Buckeye RINO

Unfortunately for Sandusky residents, there are not enough challengers to sweep out both incumbents, Tom Patterson and Faith Denslow.  Though you are permitted to vote for two candidates, you may want to consider casting a vote for just one: Richard Koonce.  By voting for only Koonce, you don’t add to the vote totals for Patterson or Denslow, thus increasing the chance to get Koonce elected and thereby decreasing the chance that both incumbents will be retained.

If you really can’t resist casting a second vote, then Denslow is the lesser hazard.  Patterson absolutely needs to be purged from Sandusky school board.  Absolutely.  Unequivocally.  No doubt whatsoever.  Patterson must go.

Koonce, I believe, is a little naive when it comes to the issues, so I’m not overly optimistic that he’ll be able to work miracles in Sandusky if elected, but Denslow is delusional, and Patterson is evil.  Strong words, I know, but the Sandusky Register has the video proof of what I’m talking about.

Watch the video of the school board candidates at a forum moderated by Register editor Matt Westerhold if you have a strong enough stomach.  I will attempt to interpret the proceedings for you, if you don’t want to suffer through the video.

During the first 30 minutes of the video, I told myself, “If I had any kids in Sandusky schools, I’d pull them out and send them somewhere else,”  the dialogue was that depressing.  No, I’m not talking about opting for a charter school.  The open enrollment offered by the Perkins school district would be very tempting, though.  The remainder of the video becomes really alarming, as the pathology of the Sandusky school board is exposed for all to see.

I am alarmed that the incumbents feel the need to spend money on a marketing campaign for Sandusky schools to “toot our own horn.”  What a misplaced priority.  I’m sure some marketing firm is happy to absorb the dollars that the school board is so eager to part with.

Results.  Positive academic outcomes.  If Sandusky school students were achieving desired results, no tooting of horns would be necessary.  The word would get out.  On its own.

Register columnist Rufus G.W. Sanders also viewed the candidate forum and posted an op/ed with his observations. I’m often at the opposite end of the political spectrum from Sanders, but this is another one of those occasions wherein we largely agree.  He didn’t have quite the same reaction as I did, as he didn’t advocate pulling children out of Sandusky schools, but he did announce his intention to vote against the school levy, which he says he hasn’t ever done before.

Koonce says it was a mistake to get rid of Madison School.  When asked what he’d do to more fully utilize a school where attendance had dropped, Koonce had the beginning of a response, but not a full response.  I have a hunch that Koonce might come up with some additional answers what to do about Madison School if he reads my blog entry about “School Enterprise Zones.”

Koonce would open up school board meetings for public comment.  This is necessary. Both Denslow and Patterson are opposed.

Denslow made it clear that she’s on the board to protect the unionized employees, as she explained her opposition to public comments, so it’s easy for me to see which constituency group in Sandusky has been supporting her in past elections.

Patterson is on the board to have his ego stroked, so public comment tends to irk him (in fact, he nearly became unhinged during the course of the forum).  For his part, Patterson will only take responsibility for hiring the district’s superintendent and the district’s treasurer.  For anything else, Patterson passes the buck.  He dodges accountability at every turn.

Denslow has champagne taste, but the schools are on a beer budget.  She utters a mantra about the field of education being a continual work-in-progress, constantly upgrading materials and technology to bring to the schools the best innovations that the 21st century can offer.  Let’s be realistic.  Vendor$ love Den$low, I’m $ure.  Also, several administrators use Denslow’s mantra to justify the existence of their jobs.  As an alternative, the schools could keep an ear to the ground through contact with education professors at our state universities for improvements in pedagogy which can be communicated to teachers at inservice meetings.  This is the approach that Sandusky can afford on their beer budget.  Cut those administrators and save some money.

I’ve taught school in South Korea.  Asian students are not beating American kids at academics because of classroom technology.  I saw kids as young as 4 years old memorizing their multiplication tables up to 20 times 20 by rote.  Using very ANCIENT technology, the abacus, can often yield greater math proficiency than cutting-edge calculators and computers.  Teachers in Asia are typically not as well paid as they are in America, yet their students outperform American students.  The most competitive schools I saw also had the least amount of administrators.  The Asian students are not born with a silver spoon in their mouth.  In South Korea, they are just one generation removed from being a Third World nation.  Many Asian nations that are making greater strides than Americans in education still are Third World nations.  Many neighborhoods of Sandusky are impoverished, yes, but those same neighborhoods would be a utopia for someone from rural China.  Why doesn’t poverty hold back the academic achievements of Asian students?  Actually, it does hold them back.  They could be beating American students at academics by even wider margins if they could afford better.  They don’t even have a beer budget.  They have a tap-water budget.  Expectations of the community, the educators, and the parents, combined with the desire of the students are the factors that fuel the drive for academic excellence in Asia.  It’s not all about the money.

Patterson has the gall to say that his priority is securing funding for Sandusky schools, and then turns around and passes the buck to Governor Strickland and the Ohio General Assembly.  That’s counter-productive.  I believe, as I interpret Ohio’s Constitution, that the state does have more responsibility for funding than they currently undertake, but Patterson won’t address the funding and expenditure issues that are under the control of the school board.  When faced with criticisms of how he fulfills his own fiscal role, Patterson dodges and evades responsibility at every turn.

When Denslow is given the opportunity to freely express her campaign message, it is full of platitudes that sound really lofty, noble, and optimistic, as she did her opening and closing statements.   When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, and fielding tough questions, there is a HUGE disconnect between her terse and convoluted responses and her flowery stump speech.  So, calling her delusional is giving her the benefit of the doubt, as it assumes she honestly believes everything she is saying and doesn’t grasp the inconsistencies of her statements.  If I don’t give her the benefit of the doubt, then I’d have to downgrade my assessment of her from delusional to dishonest.

While I’ve identified one of Denslow’s core constituencies as being the school district’s unionized employees, I want to be fair to Patterson by identifying one of his core constituencies.  He’s supported by the “good old boys,” as is plainly evident from his statements at the forum.  There’s no doubt that he’s on very good terms with Dennis Murray, who is among the ringleaders of those who sought to oust Kim Nuesse as police chief.  He clearly relishes his role in cutting back-room deals for prospective businesses who want to hammer out TIF agreements.  He loves rubbing elbows with VIP’s in the various positions he holds on boards and committees, and name-dropping is one of his penchants.  His message to voters is that if you re-elect him, he’ll kiss up to state-level VIP’s like Strickland and Murray sufficiently to secure a tidal wave of funding that he can divvy out to vendors to make sure the district always has the cutting edge technology.  He wants to continue to have a finger in the pie.

Koonce is trying to carve out a constituency among concerned residents who are outsiders.  Whether he succeeds in galvanizing such a constituency will not be known until after the election.

With Denslow’s emphasis on equipping teachers, Patterson’s emphasis on greasing the wheels to increase state funding, and Koonce’s emphasis on building unity in the community, all fell short of where the emphasis needs to be:  the children and their academic achievements.  That’s why we have schools in the first place.  Of the three approaches, Koonce’s is the most benign and Patterson’s is the most malignant.

Because they failed to identify the children’s academic progress as top priority, that’s reason numero uno for pulling kids out of Sandusky schools and schooling them elsewhere.  Reason numero dos is that the disappointment that Denslow and Patterson express over decreasing enrollment is based upon the toll it takes on the district’s $$$.  If they had children at the heart of their platforms, then they’d be happy for the kids who were able to find a school better suited to advancing their academic pursuits.  They’d be striving for Sandusky to be the school district best suited to advancing the academic pursuits of Sandusky’s children.  But that’s not their focus.  They see dollar signs attached to each student instead of seeing the academic potential of each student.

There is a racial component to the dropping enrollment.  Patterson refused to address this issue.  Either he’s too uninformed or he’s too cowardly.  At any rate, he dodged and evaded a discussion on the matter.  He claims to be uninformed.  However, as someone with a penchant for networking, as Patterson clearly is, it’s hard for me to buy into Patterson’s plea that he really doesn’t know.  I suspect he’s being cowardly.

Here’s my own honest perception of the racial component, and this would be why Koonce’s emphasis misses the mark:  If I’m sending my child to your schools, it’s because I have confidence that you’ll foster my child’s academic achievements.  As I’ve already noted, Patterson and Denslow don’t see my child’s academic potential, they only see the $$$ that my child provides for their funding scheme.  Koonce, however, wants to use the schools to build unity in the community.  I think that’s a worthwhile goal, but it’s a SECONDARY goal.  My child’s learning comes FIRST.  My child’s primary purpose in attending school is not to be a guinea pig of some social engineering experiment.  My child’s primary purpose in attending school is to obtain the best education possible under the circumstances.  Therefore, to the extent that the academic goals of the district take a back seat to social engineering goals of the district, I’m going to be inclined to send my child elsewhere, to a school that puts academics first.  That, dear readers, is my own take on white flight from Sandusky schools.  If you’ve got another take on it, feel free to express your comments here at Buckeye RINO.

All three candidates place way too much faith in the Ohio Democrat Party and politicians such as Strickland and Murray.  I’m afraid that the ODP, Strickland, and Murray, will continue to disappoint.  But don’t fret too much about what you can’t control.  Instead, step up to the plate more for what you, yourselves, can deliver on.  For the incumbents, they’ve delivered too little.  Elect Richard Koonce.

Elyria’s Chronicle-Telegram has a story of dropping property values in Lorain County.  What’s newsworthy about that?  Anyone who knows anything about the real estate market in Lorain County knows that market values have been down for several years.  What makes it newsworthy is that county government is finally acknowledging the falling property values in assessing property taxes.

Of course, Lorain County Commissioner Ted Kalo is desperately trying to urge for support of Issue 4, a sales tax increase, by calling attention to the projected decline in property taxes.  Ahem!  Households have seen falling revenues, particularly through the softening of the labor market, so, like households are in a dither what to do and having to make cuts, county government will have to do the same.

For the record, Buckeye RINO opposes Lorain County’s Issue 4.

Lorain County Auditor Mark Stewart made the announcement of a 6% drop in property values on Friday.  I don’t remember a similar announcement from the auditor’s office in prior years.  In fact, my own experience with Lorain County real estate has been that tax appraisals and market values were going in divergent directions–market values declining while tax appraisals continued to be bumped upward.  My experience with Erie County real estate was the same.  I’ve already blogged about the phenomenon, asserting that challengers need to be recruited to campaign in 2010 against re-election bids by Lorain County Auditor Mark Stewart and Erie County Auditor Tom Paul.

Yet even after I blogged that Stewart needs to be replaced for inflating tax appraisals, I still saw evidence that Stewart was doing his own thing and ignoring what was going on in the markets.

Huron County Commissioners, by contrast, showed some integrity when they reviewed tax appraisals in Huron County.  According to a story in the Norwalk Reflector, they had some pointed questions for Huron County Auditor Roland Tkach about perceived irregularities, and it appears that Tkach is heeding the advice of commissioners.  County auditors are up for election in 2010, so perhaps Tkach knows that perceived irregularities could have negative political ramifications.

I think perhaps Mark Stewart caught wind of the Huron County story and decided he might possibly face a stiff electoral challenge next year if he continued his robber-baron ways.  That’s my hunch about Friday’s announcement.

Nevertheless, I really don’t think a leopard changes its spots.  I’m still fairly convinced that voters need to give Mark Stewart the heave-ho in next year’s elections.

Editor’s Note:  Brandon Rutherford is the Democrat candidate for the 4th Ward seat on Elyria’s city council.  Feel free to visit his campaign website.  Election Day is November 3rd, and the early voting period has already begun.  Buckeye RINO endorses Brandon Rutherford for the Elyria 4th Ward seat.

Hello, I first wanted to offer Dan an apology for not getting this to him faster. I have been busy working on my campaign as well as family life and college classes.

Let me start off by telling you why I felt the need to run for 4^th ward city council in Elyria. It’s of no shock to anyone that times in Ohio are tough. Jobs are leaving the state by the hundreds. Our kids are going to school getting their degrees and high-tailing it out of here on the first plane to South Carolina or Georgia. Home sales, like elsewhere, are horrid. We had in Elyria; one gentleman bought two properties for $9,000. Both had houses that were perfectly fine.

I am a block watch captain here in Elyria where I manage my block watch and have help start other blockwatches in Elyria. I have also created and held events called Take Back Elyria which Dan has commented on here on this blog. Take Back Elyria is modeled off of the Take Back the Night events where residents would come together and learn how to better protect themselves. My events bring many different resources together such as self-defense hand to hand combat, conceal and carry, Child ID and much more.

I consider myself a “out of the box” thinker. And with that being said I am going to layout for you my plan for not just the 4^th ward but the city. The following is what I will be working to get in place and running, if elected to city council. Some of these aspects will cost residents very minimal, if any tax dollars. After each proposal, I will explain how the proposal will be paid for providing accountability on my part.

Small Business Incubator- Small Business in Lorain County let alone Northeast Ohio is fierce and we need to be at the top of our game concerning efforts to get in Elyria. I want to create a Small Business Incubator (Which is part of the Elyria 2015 plan) In terms of resources we have the two greatest resources around in LCCC and the Great Lakes Building where they specialize in entrepreneurship classes. I, metaphorically speaking, envision a box with a big red bow on it that inside would have all of the resources anyone would want that is interested in starting a business in Elyria.

How much and where would it come from? The great thing about this is it would only cost people time and a bit of money putting together copies of laws and useful information that they should have. You might think that business owners should take that responsibility themselves to get that info, and to a point I think you’re right.

Resident Appreciation Day- Resident Appreciation Days (RAD) should either be a ward event or a city wide event. If it was to just be a ward event and others didn’t want to take part in the event then I would gladly hold the first one on Hill Top Park. Block watches of the 4th ward would be on hand to offer advice and allow residents that might not know that they exist to sign up and begin attending meetings. The mayor and at-large city council members would be invited. However, not only will this be an event where residents would get to talk to the mayor and the at-large council members it would get people out and talking with their friends and neighbors. Elyria is a great city and I feel we need to create that sense of pride and desire to want to live in Elyria. Most of us do enjoy living here and plan to stay here for many years to come, however, I feel by having an event geared towards the residents it lets them know that the elected officials appreciate their devotion to our great city. Ward meetings aside from the RAD days would still continue as well.
How much and where would it come from? It wouldn’t cost the residents anything. All items including food and entertainment (DJ, etc.. ) will be donated by either the elected official(s) or area businesses. If donations couldn’t be had anywhere I would just pay for the event myself.

Small Business Appreciation Day– This would be similar to the Residential Appreciation Day where we would reach out the Small Businesses that have chosen to move to Elyria to start their businesses. We would incorporate important key resources that could help grow businesses by either a line of credit from a bank or networking with another area business to learn of a new and possible cost saving measure. This will also be a kick-off to a “Buy Elyria Concept”. Long have we kept beating the drum of people trying to have Elyria companies buy products from other Elyria companies. This campaign will be held by volunteers that of small businesses owners that want to see Elyria revive itself and become stronger.

How much and where would it come from? This event wouldn’t cost the residents anything and would only take time to plan and organize and other items that might be needed could be donated or purchased by non-tax payer dollars. If donations couldn’t be had anywhere I would just pay for the event myself as well. That is how important I feel this issue is.

Community Gardens– These gardens will provide more than just food for the neighbors of the it will provide a real sense of pride and ownership which will help our city grow. The gardens are already popping up all over the city but I’d like to see more pop up on personal property. We are currently working on networking connections and get certain pieces in place to make putting a garden together in town a snap.

How much and where would it come from? Nothing. The gardens would be on personal property thereby avoiding the city mandated liability insurance. That is unless the city would be willing to start the garden themselves much like as they are doing in Lorain that way residents wouldn’t have to carry the liability insurance because it would be covered by the cities insurance.
I would still strongly urge council to allow residents to use city land to do a community gardens because of the positive effects it has in that neighborhood. The liability would be on the city either way even if residents did pay the already required fee for insurance that the city requires residents to have. Cascade/Furnace Street has had their garden up for months and no on has been sick or got hurt while tending to the gardens.

City Wide Recycling program- This program would be looking at ways to save money at the cities bottom line. Lets look at the city buildings whether it is the EPD, EFD City Hall, City Garage or anywhere else. If the city were to recycle all of the paper not only would it be a “green” thing to do it would also cut down on the amount of times that the dumpster has to be dumped thereby cutting costs. We could also instead of putting paper into the big green dumpsters we could compile the paper and shred it and use it in the Community Gardens.

I hope that through these efforts you will see that Elyria will be on the forefront of the battle to get jobs back into Lorain County and Northeast Ohio.

The plan, although still in action, I have been introducing myself to the resident of the 4^th ward for the past several months. I have walked the ward thus far 3 times and had many, many great conversations with voters where we discussed the issues facing our city. I believe in getting out there and meeting your constituents and letting them know who will be representing them. Voters are not naïve and they don’t like being treated like you can just feed them political gorgon and get elected. They want and deserve answers and should get the respect they deserve. We as residents should ask for accountability from all of our elected officials.

Together we will move our cities forward,

Brandon Rutherford

Editor’s Note:  Phil Van Treuren, a former journalist, political consultant and soldier, is a candidate for Amherst City Council at-Large.  You can visit his campaign website at www.PhilVanTreuren.com.

I’m very grateful to Dan for inviting me to write a guest post here on Buckeye RINO about my campaign for Amherst City Council at-Large.  I wish I could dedicate more resources to making this a better post, but spare time is hard to come by during the final weeks of election season (as I’m sure many of you know).

The campaign itself is progressing better than I ever hoped it would.  I’m a big believer in putting together a concrete plan early in the game and sticking to it, and the road map we created late last year has served us well.  My hopes were to hit the whole city three times in 2009; I’m now on my fourth time around.  I’ve knocked on about 4,000 doors, shaken more than 2,000 hands, made more than 1,000 phone calls, and hand-written personal cards to about 3,500 voters.  That last task took me six months to complete and left me with a permanent callous on a finger, but it’s all been worth it.

I’ve spent plenty of time working on dozens of campaigns over the last decade, and here’s the most important thing I learned: nothing substitutes for hard work.  The more difficult something is in a campaign, the better it works.  Going door-to-door for months on end isn’t easy, but there’s no better way to introduce yourself to the voters.

Knocking on the doors of people who you know are members of a different political party might be tough, but it earns you respect.  Don’t worry: the vast majority of people who disagree with you are still going to be polite.  If you get a flier thrown back in your face, thank them for their time and move on to the next door.

In the end, that isn’t just a good philosophy to follow when you’re campaigning; it’s also sound advice for life in general.  You’re going to come across plenty of negative people, but they don’t get to decide whether or not you have a good day.  You’re the only one who determines how you’re going to react.  If you get upset and let it throw you off your game, then it’s no one’s fault but your own.

Want to know another secret I learned in the campaign gutters over the years?  Winners don’t always win.  Some of the most successful politicians in the world had to lose several times before they were ever elected.  Abraham Lincoln was one of them, I think, and there are plenty of local and national examples to find today, too.  If you’ve made the decision to help people through elected office, then you’re almost certainly going to get beat at the polls someday.

Deal with it.  Running for office isn’t always fun; it’s also tiring, stressful and at times heartbreaking.  But if you’re really committed to helping people, you’ll get back on that horse whenever it bucks you to the ground.  There’s only one characteristic that every great person has in common: determination.

As for the Amherst City Council at-Large race, I’m not making any predictions.  I’ve met the other candidates, and they’re all great guys.  Amherst is going to have three at-large councilmen who care about our city regardless of who wins.

Whatever the outcome is, I’m going to be very proud of what we did during this campaign.  And in the end, that should be every candidate’s goal: to be proud of what you’ve done.

When is the Sandusky City Commission finally going to get rid of that hypocritical and sexist city manager, Matt Kline?  The Sandusky City Commission has been trying to cut costs while hoping to maintain services by reducing administrative pay by 5%.  The Sandusky Register now reports that a stubborn Matt Kline wants to reduce services and administrative work hours and not cut administrative pay at all.  He says the administrative pay cuts are not fair to the 26 administrators that work with him.

Fairness?  Fair to whom?

What about fairness to taxpayers?

If the pay cuts for the administrators make the salaries less competitive, by all means, let them move on to other careers (good luck, in this economy, and good riddance).  27 administrators sounds like too many for a city of just 30,000 residents.  Dividing the population by the number of administrators means that the taxes of about 1000 men, women, and children (question: how much of the 1000 would actually be in the work force?)  have to support the salary of an administrator, not to mention the salaries of all the non-administrative staff that also have to be paid with tax dollars.  That seems like a heavy burden on taxpayers, to me.

And if the firing of Kim Nuesse as police chief on the basis of trumped up charges and “good old boy” double standards can yield any clues as to what Matt Kline’s sense of fairness is, then we know for certain that Matt Kline’s sense of fairness is totally warped . . . warped beyond recognition.

Early voting has already begun.  Election Day is November 3rd.  Firelands 411 blog has video snippets of the candidates up for election to the Sandusky City Commission.  I urge voters to choose wisely and elect commission members who will oust Matt Kline.