“I noticed that NewsLanc has endorsed Charlie Smithgall for Mayor.
“This is the same Smithgall who — as much as any official — brought the convention center/hotel project to Lancaster. This is the same Smithgall who took the Marriott off the tax rolls; The same Smithgall who waived more than one million dollars in construction and other fees for the project; The same Smithgall who called Shellenberger and Henderson “economic terrorists” for questioning the project.
“Two questions:
1) Have you forgotten Smithgall’s record?
2) Has NewsLanc or Robert Field financially contributed to the Smithgall campaign?”
EDITOR : Charlie Smithgall acknowledges with pride his pioneering efforts to bring a convention center to Lancaster. His initial thoughts was to place it in Lancaster Square East but the manager, who later received almost a million dollars for as a consultant to the project doing no one can quite figure out what, never responded.
Smithgall also envisioned a hotel whereby three quarter of the cost would be borne by the sponsors. As things turned out, the public ended up with three quarters of the cost.
Smithgall’s concept was a center that would accommodate the type of functions that otherwise had to be held in the field house at Franklin & Marshall. Over the years the sponsors and the Convention Center Authority greatly increased the size, even after PricewatershouseCoopers objected and withdrew their earlier lukewarm market study.
Despite having promised if elected to hold a meeting with the sponsors and county commissioners to take a second look at the project, Gray reneged within three days of his election and through himself whole heartedly behind it.
Last week at the debate sponsored by the Lancaster Newspapers and the Chamber of Commerce, Gray disclosed that by the end Smithgall had lost confidence in the economics of the project but Gray had persevered. We know how. He announced that a $20 million shortfall in funding had been overcome, although the sources and amounts he gave were not true as was immediately pointed out by NewsLanc and others.
The publisher of NewsLanc was a contributor to the Gray campaign eight years ago. This year he contributed to the Smithgall campaign. He told that to Gray in person. The two agreed to have dinner after the campaign.
Some have criticized Smithgall for being too “hands on” as a manager. With sadness, we criticize Gray for not managing at all, delegating the task to subordinates whom he has allowed to become his masters, and playing the role of professor. And a very thin skinned one at that.
