Paul Lewis vs. John Goolrick

This looks like a winner. It seems as if Mr. Lewis of RAG fame has his hands on a letter that is nothing short of a smoking gun – a Silver Companies strategy to emasculate the current Fredericksburg City Council:

Were these two councilmen aware that a suit would be brought against their colleagues? I cannot say. But there is no doubt that Councilman Joe Wilson was aware of a movement by certain political foes of Beck to discredit the mayor’s efforts and hamper potential progress during his tenure. I say this because of a document passed to me by Wilson when requested under FOIA, and a matter of public record.

The document is a paper copy of an e-mail from John Goolrick, a local politico and outspoken critic of Beck. It is dated May 19, 2002, a mere five days after the election, and is addressed to Larry Silver, Silver Cos. Vice President Jud Honaker, Wilson, political consultant Jan Eckert, and others not readily identifiable from their e-mail addresses.

It begins “more I think about it, more I am convinced that we should not just sit back and let events take their course. I think we should put together a group under some umbrella name such as Fredericksburg Concerned Citizens Association (FCCA) or whatever. Richard Garnett has mentioned he has names of lots of people citywide to join in. Purpose would be to monitor new council, call for accuracy and fairness in media, etc. Get someone such as Bill Mitchell or Clyde Mathews [sic] to head it up.”

Some FACTS need not be distributed to the general public, eh? I am quite sure that someone will respond, if not Mr. Goolrick himself.

Most folks in the city know of the collusion bewteen the Beck opposition and the Silver Companies. To have it in paper only justifies previously held suspicions. The real question is how the open government crowd will handle themselves in the upcoming elections. Mayor Beck won by small margins in a surprise election that split Mayfield. With Mayfield solidly behind the Silver Companies, the extra votes have to come from somewhere. This has the potential to turn into a dirty race, as the Silvers and their allies have been waiting for Bill Beck’s number for some time now.