Councilman: Lansdale GOP is 'Politics and Puppeteers'

Dan Dunigan is an incumbent Republican councilman in Lansdale Borough. He is running for re-election and is facing a battle in the Primary. He and incumbent Republican Councilman Mike Sobel were not endorsed by the Lansdale Republican Club. Lansdale Republican Club Chairman Frank Bartle has not returned emails seeking comment. - Ed.

Welcome to Lansdale — Party Politics and Puppeteers.

Several weeks ago, I was invited to the Lansdale Republican Club’s endorsement meeting on March 25, after having been disinvited a month earlier by Club Chairman Frank Bartle, the managing partner at Dischell, Bartle & Dooley and a former Lansdale Borough solicitor for many years.

I knew I faced an uphill battle for this endorsement, despite having been endorsed by this same group and elected in 2009, representing the borough well by ending deficit spending, properly funding our fine police force so that they have the necessary boots on the ground and better equipment, and attracting the likes of Merck, Equus (formerly BPG), and WB Homes, to name a few, to do business in our borough.

The tone and posturing set by Mr. Bartle, which the rest of the Club fell in line with, was less than cordial. After the meeting, it was clear to me that Mr. Bartle had set up this evening for the sole purpose of putting on a show.

One might say a puppet show, where Mr. Bartle was the puppeteer and he was pulling all of the strings.

The tip off for me was Mr. Bartle’s praise of the Lansdale Democratic Party and their chairman, Jack Hansen. Mr. Bartle’s compliments were something extremely peculiar. He praised Mr. Hansen and the Democrats for their “monolithic” approach, where members of the party, both committee members and elected representatives, follow the lead of the chairman, doing so as a large unthinking and characterless block. Simply put, that’s placing the political party’s interest ahead of the interests of the residents of the Lansdale.

The “monolithic” approach is nothing more than a group of party puppets being led around on strings by the party chair. As I told Mr. Bartle that evening, if he wishes to have puppets on council, I’m not his man. Apparently, my opponents in Ward 3, Walter “Cory” Brown and Peter Schmitt, along with Ward Two candidate Tom Work and Ward One candidate Jean Fritz, have all agreed to be Mr. Bartle’s puppets should they be elected to council.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a good puppet show every now and again. However, when that show translates to damaging the prospects of prosperity and good government in Lansdale, it’s not a good show, no matter how talented the puppeteers may be.

I place too much value on Lansdale, the town in which I have resided for more than 15 years, and where I chose to raise my family. It’s also the town in which two of my brothers and one of my sisters live and are raising their families.

As you know, all theatrical productions end with a climax. I believe I know what Mr. Bartle’s is before we get to see it, and it’s something we as residents don’t want to see.

However, before we jump right to it, you need to know that this production didn't start just this year. It started in the Fall of 2009, when as a councilmen-elect, I had breakfast with Mr. Bartle. Mr. Bartle knew I had run on a platform aimed at shedding the cronyism and pay-to-play politics that had plagued our borough and stifled every attempt at improving it.

Despite having known Mr. Bartle since early in my youth, I had to tell him that there was no way I could support him and his firm for the position of borough solicitor. From that day forward, my phone never rang again with Mr. Bartle on the other end.

Do I need to explain the climax to you? I think not.

It is clear where things are headed should Mr. Bartle’s puppets become your elected representatives on council. It’s much the same on the Democratic side, except the plot twist where Mr. Hansen lost control of a string and Mary Fuller received the endorsement for her ward.

You see, while Mr. Hansen is the local puppeteer; he too is on a string farther up the Democratic Party. He needs his puppets on council so that he can rehire Sean Kilkenny and Freidman Schumann as borough solicitor. Mr. Kilkenny and friends were huge contributors to Mr. Hansen’s three failed attempts to be our state representative, and then, via the Friends of Lansdale PAC, poured thousands of dollars into Lansdale trying to get their puppets elected here in 2011.

When an elected official is that beholden to the party, how can they serve the public who elected them?

I am not beholden to any party. I will continue to work in the best long term interest of Lansdale and I am asking for your support on Tuesday, May 21st.

DAN DUNIGAN
Lansdale Borough Councilman