Shhhh! The Lansdale Democratic Party has a dirty little secret!

The year was 1946.  As the world emerged from the shadow of World War II, there are a few things to note.  The United States started nuclear testing on the Bikini Atoll – and the French almost immediately came up with the bikini swimsuit.  Luckily, only one of those items is still popular today.  1946 was also the year the microwave oven was invented.  How that one has changed our lives over the decades!

And in 1946, a company was formed in Moscow, Pennsylvania called The D-L Corporation.  And today’s item sat on someone’s desk 67 years ago.  It is a corporate seal embosser.  You slide a piece of paper between the metal plates and press on the handle.  The paper is then embossed with a raised seal.  Similar embossers were used in Pennsylvania by notaries, but that practice is no longer required.

So why are we talking about embossers today?  Well, for two reasons.

First off is the name.  The D-L Corporation.  Would anyone name a company that today?  For those of you that don’t know, the DL, or the “down low” is modern vernacular for something hidden, concealed or secret.  Kind of like the slang in the 1950s when something was “on the QT.”  Just with different letters.

So I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  Local political parties have only one concern.  Local political parties.  They only want to support candidates that will support the party.  They don’t care about the people, causes or local matters.  Shhhh!  That’s on the DL!

Case in point in Lansdale’s Ward 3 Democratic party endorsements last night.  The Democratic committee, acting in almost lock step with party chairman Jack Hansen, endorsed two candidates for borough council with a combined record of absolutely no public service history.  

Leon Angelichio, the vice-chair of the party was endorsed as was Liz Troy, the secretary of the party.  Surprising?  No.  Right for Lansdale?  Again, no.  

While Liz Troy was awarded the “Rising Star” award last year by the North Penn Area Democratic Committee – it was for her political work to make the party stronger – not for any community work she did to make her community stronger.

And Leon Angelichio?  When asked last night in a public meeting and in front of a newspaper reporter about his plans to canvass the ward by going door to door, he responded, “I’m going to hire people for that <Tootsie Roll>.”  Well, of course he didn’t say Tootsie Roll.  He said something that rather looks like a Tootsie Roll.  Then he got into an argument with another local candidate.  Borough Council material?  I don’t think so.

And what’s the second reason we are talking about an embosser?

Look what an embosser does.  It uses pressure to force a permanent change on the material it handles.  Kind of like what the local political parties do to their candidates.  They mold them.  They script them.  They get them to do the party’s bidding.  And is that the kind of borough councilperson you want?

So remember me, Richard Strahm, this May 21st when you vote in the Democratic primary.  As vice-chair of the borough’s economic development committee, a member of the borough’s business improvement district steering committee and a member of the board of directors of Discover Lansdale, I’ll be the independent, experienced voice on council looking out for the borough and its residents.  Not putting the party before the people.

Because that’s just Tootsie Roll!