"It has nothing constructive to say and only leads to more misinformation and fear-mongering."

We'll probably never know why Doug England opted for self-defeating, narcissistic behavior -- apart from this being his perennial default setting -- but in 2011, a visibly wavering England (ostensibly a Democrat) hand-picked his successor, Irv "More GOP than Mitt" Stumler, who swept the area dry of cash and was utterly humiliated in the Democratic primary by Jeff Gahan, who later became a hologram capable of raising even more money than the former Republican.

England then tanked his tepid at-large council bid to Shirley Baird, a defeat so profoundly embittering that Hizzoner moved all the way to Florida, leaving us to cope with the debris: A forever pouting and conniving Stumler, who has plotted for vengeance ever since he swapped parties for personal gain (he has since swapped back).

Stumler's frequent and thinly veiled efforts to usurp power through the auspices of Clean & Green's streetside potting exercises have been rebutted so effortlessly by Gahan that Irv has been reduced to peddling assorted and sordid street grid lies door-to-door.

Irv Stumler peddles humongous whoppers, feels no shame at all, insults entire city.

A candidate for city council is walking the streets, spreading the manure, and saying whatever he thinks is necessary to scare someone into signing his piece of paper. This somehow strikes him as leadership. It strikes most of the rest of us a pretext for hospitalization and the administering of happy drugs.

Matt Nash has noticed, and he gets the gist of Stumler's plaudits-for-Padgett website: "It has nothing constructive to say and only leads to more misinformation and fear-mongering."

Yep, that nails it, but misinformation and fear-mongering are the only cards in the deck Irv has left to play. Take it away, Matt.

NASH: An important two-way conversation (N and T)

 ... Many of the people opposed to Speck’s plan pointed to the East Main Street redevelopment project as a reason to not implement the plan’s recommendations. They cite the median as dangerous and causing too narrow of a lane for vehicles to pass safely.

I don’t necessarily disagree with their point of view, but the Main Street plan has nothing to do with the new plan. Main Street was in process and completed as Mr. Speck was preparing and delivering his plan. The changes of Main Street have nothing to do with his plan.

Opposition to the Speck plan has spawned a website which claims to provide more information. I believe that it has nothing constructive to say and only leads to more misinformation and fear-mongering.

Recently, a picture of a car that wrecked into the Main Street project median was posted. It doesn’t point out that the driver was very drunk at the time of the accident. What’s that have to do with the other streets in New Albany?

Ask the homeowners along Elm and Market streets how often their property has been damaged by drunken drivers or just people driving too fast.