Welcome to ManchPostal

--- by Ed Naile

Welcome to Manchester politics. The stuff you are not supposed to hear has arrived.

Enter Joe Kelly Levasseur and his attempt to mail his Manchester City Council election material through the Manchester Post Office like any other Manchester candidate would be able to do. For that matter, any candidates for office in America would be able mail their glossies out before election day wouldn't you say?

But this is Manchester, New Hampshire and it depends on who you are.

The facts:

Today, just hours after being contacted by the USPS in Manchester, Joe Kelly Levasseur received an official $975.00 check.

The check is a remuneration the Manchester USPS felt obligated to give him for NOT delivering his mailers BEFORE November 8.

Happens all the time, right? Political mailers just sit in bags off to the side at the end of the day and when the post office workers get around to it they trundle the bundles off with their little golf cart mail-mobiles.

And this must be a big story since everyone wants an unbiased, efficient post office. Who would believe it was a mistake. It was probably just an oversight.

How often then does the US Post Office pay a candidate back for NOT mailing political materials before an election? (This is the part where you hear cricket noises.)

Love him or hate him Joe is no punching bag. Let me re-phrase. This punching bag punches back!

Joe Kelly has offered a $25,000 reward to the first postal worker who comes forward to testify about what happened.

USPS punches back!

“No Mr. Kelly,” the USPS lawyer in Connecticut tells Joe, “We do not allow employees to take rewards.” (Surprise! How would this scam work if they did that?)

Does anyone think this story will make the “Manchester Paper” like the Chuck McGee scandal did? Remember Chuck? He should be home soon for the holidays after sitting in a federal prison for doing a lot less than this. Chuck will be front page again when he is released. Then the local papers will investigate “Postalgate,” right?

Not if “John DiStaso (D) Union Leader” has anything to do with it. The stolen sign story failed to make his weekly “insider” article twice after the Mayor Baines loss (popularity poll 65%) to Frank Guinta. All DiStaso managed to do was re-re-re-repeat the list of Republican scandals Governor Not Benson campaigned on. What a coincidence.

So stay tuned for more info on this story and our upcoming “Readers Contest” which is a fabulous grand prize (made of wood) for the first person who can guess how long it will be until The UL is printing LESS than 50,000 papers a day. (Hint 53,000 now). Phone in your guess at 1-800-BAD-PULP.