Stan Huskey Suddenly Has a Conscience

In his recent post, Stan Huskey, the Editor of the Norristown Times Herald, all of a sudden has a conscience wherein he writes "Two wrongs don't make a right. I thought it was wrong for former councilman Mark Carrig to stay on after he had moved out of town and he eventually did the right thing and resigned".

In the past I have spoken to Mr. Carrig and I must reiterate that to the best I can ascertain, Mr. Carrig did NOT stay on Trappe Council after he was not a resident. I do suggest that if anyone has any proof of otherwise please forward it to me and if it is valid I will put it on this blog, otherwise I suggest that they stop slandering Carrig. Besides, Carrig is long gone and only owns property in Trappe but resides in Collegeville Borough.

Now as a journalist it certainly makes Mr. Huskey look bad to state anything (blog or no blog) and not back it up with facts or evidence. But Mr. Huskey does assert many things in his blog without backing them up with anything. Now this this in itself would not be as a serious problem for just any blogger but the fact of the matter is that Mr. Huskey is editor of a newspaper in the area (whose parent company owns The Times Herald, Pottstown Mercury, The Valley Item and others) that gives them a virtual monopoly on information to the public (that is until the Internet came along). We once again need to question his ethics and journalistic integrity.

I must give Mr. Huskey some credit though for pointing out this clear violation of the ethics laws by Trappe Council in appointing Mr. Brant. When Trappe Council appointed Bob Brant to the zoning hearing board (and yes Mr. Huskey your source is correct - you would know this if you would send one of your reporters to cover the meetings instead of printing hearsay) it was and is a clear violation of the public trust and the state ethics laws.

Mr. Huskey further states "First, I don't know Mr. Brant. I'm sure he's a fine person". What?! How would you figure he is a fine person? Your sources? Why doesn't Mr. Huskey attend the Trappe meetings and then he can attest as an eyewitness? At least send an UNBIASED reporter. Oh, I forgot - Mr. Huskey does not know what the word "unbiased" means. If he did attend he would note that Mr. Brant is an arrogant and pompous attorney who was overheard telling the last Trappe Council President he didn't need his help as things were about to change in his clients favor.

It is well known in Trappe that Mr. Brant represents Strategic Realty Investments (the real estate investment company) that has proposed an 88-townhouse project on the current school property at 1st Avenue and College Avenue to the last Trappe Council. The last Trappe Council indicated they would not support the zoning overlay changes required to make this happen and 88 townhomes to be built on this property were far too many. That is when Mr. Brant started his financial support of the "Trusted Team" in a (now successful) bid to oust the last Trappe Council and place the "Trusted Team" in power. And now Mr. Brant raises his conflict of interest to a whole new level with this appointment. And you know what they say about the appearance of a conflict - perception is reality.

I do agree with Mr. Huskey that Trappe Council needs to remove Mr. Brant from this position as soon as possible. Do it or face serious ethics charges from the state level.

For more on the PA ethics laws visit the PA State Ethics Commission.