How to discredit the little guys
With the Tuscany and Janoušek scandals still ringing in voters' ears, the CR's small political parties smell blood. Conditions are ripe, they feel, for rewriting the political map. At the same time, bad press about two of the small parties - TOP 09 and VV - is building. Some link them to the Tuscany photos, others note their alleged ties to dirty money. Even Karel Schwarzenberg's "house" paper, HN, jumped on TOP today for signing up an ex-investment banker from a top go-to bank for shady deals. There are also whispers about an ex-marketing manager eager to take his corruption to a new level. Unlike other little parties, TOP 09 and VV were apparently created with the aim of complementing ODS. If TOP and VV get massacred in the media, it won't hurt ODS's grand-coalition chances, but it might very well turn voters against anti-establishment small parties in general. Perhaps it's too conspiratorial to ponder the possibility that this was one of the envisioned scenarios when the flow charts for TOP 09 and VV were being drawn up.
Glossary of difficult words
Roman Janoušek - a lobbyist alleged to have large amounts in Swiss bank accounts from dirty deals at Prague city hall;ripe - suitable;
VV - Věci veřejné (unofficially translated as "public affairs");
"house" newspaper - one with links to someone;
go-to (bank) - one that can be relied upon for help or support;
shady - of doubtful honesty or legality;
to ponder - to think about something carefully, esp. before making a decision or reaching a conclusion;
envisioned - imagined as a future possibility; visualized;
flow chart - a diagram of the sequence of movements or actions involved in a complex system or activity.