"Chatham for All." Columbia County's Bait and Switch Party

A local sham party was put together to confuse voters and provide cover for GOP candidates.

Writing about Chatham started as a one-off. I wrote about a vineyard going up on Bashford Road (Fox Hill Estate) and assumed I was done. Then a reader reached out about a conflict of interest between the land owner and Supervisor Collins. Another wrote to me about a white supremacy group planning a Memorial Day visit to the cemetery on Shaker Museum Road. And yesterday, of all things, it became Mitch McConnell's daughter, Claire McConnell, and the tender mercies she is said to have visited on children at Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School in Ghent. Every piece brings more tips, more readers and more requests to cover stories that no one is writing about.

Which brings us to Chatham For All.

Chatham For All is not a movement. It is not a groundswell. It was and is a con. After January 6th many Republicans were turned off, either not showing up to vote or voting blue. This was the genesis of Chatham For All. It gives these voters a Republican without supporting the party that tried its damned…