Winter 2010 - David Begley, the President of Move Wareham Backward (and the organization apparently now supports his wife, how convenient!) wrote this letter to the editor in response:

“HOLIDAY HUGS”

My name is David Begley; I am the Chairman of the Political Action Committee Move Wareham Forward. It has been brought to my attention that someone has anonymously questioned our fund raising efforts concerning the “Holiday Hugs” blankets.                                                                                                                         

Let me be perfectly clear, this will be the first and only time I respond to an anonymous inquiry on any subject.                                                                                                                                                                     
MWF can and will have fund raisers for candidates, “Holiday Hugs” is not one of them. The blankets MWF is selling were originally priced at $60.00 and were offered to MWF at a substantially lower price thanks to the generosity of one of our members. We held a meeting, and after our members purchased several, discussion arose as how we could do something good within the community with the blankets, and “Holiday Hugs” was born. This idea was overwhelmingly supported by all of our members. We have since purchased a number of blankets and have a few left, but not many; some people have purchased blankets for their own use and some have chosen to donate the blankets to seniors that may need one. Ted Porada (CoachTP) our Treasurer was correct when he recently stated MWF will not profit from the sale of these blankets. After costs associated with this endeavor are addressed, if there are funds left over, our members will decide what to do with them. Several suggestions have already been made, such as; gift cards to a supermarket, food baskets, a hot meal, a donation to a local charity, etc., all will be considered. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion about our fund raiser.

MWF is a Municipal PAC registered in the Town of Wareham.  MWF is non-partisan, meaning: not influenced by political party spirit or interests, as Town politics are also non-partisan.  Like other organizations MWF, as a PAC, is required to file financial reports, which is one of the reasons we chose to become a PAC: transparency. Honesty and integrity are other ideals we try to live by. We will continue to work towards the betterment of the community through economic participation, public volunteer work (such as our Clean Up Day last month) and other such efforts to improve life for all citizens of Wareham.

                                                                                                                                               
David Begley

There you go, some questions that will never be answered.  If you have some questions that you don't want answers to, ask away.

11)  Another question I have that will never be answered - I believe the law is that candidates cannot donate to their own campaigns, but can loan money to their campaigns.  Has either candidate ever donated money to MWB and if so, has said money ever made its way back to the candidates' campaigns?

Excellent questions, Guy. They should answer those questions..every one. But you know they won't. "Open & transparent"? They use words like integrity, all-inclusive, civil, etc.. but they don't "practice what they preach"..We've been on to them from the start (when Jane and Brenda helped to create "MWB").. I hope the rest of the town sees them for the hypocrites they are.

Last edited by DDPTRO (2011-03-23 14:59:03)

Yeah, I was going to mention that the same fact finding task force that confirmed I'm not Larry also confirmed I'm not Cindy, but I figured that Bill was just trying to make Bobo squirm, and like clockwork, he did. 

Jeez Louise, the tin hats are apparently all cheesed off over my questions.  Lesson learned - never question the bad guys' finances.  Got it.  Sorry tin hats.

Don't you just love Bill's sense of humor?

Plus...it worked!!

billw wrote:

I hope Dan and Dave weigh in here because I'm inclined to beg them to help me purge any message replicating Bobo posts.

How about it, guys? Ready for cold turkey? I've had enough.

Bill (as you know) I don't have the "strict" never mention Bobo policy you do.

There are good reasons not to mention Bobo..including the "ignore him and he'll go away"..the "he's a dope..so don't give him the satisfaction"..and various others..

Here are a few of the reasons I don't (strictly) agree..

People have a right to say whatever they want (and other people have a right to agree, or disagree).

Bobo is the mouthpiece of a number of ummm.. confused/crazy/bad (insert word here) people in our town, some elected, and others who support them...He specializes in smearing people, often with a lack of supporting evidence. I believe that those who continue to support him (including selectmen candidates Schneider & Begley) show a considerable lack of good judgement. I think people need a place to voice their "opposition" to his lies.

Your original site was named warehamobserver.com. Many people who first discovered your site were looking for his..including me (ah, how much I've learned since those innocent, naive days).

Most of the bloggers on this site strongly disagree with Slager and his "methods"..many are "blogged" about often on his site..lies are spread, character's are defamed..discrediting "us" is a full-time Bobo job. I, like many have no interest in ever joining Slager's site. I wouldn't give him a dime. I wouldn't want to make his site one bit more "interesting", so that others may want to sign up..and then Bobo gets more "dimes". This site gives us a place to "talk back"...without supporting him ($$).

I don't (fully) buy the claim that "we keep him alive" by posting our criticism(s) of him. I've said it before. I view Slager as a "cancer" eating away at the "spirit" of our community. I think he needs to be exposed for the hack he is..and those who choose to "hitch their wagons" to his..also need to be held responsible for their poor judgement and the things they say and do.

Last edited by DDPTRO (2011-03-25 11:34:24)

DDPTRO wrote:

Awright, but we're all bozos on this bus and what I had more in mind was... ah, screw it.

Auto-edited on 2020-08-11 to update URLs

Mike and Ellen's Best Buddy from Halifax wrote:

But instead of playing it safe, she calmly (and subtly) rebutted many of the claims made by Take Back Wareham against her and Move Wareham Forward.

Actually, she didn't answer a single question about Move Wareham Backward.  She and Mike made Move Wareham Backward out like it was this wonderful peace loving group but forgot to mention the part that it's main goal is to raise funds for candidates.  Oh and when the group was started, they forgot to tell everyone that they would be the candidates.

Move Wareham Backward will likely shrug these questions off, claiming they don't answer questions from the anonymous.  Unfortunately, I fear political types who carry a washed up newsman in their back pocket, so if that makes me cowardly to remain anonymous, then so be it.

But if any named people out there care to make these questions their own, or rewrite them as they wish, feel free:

1)  David said that any money left over from the snuggy venture would be donated to the community.  Was there any left over and if so, was it donated to the community and how so?  To date, I haven't heard about any "gift cards to a supermarket, food baskets, hot meals, donations to local charities" etc.

2)  Why did a PAC start saying that it will "support political candidates" and then all of a sudden, two candidates it supports are two people who started the PAC? 

3)  Isn't it a conflict of interest that one of the candidates is married to the PAC president?

4)  How much money has been donated to the PAC thus far?

5)  Who donated to the PAC?

6)  Has the PAC ever been used to circumvent the $500 per person donation limit to a campaign?

7)  How much has the PAC spent and what has it been spent on?

8)  Has the PAC money ever been used to buy ads in the rag, thus assisting in the rag reprint?

9)  Is the PAC providing funding to Mike and Ellen's campaigns?  If so, how much?

10)  Instead of creating "Move Wareham Backward - A Non-Partisan PAC to Support Political Candidates (Oxymoron if I ever heard one) - why didn't you just create "The Committee to Elect Mike and Ellen" and ask people to donate to that instead?

11)  I believe the law is that candidates cannot donate to their own campaigns, but can loan money to their campaigns.  Has either candidate ever donated money to MWB and if so, has said money ever made its way back to the candidates' campaigns?

Last edited by GuyIncognito (2011-03-25 08:24:45)