It’s not as if the people I know who work at the Inky and the Daily News had much choice about who was going to own the paper, and I know they’re relieved just to have jobs. (That’s what happens in a shitty economy: principles are a luxury few can afford.)

But I’ve always thought Brian Tierney, whose group bought the Philadelphia papers, was a typical Republican scumbag, a loudmouth and a bully. I used to watch him on the local Sunday morning public affairs program, and (again, like most Republicans) just sat there and lied to press home his points.

I wish one of the nuns had been there to slap his knuckles with a ruler and call him a “bold, brazen article.” Because he is.

After reading this over lunch today, I wasn’t all that surprised to find out he’s a product of the same Delaware County GOP machine that produced our grandstanding U.S. Attorney, Pat Meehan. Now I know exactly which flavor of asshole he is.

But never let it be said I’m not a bi-partisan asshole hater. Even though Bruce Toll is a Democrat, I don’t hear good things about Toll Brothers from people who worked there - and I have to presume he had a little something to do with the company’s famously exploitive management practices.

Bill Graham, the insurance mogul of the group? Someone once fingered him to me as the most likely dimedropper behind the lengthy federal investigation into the Street administration - not because he’s such a proponent of good government, but because after Street was elected, he trimmed some of Graham’s patronage contracts with the Delaware River Port Authority and Philadelphia International Airport, and Graham was pissed. (Graham appears to be a cheapskate, at least on the books: Only $1000 in 2004 to Bobby Brady, congressman and head of the Philadelphia Democratic Party, and $500 in 2001 to the unctous senator from Alaska, Ted Stevens.)

I haven’t heard much about the rest of the owners, but I’ll let you know if I hear anything.