Annapolis Capital Punishment

Last Thursday night, Ward Six Candidates Greg Stiverson and Kenny Kirby appeared at a meeting of  public housing residents in Eastport, but it was Kirby's Rasputin-like handler, Chuck Weikel, who stole the show. Stiverson approached Weikel and Kirby to shake their hands at the end of the meeting when an enraged Weikel, yelled at Stiverson and called him a "f------ liar" in front of eyewitnesses. (The "f------" part is a claim made by Stiverson. Other eyewitnesses saw Weikel wildly and angrily talking with Stiverson but were not close enough to hear the verbal exchange. Stiverson stands by his story. Weikel has requested that I not communicate with him.

Stiverson said:

The "debate" occurred before an audience of about 8 residents. Kirby arrived half an hour late [CP NOTES--this is normal for the man as I have personally seen this before] and before long got really weird--started off reasonable enough but really got wound up, talking about irrelevant things, shouting, throwing his arms around, etc. Chuck Weikel arrived about the time I started to speak. He interrupted the proceedings to announce that I had been endorsed by Trudy McFall along with Dave Cordle. He said people believe Cordle promised to make Trudy city manager and he asked me to say whether I would support her in that role. I said that we were there to talk with the residents and to address their problems and asked if any of the residents were interested in talking about the city manager issue and Trudy McFall. All said they weren't, at which point Chuck got loud and demanded to know what my answer was, "yes" or "no." I said "no," because she wasn't qualified under the terms of the bill now before the Council. Chuck seemed delighted to get this "confession" out of me--I wonder what he'll do with it?

Later, Kirby was talking about all of the permanent displacement of families that would result from the ongoing renovation of public housing. When it was my turn to speak, I said this was not true according to testimony Eric Brown [HACA Exec. Director] has given before the City Council. I noted that Kirby had claimed on his website that 200 families would be displaced to Glen Burnie. At this point, Chuck went crazy, yelling that I was a liar. At the end of the evening, I went to shake Kenny's and Chuck's hands. Chuck was clearly furious, called me a "f------ liar," and said he would expose me for the liar that I am. He screamed that he is a Naval Academy graduate and never lies, etc., etc. It was kind of scary.

Not only did Kirby arrive late, he immediately excused himself, left the meeting and then returned later.
Stiverson later corrected himself in an email to Weikel that he was referring to Craig Purcell's blog (which is really also Weikel's blog) 

Kenny and Chuck - My memory of the substance of Kenny's statement was correct but my recollection of the source was wrong. The statement appeared in Craig Purcell's blog posting of Aug. 20, "End Game is Black Displacement." Sorry for the mis-attribution of source, but the fact remains that Mr. Kirby, or someone speaking for him, is reported to have made the statement about 200 families being displaced to the county--and Glen Burnie is specifically mentioned. Since Craig Purcell is a staunch supporter of Mr. Kirby, I had no reason to doubt the truth of the statement.
Greg

Weikel wrote back:

It's not Kenny's statement and attributing it to him is grossly unfair.

Since you agree with Foer 99% of the time I assume you believe that everything printed in a blog is true?

Chuck

Sent from my iPhone

Stiverson wrote back:

Chuck - I don't know about all blogs, but I thought I could trust Craig. I assume you mean that Craig attributing it to Mr. Kirby was grossly unfair, not my citation of it. You should have Craig run a correction, stating that he made up the Kenny statement out of whole cloth.
Greg

I guess nothing surprises any of us anymore about Chuck Weikel, downtown elitist, historic preservationist, Naval Academy graduate who "never lies", and consultant with The Kinsella Group of Chicago. I would have asked Weikel for comment, but he has asked me not to send him emails, so I don't. However, why was Weikel at that meeting? It's because Kirby says nothing without Weikel's approval, and Weikel is running his campaign.

In case you are wondering, this is what Purcell posted on his blog on August 20th:

With the rolling renovations and the rebuilding of Public Housing properties in the State Capital Democratic candidate Kenneth Kirby Ward 6 says that when it finally comes to finishing up and rebuilding Robinwood and Newtowne 20 at least 200 black families will have been displaced from Annapolis and pushed to Section 8 housing in Glen Burnie and points north and not to points south.

Interestingly, about the same time this occurred,  a former Naval Academy Midshipman made the news--for committing theft!

More coming out this week on Kirby's background.

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