It's official. Councilmember Helene Schneider can't make a trip to the mailbox without Travis Armstrong writing a column about it.
Yes, although I'm over here in Europe I'm still keeping tabs on what's going on back home. Thursday I saw on the newspress.com website that Armstrong was using his op-ed page column to call Schneider's sending out holiday cards in close proximity to announcing her candidacy for mayor and bearing a photo of her and her husband, "Tacky, tacky. So tacky."
I could see from the opening teaser paragraph that appeared on the web that he characterized it as an overt attempt to call attention to her campaign.
My experience is that covert candidacies usually don't succeed and mixing politics and holiday greetings can most likely be traced back to the French Revolution. (Hey, I am in Paris now.)
Are Schneider's holiday cards any tackier than those stuffed into the plastic bags that hold your newspaper and signed by the delivery person wishing you "Season's Greetings" (wink, wink)?
If Armstrong wants to stamp out tackiness perhaps he should take a trip downstairs to the News-Press circulation department. My own sensibilities aren't so easily offended so holiday cards from the newspaper delivery person (or a mayorial candidate) don't offend me a bit.
John Dickson, who among other things, writes the restaurant column for the Daily Sound, has been playing accidental Santa a few years now, ever since kids wanting to talk to Santa dialed John's number by mistake.
He now has a phone bank to take the calls and could use helpers to man it. For more info go to www.accidentalsanta.com.
