By The River

As I watched the video of a group of 25 black and one white clergy endorsing the black candidate, Linda Thompson, I couldn't help but recall something I learned in 35 years as a newspaper reporter: clergy tend to be among the least reliable sources of information out there.

Not all of them, of course. But many. They often are not very worldly, and tend to believe that anyone who professes to believe in God is credible, no matter the evidence to the contrary. They also are on the gullible side: in the 1980s and 1990s, Proctor & Gamble went nearly insane trying to stop a completely false rumor that it's famous moon-and-stars symbol was of Satanic origin, and that it gave a portion of its profits to the Church of Satan. Their chairman had supposedly confessed as much on the Phil Donahue Show, despite never having appeared on it. The false rumors spread through church bulletins in those pre-Internet days. Clergy would be handed a printed accusation against P&G from "good Mrs. Smith" and would insert it in the bulletin, no questions asked.

I thought of this when I viewed the video on Roxbury News of Apostle Brenda Alton, the Steelton resident who pastors Kingdom Embassy Church in Harrisburg, comparing Linda Thompson to Kanye West as siblings in black victimhood. West, as you may recall, was widely condemned after he, during the MTV Music Awards, interrupted an award to the really white singer Taylor Swift, grabbing the microphone to complain that Beyonce, a black singer, should have received the award instead.

Bizarre? Yes, but stay with me. Alton then seemed to compare the criticism of Thompson's finances, job history, and general untruthfulness over the past week to the nationwide criticism of West's boorish manners, suggesting that the criticism of West was intended to divert attention from a joking "prayer to Satan" that white comedian Jack Black offered later in the MTV Awards show as a spoof on the weirdness of metal rock. The criticism of Thompson, she suggested, was intended to distract "the people" from the real issues facing Harrisburg. Whatever.

Apostle Alton then went on to say that Thompson was the "ambassador of the Kingdom of God as well as the people of God." That fits in with what Thompson herself said on her website, since removed, but archived here, comparing herself to the prophet Nehemiah sent by God to rebuild Jerusalem. Hmmmm.

Thompson, in her own remarks today, said the members of the black churches served by these clergy are "my constituents," and there didn't seem to be too much room for whites, Asians or Hispanics in that group. She referred several times to "my dedicated service on City Council" and asserted that the members of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber to whom she spoke Tuesday "could care less" about her Loveship non-profit, which has been at the center of the past week's criticism. "My record on council is impeccable," Thompson said. And referring to Mindlin, she said: "What right do you have to judge me?"

She denied that the news conference today was scheduled to distract attention from all the criticism. "I don't need a press conference with ministers to validate my service to the city and to discredit the naysayers," Thompson said.

Thompson attributed her bald assertion at the Harrisburg Regional Chamber breakfast that she had been endorsed by the Patriot-News--she wasn't--to mistaken information provided seconds before by supporters. Whatever.