Conklin & Company - Pete Gerkin and Dave Schulz and...

It's been a busy day but...I did watch Conklin & Company this morning because I knew Dave was going to be on.

First up was Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerkin, he was on talking about the Arena project. He appears to be very supportive of the idea of the Mud Hen organization handling aspects of this plan. Pete said "Smart people go to smarter people - The Mudhens are working quitetly to get a team and the best thing is we don't have to pay them." They want to replicate the Mudhens two times over. However he did admit Barry Soskin does not appear to support the non-profit angle.

I guess what I found overly simplistic was the way he explains away the cost of the arena - he seems to feel that since almost 42 million can be raised by the increase in the hotel/motel tax that, "We just have another 40 million dollar project". Pete also quoted some survey that I didn't catch that I believe was asked of people who were leaving Mudhens games that led him to believe it wouldn't necessarily matter to Toledo if it ended up being the Storm or not, saying "half can't tell you who won". He feels it's about "creating the place and the experience". On the issue of the 14 million dollars for naming rights he stated that was not out of line but he thought that 14 million also included suite costs and other fees not just direct naming rights. Pete also stated, "some people are not blinking at that (14 million) number."

Then on to the reason why I tuned in, to watch Toledo City Council Candidate Dave Schulz. Dave did an excellent job in pointing out that he is a fiscally responsible Republican and has the goal of smaller government. That's something he has demonstrated in wanting to reduce the size of our current City Council. Dave pointed out that larger Cities, such as Columbus have less City Council members.

He talked about some of his ideas that would reduce fees and taxes for local businesses and when Lee asked how these cuts could be paid for Dave stated that he believes City Council could "find 4 million dollars in budget cuts going line by line". Earlier he came up with well over a million dollars in suggested cuts by combining some departments. Dave would also like to focus on increasing home ownership in the City of Toledo.

Dave also stressed that his work on the term limits proposal that will be up before the voters this November demonstrates that he can work with both Republicans and Democrats and that his focus on this issue for the last 18 months is something that he feels sets him apart from his opponents. That if he was able to accomplish this as a citizen and as a candidate "imagine what he could do if elected".

Then it was time for Sandy Isenberg and Jim Tankersley, they talked with Lee about Frank Szollosi's recent statements concerning the Mayor not flying from Toledo Express but selecting to fly from Detroit. Sandy felt that while it was nicer to fly from Toledo Express that given the lay overs and at times the cost difference that it was understandable that the Mayor and others would fly from Detroit at times. One statement by Jim Tankersley that seems to sum up how he felt about it, "If he (Frank) could find a way to criticize where Carty bought his breakfast he would".

That about sums up what I took down from my notes while I was watching.

:-)