Canoeing?
More shopping?
Norwalk tourism?
Whose priorities are those?
The Democrat candidate for Huron County Commissioner, Sharon Ward is putting the cart before the horse on some of her proposals, some of which are beyond wishful thinking–they are pipe dreams.
Her opponent, Larry Silcox, has a much more level-headed approach. Read the rest of this entry »
Aw! Pity Mr. Giardini, the king of the good old boys in Lorain Democrat politics! We bloggers keep sticking our noses into his backroom dealings, and he just doesn’t like it. I feel so sorry that he feels so persecuted. NOT! Read the rest of this entry »
“It also means that investment goes to the companies that are best connected instead of the ones that are most productive.”
I hope Blue America pays attention to what it’s own presidential nominee has to say in this regard.
But for Lorain County Commissioner Ted Kalo (D-Lorain), who’s personal attorney is chair of the Democrat Party in the city of Lorain, Anthony Giardini, who are two of the good old boys that pull all the strings in Lorain politics, I think Obama’s message has fallen on deaf ears.
As the Lorain Morning Journal reports, Kalo and Giardini are feverishly working out an agreement with Lorain City Council and Lorain County Community Action Agency (a faith-based, non-profit, quasi-governmental organization that, among other functions, serves as the provider of the county’s Head Start program) that would bail out his faltering flooring business while he tries to fend off a re-election challenge for his county commissioner seat from Amherst City Council member Nick Brusky.
Paula Tobias provides more food for thought about what the city of Lorain is gearing up to do, and the motivation behind it with an entry at Loraine Ritchey’s That Woman’s Weblog.
I’m glad the local media is taking an interest in this story, for these wheelings and dealings have usually occurred behind closed doors, away from prying eyes. I hope voters are learning about this before they head to the polls, so they can make an informed choice in the Kalo-Brusky race for Lorain County Commissioner.
Kalo doesn’t know how to run a business and doesn’t know how to run Lorain County, yet, as one of the good old boys, he tries to help run the city of Lorain, too. None of it is working out. He’s gotten this far because he’s better connected, not because he’s productive.
Kalo makes this assertion (from the Morning Journal article):
[Kalo] also said that Lorain County ranks as the highest-producing county in the 16 counties partnering with Team NEO, an organization that markets northeast Ohio.
Let me just say that two candidates running for Lorain County Commissioner, Nick Brusky and Martin O’Donnell, represent two cities (as city council members) within the county that have been the ones attracting the growth. That’s a much better track record than Kalo has. Let me further say, though, before one gets all giddy about Lorain County’s rank as highest-producing county among the 16 that are part of Team NEO, the rest of America does not envy the economy of those 16 rust-belt counties of Northeast Ohio. That sort of tunnel-vision that only makes comparisons between Lorain County and the rest of Northeast Ohio is one reason why Kalo’s leadership is so subpar.
Lorain County needs better county commissioners. Nick Brusky and Martin O’Donnell would be definite improvements over the incumbents.
[UPDATE] Word of Mouth adds commentary.
This post is just a reminder to the ever-so-dangerous Mark Provenza, Law Director for the city of Lorain, that his resignation is expected, because his continued disregard for the law is an outrage.
Pre-trial hearings for Provenza’s 4th DUI charge since taking office as Lorain’s Law Director commenced in Lakewood Municipal Court, and the Lorain Morning Journal reports that Provenza was not in attendance, but Chad Henderson, a Lakewood resident who had his house crashed into by Provenza was there.
Henderson said he went to the courthouse yesterday because, “I just have to see what happens. I can’t just let it go.” Provenza did not appear in court, as the pretrial was continued.
What does one do in the middle of the night when a vehicle careens into one’s house? In Henderson’s case:
“We immediately got up, put the dog in the cage. We didn’t know if the front of the house was falling off or whatever, went downstairs, and he was still stuck in our driveway,” Henderson said. “He had blown out our stairs, and the van was stuck across the stairs, and he was frantically trying to get away.”
Frantically trying to get away. Frantically trying to get away. This is the Law Director of the city of Lorain. If he can’t be held accountable, who can? But the Law Director has proven slippery to the justice system before.
He later added, “I just don’t want him to get a slap on the wrist like it seems he has so far.” After being arrested, Provenza was booked into the Lakewood City Jail and cited for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, failure to control, hit-skip and driving without a seat belt. It was his fourth drunken driving arrest since becoming the city’s law director in 2000.
He pleaded not guilty to the drunken driving and other traffic charges in this case.
Provenza was pulled over about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 20. Lakewood police said he plowed through the front porch of the house . . . A short time later, officers spotted him going west on Madison Avenue near Belle Avenue with a flat left front tire.
“He presented for the first time in a long time an intelligent counterargument to the Democrats. He’s not going to change me into a Republican, but it’s refreshing to hear someone say something with that much authority and understanding.”
That quote comes from an 18-year-old Oberlin College student who had just finished listening to a speech given by former Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, as reported by the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram’s Jason Hawk.
Newt Gingrich’s views have been publicized all through the MSM before, but here’s a person of voting age who didn’t suspect that Gingrich would have something “intelligent” to say. Wouldn’t it be nice if all persons of voting age had the opportunity to hear diverse political views unfiltered by the MSM? Most of the TV networks would never allow Gingrich to be portrayed as “intelligent” during the course of their news coverage.
But the Chronicle-Telegram also has this story reported by Cindy Liese:
Beginning next week, buses will cart hundreds of Oberlin College students to the Lorain County Board of Elections office in Sheffield Township so they can cast their ballots early.
Within 24 hours of an e-mail notice of the buses, 500 students had signed up, said Scott Wargo, college spokesman.
The college is paying for the buses, although the cost was not available Tuesday.
Ohio’s early absentee voting gets underway on September 30th, 35 days before Election Day, and the presidential candidates are trying to bank votes early. These college students finally had an unfiltered opportunity to hear a McCain surrogate speak, and if they listen to the Presidential candidate debate tonight, they’ll be able to contrast the two candidates as words come “straight from the horse’s mouth,” but what about the other races on the ballot? State and local elections are important, too. Will these Oberlin College students have an opportunity to learn about the nether regions of their ballots?
There are opportunities that lie ahead that would allow these students to learn about lower-profile races. Consider the candidate forum to be sponsored by the Coalition of Hispanic Issues and Progress (CHIP) in nearby Lorain, that the college students could see on a cable channel carried throughout Lorain County. The Morning Journal reports that this forum won’t be held until October 15.
The free event, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., will include State Rep. Matt Lundy, D-Elyria, and his opponent Republican Dan Urban; Lorain County Commissioner and Democrat Lori Kokoski and her opponent, Republican Martin O’Donnell; Lorain County Commissioner and Democrat Ted Kalo and his opponent Republican Nick Brusky; and U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, D-13, and her opponent Republican David Potter.
Granted, the state rep and Congressional candidates listed on the program aren’t the ones that will appear on the Oberlin ballot. For state rep, incumbent Democrat Joe Koziura is running unopposed, and Republican Bradley Leavitt is challenging incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur for a seat in Congress. The county commissioner races, though, are VERY consequential. I hope the Oberlin College students study up on the commissioner races before going to the polls, but I don’t think that’s likely if they’re among the 500 that signed up to ride buses for early voting just next week. Besides the CHIP candidate forum, Lorain County Community College usually hosts a candidate forum in even-numbered years, and Oberlin’s League of Women’s Voters usually hosts a candidate forum every year–but those forums are usually scheduled just a matter of days before election day, so they’ll likely occur LATER in the election cycle, NOT earlier.
I’m a former resident of Oberlin. In fact, in 2004, when Senator John Kerry challenged incumbent George W. Bush for the U. S. Presidency, I was on the ballot as Joe Koziura’s opponent in the state rep race. I remember going to vote on election day, in a precinct that included a lot of Oberlin College students. The turnout was enormous. I waited for two-and-a-half hours in line to cast my vote. I can understand why the students would want to vote early. Waiting that long in line could cause someone to miss some important activities on one’s schedule, even if one doesn’t have class on that day. The students were quite sociable, so they conversed with me and others around them as we all waited. They had turned out in huge numbers to support John Kerry, but many of them had come to study at Oberlin College from distant parts of the country. They frankly admitted that they knew nothing about the local candidates, so they voted a straight Democrat ticket, something that the Democrat machine in Lorain used to their advantage to sweep county offices.
Among the most egregious picks of the voters was the election of Ted Kalo as county commissioner. He’s been one of Lorain’s good old boys for years, among the privileged that pull the strings of Democrat officeholders in the decaying rust-belt city of Lorain, who was probably the most clueless of all the commissioner candidates that year (8 Democrats and 2 Republicans ran for county commissioner in 2004). After winning office, he promptly redecorated the commissioner’s office he worked in with new flooring, furniture, and even a plasma-screen TV! Lorain County is not so financially well off that it can afford splendor. Kalo has trouble balancing his books as a businessman (at one point, grossly delinquent on remitting sales taxes from his business, more recently filing bankruptcy for his business), so when the county’s revenues weren’t keeping up with expenditures, he led the commissioners in voting to increase the county’s sales tax. Unlike Barack Obama, who says he’ll only increase taxes on the rich, a hike in the county’s sales tax affects everyone, old and young, rich and poor, with no exceptions, not even for college students purchasing textbooks. Some voters took measures into their own hands and filed petitions to put the proposed sales tax hike on the Lorain County ballot in fall of 2007. When the votes were counted last November, the rough totals showed that 80% of county residents opposed the sales tax hike.
And here’s the reason why the county commissioner races are so consequential: Commissioners comprise the legislative branch of the county. They are to impose the people’s will on county government. They have power of the purse. However, incumbents Ted Kalo and Lori Kokoski have said that if elected, they will again attempt to hike the sales tax, despite the demonstrated will of the people. Both incumbents hail from Lorain, a city headed toward, if not already in, economic ruin. These two don’t understand the economy, and they evidently don’t understand their responsibility to represent the people. Challengers Nick Brusky and Martin O’Donnell have both served on city councils in cities that have been two of the three bright spots in the Lorain County economy (much of the county is economically distressed). They have an understanding of the economy. They have a track record showing that they know how to prioritize when resources are scarce. They have pledged to not hike the county sales tax. They understand that a commissioner is supposed to represent the people of the county, and act according to the people’s will. Electing Brusky and O’Donnell as county commissioners will help put the county on better footing, so I hope these college students are aware of this when they vote.
Of course, readers of this blog are seeing the commissioners’ races through my filter, my lens, my prism, my perspective, as they peruse this message. But there are opportunities to see the candidates unfiltered, and I hope that voters avail themselves of those opportunities before rushing off to vote in a hurry.
I hope Sarah Palin makes a campaign appearance in Tiffin, Ohio. Perhaps she could inspire long-time Seneca County Treasurer Marguerite Bernard to raise the bar of government accountability a little higher.
Sarah Palin says she puts government on the side of the people. Really. Among the list of accomplishments that support her assertion is that the checkbook for the state of Alaska is posted on the internet for the people to see how the funds are spent. WOW! It was so easy to navigate to the checking account page from Alaska’s Home Page! Why isn’t the MSM talking about this? We all know how one of the pet issues of the media is the Freedom of Information Act. The state’s checkbook online? The media has to LOVE Sarah Palin for that. The MSM doesn’t even have to file any FOIA requests. Yet, . . . they don’t love Sarah Palin for that. It’s yet another demonstration of how “in-the-tank-for-Obama” the MSM really is. If the MSM is really fair and balanced, they would survey all 50 states in the USA and find out how many of them post their checkbooks online. I haven’t heard that figure reported yet.
And just how monumental an accomplishment is it that a state posts its checkbook on the internet?
Consider this: Seneca County, Ohio, which has about 60,000 residents, hasn’t even been able to balance its checkbooks more than a month after the office of Mary Taylor, Auditor for the State of Ohio, said that the bank statements and the checkbook figures don’t match each other. The Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune reported on August 6th that the discrepancy between the two was $813,456. That’s not pocket change.
Recently retired County Auditor Larry Beidelschies was the first to alert Seneca County, back in March of this year, that the checkbook was out of balance. Beidelschies was in the process of gathering records for Mary Taylor’s audit when he made the discovery.
The audit did not reveal any embezzlement or egregiously inappropriate expenditures. It’s just that when bank statements were issued, no one in Marguerite Bernard’s office compared the dollar amounts on the statements to the figures in the county checkbooks. Apparently, the bank made some errors and shorted Seneca County’s accounts.
Though much of the discrepancy was discovered right away to be an error on the part of National City Bank, there was still a reported $40,000 gap by August 7th (which turned out to be untrue, as we will find out later), which is still not pocket change. The Advertiser-Tribune editorialized that such performance is still sub-standard for a county treasurer who has been in office since the 1980’s. The A-T editorial went a step further by pointing out that Marguerite Bernard, the Democrat incumbent, faces a challenge from Republican Damon Alt, who voters might choose to replace Bernard this November.
By August 13, Marguerite Bernard assured the commissioners that the $40,000 variance had been corrected. County Commissioner Ben Nutter, though had met with both Bernard and National City Bank and reported that the checkbook was still not in balance as of August 19. In an A-T report of August 22, Bernard assured the County Commissioners that the checkbook could be reconciled by September 2nd, and that she was almost certain the books were balanced through June 2007. Auditor Beidelschies, noting that almost certain isn’t good enough, suggested that the books could still be out of balance dating back to 2006. Bernard asserted the June 2007 date, because she says that’s when the State of Ohio began to wire funds to the counties instead of issuing checks, and the new wire transfer method complicated things.
On August 24, the A-T reported a meeting between the County Commissioners and Bernard. Apparently the County Auditor’s office had offered, on several prior occasions, to help reconcile the checkbook, but Bernard had turned away those offers of assistance, so the Commissioners let it be known that they expected Bernard to let the Auditor assist. By August 26, Bernard had met with a representative of the Auditor’s office. As a side note, an interim replacement for Beidelschies was named, as his retirement date was set at August 31.
With the County Auditor finally on the case, by August 29, another discovery was made: A second checkbook was out of balance! All this time, Bernard had acted with resentment that others had been looking over her shoulder, and she’d kept insisting that her office could correct everything without assistance and without prodding, but the evidence of the Treasurer’s incompetence keeps growing! Would Alaska Governor Sarah Palin have had the same attitude as Marguerite Bernard? Quite the contrary. Bernard doesn’t want prying eyes looking at the county’s checkbooks, but Palin put’s Alaska’s checkbook online for all eyes to see! Beidelschies suggested that Seneca County get help from the State of Ohio to balance the checkbooks, which the A-T heartily agreed to in an editorial.
Treasurer Bernard missed her own September 2nd target date as the A-T reported on the 3rd that the checking accounts still weren’t reconciled. On September the 7th, the A-T reported that the County Prosecutor, Ken Egbert, Jr., was to also be part of meetings between Bernard, the Commissioners, and the Auditor’s office. In the A-T of September 9th, it’s reported that the meeting of the previous day got ugly. A seemingly indignant Bernard attempted to walk out of the meeting part way through the proceedings! She didn’t want to continue to answer questions! Bernard said she had the variance down to 28 cents, which finally is pocket change, but the representative from the Auditor’s office said that they had seen no verification of Bernard’s assertion. Bernard handed over a bank statement from July 2008 that had hand-written notes showing her attempt to reconcile the account, but the Auditor’s office said that they hadn’t seen the documents to back up the hand-written scrawls. and hadn’t even seen verification that a $99,000 discrepancy dating back to 2007 had ever been reconciled! The County Auditor’s office wanted to see ALL the documentation, and Bernard still wasn’t being accommodating. County Commissioner David Sauber said that he contacted State Auditor Mary Taylor’s office and State Treasurer Richard Cordray’s office asking them how Seneca County should proceed.
In an A-T report from September 11th, we learn that after the state audit was made public in early August, the remaining discrepancy out of the original $813,466 wasn’t just $40,000, as had previously been asserted. It was actually in the ballpark of $200,000, and the County Auditor still hadn’t verified that a portion of that, in the amount of $99,000, had been reconciled. The next day, the A-T reported that Bernard provided more documentation, but that the County Commissioners still believe that progress on the matter is too slow in coming, so they are considering hiring outside help to solve the matter. Julie Adkins, the incoming County Auditor who is replacing the retired Beidelschies, said that the Auditor’s office didn’t have the manpower to continue work on the checkbooks. Commissioner David Sauber hadn’t heard any reply from Richard Cordray’s office yet, but Mary Taylor’s office proposed that Seneca County could hire the Local Government Services Agency (LGSA), a state agency affiliated with Taylor’s office, to reconcile the checkbooks. The County Commissioners want to obtain an estimate of how much LGSA’s services would cost the county, plus hear from Cordray’s office, before deciding how to proceed.
It is now September 14th, and Seneca County’s checkbooks still aren’t in balance, and an experienced County Treasurer is miffed at all the hubbub over the entire affair. Contrast that with Sarah Palin and the transparency that she has committed the Alaskan government to, and you see that one is a public servant who doesn’t really like the public, and the other is a public servant who empowers her public.
There is yet more evidence of Sarah Palin’s attempts to reform government to put it on the side of the people, but I’m impressed by just the checkbook, alone.
I hope Palin comes to Tiffin soon and urges a vote for not only the McCain-Palin ticket, but a vote for Bernard’s election opponent, Damon Alt, as well.
Finally, I hope the MSM reports back about how many of the 50 states put their checkbooks online like Alaska does.
Word of Mouth, a blog for all things pertaining to the city of Lorain, Ohio, has recently revisited the discussion of Lorain’s shipping port on Lake Erie. I feel it’s worthwhile to point my readers in that direction to weigh in on the discussion. As WoM notes, I’ve written for their blog in the past. Included in my past writings at Word of Mouth are my own thoughts about Lorain’s transportation infrastructure needs, presented in 3 installments: Part 1; Part 2; and Part 3.
Here is a map to help visualize some of the improvements I proposed. The existing limited-access divided highway routes are shown in magenta. I proposed adding some limited-access divided highways, and those are mapped in red.
One reason why some Republicans view me as a RINO is because of my support of organized labor. I grew up in a UAW household, and, for a few years, was even a UAW member, myself. In some ways, my political views are reminiscent of the Bull Moose Republicans of a century ago.
Unions have been instrumental in securing human rights for workers from unscrupulous employers. Child labor laws, overtime work hour laws, worker safety laws, collective bargaining laws, and many other laws to protect laborers from one abuse or another have come into existence because of the advocacy of unions. Labor Day, a federal holiday, is an appropriate time to reflect on the contributions of labor, and particularly unions, to our society.
Nevertheless, there are those, and I acknowledge that many of them are within my political party, who show no gratitude whatsoever toward labor unions. This is unfortunate. I wish they would compare their working conditions with the work conditions of those who live in foreign countries, especially countries that have no labor unions. Would they want to live that kind of life? Would they want to work for such unscrupulous employers as exist in other nations? I don’t think so. Among the many things that make America great are the working conditions we enjoy on the job, and labor unions have a lot to do with it.
Accountability is a buzzword in Republican circles. Republicans expect accountability from government. What about accountability in business? In light of ethics lapses at major firms in America (like Enron, Arthur Anderson, Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae), I believe businesses need to be every bit as accountable as government. Unions do provide a check and balance against employers that definitely increase accountability on the part of the business. Some would argue that there’s less accountability from union workers, but, if the truth were known, employers who follow due process can discipline and dismiss union workers, so long as they collect evidence to support their reasons for doing so. Collective bargaining is useful for making sure that employees obtain equal pay for equal work without regard to gender or office politics. In the at-will employment world, office politics and personality clashes have much to do with who gets a raise, who gets disciplined, who gets fired, etc. In the at-will employment world, de facto job performance often doesn’t count for much if a boss just doesn’t like you. Similarly, it’s easy to get passed over for promotion if someone is sleeping with the boss, no matter how much harder you worked. Collective bargaining agreements curb such excesses.
What would family life be if there were no overtime pay for overtime work? Isn’t it hard to keep your marriage vibrant when you spend more time at work than you do at home? Isn’t it hard to raise children when you’re never around? When employers have to pay above and beyond your normal rate of pay, it is a disincentive that prompts them to keep your overtime hours to a minimum. Efforts to roll back overtime pay laws are not just anti-worker, they are anti-family.
Some of the most ardent union-bashers are evangelicals of the religious right. I often wonder why. If they read the Old Testament story of Moses, who confronted the Pharaoh of Egypt about the working conditions of the Children of Israel, isn’t it obvious that Moses was a prototype of a union leader? When Moses told Pharoah to let Israel go, wasn’t it a prototype of a strike notice? When Israel fled Egypt, wasn’t it a prototype of a workers’ strike? Why wouldn’t the religious right be opposed to worker oppression? I haven’t figured that out.
However, on the flip side of the coin, labor unions have branched out to support causes that have nothing to do with the rights of workers. These days, it appears that they support every plank of the Democrat party, even when it makes no sense to do so. Many union members are gun owners, yet the unions give material support to candidates and campaigns that strive to implement more gun control measures. In this part of the country, many union members are Catholics who firmly believe that abortion isn’t right, yet the unions give material support to candidates and campaigns that promote abortion. As a result, many Republicans, who might have looked upon unions with some favor, instead see that the unions are merely a caucus within the Democrat party rather than an independent organization that is strictly concerned with workplace issues.
And that brings me to Lorain.
Barack Obama has said, “There is not a red America and a blue America. There is just the United States of America.”
Sorry, Barack, but yesterday, I found Blue America.
I went to Black River Landing in downtown Lorain yesterday. For more than a dozen years now, labor unions in Lorain have sponsored the largest labor celebration in Ohio held during the Labor Day weekend. The Labor Day Family Celebration draws tens of thousands of people. Each union has its own exhibit booth with freebies that they distribute to the festival-goers. There are amusements for the children, like laser-tag, pony rides, and a giant slide. There are refreshment stands selling the usual gyros, sno-cones, funnel cakes and other festival food favorites. There are live bands performing on an outdoor stage. And there are politicians. Several featured politicians are granted some time to address the crowds from the main stage.
Black River Landing is public land owned by the city of Lorain. I was surprised to see signs posted that read, “No Soliciting. NO campaigning or distribution of campaign literature.”
Flashback to my state rep campaign of 2002. A public event was taking place in Veterans Park in Lorain. I was introducing myself, shaking hands, and handing out campaign flyers. Local elected officeholders were making speeches at the occasion. The Chief of Police confronted me after a few minutes and told me to stop campaigning on the premises. Of course, the local elected officeholders were Democrats, and I was a Republican. What ever happened to my 1st Amendment rights of freedom of speech?
Fast forward to the Democrat National Convention in Denver and the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, which sandwich the Labor Day weekend this year. Republicans are in Denver to get their message out, unmolested by the throngs of Democrats crowding into the convention venues. Democrats are in Saint Paul, and Republicans have promised to extend the same standard of civility to the Democrats.
Back to yesterday in Lorain. Despite the sign prohibiting campaigning and distribution of literature, the Democrats were out in full force. They had their own booth on the grounds, emblazoned with signs of the various candidates up for election this fall. They were passing out stickers with Democrat candidate names on them. The printed program is chock full of Democrat print advertisements. Democrat politicians monopolized the main stage when the time for public speaking arrived.
I happened to see a booth with volunteers that were attempting to register people to vote. The volunteers were wearing shirts that read “Reclaim Lorain.” I chuckled. Who are they going to reclaim Lorain from? The Republicans? Laughable. There aren’t any Republicans holding public office in Lorain. Surely, they don’t mean to reclaim Lorain from the Democrat “Machine” because, in addition to the registration forms, they were compiling a supplementary list of addresses of voters for the Get-Out-The-Vote drives in October and November.
From the stage I could hear a politician shouting out “McCain is Bush. Bush is McCain.” (spoken as if from the Orwellian Ministry of Truth)
Now, I don’t mind if a politician shouts “Obama is better than Bush,” because that’s an opinion. I don’t mind if a politician shouts “Obama is better than McCain.” That’s an opinion, too. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. But I mind when someone says “Bush is McCain. McCain is Bush.” That’s just a flat-out lie. Somehow, repeating falsehoods over and over again never bothers the consciences of these Democrat politicians. I find the falsehoods enfuriating. Democrats don’t think they can win by stating only what’s true? I suppose if they started telling the truth they’d have to include the fact that the Palin household is the only union household on either major party Presidential ticket. They might also have to recognize that the off-shoring of jobs rapidly accelerated during the Clinton administration and hasn’t abated since. OK, I can see why they resort to lies.
I’ve taught on a substitute basis in Lorain City Schools. I think about the children who won’t apply themselves in school, who don’t academic support from home, who are at risk of dropping out and who may never enroll in college, let alone get a college degree. These kids have such a limited world view. What are these children exposed to, politically? A steady diet of Democrat maxims and icons. They grow up in a decaying town with a failed government monopolized by the Democrat “Machine,” and their minds will never branch out far enough to look beyond the Democrat Party as a means of finding solutions for their community.
Someone I know well who is a member of the teachers’ union remarked to me, “I don’t think there are as many people here today as I’ve seen in past years.”
I said, “Republicans don’t come here any more.”
She asked, “Why?”
I showed her the sign that prohibited campaigning.
“But the Democrats are here,” she observed.
“Yes, they are. Republicans don’t come anymore because their isn’t free speech here. Just censored speech. Filtered speech.”
I’m Republican. I was there. But I’ve paid union dues. My attendance should be begrudged by no one. I nearly had an altercation, though, as someone spotted my “Brusky for Commissioner” t-shirt (Nick Brusky is a Republican candidate for Lorain County Commissioner this fall), and started to make a beeline for me. A third person swept by and put his arm around the angry man and led him in another direction, engaging him in conversation. Close encounter of a hostile kind.
Other Republican candidates stopped going to candidate forums sponsored by the local unions when I ran the 2nd time for state rep in 2004. In 2002, Republicans were always invited to speak before the unions, but were always shouted down and vilified. By fall of 2004, when I was the only Republican to show up, they thanked me for coming, and wondered aloud why the other Republicans didn’t come. I haven’t been a candidate since. Democrats have swept the local elections. Now, not only won’t Republicans come to union events, they mostly don’t even run for office anymore.
I’m still willing to advocate for labor unions. I still want to weigh in on issues that affect working conditions. I’m willing to take on politicians within my own party while doing so. The unions are going to have to adopt a view of America that is not just a Red America taking aim at their Blue America. They’ll have to open the channels of discourse. They’ll have to reprimand the “Machine” for putting up signs that forbid campaigning that are meant to silence Republicans and that Democrats are permitted to ignore. Heaven help me, when I show my face again in union environs and have it slapped, to turn the other cheek and renew my efforts to build that bridge between the unions and the GOP.
[UPDATE] More discussion at Word of Mouth appears in these two posts.
The good old boys of Lorain Democrat inner circles are laughing their heads off today. They are laughing because of the impotence of their opponents. They are crowing loudly and shouting “Na-na-na-na-na,” in the most taunting way possible.
When they win a victory, they like to run up the score, and rub their foes’ faces in it.
Here are the 3 stories appearing today in the local newspapers:
First, the Provenza resignation vigil update, as reported in the Lorain Morning Journal:
Lorain Law Director Mark Provenza is back at work, days after being arrested in Lakewood for drunken driving.
Provenza returned Monday. He was on vacation last week when he was arrested.
“My case is pending at this time,” he said yesterday. “I have been advised by my attorney to not say anything about the case. At the conclusion of the case, I will have something to say, but until such time, I’m going to continue to work on behalf of the city of Lorain as the law director.”
Provenza, 52, was pulled over about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 20. Lakewood police said he plowed through the front porch of a house at 2224 Bunts Road. Within minutes, officers spotted him going west on Madison Avenue near Belle Avenue with a flat left front tire.
Since the drunk driving arrest, his fourth since becoming the city’s law director in 2000, some people have called for his resignation.
When asked about that possibility, Provenza referred back to his statement.
Smug defiance, wouldn’t you say? He knows he has the backing of the “Machine,” even if he lacks the support of the public.
Second, State Representative Joe Koziura (D-Lorain) is again unopposed in the November election for the 56th District seat in the Ohio House of Representatives. The 56th District includes Lorain, Sheffield Lake, Sheffield Township, Amherst Township, a very tiny slice of Amherst, most of Elyria Township, the 5th and 6th Wards (south and west sides) of Elyria, South Amherst, New Russia Township, a very tiny slice of Carlisle Township, and Oberlin. The 56th District, economically speaking, is easily the most distressed of the 3 Ohio House districts that divvy up Lorain County. The Democrats have a virtual lock on the district, yet, for all the years of Democrat representation, the plight of the district continues to worsen. For the good of the 56th District, they ought to try Republican representation to see if they can experience some improvement. Obviously, Democrats who represent the area don’t need to feel compelled to produce much in the way of results, as the voters reward them with landslide victories at every election for doing nothing. By contrast, the swing districts in the county are the bright spots in the county’s economy, as representatives of either party have a strong incentive to deliver in order to have a chance to stay in office.
An excerpt from the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram includes a quote from Mr. Koziura:
“I don’t really worry about whether I’m opposed.”
Koziura, the 62-year-old former mayor of Lorain, has faced opposition in the past, but not since 2004.
How about that? No worries, eh? That 56th District is a real cakewalk for the “Machine” candidate.
The opposition Koziura faced in November 2004? Yours truly, Daniel Jack Williamson, the Buckeye RINO. In subsequent elections, I resided in other Ohio House districts, and I’ve felt sorry for 56th District voters that they had no alternative candidates to choose from on their ballots in 2006 and 2008.
Third, the Lorain Mayor, Tony Krasienko, and Lorain City Council have decided to increase taxes and fees, but some local Republicans sought to move those measures to the ballot for voters to decide upon. In Lorain, no good deed goes unpunished. The Auditor for the city of Lorain, Ron Mantini, found some errors on the petitions, so he’d like to see felony charges brought against the tax referendum petition’s circulators. Here’s another excerpt from the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram:
The petitions were circulated to give voters a say on the city’s plans to cut the income tax credit and increase the license plate fees in the city from $5 to $20.
Mantini said each person who circulates a petition must affirm they witnessed each signature. If the same person signed twice, that means either the person wasn’t paying attention or knew that the signer had signed twice, Mantini said.
In either case, it could be a felony, he said.
“I’m not trying to discourage referendums, but people need to understand there are rules and regulations and they need to be followed or there’s consequences,” he said.
After disallowing the duplicate signatures, though, there were still enough valid signatures on the petitions to place the referendum on the ballot. I, myself, have always been careful with petitions I’ve circulated to make sure that I have valid signatures. I use the most recent walk list that I can obtain from the Board of Elections to help me identify who the registered voters are as I go door-to-door. I certainly don’t approve of illegal shenanigans when it comes to petitions, but I’m struck by the selective enforcement of the rules. Most of the time when there are petition irregularities, signatures are invalidated by the Board of Elections, and that could impact whether enough valid signatures were obtained or not. Sometimes, entire pages of petitions are invalidated. I’ve often heard news stories of candidates or issues that failed to make the ballot, but I’ve not often heard of criminal punishment meted out against petition circulators unless signatures were forged. Why pursue felony charges this time, but not in other cases when petition irregularities have invalidated signatures or whole petitions? Perhaps there’s a double standard, but, at the least, it would seem that the Democrat “Machine” in Lorain wants to make an example of these circulators and send a strong signal not to try to thwart the wishes of City Hall.
Today, in view of this trio of news stories, I’d venture to say that Lorain’s Democrat “Machine” prefers not to spell “democracy” with a lower-case “d.”
I’ve been checking the local mainstream media (like the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram and the Lorain Morning Journal) daily, specifically to see if Mark Provenza has made the sensible decision to resign as Law Director for the city of Lorain in the wake of his 4th DUI charge. The latest DUI episode was his most dangerous to date, as his vehicle plowed into a residence and demolished a porch.
As I’d mentioned in a prior post, the Morning Journal has already posted an online editorial calling for Provenza’s resignation. I’ve waited patiently for a few days for Provenza to come forward of his own volition to resign. If Provenza hasn’t sobered up enough yet to make the correct decision, then I expect Anthony Giardini, Democrat Party Chair in the city of Lorain, to assist Provenza in making that important decision.
I’m not encouraged that Provenza will do the right thing when I hear that he pleaded not guilty to the most recent DUI charge. It sounds like he’s still dodging accountability. I suppose it should be a consolation to hear that his law license could get yanked if he’s convicted of this offense, but that’s not enough to satisfy me. Mr. Provenza, don’t force the citizens to recall you. Just step down. Pronto.
I’m also very displeased to hear that Anthony Giardini is not seeking the best interests of the city of Lorain by tendering a request for Provenza to resign. I’ll wait just a short time longer for the right action to be taken, but if the resignation does not appear to be on the horizon, I’ll have to drop the hammer down. Mr. Giardini, if the citizens are forced to recall Mr. Provenza, your own influence within Lorain will be seriously eroded. If, on the other hand, Mr. Provenza steps down quickly, and the matter is efficiently resolved, then you can avoid a showdown with Lorain citizens.
Let’s have that resignation announcement, gentlemen.
The Sandusky Register has permitted four candidates for Erie County Commissioner (two seats up for election in November) to write their own blogs about their respective candidacies. What’s your opinion of the headline for Democrat incumbent Tom Ferrell’s entry? The headline reads: “My job is not done yet.” Well, I suppose we continue to need a county commissioner, or else we’d abolish the job, right? Somehow, I think that’s not the point. I’m sure his message is that he has agenda items he’d like to tackle in an upcoming term (if voters re-elect him) that won’t be concluded by the end of the current term. But, in a Freudian slip, it reads like an admission that he just hasn’t gotten the job done, and that’s hardly a reason for re-election.
Counties in Ohio typically have 3 commissioners (Summit County is a notable exception). Though the three have equal authority to each other (OK, so they do select officers for the sake of orderliness in conducting meetings, but their votes are of equal weight), I find it interesting that one of the three in virtually any county tends to dominate the other two. In Cuyahoga County, for example, that would be Jimmy Dimora wielding more influence than Tim Hagan or Peter Lawson Jones. It often seems that the dominant one is also the most corrupt of the three. Jimmy Dimora, again, fits that model in Cuyahoga County.
In Erie County, Tom Ferrell is the one that fits the model.
Early in 2007, Tom Ferrell’s wife got a promotion within newly-elected Democrat Tom Paul’s County Auditor office. Tom Paul had to fire an employee without sufficient cause in order to create the promotion opportunity for Commissioner Ferrell’s wife. Erie County taxpayers had to shell out the bucks for Auditor Tom Paul’s bad decision when the ex-employee filed a wrongful dismissal suit. In the end, the ex-employee was vindicated, yet Tom Paul wouldn’t have done it differently, even in hindsight. Ferrell seems to have a political machine at his disposal that refuses to be intimidated–even if it’s against the rules.
Voters won’t be able to sack Auditor Paul until 2010, but they have the opportunity to vote for Republican Mike Printy as commissioner to replace Ferrell this November. I think the voters should respond to Ferrell with “Your job IS done.”
Lorain’s Law Director Mark Provenza has done it again, and this time, it’s worse. He’s an alcoholic, and he’s endangering lives. Here’s the latest Provenza DUI story from the Plain Dealer. Here’s the report from Elyria’s Chronicle-Telegram. Here’s the editorial from Lorain’s Morning Journal calling for Provenza’s resignation (long overdue).
I’ve long been concerned with Democrat machine politics in the city of Lorain that props up politicians who are unsuitable to hold office. Though he’d already been charged with DUI’s in the past, Mark Provenza’s most recent re-election bid went unopposed in both the 2007 primary and the 2007 general elections. That’s because the perception among potential rivals is that it’s futile to oppose the Democrat political machine that props Provenza up.
Provenza has always given himself a bargaining chip for potential plea deals by refusing blood-alcohol tests after law enforcement officers catch up with him, denying law enforcement from gaining access to the most convincing evidence of Provenza’s intoxication (in 2000, he got a DUI charge in Parma Heights reduced to reckless operation). Enough of these cat-and-mouse games over Provenza’s drunken driving. This time, it wasn’t just a matter of weaving while traveling down the road, nor was it a matter of hitting a fire hydrant. This time Provenza crashed into a HOUSE!!!! So, not only does he not uphold the law, he’s downright dangerous.
As the city’s chief attorney, does Provenza’s repeated violations of the law make him unfit for office? Absolutely.
The voters, however, are hamstringed if they wish to replace the law director with a vote at the polls. In order for voters to change law directors on election day, there have to be other candidates listed on the ballot, and that was not the case in 2007. I don’t think Provenza should continue to serve out his term, but short of having a law license yanked (unlikely), about the only mechanism in place for removing Provenza from office is if Provenza, himself, resigns from it. That’s hardly encouraging. Just look at Detroit’s Kwame Kilpatrick, and how he continues to linger in the mayor’s office in that city. Provenza seems to have a similar mindset, as he hasn’t stepped down in the wake of prior DUI charges.
I think it’s time that the chair of the Democrat Party in the city of Lorain, Anthony Giardini, called for Provenza’s resignation. That would signal that the Democrat political machine no longer stands behind Provenza, which, in turn, would lead to a new candidate on the ballot in 2011 (such a long way off!), even if it turns out that there still isn’t a multi-candidate race. It’s time to twist Provenza’s arm while leaving him with no leg to stand on. Provenza’s got to go.
Buckeye RINO 