Boilerplate aplenty as Coffey's defection arouses heroic words of meaninglessness from Democratic officials.

Dan Coffey explains himself.

Pot, meet kettle: Dan Coffey's letter of disassociation with Adam Disney's merry band of ... er ... well ... ?

Coffey says he hasn't left the Democratic Party -- you see, it left him. Coffey now will team up with Scott "Banker" Blair to form an "independent" duo on the council, which means we're a city with Moe and Larry, desperately in search of Curly.

Not to worry. There's a Curly on every street corner in New Albany.

Watch as the Republicans recoil in horror. They'd probably be willing to take their chances negotiating with Coffey, but not if he brings Blair along for the ride.

Some indignities are just too great to bear.

See Dixiecrat stalwarts like Jeff Gahan and Pat McLaughlin express shock at such a defection, which of course constantly has been discussed here at NA Confidential for months, if not years, without the somnolent newspaper ever bothered to pick up on it.

Gahan might even have a case. Has Coffey fulfilled the terms of his latest payola contract? After all, TIF residues remain payable, inside the machine or out.

Of course, Adam Disney benignly points to the national Democratic Party platform, this being the one he's studiously avoided referencing locally since his accession to kingpin.

And naturally, everyone involved was perfectly content to ride out the most recent election cycle, with Adam joyfully accepting Coffey's perennial cemetery voter sweep -- you know, one last lucrative concert tour before the band breaks up and begins stoking rumors of a reunion to come.

Peel away the layers of this story, and the local Democratic Party's conceptual rot comes into ever greater focus. We've been discussing THAT for years, too; then again, for all his flaws, Coffey never ceases to function like a human litmus test.

The redder his face, the blacker the local Democratic Party's heart.

New Albany Councilman Dan Coffey leaves Democratic Party, by Chris Morris (Clark County First)

 ... District 1 Councilman Dan Coffey — who ran unopposed in the November general election — said he was no longer associated with the Floyd County Democrats at the meeting.

When contacted Tuesday, a day after the meeting, Coffey said the decision to leave the party had been building for some time.

"The Democratic Party is not the same as it was years ago when I joined," he said.