In an astonishing moment of abject arrogance Charlottesville City Councilor, Kristen Szakos (aka the Moat Monster), has openly vilified—from a highly visible public platform—a local business engaged in pursuing financial success.

The provoking corporate crime? A desire to advertise wireless mobile products to a broader audience.

The Moat Monster’s vicious verbal assault on nTelos Inc. was launched during the April 4, 2011 City Council meeting as the body was discussing “naming rights” for the Charlottesville Pavilion. The music venue, held jointly by Coran Capshaw and the City of Charlottesville in public-private partnership, contractually is permitted corporate naming affiliation.

Prefacing her remarks with a disclaimer that she intended to vote in favor of the Pavilion re-christening, Szakos did so, but not before lecturing her “subjects” on the inherent evils of “big business.” Kristen laid bare her disdain for free-market capitalism as she took the floor in a painfully rambling, gesticulating objection:

I don’t think that we should have our city, you know, with corporate sponsors, um, in that sort of publically visible way. But I think that this is the law that we have and so I don’t really see um, that, that I would feel comfortable denying it because I think that it’s, it’s within the letter of the law, and nTelos is, you know, granted it’s a corporation, it’s also a local corporation, it’s not uh, uh, you know, uh, you know, some, I guess there are really no pure large companies, but it’s, it’s not a particularly horrible one. [emphasis added]

Szakos shared no supporting evidence either for her anti-enterprise malediction or her inference that nTelos was a “horrible” corporation of some degree. Viewers of the churlish outburst were left with the impression that the Marxist councilor simply hates “business”—a seemingly appropriate assumption.

An astute poverty pimp, Szakos excels at community organizing with intent to promulgate class warfare. Bemoaning the plight of Charlottesville’s poor while denigrating a successful locally based business apparently does not strike the Moat Monster as incongruous. Perhaps she should consider that:

  • nTelos provides 1,445 full-time jobs regionally
  • nTelos pays/collects corporate, sales, excise, and payroll taxes all of which enrich government coffers and help finance government social programs
  • nTelos offers “essential” services (telephone, high-speed Internet, etc.) at reasonable cost to all income groups
  • nTelos excels at customer service

In short, it does not appear that nTelos is “horrible” at all, Councilor Szakos. In fact, because of your penchant for large, expensive government, you should be thanking nTelos for their presence here, not damning them.

Once termed “dumber than a box of rocks” in a local online forum, the Moat Monster again has “lived up” (or down) to public characterizations of her intellect. While Szakos took incredulous exception to the “rocks” allegory, indications are that it may be true.

If the box fits, wear it.

Watch Kristen Szakos’s attack on nTelos:

 

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7 COMMENTS

  1. June Cleaver Szakos does not like corporations and neither does Dave Norris. When discussing reducing the tax rate across the board rather than just for specific home owners, Norris remarked “I don’t want to let Barracks Road [Shopping Center] of the hook.” Most of the businesses there are small and locally owned. These are the “commons-ists” that are running this city. Norris, with 6,000 votes in his last election, is probably the highest vote-getter in the history of this town and JC Szakos, with 5700 is probably the second highest. We are in trou-ble-e-e-e.

  2. I’m sure there were many people in the audience with enough intelligence – very little is required – to understand the difference between hating business and hating the way big businesses often throw their weight around. Power corrupts corporation executives as well as big time politicians.

    It’s a shame that the name of the pavilion now connotes that it belongs to nTelos, and no longer to the people of Charlottesville. Corporate names on big facilities like that are in terribly bad taste. But that’s not something I expect free market-worshipping conservatives to understand.

  3. The city of Charlottesville is a corporation. Does that not also make it evil in her eyes? Maybe not as bad as others, thanks to those of her ilk.
    The city shouldn’t get any money?
    What idiots made that deal?!?!
    I say get the city out of the music business and let Coran Capshaw and nTelos or whoever wants to buy the city out succeed or fail on their own merit without coerced support from the good citizens of the city I once proudly called home.

  4. Isn’t it incredible to hear these words from someone who just handed the ownership of hundreds of millions of dollars of city water assets to a bunch of developers and corporations in Albemarle County? And who cast the deciding vote to dramatically raise future water rates on the poor and those who can least afford to pay for such wasteful spending projects?

    No doubt, though, she will ride to the rescue with a new welfare program to soak City taxpayers to subsidize the new higher rates for ‘the poor people who just can’t pay for what I did to them.’ And she will stand on her dais to take credit for that new compound clusterhump.

    Corporations and big groups of people are clearly bad in her view … yet, she feels free to disembowel the poor and all City taxpayers with her “feelings” that she should enrich Albemarle developers and county officials.

    With comments such as “…I guess there are really no pure large companies, but it’s, it’s not a particularly horrible one,” she makes Washington politicians look like they have integrity and brains.

    I don’t really know whether she is as dumb as people say … or a cunning implant from the corporate titans and developers of Albemarle County. It’s probably either one or the other. But, I’m guessing it is the former.

    In any case, Charlottesville cannot afford to have city councilors like this. She really needs to be removed from office before her next stupidity/screw job is foisted on the community.

  5. I am shocked at the horrible name-calling used by Mr. Schilling to vilify Ms. Szakos–“Moat Monster”, “poverty pimp”, “dumber…”. It is fine to disagree with people and discuss issues in a substantive, professional manner. But such foul rantings and disrespect are offensive to most decent people and leaves me unwilling to believe Mr. Schilling is serious about anything but smearing his opponents. Whatever happened to civility? It has certainly been slaughtered by Mr. Schilling to his shame and that of the community he trys to represent.

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