Tony Phillips: In Memoriam

Today's very detailed Morning Call account - Phillips' Facebook chat mate revealed - tells us that a Tony Phillips' ex-girlfriend is the culprit who set out to undermine his candidacy. A woman scorned, and not the Pawlowski camp, managed to divert everyone's attention from a an unsafe city in fiscal crisis. Had her identity been known from the onset, I doubt this would ever have been a story. Private lives should remain private.

President Judge Alfred Williams, who presided over many a custody dispute in his day, once told me there are three sides to every domestic dispute - her side, his side and the truth. We've heard her side. We may hear his side. I doubt we'll ever hear the truth.

Being human, we love all those titillating details about Tony's relationship, even if we don't know for sure exactly what happened. We're shocked, just shocked, to learn that he had a stormy relationship that ended badly. Nobody questions the temptress who created a false identity and who outright lied to put Tony in a position where she could pounce on him.

I might be Tony's sole defender here in Blogistan. I'll agree he used bad judgment, whatever that means. But he'd by no means be the first person who exercised bad judgment in a relationship. Nobody is willing to acknowledge that obvious truth. Instead, he is now being shunned by the very party that nominated him, denied an opportunity to speak at the first ever LV Republican convention this past Sunday. "With friends like these ..."

Michael Molovinsky is a former mayoral candidate who was treated pretty badly in his own run. He might be expected to have a shred of compassion. Wrong. He instead questions Phillips' intelligence in a post entitled Stupid is as Stupid Does. What is that if not mean-spirited?

Blogger LVCI incredibly condemns Tony for getting caught. "By allowing himself to be exposed he demonstrated his inability to be discrete." I see. If LVCI prefers a mayor who can hide his transgressions, King Edwin is the man for him. Would you like a mayor who claims that the city is really, really safe as bullets whizz over your head? Do you really want someone who brags about restoring fiscal stability while laying off city workers? Actually, King Edwin has been caught himself, and on matters a little more relevant to our lives.

Over at LVPoliblog, VDSM - a woman - chides men who think "with parts of their anatomy other than their brain." Gee, that's certainly true, but doesn't "Delores" play a teensy little role in this soap opera, too? Didn't Eve tempt Adam?

I can think of several local elected officials who've been involved in relationships that have ended badly. Some have been accused of cheating and other dastardly private deeds. There may even be a few pick their noses and eat it. I have some pretty hard evidence on a current candidate for public office, married with children, begging a college student to hook up with him. Should I publis that? Is it open season on private lives? You tell me.

We're very willing to examine all the lurid details of Tony's private life, putting him in a no win situation and effectively ending his candidacy. We're equally unwilling to delve into private lives of other officials. Why is that? Could it be that Tony's race enters into our thinking? Are we so willing to pronounce Tony a "horn dog" because he is, after all, black? You tell me.

I realize this defense of Tony is both unpopular and futile, but there's little point to blogging if I'm unable to express minority views.

Update: In the comments to The Morning Call story, "Delores4u2" is now claiming she is HIV positive and, like Florence Nightingale, she is simply warning other women about the danger of unprotected sex with Tony. Alrighty.