Shelby Township Clerk Terri Kowal Assists Recall Group In Their Self-Serving Political Assault

Much of the focus surrounding the current Shelby Township recall has been about Trustee Lisa Manzella.  For good reason. Mrs. Manzella has been openly encouraging the recall against Supervisor Rick Stathakis and Treasurer Paul Viar.  Manzella’s participation is not about what is good for Shelby Township taxpayers, is about what is good for the warped personal agenda of Trustee Manzella.  Let’s also not forget, Manzella was a hand-picked choice for Trustee by former Supervisor Skip Maccarone.  Skippy and his wife Linda have also been helping with this recall.  Is this Skip’s way of saying “I’ll be back” as he seeks to terminate all opposition?  Does Skip have another scheme up his sleeve?  Is Maccarone eyeballing the township attorney’s job if he can only get his people elected?

While we have been talking a great deal about Lisa Manzella’s involvement in the recall movement, we must never forget the other one of Shelby Township’s Trouble Twins:  Clerk Terri Kowal.

Kowal and Manzella have been tag-teaming this recall.  While playing innocent (she loves doing that) Clerk Kowal has been a behind-the-scenes operative for the Nightingale recall bunch.  Has she been helping them verify signatures?  What role has she played in assisting the door-to-door effort?  Stay tuned...the answers may surprise you.

Terri Kowal has been a consistent supporter of the recall.  Although she has tried to hide her complicity with these political attackers, as Ronald Reagan once said of terrorists: “You can run but you can’t hide.”

Obviously feeling the sting of the Inside Out’s exposé of her becoming a Save Shelby Facebook “friend”, Kowal has tried to do damage control.  Her initial arrogance which prompted her to join the recall bandwagon has given way to concern for her own political future.  Soon after the Inside Out exposed Kowal’s “friendship” for the radical Save Shelby group, Kowal’s name mysteriously disappeared from the Save Shelby Facebook page.  Why?  Did Kowal suddenly decide these are “friends” that she would rather not be associated with?  Or, did she act out of necessity for her own political survival?

People who lie all the time (commonly called pathological liars) tend to lose all sense of fact as they mold reality to fit their personal view of life.  These people often make their lies the truth, and wonder why other people can’t see or understand the “truth.”  The big problem that these liars always face is one lie leads to another and another and another…and very soon even the liar herself forgets what she is talking about.

As part of her denial about ever becoming a Save Shelby Facebook “friend”, Kowal has gone so far as even trying to trash the credibility of those who caught her with her hand in the cookie jar.  She later came up with another story to try and explain the Save Shelby “friend” issue.  Here is what Terri Kowal posted on the Shelby-Utica Patch, an internet newsletter which covers Shelby Township, to try and explain this away:

Terri Kowal
4:24pm on Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Posted on the Shelby-Utica Patch

Interesting - my son logged onto Save Shelby one day (he uses my FB since his pc was hacked) and didn't realize he was friending it. Mr. Viar (and then Mr. Stathakis) accused me of being behind the recall since I was a friend of the FB page. I explained I hadn't signed up, Mr. Viar of course knows better…. Mr. Viar just walked into my office, tossed a page on my desk of the Save Shelby page with 44 friends on a list, and my name was on it. He wrote "you should see who stole your identity" and of course wouldn't stay to hear the story of my son using my FB. I checked the Save Shelby site, there are about 140 friends, not 44, and my name isn't on the list.  And what would it mean if I HAD logged onto the site?

Okay, so let’s dissect Kowal’s rambling response.

First, Kowal absolutely WAS a “friend” of the Save Shelby Facebook recall page.  A January INSIDE OUT post clearly demonstrated her friendship.  This was her way of sending a message to everyone about what side of this war she is on.  Given her enthusiastic support for the recall, why is she afraid to fess up? Mrs. Kowal may try to deny the truth, but she is lying.

Second, Kowal blames this whole “misunderstanding” on her son.  Really?  Is she trying to make people believe that her son so dumb that he doesn’t understand how Facebook actually works?  Anyone with basic knowledge of Facebook realizes that in order to become a friend:
(1) You have to send a friend request to someone and have that person accept you as a friend; or
(2) You have to request that someone add you as a friend, and that person must agree to the mutual “friendship.”

There are no immaculate Facebook “friends.”  These cyberspace connections don’t just occur by the will of a higher power.  Every “friendship” is a physical act of clicking the mouse over the proper button on Facebook.  If, as Mrs. Kowal wants us to believe, her son does NOT understand this premise, he must be in the VERY a slim minority of people his age who are considered Facebook illiterate.

Third, after denying that she was ever linked as a “friend” Mrs. Kowal’s story then changes.  Now, she says her son logged onto the site and suddenly was a friend.  Sorry, as we have already explained, that is not how a Facebook friendship happens.  By the way, doesn’t he have his own Facebook account, or does he have to use mommy’s?

Fourth, Mrs. Kowal is hanging her hat on the fact that her name does not currently appear on the Save Shelby friend list.  Okay, so what?  She removed her name from the list after getting caught and being called out for it.  We have the proof.  More than that, when the Inside Out reported about this back in January and listed the Save Shelby “friends”, we made a point of stating that at that time there were 44 friends.  Obviously, there have been changes to this list — some names have been added and others (including Terri Kowal, Laura Porter and Chris Troszak) have been deleted.  That is Kowal’s big explanation?  “My name is not on Save Shelby now so I was never a friend?”  Who the heck gave Kowal that wonderful legal advice?  Her hubby?  Come on now, really?

Finally, to answer Mrs. Kowal’s snide comment, “And what would it mean if I HAD logged onto the site?” the Inside Out offers this simple and direct response:
It means that you back the recall 100 percent and support efforts by the Nightingale Towing family and the police union to kick out Supervisor Rick Stathakis and Treasurer Paul Viar.  Period!

Terri Kowal has served on the Shelby Township Board of Trustees for more than two decades - 21 years to be exact.  She was first elected a Trustee back in 1990.  That was a LONG time ago.  To give you an idea, when Terri Kowal was first elected to the Board of Trustees 21 years ago:
• George Herbert Walker Bush was President of the United States.
• A gallon of regular gasoline cost $1.16.
• The price of a first class stamp was 25¢.
• The Dow Jones Industrials closed the year with an average 2,633.
• Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, launching the Persian Gulf War.
• The average cost of a new house was $123,000.
• The Saturn car division was launched by General Motors.
• Seinfeld debuted on NBC and the Simpsons debuted on Fox.
• The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into space.
• Microsoft released Windows 3.0.
• The first in-car satellite navigation system was sold.
• Tim Berners-Lee published a more formal proposal for the World Wide Web and the very first internet web page was written.

As you can see, MUCH has changed in our lives since 1990.  However, here in Shelby Township, Terri Kowal’s work as an elected official has NOT.  Like the career politician she is, Terri Kowal just keeps hanging on to her taxpayer-funded job.  She absolutely loves feasting at the public trough.  Clerk Terri Kowal is definitely one of a kind ... and that is good news because Shelby taxpayers definitely could NOT afford to have two of her running around trying to spend our money.

When it comes to recall campaigns, Terri Kowal clearly wants it both ways.  In fact, the March 1, 2011 story on the Shelby-Utica Patch, Effort To Recall Shelby Clerk Dies (written by Marina Cracchiolo), said the following:
 “I feel really saddened by the recall,” Kowal told Patch previously. “Obviously, sometimes people disagree with the way board members vote and they see a recall as an automatic course of action.”

Saddened?  When it comes to a campaign to have her recalled from office for actively engaging in nepotism, Kowal feigns sadness.  But when it comes to attacking her elected colleagues and trying to get them kicked out of office on a campaign of lies, deception and misinformation, Terri Kowal is one of the first people in line to join the crusade.  This double standard is a Kowal trademark:  play the victim one day and victimize other people the next.

What Kowal claims makes her so sad is what is happening with the recall attempt against Supervisor Rick Stathakis.  A towing company upset about the way board members vote and see a recall as an automatic course of action.  What happened to all of the sadness?

When it comes time to vote in 2012 we should all remember that by that time Terri Kowal will have been living off our tax dollars for 22 years.  Time for a change?  Let’s make it a priority to move Shelby Township forward by moving Terri Kowal back to the private sector.

Who knows, maybe Kowal could get a job at Nightingale Towing?  What better way for the “family” to pay Kowal back for all of her assistance in their recall.

Until next time…