POTTSTOWN, PA – A little while back, I did a posting on the connection between Tom Hylton and Friends of Montgomery County (a registered PAC headed up by Hylton’s ex-Pottstown Planning Commission buddy Scott Exley).
The other day in the mail I received a rather large collection of papers from Montgomery County with some revealing information.
Let’s set the wayback machine again to 2007. As you recall, 2007 was the year Hylton got his current school board cronies elected to office under the dubious moniker “The Neighborhood Schools Team”. The Neighborhood Schools Team consists of Rick Huss, Dennis Wausnock, Nat White, Julia Wilson and Michele Pargeon.
According to records filed with the County, Hylton was again spending big bucks to “Git R Done” – in the amount of $2,850.
Yes – that’s right – in 2007 Hylton gave $2,850 to Friends of Montgomery County to get his current All Star line up elected to the Pottstown School Board. And bear in mind that this $2,850 is in addition to the $6,730 that Hylton himself contributed to Pottstown Citizens for Responsible Government in 2007. So, in 2007, Hylton spent close to $10,000 to get his hand picked “Neighborhood Schools Team” elected, thus turning out of office the previous progressively-minded school board members who were helping to bring Pottstown into the 21st century by promoting the centers concept and the slew of new funding that accompanied it.
The majority of these Friends of Montgomery County funds ($2,250) was donated during the primary election season months of 2007, the remaining $600 was donated in November of 2007 (I guess that was for the champagne and bologna plates at Hylton’s election day party).
So, it’s easy to connect the dots to Hylton being financially responsible for giving the taxpayers of Pottstown THE SHAFT in 2007 (and in the years to come). I will say, on record, that of the five members elected that year to the Pottstown School Board, only Michele Pargeon has redeemed herself by being responsible to the taxpayers of Pottstown and publicly speaking out against Hylton and his cherry-picked distortions. Good for you Michele! Keep up the great work and DON’T EVER stop questioning Hylton…especially in a public forum.
As for the other four members – grow up and get your acts together! You were elected to your positions by the good taxpayers of Pottstown – start acting financially responsible to them and stop listening to Tom Hylton and his neighborhood schools nonsense!
wow…interesting bit of financial information. i had been curious about what role the friends of mont. county played in the whole hylton/pottstown citizens for responsible government mix and even considered doing a “right to know” request on the organization myself, but never got around to it. i did, however, do one on hylton’s PAC…all of the dollars that save pottstown lists on this blog are 100% correct – and 100% disgusting. as save pottstown pointed out, tom now even has them (well, most of them – many suspect that there are some donations that may have been kept conveniently anonymous) posted on his PAC site. new year’s resolution, perhaps?
thanks for the eye-opening info, save pottstown…just another piece to hylton’s very convoluted and divisive neighborhood school puzzle.
Interesting commentary on today’s Save Pottstown post. The real question is… Is there any hope for the future of the Pottstown School system, not that Mr. Hylton is actually on the board and no longer controlling from the side lines. The District has made so much progress lately that it would be a shame to see it seriously degraded through Hylton’s influence.
Hylton of course feels nothing of an obligation to improve the district. All of his efforts will be toward the fulfillment of his outdated and unworkable “dream” for Pottstown that he as blindly and unwaveringly pursued for the past several decades. White and Wausnock will blindly follow Tom’s lead, as they have demonstrated that they seem to be incapable of thinking on their own.
However, I’d like to think that there is still hope, for Pottstown School District to be the educational leader it is still capable of being. Saving Pottstown is correct in that Michelle Pargeon is a shining example of someone who has educated herself by studying the facts, and is not afraid to reach her own conclusions. Her strength has allowed the facts to break down her original aliance to Hylton.
But Ms. Wilson has also displayed some independent and resourceful thinking in her words and votes in recent months. Perhaps she is over being intimidated by Hylton and is finally beginning to think own her own as well. Keep it up, Ms. Wilson. That’s why the people of Pottstown elected you.
Rick Huss, the current Board President, has more years on the Board than one can count with the fingers of both hands. Being Board President carries with it a great deal of responsibility. Although Huss seems aligned with Hylton at the moment, he has showed signs of independent thinking in the past. He has also demonstrated over the years that he is genuinely supportive of the goal of the District, which is ever improving the quality of the education program and its effectiveness for the children of Pottstown. There is room for some hope there.
The big question that remains is what will Valarie Harris do? Will she blindly follow Hylton, White, and Wausnock, or will she do as Michelle has done and learn the ropes, study the facts, and vote her own mind. Harris, being an African American, has the potential to do great things for the District and the for the Black community of Pottstown. I hope she overcomes her intimidation of Hylton and rises to do the right thing for the community that elected her.
Great observations FOP!
Yes – I am optimistic, as Hylton is only one vote of a nine member team. I do see light through the forest of trees (I couldn’t help the pun).
I agree that White and Wausnock are write offs…but I have seen a glimmer of hope within Huss and Wilson, and I think they would vote against Hylton for the betterment of the District, the students and the taxpayers.
As Harris has a child in the District, I think that will help her decision-making process in the long run. I also hope that she realizes her importance on the board – and stops allowing Hylton to dictate to her. She has a mind of her own and her vote is just as equal as Hylton’s. She must remember that!
As much as I congratulate Michele Pargeon for being open to persuasion by facts, I think it’s important to note that she is just the most recent in a rather long line of intelligent, caring, honest people who had the personal fortitude to get out from under the influence of Pottstown’s most notorious snake oil salesman, Thomas Hylton.
Former mayor and school board president Barry Robertson once aligned himself with Hylton. When Robertson proved himself too smart and self-respecting to follow Hylton blindly, Hylton threw him under the bus.
Former school board member Amy Francis also started out as a Hyltonite and proponent of those “neighborhood schools” that don’t really exist in Pottstown. She, too, was found collecting little pieces of herself from under a SEPTA bus on High Street.
There have been more…. Not all the names come to me at the moment. But this guy has a pretty standard operating procedure. Do what he says, and he’ll help you get elected. Show any sign of having a mind of your own and get assassinated by Hylton with the help of The Mercury, George Wausnock, David Garner, and Charles Dasch.
If Karl Rove is “Bush’s Brain,” then George Wausnock is “Hylton’s Bankroll.” George could never be called anyone’s “brain,” but you better believe Wausnock is funnelling money into those PACs (there are two of them, right?) one way or another. And when George Wausnock isn’t funnelling Tom Hylton money, he’s funnelling him sycophants to run for office (ala Dennis Wausnock, Nat White, and Valerie Harris).
I hope you all are right in thinking that Valerie Harris has a mind of her own and is not afraid to use it. But she is dependent upon Wausnock for her paycheck. Can she afford to be without a job?????
Keep on writing, whomever you are. You are becoming the new voice of Pottstown, the truthful one. The Mercury only has its followers and bloggers that share their views. This is a more honest site, but then again Ilovethiswebsite.
How about getting your cards in a row and running for mayor. In another 4 years we will be sick of the new one, by the way she’s in Tommie’s pocket too. Investigate that one please.
I also want to applaud Mrs. Pargon, Mrs. Wilson, and the other PSD Board members who have had the strength and wisdom to ask smart questions and seek all sides of any story being presented to them by Mr. Hylton. Mrs. Weand too, I believe, has seen through Mr. H and has shown she is not afraid to speak up. I hope someone has brought this blog to their attention — and also to the attention of Ms. Harris.
A few other thoughts:
– Isn’t there some sort of conflict of interest with Mr. H serving on the Pottstown Planning Commission and the School Board? Something about that does not seem right to me — whether it is “legal” or not. Citizens who would like to support Ms. Pargeon or others, or challenge Mr. H’s “views” about the schools etc. (and his questionable PAC spending, etc.), may be afraid to do so if they feel they’ll ever have to go to the Planning Commission and, heaven forbid, get a variance of some sort, or go to the Tree Czars to have a tree situation addressed.
– Why hasn’t there been more of an uproar over the Board using one of Hylton’s fave architect firms to do the re-re-restudy of the school buildings? Does anyone really think they will get an unbiased report on the validity in saving the old schools — when the report will come from one of Mr. H’s hand-picked long-time consultants? And why have the people of Pottstown so willingly forgotten that the school structures and the money needed to maintain them has been studied many times in relatively recent years? (And, yes folks, it is TOO EXPENSIVE to keep the old buildings! Also, the idea of kids walking to their five schools just does not hold true.)
– Why do so many developers, prospective restaurant owners, etc. choose to do business elsewhere?
The ed centers project would have attracted taxpaying families to Pottstown as well as the types of businesses that would benefit the town and the taxbase– and the money promised from Rendell and the state would have significantly cleaned up the downtown as part of the process — making it more attractive to taxpaying businesses, etc.
As I recall reading (not in the Mercury, unfortunately — probably on the district website?) the centers also would have improved the education setting for Pottstown kids while saving money (through economies of scale, drastically reduced utility and maintenance costs, etc.) I believe the majority of PSD teachers also supported the ed center idea but the Mercury would never publish that, I guess. The (few) voters of Pottstown preferred to believe Mr. H’s frightening campaign literature over the economic and education experts who studied the issue and gave presentations– and The Mercury gave relatively little space to the educational arguments or the economic projections. So much for balanced journalism. The Mercury also did little to pursue the story of what the centers (or Hylton/Mercury-dubbed Mega Campus) would have done for the downtown in terms of decreasing crime and increasing Pottstown’s sense of neighborhood pride, or to confirm that the Governor promised millions of dollars to Pottstown to clean up the area around the would-be new schools . I never saw a story in which the Mercury called Harrisburg folks and asked for their comments or possible confirmation (hmmm, I wonder why?).
Too late now. But it is good for people to remember and to ask what Mr. H’s great ideas will do for Pottstown (and what they will cost, short- and long-term) in comparison.
What is happening now to help Pottstown? This blog is a good start. …. Perhaps an “advertorial” should be placed sharing this address. I wonder if the Mercury would accept the ad money and publish it? If not, maybe the Inquirer would be interested.