State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland is big on family and big on government. My friend Bill Bender
explores how the twain meet...
IT PAYS to know Thaddeus Kirkland - better yet, perhaps, to call him your father-in-law, your pastor or your dad.
Kirkland is a rainmaker in his riverfront city of Chester, and the entrenched state representative from Delaware County has helped steer hundreds of thousands of dollars in state money to organizations close to his family:
* The Baptist church where he preaches.
* The arts center where his wife is the president and his son-in-law served as the executive director.
* The annual cultural festival that boosts his political profile and has paid his daughter to sing.
About $800,000 in grants from Harrisburg have gone to those organizations since 1998 as part of a funding process that appears rife with potential conflicts.
I thought he explained all this quite well at our endorsement meeting. This is just how communities are well served by their hard-working representatives. Why should deserving family members be excluded?
Didn't Curt Weldon get crushed when he tried to help his daughter get a job. Maybe a quick FBI raid on Kirkland can occur.
ReplyDeleteAh ha! Mr. Kirkland is attributed to have said: "This is just how communities are well served by their hard-working representatives. Why should deserving family members be excluded?"
ReplyDeleteBut during the visit by Mr. Kirkland to the Daily Times did anyone ask him to name other families who also were so well served to the extent of over $800,000? Guess not. But kudos to the Daily Times endorsement of Mr. Kirkland. For those who may have missed it: "Schiliro strikes us as a voice of the common man. It’s one that is direly needed. We hope he stays involved in the process, but we’re backing Kirkland, who has been an effective voice for city residents who too often find themselves shut out of the system." Certainly Mr. Kirkland's family was not shut out of the system. Yeah, Daily Times---Let's reelect Mr. Kirkland so he can continue keeping them in the system. After all, we wouldn't want them to be shut out of the system.