Mayor Dorman is at it again, according to Melissa Watchers: he's posted a letter, apparently from the Federal Bureu of Investigation, proclaiming him a "victim" of "Internet Extortion". Typical Dorman, his opponents say: He has a history of using lawsuits and law enforcement as campaign tools in the past. But it's not only law enforcement he's manipulating- perhaps, more importantly, it's the press. There's a joke making the rounds in Melissa that the town has 1 1/2 newspapers.
"Out of his mouth straight onto the front page," as the saying goes. Apparently, it's not too far from the truth. Mathmatical analysis of occurances of Dormans name reveal that those instances have risen sharply as the Mayorial campaign has begun. "He's in the paper for buying girl scout seeds, for introducing a kid to a military guy- for saying Happy Birthday to an 80 year old- and now he's gone and declared May Child Safety Month. Anything to get on the front page. Last week, he wrote a letter to Channel 8 News protesting a story they did on him, like maybe he sued them and asked for damages but he didn't, it was just a "I'm mis-understood letter"- they put him on the front page."
"I don't believe in coincidence" someone said this past evening at a gathering of concerned citizens.
Still, a three-pronged attack (newspapers, internet, and personal appearances) seems a little much for politics in this small town of 3,214 located 30 miles, more or less, north of the sprawling Dallas-Ft.Worth Metroplex. Melissa is ideally located aside one of the busiest corridors into the area. It was only a few years ago that the city got "off the well", referring to the towns water source. The water supply, or more importantly, it's lack of a water supply, stymied the growth during a time highway boomtowns were springing up at every exit ramp. Mayor Dorman takes credit for solving the water problem by building a water tower storage tank- kind of akin to Dan Quayles claim to having invented the internet, say his opponents. More important, they say, is that Mayor Dorman formed a partnership with two other city leaders, bought the land- and sold it back to the city at a substantial profit. Although Mayor Dorman is quick to point out that he didn't profit from the specific piece of land he sold the city, it has raised questions concerning his ethics- or more importantly, say his detractors, the lack thereof.
Stay tuned as the story unfolds- and it's available right here, on EagleOne, Eye On America.
