Lake Basebegone update: Hold it right there, F. Lee Bailey

Just who was that masked man?

Here at Other Side, Sunday night is when we usually take a bath, slip on a fresh pair of pajamas for the coming week, and brew a new 100 cup pot of coffee to sustain us through the coming day or two.

Upon finishing the Gerzofsky post just a short while ago, your overworked reporter was therefore looking forward to a quiet evening of fire-feeding, dog-petting, wife-tending, and general laziness, all planned to recharge the trunk full of batteries our earth-friendly, sustainable, hybrid editorial offices are powered by.

And then it happened; Side’s automated remote video capture and processing system issued an alert, and it would not be denied.  I rushed down to the central media control room to see what it was about, and I couldn’t believe it.  Let’s just say that sometimes, even this reporter gets a surprise.

You may recall that in the “Bailey Bails” post just the other day, these words were used to close:

I expect we’ll be hearing soon from Brunswick favorite son John Richardson, candidate for Governor, about how even he couldn’t save the deal.

I even seem to recall that in a post some time ago, I mused whether F. Lee Bailey might find himself with a role in the campaign of local favorite son John Richardson as he runs for governor.

“Naw,” calloused Other Side readers probably thought, that would be beyond even Richardson.

Color you and me surprised.  There are roles, and then there are roles.  It turns out that the automated video system alert I referred to was caused by Richardson and Bailey being captured together on camera at a well known Bath waterfront dining and adult beverage establishment.

Knocked back on our slippers as we were here at the offices by this discovery, the instincts and curiosity of this amateur immediately kicked in.

While we had written that “Bailey bails” and others had written that Bailey “pulled out,” it appears that Bailey might have inserted himself back into the situation.  Having written earlier that Bailey and Richardson deserved each other, we’re curious as to who is having their way with whom in this little tete-a-tete.

Could it be that Bailey is looking for Richardson to come to his rescue and smooth the way for his investors and their commitment of “immense start up costs”, swatting petty local officials aside?  Could he be looking for Richardson to use his influence with the town council (snicker, snicker) to make them more receptive to Bailey’s risky scheme?  In other words, was Bailey the supplicant in this scenario?  Is it Bailey that needs Richardson?

Or was it the other way around?  Was Richardson pleading with Bailey to come back to the table, volunteering his help in making locals more “receptive” to Bailey’s pleas?  And asking for Bailey’s persistence so as to elevate his campaign chances above the dozen or so competitors in the primary?

Wait a minute….this isn’t an either-or situation!  This is an “and” situation.  Richardson helps Bailey, and Bailey helps Richardson.  Quid pro quo, I think they call it in the elite Latin lingo of the legal system that both have made their marks in.

This reporter for one has always considered that Richardson, a man of unbounded ambition, would find a way to turn the base closure to his advantage.  How naive of me to think he was bailing from the MRRA early before he could be associated with the pending failure of the Oxford caper.  Instead, perhaps all the pieces were being put in place for a more convoluted and precisely timed sequence of events that would put John on a bigger white horse with a bigger white hat.

This is idle speculation of course, all for amusement of a Sunday evening.

We do have one question though; was last evening’s event an official campaign expense?

If you readers know of anyone who might have knowledge of Richardson’s campaign finances, be sure to let us know, and we’ll follow up.

That’s if for now; the coffee has been perking for an hour or so now, and the dogs are snoring.

Technorati Tags: BNAS,MRRA,Brunswick,Maine,Richardson,F. Lee Bailey,town council