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Councilwoman Tasco calls Inky "racist" for OARC report
Councilwoman Marian B. Tasco railed against the Inquirer for publishing the details of a leaked state report on alleged misspending and misconduct on the part of the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation (OARC), a group with extensive ties to founder and state Rep. Dwight Evans.
Councilwoman Tasco calls Inky "racist" for OARC report
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Councilwoman Marian B. Tasco railed against the Inquirer for publishing the details of a leaked state report on alleged misspending and misconduct on the part of the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation (OARC), a group with extensive ties to founder and state Rep. Dwight Evans.
Equating the Inky's coverage of the allegations to the recent, heavily criticized "Being White in Philadelphia" cover story from Philadelphia magazine (while applauding the City Paper's "excellent" rebuttal to said cover story), the councilwoman suggested that the Inquirer article was part of "an organized strategy to weaken the political and social safety net in Philadelphia's African-American community, much like the national attack on ACORN."
Calling the report "unfair" and later as bad as "what they did to the [Urban Affairs Coalition]," she slammed the newspaper for not questioning the motives of Gov. Tom Corbett's administration in allegedly allowing the report to be leaked, a sentiment similar to those issued by the OARC earlier in the week.
"This is why I'm angry with the press, with the Inquirer. They should be asking why they aren't releasing the report. ... It's unfair and it's racist because they're treating people differently," said Tasco. "If he were a white legislator and this was a white neighborhood, the Inquirer's headline would have read 'Committed State Legislator Turns Neighborhood Around After 30 Years of Hard Work.'"
While referring to the article in a fiery prepared statement, Tasco dismissed actual accusations of wrongdoing, saying there was "not much there" beyond "deliberately misleading headlines and numerous inferences and innuendos," blaming Corbett-imposed rule changes on spending for the irregularities, which may have affected nearly $12 million in grants. However, she later said that any assertion of wrongdoing on the part of OARC was invalidated by the fact that the report had still not been made public.
"How can there be anything there? All they have to do is release the report. If there was anything there, they could have given it to the attorney general," said Tasco, who said she had not tried to get a copy of the report herself.
During her comments before council, Tasco went to great lengths to eulogize Evans' works and tenure as head of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, tying his displacement from that post to a larger agenda.
"He learned that holding the purse can affect public policy decisions. Businessmen, labor, community groups, members of civic groups and variety of stakeholders lined his capital office waiting room daily for a chance to speak with him to advance their interests," she said, noting his legacy of pushing state dollars to projects in Philadelphia, and his lack of current association with the OARC.
She said the Inquirer's choice to publish the leaked report was part of larger media collusion with "corporate greed and political benefactors and liberals who are comfortable with blacks on their backs" who did not want to see the economic elevation of the city's black population.
Tying the Inquirer piece to "Being White in Philadelphia," Tasco said, "They write a story in one magazine that says we all live in a poor neighborhood that's decrepit, crime-infested. Well, take a look at Mount Airy," adding, "So what is the strategy? You get a little bit, then it's 'no we're not going to let you have that, you're supposed to live in a crime infested community.'"
I guess Councilwoman Tasco has not heard of the Streisand Effect. Now that she's gone off and run a screed about how "racist" the Inquirer is, it's only going to make people question "what the hell is she talking about?" and go read the OARC article. Bad move.— EastChestnut
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