Hanover Township changed to greatly improve the safety and convenience for the voting citizens of that area, and also exposing those who tried to stop it from happening.

Then we have John Gehman, who I understand is involved in a lawsuit concerning the Montgomery County Board of Assessments and the Upper Perkiomen School District. Talk about a conflict of interest, he happens to be a member of the Upper Perkiomen School District board of directors.  I question this ethically if not legally.

But then this seems to be just one example of business as usual in the community by particular organizations or individuals.  Another perfect example of business as usual is the election of Steve Rothenberger to the position of Upper Hanover Township Supervisor.  I have no doubt the wool was pulled over many people eyes during that election.  I have no doubt many individuals had no idea how he has major interests in real estate in this valley. You see Mr. Steve Rothenberger, since Mr. Jeff Brode died, has become a partner of Brode and Brookes Real Estate Agency. Talk about the fox in the hen-house.   I’m sure you had to notice all the Brode and Brooks Real Estate signs in the valley.   How unethical is it to be a township supervisor in the same area you do much of your business??

It seems you can’t read a newspaper or watch TV news without another politician or special interest group being involved in some form corruption.  I recently viewed a program on PBS TV that addressed the demise of the investigative reporting afforded by highly respected large newspapers which is very disconcerting.  Without the investigative reporting how much worse will politicians become? 

Thanks to the Allentown Morning Call Newspaper, their investigative reporting revealed the extremely poor law making of our state senator Mr. Bob Mensch. The bill being sponsored was so bad he finally pulled it.  He was caught, not even knowing what was included in parts of his own bill.  This shows you the concern you should have for the loss of investigative reporting. 

I think many of us have become very disillusioned in the manner this country is being run. Worse yet, many corrupt individuals running the country have not even served this country.  I believe those of us who have served this country did not consider we would be defending this country to allow corrupt and inept political leaders to run it.

The most disappointing factor is citizens who didn’t serve this country and can’t even make the effort to register and vote.  Someday, I would hope these indifferent people will develop enough of a conscience to do their part in cleaning up this sad state of affairs.  If you don’t get involved you will continue to see bad government.

I’m hoping you can now understand why I have gone to this means of communication.  This allows me, without the bias from individuals who control media, to inform the citizens of the questionable politics and lack of competence allowed to happen in this valley.  I expect individuals and groups of people will attempt to discredit me in one way or another.  My question to you is ask yourself what Cliff Weber has gained by exposing all these questionable happenings versus what people like Steve Rothenberger, partner of Brode and Brookes Real Estate Agency, could gain at our expense?

With this blog I hope to address many more issues concerning this community, so each time I post a new item I will advertise the latest posting in the The Shopper’s Guide Free Weekly.

P.S. In spite of all the glowing commentary coming out of Upper Hanover Township they fail to mention all the inept decisions they’ve made.  Remember the $130,000.00 Upper Hanover Township toilet?  Well, there is more to that story.