So, I listened to the interview again, and transcribed the places where Mark Dansack specifically talked about education, as for the attempt to try to make fun of him for saying "uh" or "um" when pausing, that's something that quite a few people, other candidates included do when they are speaking in public. It's really kind of a petty slam, especially if anyone has spent anytime watching our current legislators speak in the House...
What Mark said on July 11th on the issue of education and taxes (which you can listen for yourself here):
We rely soley on the property taxes and time after time the poor citizens have been saying enough is enough and they are voting down these propety taxes...
I'm not saying I personally have all the answers but I am saying we
should investigate this, put some proposals out there and try to lead on the issue...
A male caller: Hi, Mark, I'm listening to what you are saying about education, I'm reading thru your blog and it looks to me you're not proposing any solutions, you just say we need to study and study and study the issues. Mark, we are knee deep in studies, why don't you propose one solution right now for what we can do for education.
Mark responds: Well education and education funding, we need to get away from the property tax sytem of funding education which we have known for the last ten years and I think to ask me to come up with a solution in three months when the entire Republican House, Senate and Gubernatorial people have not been able to do it in ten years is asking a little something. What I'm trying to say is let's move on this, let show some leadership, lets propose something because the way we are doing it now when you have Lake Local Schools who have gone seven levies without passing, you have Maumee School system which has an excellent rating every year and they had to go to the voters twice to get an operational levy passed. It's not working and whether it be a combination of additional income tax, additional sales tax, rolling back certain taxes that been repealed, we have to look at different, different alternatives instead of just pushing the problem off into the future, because that's not working.
Male caller - Right but at the same time we can't just expect you to get hired to the job and learn as you go, we need solutions.
Mark responds: Well, I would ask what solutions have been proposed in the last two years by any of the legislaters that are in there now?
Male caller - Well that's a question I can't answer, I'd still like to see solutions on your part.
Later in the interview:
Well, if you make education a priority maybe you don't give the top 2% that tax cut, maybe you bring some of that money down and you funnel it to education. I don't want to sound socialistic, which I'm sure I would be accused of by some people but we have to look at...(phone call with question about living wage)
Further in direct response to the claims on Mark Dansack wanting to raise the sales tax on a post written by Mark on his blog he states in the comments:
I'm not sure that additional taxes are absolutely necessary and a 2 cent sales tax represents a regressive tax which hits low income families much harder than higher income groups. I would obviously listen to constituents, although I'd like to look at other plans and I am not sure that many Ohio residents would welcome an increase in the sales tax of that magnitude at least without a corresponding drop in other taxes or fees.
On Conklin and Company Mark discussed education.
These attack flyers and the television commercials that have now come out are not only misleading but a purposeful attempt to use scare tactics, hoping that the residents of District 46 will be naive enough to believe what the Ohio Republican Party is saying about Mark Dansack and trying to allow Mark Wagoner to avoid taking responsibility for this behavior. Let's hope the voters of District 46 will not give that a pass as well...
I'd also urge voters of this area to contact Mark Wagoner and let him know that you don't agree with this type of campaigning, that he should renounce this publicly.
11 comments:
Do the flyers say that their source is the Nookular Option?
Yes, one specifically takes this portion of what I posted, "and whether it be a combination of additional income tax, additional sales tax, rolling back certain taxes that been repealed, we have to look at different, different alternatives" and lists it as being said on WXUT-FM July 11, 2006
Sorry - two of them specifically refer to WXUT-FM July 11 as the source of the partial quote.
I thought these attacks were ridiculous when I received them. The message is poorly crafted. But now that I know that these attacks are patently false I won't even consider voting for Wagoner. I hadn't really considered voting for Dansack either, but I am reconsidering my position.
The flyers were paid for by the Ohio Republican Party. They actually only say ORP on them. So this not a direct attack from Mark Wagoner. However, it does not seem that Wagoner refutes the flyers in anyway.
By the way, I'm a Sylvania Township Resident and voter in Ohio House District 46.
Thanks Christine, that is probably the only way candidates and our political parties will stop this sort of campaign ad behavior is if enough of say something about it.
J.R.W., you are very correct that the Ohio Republican Party is the one who states they are paying for these flyers and the recent tv ad.
While a candidates may have little "creative" control over what is done, they definitely could speak out on this else it gives the impression that they do approve. If someone was trying to "help" me in a manner such as this I wouldn't want people to believe I supported such behavior.
I'm not in District 46 now that we have moved we are in District 47 but I still sent Mr. Wagoner an email.
Oops, I forgot to mention that I sent him an email too.
Although the piece says they are paid for by the ORP (the Ohio Republican Party), that is only technically correct. Mr. Wagoner's campaign finance report will show an in-kind contribution from the Ohio GOP, but they will also show a similar direct "contribution" made by Wagoner's committee to the Republican Party to reimburse them for the in-kind contribution. It is a technical step to allow the Wagoner campaign to use the ORP's bulk mailing permit (thus saving thousands of dollars in postage). Both the D's and R's do the same thing. Wagoner is skirting the truth when he passes off the piece as one produced by a third party and not approved by him. I am certain his campaign ok'd the piece because his committee basically paid for it.
I was very disappointed to learn that Mr. Wagoner pulled clips from "The Nookular Option" to deliberately misrepresent Mark's views on taxes and education funding. Mark's appearance on our show was his first radio interview, and I think he came off very well given that he is not an experienced campaigner with a team of coaches and PR people. In addition, during the interview, we received a number of hostile callers (many more calls than a typical show), which I suspect was orchestrated by Wagoner supporters.
When I invited Mark to come on the show, I invited Mr. Wagoner at the same time. Most Republicans decline my invitations to appear on the show, despite my assurances that I don't do ambush interviews. I think that our interviews with Dave Schulz and JR from ToledoTalk demonstrate a commitment to civil political discourse. It's unfortunate that rather than come on the show and have discuss his campaign and policy ideas, Mr. Wagoner has chosen a lower road.
I hope more voters are like Kate. The politics as usual approach has not helped Ohio to move forward. Mr. Wagoner could have used his position to be a leader for all of NW Ohio. Unfortunately, he seems to only be concerned with his own re-election and not the everyday citizen in his district.
And all that I can think of after hearing this was, "Yeah, like the republicans have the answer when it comes to taxes...
Doesn't anybody read their job descriptions anymore nor read the documents under whey are supposed to function?
Hypocrites!
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