Fitchburg Mayoral Candidate Says Drumlin Farmers Linked to "Domestic Terrorists" - WTF?

In what could be a very tight election for Mayor of Fitchburg, Mark Vivian's campaign has run off the rails of sanity into the great bog of the bizarre. Facing a popular 14-year veteran City Councilman, Jay Allen, former Mayor Vivian sent out a fundraising letter that claimed that:

"My opponent, Jay Allen, has introduced legislative action to use the City’s police powers to condemn land owned by the Novation Campus, and threaten 2.5 million dollars of your tax money to interfere in what should be a private matter between current tenants living illegally on Novation property and its owners. The illegal tenants have known ties to an organization identified on the U.S. Federal Government list of domestic terrorist groups."

Huh? In Fitchburg? Really?

Bill Lueders has the story on The Dailypage:

Grab the kids and run for cover! Can car bombings in McKee Park be far behind? Will deadly biological agents be added to the produce at the Agora Pavilion farmers market? Will Berbee and Promega become havens for sleeper cells?

Allen explains that he recently introduced a resolution to begin an eminent domain process against Alexander Co., which is developing the Novation Campus. He says the goal was to compel the company to discuss the possible sale of Drumlin Farm, a five-acre community garden that enjoys huge community support.

Waxing America told you about Drumlin Farm and the land development deal it is located smack dab in the middle of:

Everybody understand the meaning of "fair market value determined by independent appraisal assuming the highest and best use of the property?" As the Novation Campus business park develops, the highest and best use of property within and adjacent to it is... as a business park, not a farm or a community garden.

Lueders showed the Vivian letter to Allen:

Apprised that his rival in the race for Fitchburg mayor has linked him to domestic terrorists, Jay Allen has an interesting reaction: He laughs and laughs.

"He wrote that?" says Allen, a 14-year veteran of the Fitchburg Common Council, between guffaws. "Oh my God! That is just crazy. Just absolutely insane."

Drumlin Garden neighbor Tim Morrissey sees politics behind it all, but will be vigilant:

Jay Allen, terrorist sympathizer?  Yah, and I'm the poster boy for Weight Watchers.  This is a low blow even for the right-wing stooges behind Vivian's campaign.

I live a few blocks from the development site in question, but I'm across the boundary line in the wide-open Town of Madison.  I'll be sure to watch for any suspicious characters planting things over there in the community farm.

We need to keep an eye on those radical gardeners.

Maybe this photo of the Drumlin Garden explains Vivian's fears - the metal sculpture could do more than scare crows:

Fitchburg curmudgeon and lifelong troublemaker Rich Eggleston had the best reaction:

The Drumlin Gardeners are a well known terrorist group, dedicated to bombing us with tasty vegetables and threatening the American way of life, i.e., Americans' propensity to consume over-processed foods, foods laced with artificial ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup and foods grown thousands of miles away from our stomachs.

Emily Mills puts it all in perspective:

Basically, Vivian's letter is a pile of crap, and an incendiary one at that. The issue of land use rights and specifically what happens with the Drumlin/Novation property is an important one, and deserves a higher degree of debate that that which Vivian appears to be prepared to offer. I can't imagine that someone who would put out a piece of literature as ridiculous as that would make an even remotely good mayor. But, ultimately, that's for the fine folks of Fitchburg to decide.

Right. Early next month, we'll know whether the Fitchburgers, now living on land that was almost entirely farmland, will allow manufactured fear of the farmers to rule their city.  Shame on Mark Vivian.

- Barry Orton

Comments

[antpoppa]

Fear This:
Fitchburg is a hot bed of terrorist activity with ties to Al-Qaeda? Do we need a pre-emptive strike, can we recall our military drones back from Afghanistan? If you drink a lot of brandy, tilt your head to the side and squint real hard with that beard Jay Allen could pass for Mohamed Omar.
The State Logo: Wisconsin Generation of Idiots

[Brian]

This guy sounds like J.B. Van Hollen.

[Rich Eggleston]

Wasn't J.B. Van Hollen the guy who said there was a terrorist threat from aliens -- not the illegal border jumpers but the folks from outer space?

[Kadyn]

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