Staff Reports
Well, well, well, it looks like the National Park Service really stepped in it this time! The Washington Examiner recently got their hands on some juicy emails detailing the whole debacle with the William Penn statue removal fiasco. The NPS announced the plan to remove good ol’ Billy’s statue from Welcome Park in Philly, sending the people into a frenzy of historic proportions.
But hold on to your tricorn hats, folks, because just three days later, they yanked the whole plan like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar. And guess what? Those sneaky little emails reveal the chaotic mess and flurry of communication that led to the big about-face. It’s like a soap opera, but with government employees instead of glamorous actors.
Inside the Biden administration plan to remove a statue of William Penn — and its abrupt withdrawal https://t.co/Z8QZvC7O7J via @dcexaminer
— DragonflyDebs (@debsuds1) February 15, 2024
Now, while it’s still a mystery who exactly made the call to pull the plug on the statue’s removal, the more than 220 pages of emails spill the tea on what was going on behind the scenes of the Biden administration. And let me tell you, it’s messier than a pig in a mud pit.
Turns out, things were heating up even before the plan was released, with a chain of emails between four officials at Independence National Historical Park. They were tossing around a draft press release like a hot potato, making last-minute edits and trying to figure out how to spin this whole mess.
But wait, there’s more! The release said the statue and a historical model house would be removed and not reinstalled. And get this, they were only going to accept comments through a park service link, shutting out any feedback from social media, phone calls, or carrier pigeons.
Then the public went wild! Emails started flooding in, telling the NPS to keep their grubby mitts off William Penn and his statue. The people were not happy, and they made sure the park officials knew it. The uproar was so big that even the big shots in Washington started to take notice.
But hold onto your powdered wigs, because the story doesn’t end there! After a whirlwind of press inquiries and bigwigs getting involved, the park service finally caved and pulled the plug on the whole shebang. They said the draft proposal had been released prematurely and no changes to the statue were planned. It was like watching a high-stakes poker game, but with emails and government officials instead of chips and cowboys.
The drama didn’t stop there, though. After the dust settled, the emails kept coming in, some supporting the removal of the statue, while others raged against the machine. And to top it all off, no one knows who in the Biden administration called the shots on the whole debacle!
So there you have it, folks. The whole saga of the William Penn statue removal is like a real-life political thriller, with twists and turns that’ll make your head spin. But one thing’s for sure: the National Park Service sure knows how to stir up a hornet’s nest!
