Truck stop: This questionably parked, politically tagged vehicle has been removed from its perch in front of the Regional Transportation Center, thanks to a tipster’s phone call. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO
“I know I’ve seen small lawn signs throughout the county endorsing Sweetland and depending on how fast you’re driving, you hardly even notice them,” said Wayne. “So I thought to myself, is the Sweetland campaign starting to distribute giant trucks to get a buzz going and will we now see these mastodonic vehicular advertisements parked on supporters’ lawns throughout the county? But then it struck me: Is the Regional Transportation Center endorsing Sweetland?”
The RTC is named in honor of William F. Walsh, who held the same 25th Congressional District seat from 1973 to 1979 that Sweetland is campaigning for to replace, ironically, Walsh’s son, Jim, who announced his retirement from that very seat earlier this year.
Left to ponder Wayne’s observation a day, this reporter decided to drive by the RTC on the way to work to see if the truck was still there… and it was. So later that day, a call was placed to Centro, which provides service to the RTC and considers it one of their main transfer locations.
“We are apolitical and actually I’m not aware of it,” said Steve Koegel, Centro’s director of marketing, when asked if the RTC is indeed endorsing Sweetland. “Let me call down there and find out who’s it is and I’ll get back to you.” Later that afternoon, everything appeared to be straightened out. “We contacted the Sweetland campaign and asked them to remove it,” said Koegel, “and it’s been removed.”
A call was then placed to the Sweetland campaign headquarters to further inquire about the maverick parking escapade at the RTC. If Republican operatives indeed removed it, as Keogel noted, surely they’d let The New Times in on the truck’s whereabouts, or would they?
“I do know of a truck owned by a supporter,” said Julia Robbins, office manager for the Sweetland campaign, when asked about the status of the truck, in a tone of befuddlement. “It’s not owned by the Sweetland campaign and we’re just as surprised as everyone else when we see it around town. But it wasn’t us who parked it there {RTC}. They must have made a mistake.”
So now when driving to Carousel Center, you will not be smacked in the face by the egregious advertising/parking job and left to space off at the wheel while pondering Sweetland’s politics. You’ll just have to wait until you actually pull into the mall and be greeted by an egregious “No smoking on the premises” sign, then ponder the Constitution.
—Tom Kahley
