Last minute campaigning for Lucas County Commissioner Primary

The Toledo Blade covers part of the story. Ben Konop has the goal of walking 30 miles which in itself is a major accomplishment in his attempt to reach out to voters of Lucas County. He's continuing to demonstrate he is willing to put all of his energy into winning the Democratic Primary.

What struck me is the differences in campaign styles. Which if you read that article you'll probably notice as well.

The Blade didn't list this but Pam Haynam is sponsoring a live chat thru her website today at 4:00 p.m. You can visit her here for more details.

If you haven't read the editorial done by Toledo City Paper, I recommend stopping by. I especially agree with this:

On May 2, it’s time for some serious changes to begin for the Toledo area, including setting the stage for a new Lucas County Commissioner to be elected in November.
What does the county commissioner do? In part, he or she administers more than $40 million worth of federal funds to local job and family services; balances the budgets of the county courts and sheriff’s department; operates the work-force development office The Source (which in just a year-and-a-half, has provided 3,000 locals with stable employment), and ensures that Lucas County’s emergency services are ready in the face of a disaster. ‘County commissioner’ may not be as glamorous as ‘mayor’ or ‘president,’ but it’s as important.

If you’re sick and tired of the ‘same old, same old’ problem of ineffectual Toledo leadership, get thee to the polls this Tuesday. Statistics show more Americans vote in "American Idol" than in their local primaries … even though Kellie, Paris and Taylor aren’t the ones responsible for the future of entire cities.

What it boils down to is this — if you do not vote this Tuesday, you have no just cause for whining about Toledo’s problems or its lack of leadership. Effecting change does not require marching in the streets or staging a sit-in. It’s as simple as participating in a process that millions of people across the world long for — your community is waiting for you to save it. So take up the challenge, lead by example — vote this Tuesday, May 2.

Well done, TCP, I hope Lucas County residents listen...

Central Committee Seats and Independent Voters

The Blade has as linked above an article about the State Central Committee Seats for the Democratic and Republican Party that will take place on May 2nd. It's important to note that these elections are to select who will win that seat.

Back on April 19th I posted about these candidates.

This for me is one of the hardest parts of being a more Independent voter. During a primary you have to decide first off which party you want to declare for. Sometimes there are candidates that are Republicans you'd like to see win, especially in the case of the State Central Committee seats and there are Democrats that you would like to see win. Yet, you can only pick one party. I'm not sure if there is another way to do this, but it's the way it is done here and probably the way it will remain.

If you are going to request a Republican ballot and are in District 11, I hope you do consider David Schulz His commitment to ethics and his desire to make the Lucas County Republican party more effective has been demonstrated and I believe he deserves to be re-elected to this seat. Dave has the endorsement of the Ohio Republican Party.

As for the "showdown between Frank, Jack, and Carty", on the Democratic side of District 11; Jack Ford has held this seat even prior to being Mayor of Toledo. If you do feel it's time for a change, I would suggest Frank Szollosi. I don't feel as Mayor that Carty has the time to participate in the process nor do I believe this race should be some type of a popularity contest. It should be about which one of the candidates will put their energy into progress and Frank has participated and supported the Democratic Party of Ohio.

Lucas County Commission Endorsement

Yes, the Toledo Free Press, Toledo Blade and La Prensa thus far have all made their endorsements public.

But, I had not yet made my endorsement. Yes, I realize the importance behind this endorsement. I'm sure it will have a huge impact on this race, well, okay maybe not but some of you probably at least laughed over that last statement.

Some brief history, I started Glass City Jungle in January. I was inspired to try to become more involved in politics locally for several reasons, while I had mainly focused on national politics on my other blog, I realized there was a lot going on locally that wasn't being talked about. A few weeks after the creation of this blog I was invited to meet with Ben Konop to talk about local blogging and internet related topics.

I was interested in what Ben had to say but I was skeptical at first, the more I learn about politics the less quickly I decide who I will or will not support. I've also tried to create this blog with the idea in mind that it wasn't just about me, it's about all of this area. Which is why I have written about and promoted Democratic events and Republican events, basically if you are doing something political and you invite me? I'll not only try to attend but write about it as factually as possible without interjecting too much of "me".

Back to Ben, I liked his ideas, I liked his energy, yes, I liked Ben, however that didn't mean I was necessarily going to vote for him. As this campaign has progressed, I've also come to respect him. He handled himself well at both debates, has taken some heat that the majority of the time wasn't deserved and yet kept focusing on the issues, kept coming up with ideas. I had some concern regarding there being three Democrats as Lucas County Commissioner, that to me is important because we do need a balance of power. If a Democrat is selected it has to be one that will not be afraid to "rock the boat" if necessary and be able to do it in a way that still can foster future cooperation. I believe Ben can do that. Ben has proven to me that he not only listens to other people's ideas but will embrace them and do his best to actually move forward. That's what Lucas County needs. We have spent decades talking...So on May 2nd, I'm voting for Ben Konop for Lucas County Commissioner.

Ben named as possible for McCloskey seat?

I wouldn't have believed it if I had not have heard it, Carty was just on Channel 11 and stated that if Ben didn't win the May 2nd primary could be one of the names considered for Toledo City Council or Jeanine Perry?

Sigh...it's too early to even be thinking about Ben not winning the primary so to make that kind of a public statement by Carty I think is inappropriate. Granted I am not that close to Ben but he wants to be Lucas County Commissioner. And Perry? Double sigh...

(insert imaginary frowny face)

Better use of Northwest Ohio resources...

The other day I read a post on Maggie Thurber's blog about some good news that had been released from the Regional Growth Partnership. There has been discussion about LCIC and how it could better be used, however, RGP has been around for several years. It also appears to have had some success, so wouldn't it make sense to better utilize what we had that was working?

http://www.rgp.org is their website. Head on over, check out what they offer and also while you are there read the Pdf of their Newsletter for April

Some other interesting news is also listed there, Economic Outlooks, and if you look at who the Board of Directors that make up Regional Growth Partnership?

List

Seems like this is less government more people, which is what many of us want, growth and businesses created and encouraged by those who have the most experience.

Ohio Supreme Court on Schulz v. McCloskey

Fox News was first with the story, their link is above.

MERIT DECISIONS WITHOUT OPINIONS

State ex rel. Schulz v. McCloskey:

In Quo Warranto. On motion to dismiss. Motion to dismiss granted. Cause
dismissed.

Moyer, C.J., Resnick, Pfeifer, Lundberg Stratton, O’Connor and O’Donnell,
JJ., concur.
Lanzinger, J., not participating.

Statement from Dave Schulz:

I am gratified that the court ruled I had standing to bring the case but regret that the court couldn't muster the courage to try the case. The citizens of Toledo suffer for that. I do take comfort knowing that both defendants in the case face more severe legal problems that could ultimately end in the usurpers being thrown out of office.

Statement from Attorney Terry Lodge:

When the voters overwhelmingly voted for term limits in 1992, they voted for term limits, not to allow politicians to make the observation of term limits a matter of the honor system.

Regrettably, the Ohio Supreme Court has dismissed the lawsuit without even giving Toledo and Ohio voters a written opinion. Thus we do not have any guidance as to when terms of elective office can or cannot be restricted.

The effect of the Supreme Court's decision is to alter Toledo's term limits law into a cudgel to drive ethical leaders to follow the law and leave office, while less honorable ones may choose to abide by the law, or not - because term limits apparently are no longer quite the law. That sorry situation doesn't say much for democracy, and it doesn't bode well for the future of Toledo municipal government.

On a semi-related note, Bob McCloskey has announced today that he is stepping down from Toledo City Council as per this breaking news piece.

Blogs, new features and lunch boxes

This week there are many exclusive online features to enjoy besides Blog, it Toledo. Ironically my first website shared with you was one that let me take a walk down memory lane. Then reading Melanie Dusseau's piece for the Writers Workshop, "In search of the Hardy Boys"where we discover she is looking for this. (Five days left to bid Melanie!)

Online and in Print, there is also a new Opus Cartoon and a Toledo themed crossword. Maybe I'll have better luck at completing the crossword than I have mastering Su do ku... Michael Miller reviews a CD that I would love to own. Yes, I am a fan of Johnny Cash.

This week's edition also has the first Toledo Business Link insert, which also has some very informative articles in addition to the many other features this week.

:-)

Lucas County Commissioner Debate - Republicans

Pam Haynam and George Sarantou had their turn in front of the cameras tonight with the Toledo Blade's Jim Tankersley and Lee Conklin asking the questions.

It didn't start out well for Pam, the first question asked by Jim Tankersley asked her what her definition of a "real" republican was; then further pressed on her definition asking who else she would name as not being a "real" republican other than George Sarantou. I don't think she expected the question it's probably one of those situations where now she would have a name or two to suggest but it was a rocky start for her.

George stated he believes in jobs, low taxes and opportunity for all, he did however feel that the 4.4% increase in assessments was a justfied position taken by Toledo City Council. When asked about the veto vote on Costco, he stated he felt that $10.00 a hour was a good starting wage especially if you take Costco's benefit package into consideration.

Pam stated she would have voted for the veto but she would not have supported the abatement. She feels abatements are not generally suited for retail employers and should be more for manufacturing or technical employers.

Next George said that he felt there was no effective marketing campaign here in Toledo and that LCIC could be better utitlized. Jim Tankersley pointed out that Bass Pro did not come here despite the marketing of both the County and the City. George then stated that the area had to reach out to cities with high crime or that were not happy where they currently were located to sell them on this area.

If you missed this, I'm sure the Blade will offer video tomorrow rather than me going thru each question/response and I'll go right to my impressions. What kind of a Republican Lucas County Commissioner do you want? If you want one that will disagree if necessary with the two Democrats who are currently Lucas County Commissioner and who did pledge to not run for any other office then Pam Haynam is the candidate for you. If you want one that will work with the two Democrats and states he will not vote no but find solutions and is planning on serving a full term if elected Lucas County Commmissioner yet artfully did not pledge that, then George Sarantou is for you.

It would have been interesting if George would have been asked given his statement that he can work with the Democrats currently on the Lucas County Commissioner's why someone should vote for him rather than one of the Democrats.

I have a high degree of respect for both Pam and George and if the choice was between one of them and Phil Copeland it would be a no-brainer for me as far as the general election. So it would come down to those who are going to vote in the Republican Primary what role do they want a Republican Lucas County Commissioner to play. The household vote as to who did better in the debate goes to George, but those present stated they were voting for Pam because they felt she would better represent the suburbs and would prefer the lone Republican to be more of a watchdog who would dissent loudly and publicly if necessary. One comment made by one of the "debate watchers" was that they felt that if it would have been possible for solutions that Maggie Thurber would have been able to do that as well.

update....Kurt's impressions on the Republican debate at Progressive Toledo.

update...Blade article and video of debate.

Lucas County Commissioner Debate - Democrats

Progressive Toledo has a post from yesterday on this. Yesterday was technical difficulties day for me. First blogger would not publish then our dsl went down. Yes, I am so technologically spoiled I decided to wait and see if it was fixed last night as promised, which of course it wasn't. (SBC tsk tsk) So this morning I am on dial up.

I did watch the debate last night and took prolific notes, the Blade did provide video to the debate for those of you who missed it here I plan on watching it again to see if I missed anything. (update...yes my dsl is back)

Intial feeling was that it would have been nice if it would have been a bit longer of a format. With commercials it was well under a half an hour and there were some time management issues that were obvious. Jim Tankersley did a nice job in the questions he asked as well as trying to press for more complete answers if necessary. Diane Larson also had some good questions for all three candidates.

Phil Copeland once again did not answer questions, even when pressed by Jim Tankersley he gave non-answers. The initial question concerning Phil's claim of creating jobs when Local 500 has in reality lost jobs ended up with a non-answer that basically affirmed that Jim was correct in stating that Phil has not created any new jobs. Even when asked by Diane Larson what concrete plans he had, he did not have one except he wanted to be friendly and bring unions in.

There was no economic plan revealed by Phil, other than his statement of if he is elected he will work with the Two Commissioners going to them stating "I got an idear about bringing some business in". Ben mentioned Phil's earlier promise of unveiling his economic plan which was not really responded to.

Tim Wagener promoted what is his campaign message of "Experience Matters", pointing to the Dana Tech Center as a success story that he felt should be a blueprint for future job creation. He when asked if he had any bolder plans other than his one involving senior citizens and high schoolers interacting more stated that until he gets into office he won't know. He wants voters to consider his years of public service which he stated was more combined than all of the others running for Lucas County Commissioner as why he should be elected. I don't think it was intentional, but Tim gave off an attitude of superiority that might not be received well by some voters. I wasn't the only one who noticed it, those viewing with me also commented on that without me saying anything.

Trying to view Ben Konop's performance critically is hard, he did an excellent job, he answered questions even hard ones relating to his not having political experience or what management experience he had, he kept to his talking points and took a comment from Phil Copeland where Phil said Ben was "fooling" people about tax increases and used that to bring up a comment that bothered many of us that Phil stated about not being concerned if people thought they were voting for Bill Copeland. Ben even demonstrated he had practiced his closing and was the only candidate that had it timed properly. While it's not talked about often, being able to work with the limited amount of time the media is going to give you to create soundbites is an important one. Ben demonstrated that he can handle the media aspect of a Lucas County Commissioner's job on top of promoting his message that he believes it is time for a change and that his not being a career politician is a plus rather than a minus. Only complaint I would have with Ben's performance is I think he was a bit too technical on the economies of scale discussion. That's something he could explain further but difficult to express in a short time frame to people that might not have heard him speak about that in more detail.

Those watching with me gave the "win" to Ben, second place to Tim and a very distant third to Phil. How much of an effect will this have depends on how many people viewed it. I would be very interested in hearing from anyone that has now seen both debates that still feels Phil Copeland should be the Democratic candidate.

So there is my take on the debate, I will watch tonights as well and hopefully now that I have been techonolgically restored, be able to post tonight.

On Progressive Toledo the discussion brought up the college degree topic since Ben is the only one with a college degree. Here's my take on that. I think a college degree is helpful however it is possible to have life experience that would also make a person qualified for public office. Tim Wagener as an example, is qualified from an experience point of view. Ben's lack of political experience should be no more of an issue than Tim's lack of a college degree as far as a direct comparison scale to me. That is the unfortunate thing about this election, there is a valid concern that Phil Copeland could win the primary because voters that are informed are going to be selecting between Ben and Tim. Several people have voiced concern that Tim should drop out of the race because he is creating a potential for the vote to be split. Personally I'd like to believe that wouldn't happen but presented with the information from the last Blade poll where it is clear people think that they are voting for Bill Copeland? I guess it boils down to hoping for the best and that the informed voters take everything into consideration and outnumber those that are not. I'm not going to take the position that Tim should step down, even though I understand where those who have stated it are coming from.

Politics in Mudville also has impressions of last night's debate.

Jon Stainbrook's mystery endorsement revealed!

Well, sort of revealed. I still can't find any information on the group but thanks to an article written by Jim Tankersley of the Toledo Blade as linked above, we do know that Paula Pennypacker is the founder of the Grass Root Republican Party Coalition. According to Jon as quoted in the article that was what he meant by claiming to be an "Endorsed Republican Candidate" on the post cards he sent out.

Flashing back to the past, as I did as soon as I read the name Paula Pennypacker...Is she trying to once again shake things up in the Lucas County Republican Party? Supporting Jon Stainbrook over Dennis Lange who is the current interim chair. Isn't he the same Dennis Lange who was the volunteer coordinator for her mayoral run in 1989?

Keeping with that "flashback moment" Toledo Blade 1998:

Paula Pennypacker. The two-time mayoral candidate successfully led a rebellion within the Lucas County Republicans, leading a grass-roots drive for precinct leaders in the May election. The result: a wider activist base for the party and the resignation of party chairman James Brennan. Ms. Pennypacker then moved herself and her makeup business to Arizona.

"Who's being deceiving?" was the question asked by Mr. Stainbrook. Let's think about that for a moment. Getting 47 volunteers and appearing to promise them more than what the standard rate is for being an election inspector, who according to a source only 4 of the volunteers showed up for a special training session scheduled just for them. Then listing yourself as an endorsed candidate when you know one of your opponents is the person who was endorsed by the Ohio Republican Party...Compared to using a picture clearly identified with a woman you considered to be your mentor and as a a spokesman for the Log Cabin Republicans of Northwest Ohio, not being in support of a ban against gay marriages.

I've met and talked with many Republicans thru out the years that haven't agreed with every single platform of the Republican party. That doesn't make them unqualified for a position within the Party. It makes them...human...

David Schulz is running on an ethics-themed platform for the District 11 central committee position. You can read more about that here.

Jon Stainbrook may have very good intentions of wanting to help the Lucas County Republican Party, however after all of the problems in recent years whoever is selected as Chair should be beyond reproach when it comes to ethics.

I see Dead People Lucas County style...

I realize those of us who can be called "political junkies" are in small numbers...yet reading the above linked Toledo Blade article about the Zogby Poll they commissioned for the Lucas County Commissioner race was very disheartening.

When respondents who said they planned to vote for Mr. Copeland were asked why, 11 percent offered that they liked his uncle. Another 20 percent gave answers that suggested they could be confusing the two men, such as "he used to be a good county commissioner."

This doesn't bother Phil Copeland, as quoted in the Blade:

"If my uncle's name is helping me, I'm thanking him right now," Mr. Copeland said. "I'll take it any day. He had a good name, and I'm trying to keep it up. … If they think I'm Bill Copeland, that's fine with me."

That means that out of the 25% translated to approximately 100 people out of 402, that selected Phil Copeland as their candidate of choice, almost 40 of them liked Bill Copeland who retired in 2002 and died in 2004. Then the third that stated they liked Phil Copeland's stance on issues...What issues?

Then the choice of phrasing for this article...."Phil Copeland leads a wide-open Democratic primary" According to the article: Each set of results has an error margin of plus or minus five percentage points. Ben Konop at 20% is only 5% under Phil Copeland, Tim Wagener received 12.5%. Forty percent are still undecided.

Sixty-five percent had never heard of Pam Haynam, sixty percent had never heard of Ben Konop and fifty percent had never heard of Tim Wagener...So with that and the numbers who think that Phil Copeland is Bill Copeland...Where did they get these people? (Yes, I know look at the top vote getters for Toledo City Council.)

The idea that these people who claim to be "likely to cast ballots" scares the hell out of me. If they don't read the newspapers, don't watch tv news, don't listen to the radio and they obviously never use the internet to read news; how can they even pretend to be informed voters? How can they even proclaim to know if the county is on the right track or the wrong track if they aren't even aware of who's running or realize that Phil Copeland is not Bill Copeland?

I realize I'm preaching to the choir, but if you cannot be bothered to even learn the most basic information then you are making a total joke out of the whole process of voting and this ignorance hurts us all.

I also can't help wondering if this poll is related to yesterday's story about the negative phone polling. No one else has yet come forward and stated they were doing polling.

Association of Minor-League Umpires is on strike...

Jeremy, over at Nookular Option points out a story that should be getting more attention. Head on over to visit him to read his thoughts on this and join his call to blog about this. Make sure to visit the AMLU website where you can find out more information and be sure to read some of the personal stories these umpires are sharing.

This would also be a good time to remind people that our local Air Traffic Controllers need our support too. You can visit Fair FAA for more info on how you can help them too.

Prosecutor calls for a criminal investigation but

She says someone else should do it...

Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates said a criminal investigation of Mayor Carty Finkbeiner would be appropriate to determine if he violated a state law by trying to raise funds to supplement the salary of Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Eugene Sanders.

But she said it would be a misdemeanor offense, and a job for the city law director.

"It is something that needs to be looked at, but it should be looked at by the city," she said.

"We are not going to be getting involved in what could be a problematic misdemeanor investigation," the prosecutor added.

Worth pointing out is that if the Mayor were to be convicted, he would have to step down as Mayor and the current Council President who is currently Rob Ludeman would take his place.

Rob Ludeman as quoted by the Blade:

"It appears to me that it's clearly wrong, if in fact there was an attempt to increase the compensation of another public official above and beyond what their contractual wages and benefits package is," Mr. Ludeman said.

He said he was "not specifi-cally aware" of whatever efforts the mayor may have undertaken to raise money for the superintendent's compensation.

"I think the prosecutor has an obligation to the public to look into any alleged improprieties, and it sounds like that course has been initiated," Mr. Ludeman said.

Evidently Mr. Ludeman was not aware that the Prosecutor was not going to look into this.

Bob Reinbolt, Carty's Chief of Staff maintains that no money was collected that it was only a brainstorming session and they would have verified it was allowed under Ohio Law before they did anything. Yet, you would think before you would decide to try to get funding and offer it to Mr. Sanders it would have been appropriate to make sure it was legal. Let's say he would have accepted the concept of being offered more money or a car to stay here. Then what? Sorry Sanders, we'd love to give it to you but it's not legal...

Bob McCloskey video taped?

According to sources at the Toledo Blade:

Toledo City Councilman Bob McCloskey was videotaped in a federal sting last week accepting cash in exchange for helping a businessman develop an amusement park in East Toledo, The Blade has learned.

Considering he is already facing civil and criminal charges for another incident this if true was not a smart move.

According to sources, Mr. McCloskey took $3,000 to assist a person seeking help with obtaining land and permits from the city for an amusement park project.

Asked to comment, Mr. McCloskey said, "I can't talk about it." Asked if he intends to resign from City Council, he said, "I don't know what I'm going to do."
My advice? Bob resign now....

UPDATE: Blade has City Council reaction.

Jon Stainbrook's creative campaigning?

After my earlier post on the State Central District Committee Seat elections, I received an email that included this image that I've uploaded to my photobucket account.

Jon Stainbrook card

What immediatly caught my attention was "Endorsed Republican Candidate". That surprise me as it gives the impression that Jon Stainbrook was endorsed by the Republican Party. So I called to verify this information, I thought perhaps I missed the local Lucas County Republican Party making an endorsement and I wondered why they would endorse Jon Stainbrook over David Schulz.

I have verified that there was no endorsement for the District 11 State Central Committee Chair candidates from the Lucas County Republican Party. It's possible Jon is using the lower listed "Grass Roots Republican Party Coalition" Endorsement as his claim but the card is very misleading.

It also states which campaigns he has worked on. According to this Toledo Blade article:

Mr. Stainbrook, who has written free-lance entertainment stories for The Blade, worked on campaigns for Bob Dole, Bob Taft, Mike DeWine, George Voinovich, and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. He ran three times for Toledo City Council, all unsuccessfully. In 1998, while working as a deputy auditor, he challenged Mr. Kaczala in a Republican primary and lost.

The Kerry campaign statement was later retracted but neither Bush campaign was mentioned in the article, they are however listed on the postcard Jon is sending out to potential voters.

I was unable to find any contact information or a website on the Grass Roots Republican Party Coalition, to be able to verify who they were and if they did endorse Jon Stainbrook. So I can not confirm if that is true or not true or even how that selection process was done.

As disclaimer, if I were voting as a Republican in the primary I would vote for David Shulz. Yet the way this information is being presented is misleading and given the lack of information out there on the State Central Committee Candidates felt it important to express my concern over the way the information on this card is being presented.

State Central Committee Seats

In each Ohio Senate district, a man and a woman will be elected to seats on the state central committee of each major political party.

What are the responsibilities? From the Ohio Democratic Party:

The controlling committee of the Ohio Democratic Party shall be the Central Committee consisting of such membership as shall be elected according to the laws of the State of Ohio. The Central Committee shall elect an Executive Committee, which shall have such powers as are granted it by the Central Committee, as are provided by law, by this Constitution, and by the Ohio Democratic Party By-Laws.

The Ohio Republican Party does not list their by-laws on their website, they do however have a list of current State Central Committee members and this introductory paragraph:

Members of the Republican State Central & Executive Committee are elected every two years from each state senate district. By law, each district must be represented by one male and one female member.

Our area contains two districts, District 2 and District 11. Complete list begins on page 5 of the pdf from the Lucas County Board of Elections.

On the Republican side, Dee Talmage and Paul Hoag are both currently the District two State Central Committee members. They are both running again this May 2nd and neither one is facing opposition. On the Democratic Side for District two, the Ohio Democratic Party does not list on their website who is the current State Central Committee Members, nor does the Lucas County Democratic website. Ralph A. Brumby, David E. Giese and James R. Patrick are running for the male category. Margaret Mary Murray is running unopposed for the female category. Which one of those running for the contested District two seat should you consider? I have no clue since it doesn't appear there is any interest in providing us with any information.

District 11 is similiar in that for both the Republican, Katherine L. Kuhlman and the Democrat, Teresa Fedor are running unopposed in the female category. Kuhlman is the current Republican which I know from their website, and Fedor is the current Democrat I have been told.

The Male category is one that is contested for both Republican and Democrats for District 11. Very contested. On the Republican side we have David Schulz who is the current member who by all reports has done an excellent job for the Republican Party. He is being challenged by Jon Stainbrook, John D. Birmingham and William Jennings. I don't have any background information on Birmingham or Jennings, Stainbrook of course is trying to become the chair of the Lucas County Republican Party as well as trying to increase his popularity by offering to arrange for friends to have in what is said to be his words:

Election Inspector Jobs
If you want to make $$$ working the primary election ???
Give me a call or email me now!!!
All my friends are doing it for easy money.
Make between $150- $250 dollars?for one day!

Personally that's higher than what I thought the rate of pay was for those positions. Perhaps someone who has taken Jon up on this offer can provide more details.

On the Democratic side of District 11, it's just as contested, with some interesting names. Currently Jack Ford (yes former Toledo Mayor Jack Ford) is the male committee member, from my understanding he has done this for quite some time even before he was Mayor. For some reason that no one has stated, Carty Finkbeiner has thrown his name into the hat and is joined by Frank Szollosi and Kollin Rice.

I'll admit prior to my becoming such a political junkie I didn't pay much attention to District State Central Committee Seats. In conversations with family members and others, most people really don't understand what the purpose is of these seats.

Nor does either party make it very easy for you to find out complete information as can be seen. So hopefully as I learn more? You can share in my journey on this one.

:-)

Blog it, Toledo and a new feature...

This week's Blog, it Toledo column focuses on creativity in our area. I hope you visit all of the blogs included, especially Two Toledos. Joining me as an exclusive online feature is the "Writers Workshop" a chance for those of you who have had dreams of seeing your work published to submit an article.

Melanie Dusseau has an article written about Earth Day and Isaiah St. John has an article about demolishing buildings with a historical background.

In addition to the many fantastic articles in this week's print version of the Toledo Free Press, this one by Barbara Goodman Shovers entitled "Poop and the Golden Rule", had me saying a very loud AMEN! Nothing irritates me more when I take my daily walks to have to navigate the mine fields left behind by irresponsible dog owners here in our apartment complex and neighborhood.

:-)

Did Carty violate the Ohio Revised Code?

The Toledo Free Press's Justin R. Kalmes has a breaking news story as linked above which in part states:

Finkbeiner's effort to retain Sanders through a compensation package may have been in violation of section 2921.43 of the Ohio Revised code. The law prohibits public servants from knowingly soliciting, accepting, promising or giving any compensation to another public servant "to perform the public servant's official duties, to perform any other act or service in the public servant's public capacity, for the general performance of the duties of the public servant's public office or public employment, or as a supplement to the public servant's public compensation."

The article also states that the Ohio Revised Code identifies someone in Sanders position as being a public official. Ohio's Ethic Publication confirms this.

This offense is a misdemeanor of the first degree and does carry the stipulation:

A public servant who is convicted of a violation of this section is disqualified from holding any public office, employment, or position of trust in this state for a period of seven years from the date of conviction.

Perhaps it was not a smart move for Carty to have the Toledo Law Director's office moved to a different floor. Sounds like he could have used their advice on this one before any action was taken if this allegation is proven to be true.

UPDATE: The Mayor responds to the question of a possible violation of the Ohio Revised Code:

"That is absolutely laughable," the mayor said. "I have no idea where someone came up with that."

However, this toledo blade article continues:

Julia Bates, Lucas County prosecutor, said she would look into whether the effort to organize a fund to supplement Mr. Sanders' salary was within the law.

Ben says "Buy Local" and you know I agree

The problem in this area isn't so much the lack of ideas, it's the lack of those who actually take action on ideas.

In other words, you have to do more than talk the talk you have to walk the walk.

Ben is doing both with his Buy Local Tour

This is more than just a "nice" thing to do, it makes good financial sense for our area as well, from Ben's blog:

The study estimated that $100 spent at Thackeray's Books resulted in a local economic return of $44. This return included revenue kept local through wages, suppliers, and profits. The same $100 spent at Barnes & Noble resulted in an economic return of only $20.

The study found that Thackeray's Books added more than $5 million annually to the local economy whereas Barnes & Noble contributed only $1.15 million.

I read the Maine Report, I've also read the research at BALLE this is something that we need to do. It to me goes hand in hand with trying to encourage creative entrepreneurial spirit to flourish.

In the Toledo Blade article on Ben's Buy Local Tour, Tim Wagener is quoted as:

"As a prior small business owner, I champion small businesses as the backbone of our economy,” said Maumee Mayor Tim Wagener.

So where is Tim's plan to continue to do this?

Phil Copeland states:

Toledo City Councilman Phil Copeland called Mr. Konop’s proposal “obvious.”

“He’s acting like he’s the only one with any ideas,” said Mr. Copeland, who plans to announce an economic policy this week. “Let’s get real and tell the people what we’re going to do for them. That’s what I’m all about.”

Phil since we have yet to hear much of anything from you at all, how you can not see this as something that Ben is telling people that he wants to do for them (building support of buying local which helps not only local businesspersons but the economy); I don't understand. But maybe sometime next week when you start "announcing" plans we'll know.

:-)

I'd also like to remind people that my favorite book store, Fireside Books, 7111 Orchard Centre Drive, Holland, Ohio, has been locally owned and operated for over 18 years. They not only try to support local authors but provide all of what the National Chains do and more...

Some Political Funding Trivia...

Ever wonder how many of our local residents donate to other campaigns and if so how much? There are several places on the net where one can do this. One I use fairly often is called "Open Secrets" Linked above is a different listing thanks to City Data Toledo

There is alot of information on the page from Toledo including some of the well known Noe related donations but I went looking for local politicans and who they donated to (there is no special reason for the difference in caps v no caps, it's just the way the site did it for some reason):

Sobczak, Mark (IBT/Business Agent), (Zip code: 43606) $500 to GEPHARDT FOR PRESIDENT INC. on 09/08/03
Sobczak, Mark (IBT/Business Agent), (Zip code: 43606) $1000 to GEPHARDT FOR PRESIDENT INC. on 09/30/03
Silverman, Marcia (none/homemaker), (Zip code: 43606) $500 to JOE LIEBERMAN FOR PRESIDENT INC on 10/14/03
Silverman, Peter (Shumaker Loop/Lawyer), (Zip code: 43606) $500 to JOE LIEBERMAN FOR PRESIDENT INC on 10/14/03
KACZALA, GINA-MARIE MRS. (LUCAS COUNTY/INTERNAL AUDITOR), (Zip code: 43606) $2000 to BUSH-CHENEY '04 (PRIMARY) INC. on 11/05/03
KACZALA, LARRY A. MR. (LUCAS COUNTY/AUDITOR), (Zip code: 43606) $2000 to BUSH-CHENEY '04 (PRIMARY) INC. on 11/05/03
KACZALA, LARRY A (LUCAS COUNTY AUDITOR), (Zip code: 43606) $18 to KACZALA FOR CONGRESS on 10/07/03
Szollosi, Francis J (City of Toledo/Councilman), (Zip code: 43605) $250 to OHIO DEMOCRATIC PARTY on 09/20/04
Ford, Jack (City Of Toledo/Mayor), (Zip code: 43607) $250 to JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC on 06/10/04

The page for Maumee had the majority of the donations we've heard about made by Tom and Bernadette Noe, but it had a few that I wasn't aware of:

Noe, Thomas W. (Vintage Coins/Rare Coin Dealer), (Zip code: 43537) $1000 to HOBSON FOR CONGRESS on 04/14/04
Noe, Thomas W. (Vintage Coin/Executive), (Zip code: 43537) $1000 to PRYCE FOR CONGRESS on 10/08/04
Noe, Thomas W. Mr. (Vintage Coins/Coin dealer), (Zip code: 43537) $1000 to PEOPLE FOR DIGITAL COMPETITION on 07/23/03
Noe, Thomas (Self/Attorney), (Zip code: 43537) $5000 to OHIO'S 17 STAR PAC on 09/15/04
Noe, Thomas W. (Vintage Coins and Cards/President/C), (Zip code: 43537) $2000 to DIEDRICH FOR CONGRESS on 05/14/04
Noe, Bernadette (Self/Attorney), (Zip code: 43537) $5000 to CARE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE on 12/31/03
Noe, Thomas W. (Vintage Coins & Cards/President), (Zip code: 43537) $5000 to CARE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE on 12/31/03

The last one to CARE political Action Committee is an interesting one. I can't find any further information on that particular PAC or why the Noe's were the only two who donated, to the tune of $10,000 in this area. At first I thought it might be a typo but I did find donations from others to this PAC in other parts of Ohio. Yet the one I can't help wondering about is why Larry donated $18.00 to himself. See the interesting tidbits you can discover thanks to the internet?

:-)

WAKE UP Lucas County!

Last night I will admit I was a bit disappointed to see as reported on Progressive Toledo information on some recent polling numbers for the Democratic Candidates for the Lucas County Primary.

While I'd like to see more specifics as to the polling information, especially after reading this Toledo Blade article I can't help but wonder at times what do Lucas County voters really want?

Toledo City Councilman Phil Copeland, the third Democrat running for commissioner in the May 2 primary election, has yet to make a major policy announcement.

Tim Wagener's idea to launch an “unprecedented” countywide initiative to promote interaction between high schoolers and older citizens; is a nice one. I believe interaction and volunteerism should be encouraged, however, that to me is a more appropriate function of a school district. Springfield Schools as an example has a community service requirement for it's high schoolers. Or perhaps thru Lucas County Educational Service Center since they have connections/contact with public school systems in the district.

Student Community Service is listed in the Ohio Revised Code:

[§ 3333.04.3] § 3333.043. Programs to encourage students to perform community service.

I'm all for people selecting who they think the best candidate would be, and I fully understand that this is not going to be something we all agree on. Else there would be no need for elections, we'd all come to the same concensus on a candidate and *voila* person selected. Yet I find it continually troubling when it's hard to understand why a selection was even made. The Tim Vs Ben discussions I understand, while Tim hasn't promoted any large scale vision or plans like Ben has, Tim does have an identifiable suburban support record that is an important consideration. If Phil Copeland had such a sterling record on City Council that it was by the mere demonstration of his leadership skills there that people automatically had confidence in his ability to be a Lucas County Commissioner it would be a bit easier to understand why he would poll higher. That's not the case though, unless I've missed something...

So, I'm left at this point until more information comes out shaking my head in wonderment as to how and why some of my local county residents make their decisions in who to support on election day.

Some good news and a story that will probably have Noe ending...

First, the good news! For those of you have followed my posting over the past few months about the lack of updated information by both the local Democrat and Republican party websites; Joe Birmingham is finally listed as being an elected official on the Lucas County Republican Party website.

According to the above linked Toledo Blade article, the Lucas County Republican party could be in a situation where they have to come up with $63,000 that was conveted into a loan to them from Tom Noe.

If the party is forced to come up with the money, it would worsen an already dismal financial situation. As of mid-December, the party had just $1,226 available.

In 2002, Mr. Noe loaned the party $40,000. It was almost immediately sent to Columbus to pay for television ads for Maggie Thurber, then running for Lucas County commissioner against incumbent Democrat Sandy Isenberg.

Two years later, Mr. Noe loaned the party another $25,000. Since then, the party has acknowledged paying back $2,000, leaving a balance of $63,000.

Dennis Lange says fundraising attempts have not gone well recently, Jon Stainbrook is claiming he has the ability to raise funds. Why he hasn't one wonders, it would seem if he really wanted to convice the Lucas County Republican Party that he is the right person for the Chairmanship position he'd demonstrate that he can do what Dennis Lange has not been able to do.

As a side note...the Democratic Party of Lucas County has still not corrected their list of elected officials. Frank Szollosi is apparently still "blacklisted" and Mark Sobczak was never added, though Taylor Balderas was.

An FYI Candidate Website addition

Pam Haynam was kind enough to email me to give me the web address for her campaign, it is in the title link as well as now included in the NW Ohio Candidate Website listing in the sidebar.

It contains some information about Pam and a summary of her stance on some issues. Nice format and I do like the purple.

:-)

As an update...Pam also has a blog:

pamhaynamcommissioner.blogspot.com

There's a new blog in town....

If you listened to the podcast of the interview that Don and Jeremy did with Ben Konop you heard his call for there to be a progressive blog in this area that would deal strictly with local politics. Kurt decided to get the ball rolling on that today and created Progressive Toledo.

People have already started to sign up to be contributors, so if you are a local area progressive who wants to get involved? I'd suggest heading on over.

:-)

As an update, I've decided to join too and I've been accepted.

This week's Toledo Free Press

Justin R. Kalmes writes an excellent summation of the Lucas County Commissioner's Debate, that I highly recommend reading. Michael Miller's piece this week is about his opening day experience at Fifth Third Field. As a member of the cheap seat crowd who also wore her comfortably worn nikes to the Lucas County Commissioner's debate...his piece struck a chord with me.

Blog it, Toledo is in it's tenth week, and it continues to be enjoyable for me to write and hopefully for you to read.

Make sure to get your copy of the Toledo Free Press since there are many great articles including the cover story which is an exclusive interview with Darlene Fisher.

:-)

As an update, as mentioned previously Nookular option has the podcast of their interview with Ben Konop that was done yesterday. You can download it from here.

Thank you to Ben and Don and Jeremy for their compliments, there is a lot of information in this interview that I think is important, so it's a "Lisa recommend" and not just because I'm mentioned.

:-)

After the debate

or let's discuss the use of words...

I watched Fox news last night at ten and watched all three news sources at 11:00 p.m. While I think too much focus has been made on Ben's Taft/Bush question I think the reporting was done well and Phil Copeland did not face the same level of questions/critiques from the other debate candidates.

I read the Toledo Blade article written by Jim Tankersley this morning. I have to say the impression I had even last night was that it was pick on George night. So it didn't surprise me that Jim Tankersley focused on that aspect of the debate. I don't necessarily agree that George Sarantou was left bruised by it but I do agree with the statement that he was "pounced" on. I also think there was alot of information that I learned from last night that will help me make a decision or at least have me know which questions I'd like answered.

This morning I also got up a bit earlier than usual to hear what Fred LeFebvre's thoughts were on the debate last night. Obviously I need to pay closer attention to the use of words because I didn't do a word count as to which candidate was mentioned more nor did I analyze the article for negative versus postive words used for each candidate. Maybe it's me and the fact that I am a political/news junkie but I didn't expect the Blade to have a glowing article about the debate. This was a really big success moment for the Toledo Free Press, they are demonstrating that while they may be a weekly with their updated information on the website when a story breaks and being the primary force behind not only this debate but one in October for the general election that the Toledo Free Press is a source that people are counting on for news. The same can be said for Fox with their complete coverage of the debate. So even if things were happy and rosey at the Toledo Blade they wouldn't write this as a "Wow Good job at the Debate".

Yet when Fred raised the point about the choice of words, I decided to take a closer look.

Realistically this whole experiment can be changed depending on what the writer wants to focus. I'll demonstrate using only what was in the Blade article to work with:

Here's Jim's lead in paragraph:

The first debate of the Lucas County commissioner's race left George Sarantou bruised - and left voters with few specifics on how five candidates would run the county.

Hypothetical Pro-George:

The first debate of the Lucas County Commmissioner's race was short on specifics but demonstrated that George Sarantou is the candidate viewed as the largest threat by other candidates.

Hypothetical Attack mode:

The first debate of the Lucas County Commisioner's race seemed more focused on individual attacks with George Sarantou on the receiving end of the majority of them.

Hypothetical Pro-Pam:

The first debate of the Lucas County Commissioner's race demonstrated that Pam Haynam is promoting herself as the "Lone Republican" and agressively challenged George Sarantou as well as making it clear she was more interested in serving the needs of Lucas County residents rather than how well she would cooperate with the current Democratic majority in the Lucas County Commissioners.

Hypothetical Pro-Ben:

The first debate of the Lucas County Commissioner's race clearly showed that Ben Konop not only provided more specifics than the other candidates present but was not afraid to challenge the Republican opponents as well; Konop stressed that he was the only one with a plan and a vision for Lucas County.

Hypothetical Pro-Tim:

In the first debate of the Lucas County Commissioner's race, Tim Wagener turned the attacks by his Democratic opponents into a positive message that he was proud of his years as a career public servant rather than a career politician and Maumee succeeded in job growth due to the ability to work together strongly disagreeing with the claim that jobs were "stolen" from Toledo.

Hypothetical Pro-Phil:

In the first debate of the Lucas County Commissioner's race, Phil Copeland, with the exception of a few comments directed at his Democratic opponents demonstrated that his goal is to focus on making Lucas County a better place rather than engage in political reparte.

Now what does this show you besides the fact I probably missed my calling working for a campaign and spinning information? That any person that reads that Blade article will take from it what they want, especially if they did not watch or hear the debate or read this blog. If they don't like George they'll focus one way. If they like George they'll focus another way and the same down the line with all of the candidates.

However, I do have to add that George's statement on WSPD that he was so battered and bruised that he had to visit two Toledo Emergency Room's last night was funny. Whether you like him or not as a candidate, he did handle himself well and laughing it off is probably a smarter option.

I'll be bluntly honest and say this primary is going to be a hard one for me in several races. I have to balance who's ideas I like the best and also to continue to be perfectly blunt decide which is the better option for Lucas County, three Democrats or a Republican that could be ignored and basically left out of the process. Would either of the three Democrats candidates end up being any different? Which one has the ability to get one of the other two to work with them and could George Sarantou do that as well? I am not dismissing Pam Hayman but she made it very clear she has no intention of focusing on working with the two current Democrats. Do we really want another former Toledo City Council person on the Lucas County Commissioners? Those are among the questions that I have to find answers for in the next three weeks so I can make my decision. Ben is still someone who's ideas I think have great promise. Yet will he focus on the burbs as much as I know Tim would...As soon as I decide? I'll let you know.

Then I have to decide Dann or Chandra...that's a whole different blog...

:-)

Okay my impressions of the debate and live blogging

First of all time flew, it didn't seem like it was an hour, I just started typing and kept going. As I wrote in the comments I was in the zen blogging zone...

All of the candidates seem like very nice personable people, all of them with the exception of Phil Copeland told me they read my blog. (Which was a surprise) That's not a slam towards Phil, he may very well read it, it just wasn't mentioned.

They also all seem very sincere in their belief that they want to make Lucas County a better place.

I'd never met Phil Copeland before, he talked a lot about his growing up poor in the inner city. He related a story about his reason for supporting the discretionary fund was when he was a young boy and played on a baseball team they didn't have the ability to have uniforms like some of the other teams did. Phil felt that using the discretionary fund for purposes like that helped build the community. It didn't appear he answered all of the questions that were asked of him, I think the two minute response created the most problems for him. His comment that got the most reaction was when he made the statement about the reason Maumee has been successful in job creation was done on the backs of Toledoans. Not a huge response because the crowd was supposed to refrain and they did a very good job in following that but kind of a half gasp/groan from the audience.

Miguel and I walked in with Pam Haynam and rode the elevator up to the main floor of the library. So I had a chance to have some brief chit chatting with her then. She stated she wasn't a polished debater but I think she did an excellent job in making her points. She kept her responses short and to the point, though she did talk faster that the other candidates so it was harder to live blog her comments. She focused on the "jobs, jobs, jobs" theme as well as pointing out that she feels she is a fiscal watch dog. One comment I didn't include was when she stated that her opponent was talking about how he could get along with Democrats if he was elected and her goal was to "watch the store". Pam's comment that got the most response was the second or third time she brought up George Sarantou sitting next to her at a Republican event stating that he was interested in using the Lucas County Commissioner race as a stepping stone to Toledo Mayor. It was a chuckle/laugh type response from the crowd.

I've had more of a chance to talk to Ben Konop than the other candidates, as in past experiences in hearing him speak he comes across as being energetic and wanting to move forward. He focused on the theme that he was the only candidate that had a plan and had vision for the County. He stayed on his message which also included stressing that he is not a career politician. He also talked about how Lucas County used to be in the past as far as jobs and standard of living and that he believes we can return to those days. Ben brought up his several of his ideas, the Cool County iniative, the regional funding, reduction of taxes for senior citizens. Ben interjected the most humor into the debate with his repeated question for George Sarantou and then Pam Haynam on the "would they still support/vote for Governor Taft/President Bush today issue. Ben handled the critiques of him from the other candidates very well demonstrating he can function well under pressure.

George Sarantou comes across as an experienced politican but not to the point where you feel he is not believable. He stressed his 24 years of experience as one of the primary reasons he would be a good County Commissioner and stated he was fiscally responsible as well. George also highlighted his work on the City of Toledo budget and his experience in working with Jeep and Dana as a few of the examples. I have to say he also does well under pressure, though I think he could have diffused Ben's question by answering it the first or the second time. However, he did get his largest response the time when he purposely ignored Ben's question and went on to talk about the Zoo levy. That was another chuckle/laugh response from the crowd. Meeting him in person he thanked me for being there and surprised me by telling me he has read my blog.

Tim Wagener surprised me when I talked with him after the debate. Not just because he stated he reads the blog but he remembered me picking on him about his website being so "red". He explained to me that red and white have always been his colors. Tim demonstrated he has a very good sense of humor not only in private but during the debate when he mentioned that "he had a website too" that got the largest crowd reaction as far as the laugh/chuckle moment for him. Tim stressed that he has experience and I do have say his response that he was not a career politician but a career public servant was the best response to Ben's statement on that as opposed to the rest of the panel. Tim appeared to be the most laid back of the candidates, but did not let statements go unanswered that he felt needed to be addressed, such as the comment that Phil Copeland made about how Maumee got jobs.

Live blogging is quite an experience and I hope all of you enjoyed it. As Fred LeFebvre can see I kept my promise as far as not spelling his name wrong and I thank him for mentioning my blog. A huge and I mean huge thanks to Michael Miller and the Toledo Free Press for allowing me to have the opportunity to do this and of course again thanks to the wonderful staff at the Toledo-Lucas County Library, the notebook computer that they let me use was awesome, a very nice Dell. If I'm invited back to cover the debates in October, I'd like to be able to tape or arrange to copy the debate so that I have an additional source of information to go back and review to see what I missed. I also want to thank all of the candidates for participating, this is such an important part of our political process and it was wonderful to be even a small part of it.

I also want to thank the crowd because they were very well behaved and did for the most part follow the request to not interrupt with applause. It created I think a better debate than what happened during some of the mayoral debates with the crowd yelling out comments.

Thus ends the first time in Toledo history of having a live blog going on during a political debate.

:-)

More questions

Ben outlined his Cool County initiative (more on that later).

George responded to Pam's statement that George was only using running for Lucas County Commissioner as a stepping stone to become Mayor.

I'm going to slow down a bit at this point and cover some of the reactions. George Sarantou stated we need to be "future oriented". He speaks very with alot of animation with his hands, very energetic in his responses.

Tim Wagener appears much more laid back, he speaks carefully and slowly. He stated that he agrees with the suburbs and Toledo working together.

Tim was then asked if he would raise or lower taxes if elected. He stated as Mayor of Maumee that taxes had never gone up, and that he would not support a tax increase without the support of the voters.

Phil took a 30 second response that Tim's job creation was taking jobs from Toledo to Maumee. The economic growth in Maumee has been on the backs of Toledo Residents. Phil Copeland does not appear to be a polished politician, yet he speaks with animation as well.

Pam again brought up George running for Mayor (it must be pick on George night at the debates).

Pam Haynam speaks quickly she seems self confident rather than speaking fast out of being nervous.

Ben then asked Pam if she would vote and support Taft and President Bush. She stated she did support them in the past and that she thinks since there are so many immigrants trying to get into this country that we are doing fairly well right now.

George then took 30 seconds to remind people that he has worked with Democrats and his focus on the high cost of utilities as well as manufacturing such as Jeep.

Cosi support question to George Sarantou, he believes they should explore other resources rather than a levy. He said we just can't keep coming to the voters.

Tim responded to Phil's job stealing, that if you look at Arrowhead that is why jobs come there and he has never knocked on a business's door telling them to come to Maumee.

Tim brought up the unfunded mandate issue, Phil took his 30 seconds to respond stating he supported the personal discretionary funds.

Closing statements:

Phil Copeland, proud to be here and is trying to do what is best for Lucas County. He wants downtown to be like it was back in the 50's and 60's.

Pam Haynam's closing, she stated she is not a polished debater but she offers a choice because she is a real Republican. Less government and less taxes is her main theme. She then stressed her fiscal watchdog experience. She then brought up the George Sarantou running for Mayor next theme. She stressed her experience and her parenting as another reason why she wants to run and feel she is the only candidate that will bring balance.

Ben closed next, he started out thanking everyone and why the process is so important. He stated he is the only candidate with a vision and ideas. Eighty years ago things here were booming, now the economy is changing and we need serious leaderships, ideas not cliches. Lowering senior citizen taxes and stopping brain drain is also a focus for him.

George gave his closing statement next, he stated that fiscal responsibility is "near and dear to his heart". He has helped sell Wall Street on the great area that we live and that his 24 years of experience as well as fighting to lower utility costs in this area are reasons why he should be the next Lucas County Commissioner. He feels he is the voice of reason on the panel today, that he will be a full time commissioner.

Final closing goes to Tim, he has created jobs as a small business man and as an elected official. He stated he will use relationships he has built to help Lucas County, he mentioned his website (which is on my blog). He thanked everyone and asked that people do participate and vote (though he would prefer you vote for him.)

And that ends it...I'll do edits updates in a few....Wow that was an experience!

Questions continue

Why is George interested in leaving City Council to be a Lucas County Commissioner. He stated he is ready for the next step, since Maggie Thurber is not running for office that his 24 years of experience is important.

Tim responded that he is not a career politician but a career public servant and is proud of that to Ben's statement that he was not a career politician.

Tim Wagener was next, the question was could we have a fair representation if there were three Democrats. Tim responded there is a perceived impression that the Lucas County Commissioners are not focused on the suburbs.

Phil Copeland was next, does he support Unigov for Lucas County, he stated yes, that anything that is going to make Lucas County grow that he wants to be a part of.

Pam was next asked if residents outside of Toledo mistrust Lucas County Commissioners, she stated that given both democratic candidates are former city council persons.

Ben then took 30 seconds to again ask his question on where George stands on Taft and Bush and were their policies harmful to Ohio.

George said there are good Republicans and Democrats in Ohio. He feels the relevant issue is how he will represent Lucas County not to defend what Taft or President Bush has done.

The Questions begin

The first question was to Phil Copeland, it was concerning the current questions regarding recent questions concerning the Union.

He really did not answer the question except to stress what the Union has accomplished.

Pam Haynam, as the Lone Republican how would she be able to get things done was asked. She stated she would remain a fiscal conservative and would continue to stress her "jobs, jobs, "jobs".

Ben took 30 seconds to respond. He stated that Bush and Taft's failed policies have added to the problems of this area and would both Pam and George still support both of them.

Question to Ben as to selling the regional tax including Wood County. He stated that if you pool entities together. He stated that if you do that it will create a situation where senior citizen taxes can be lowered.

George Sarantou, questioned on would he call for a full audit of other suppliers in addition to Columbia Gas. George stated it was time for changes at the PUCO and a serious look into why Gas prices are so expensive.

Tim stated in response to his question that he had the ability to work with various people and that you have to put your ego aside and work for the betterment of the community.

Phil took a 30 second response. He stated that he felt that no one outside of Lucas County would support a regional tax.

Should Lucas County voters support the Zoo Levy was the next question to Phil Copeland from Michael Miller. Phil responded that the zoo was a good family value. He didn't really answer yes or no.

Pam Haynam took 30 seconds to respond to the Zoo, she supports the replacement levy but not the capital levy. She doesn't feel we can afford to raise taxes by expanding at the zoo.

Her question was how she would be a fiscal conservative. She stated she felt you could be fiscally responsible without making severe cuts.

Ben asked again if George supported Taft and George Bush.

Ben next responded to a question concerning his goals, he stated that he is not a career politican.

George asked for 30 seconds, did not respond to Ben's question asked twice but gave information on the Zoo levy. He supports both of the issues for the zoo levy.

The Debate part one

We are 15 seconds to the Debate, having complimented Fred on his new suit...we are about to begin. The crowd is very quiet, once the candidates took their seats at the podium, you could have heard the proverbial pin drop.

Wow I've just been announced, talk about putting pressure on someone to perform...

The ground rules of the debate are being announced.

They will have a beginning statement and a closing statement. Request for their to be no applause.

Phil Copeland is up first.

He started with the traditional thank you and a brief resume as to his accomplishments, including growing up in the Toledo inner city. "Where else but American can someone get an opportunity like this" was one of his opening statements. Phil states he is pro-union and pro-jobs.

Pam Haynam is next, she started with "Jobs, jobs, jobs", that her family raised her to realize that education is an important part of gaining a good job. She as the mother of three children ran for the Sylvania School Board because she realized how important education is. She supports limiting government and reducing taxes as a platform.

Ben Konop starts with his family bio starting with his grandfather coming to this area in addition to saying that it is "time for a change". He stated he is the only candidate who has created a plan on several key issues including the economy. We are at a critical time.

George Sarantou believes he can make a difference in Lucas County. He points to his experience on City Council. He has 24 years of experience that he will use to build cooperation with all parts of Lucas County, "to make Lucas County a showcase for growth". He stated he has a proven track record of working with everyone of both parties.

Tim Wagener was the final candidate, he outlined his accomplishments in the City of Maumee, as proof of his experience. The Dana Tech Center is a blueprint of what he feels can be done by working together. " If there is ever a better plan for regional cooperation that is it".

Let the Live Blogging Begin!

I'm here at the Downtown Toledo-Lucas County Public Library; waiting for the Lucas County Commissioner Debate to begin. Thanks to the wonderful Jeremy Luring one of the Library's notebook computers has been all set up for me. The candidates are arriving and Fred LeFebvre is getting ready to do an on air interview with the candidates before the actual debate begins.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank the following people who help make the Toledo-Lucas County Library system so great in addition to Jeremy, Dave Misko and Kathryn Fell.

Now the thrilling adventures of the sound check since the WSPD live interviews have been completed. We are about 7 minutes away from the start of the debate.

:-)

Bill Peirce Press Release on Proposed Gambling Amendment

Thanks to Jason at Yearning to Breathe Free I found out about Bill Peirce's postion on the proposed Gambling Amendment. The Toledo area is involved in this since if passed it would allow slot gambling to take place at Toledo Raceway Park.

While I understand the desire to increase/create funding abilities for the State, I was already skeptical as to the amount of money that would go to education even prior to reading this press release. After reading the press release this one particular section made me even more concerned:

Ohio is asking absolutely nothing in return for this permanent privilege. The “Learn and Earn” ballot issue would not require any payment for the 10 casinos. Indeed, by specifying who will receive the licenses, the proposal prevents competitive bidding. In places where casino licenses are put out to bid (Pittsburgh, for example), gaming companies pay plenty for the privilege. A good estimate is that Ohio is giving away a privilege that it could sell for $4 billion dollars!

The backers of the proposal will argue that state and local governments will receive annual tax payments worth hundreds of millions. Even there, however, Ohio will be short changed. Pittsburgh will extract a tax of 54%, even after taking hundreds of millions up front. The Ohio proposal calls for a tax of 39%! The backers have referred to a tax of 45%, but 6% goes back to the racetracks to subsidize breeding race horses, so that leaves 39% for the public sector. Even for the paltry portion that does go to the public sector, the designers of this proposal have had the arrogance to tell the legislature exactly how the money shall be spent.

Last I heard not one of the candidates for Governor supported this amendment. That alone should tell you something...

Update: I stand corrected, it appears according to this Toledo Blade article that Jim Petro is a supporter of increased gambling in Ohio.

Jennifer Brunner coming to UT this Saturday

The Lucas County Young Democrats, in cooperation with the University of Toledo Young Democrats have announced that Jennifer Brunner, who is the Democratic candidate for the office of Ohio Secretary of State will be speaking at 12:00 (noon) this Saturday.

If you would like more information on attending this event please contact Kevin Cooper, at lucas@ohioyd.org or by phone at 419-944-5864.

If you'd like more information about Jennifer Brunner, you can visit her website at:

http://www.jenniferbrunner.com/

Blog it, Toledo and the Toledo Free Press

This week's Blog it, Toledo is up which focused on MySpace, the link to the Parent's safety tips is not working properly so I suggest this one as a substitute until I have a corrected one.

The article on the upcoming Lucas County Commissioner's Debate is a highly recommended read. For those of you who have asked me about ticket information for the April 10th debate from the article:

The April 10 debate, which is sponsored by Toledo Free Press, WSPD-1370 AM and FOX Toledo 36, is scheduled to run 6-7 p.m. The debate is a ticketed event; obtain your free tickets through your candidate of choice. The debate will be broadcasted live on the radio and TV stations. Fred Lefebvre of WSPD is the debate emcee; the moderators are Laura Emerson of FOX Toledo 36 and Michael S. Miller of Toledo Free Press.

And for those of you who want to follow the debate online, I will be there live blogging the debate.

Being a blogger, having your phone calls not returned is all to common, yet Michael Miller's "Nuts and Reinbolts of phone calls" points out a situation that should not be way things are done here in Toledo, Ohio.

There is of course alot more in this week's Toledo Free Press, and maybe someday I'll actually stop blogging so much to have fun with this so do ku that seems to be the local rave.

:-)

University of Toledo gets Third Frontier Funds

This is good news for this area, from the press release:

The Third Frontier Commission awarded the grants through a competitive RFP evaluation process in which proposals from 17 different entities were reviewed and scored by Taratec Corporation, an independent evaluating corporation. To qualify, companies receiving awards must have their principal place of business in Ohio. The Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) administers the grants.

“Today’s award recipients are developing technologies and products that are making them industry leaders,” said Lt. Governor Bruce Johnson, who also serves as State Development Director and Chair of the Third Frontier Commission. “Through initiatives like the Third Frontier, we are reclaiming Ohio’s culture of innovation.”

University of Toledo (UT), located in Toledo (Lucas County), was awarded $1,000,000 for its “Test Facility for Experimental Development of High-speed Rotating Components and Subsystems.” This facility will be dedicated to the experimental development of advanced, high speed (up to 150,000 rpm) rotating equipment. UT’s collaborator, Teledyne Continental Motors – Turbine Engines (TCM-TE) plans to use the facility to test bearings and compressors. TCM-TE expects initial sales of newly developed turbine engines to be $3.25 million with 10 to 20 new jobs created.

The Toledo Blade also reported this but did not mention Teledyne or the job creation information:

The University of Toledo was awarded $1 million for its “Test Facility for Experimental Development of High-Speed Rotating Components and Subsystems.”

The facility will be dedicated to the experimental development of advanced, high-speed rotating equipment

NW Ohio's Political make up.

Living in Northwestern Ohio, I realize our whole area can't be defined as either a clear majority of "Democrat or Republican". Lucas County does have the largest number of voters and it is assumed it is more Democrat with the majority of voters living in Toledo. The surrounding Counties have less voters in number but tend to vote Republican in election results.

So, I decided to do a little research. Below are the numbers from 2004 for the Presidential Race and Senator. Then I included the 2002 numbers for the Governor's Race and the 2000 numbers for President and Senator. This doesn't mean I'm predicting who will win, but it does mean that so much attention gets placed on where Bush or Kerry won when if you look at the rest of the numbers, Voinovich won Lucas County so did Taft and in 2000 Dewine won in Lucas County. If you look at the numbers for the Senate races even in Lucas County the Republican Senator got more votes than the Republican Presidential candidate, which was the same in the majority of counties in NW Ohio. So it's not quite the clear blue/red division some are trying to make it out to be and it's a little more involved than how a Presidential candidate did.

Lucas: Kerry 132,651---Bush 87,146
Fingerhut: 90,250---Voinovich: 121,535
Hagan: 49,648---Taft: 76,572
Gore: 108,344---Bush: 73,342
Celeste: 74,682---DeWine: 89,753

Fulton: Kerry: 8,224---Bush: 13,640
Fingerhut: 5,039---Voinovich: 16,342
Hagan: 2,995---Taft: 9,600
Gore: 6,805---Bush: 11,546
Celeste: 4,799---DeWine: 13,007

Hancock: Kerry: 10,352---Bush: 25,105
Fingerhut: 7,096---Voinovich: 27,626
Hagan: 4,151---Taft: 15,757
Gore: 8,798---Bush: 20,985
Celeste: 6,384---DeWine: 22,337

Henry: Kerry: 5,111---Bush: 9,902
Fingerhut: 3,299---Voinovich: 11,628
Hagan: 2,069---Taft: 6,814
Gore: 4,367---Bush: 8,530
Celeste: 3,124---DeWine: 9,361

Defiance: Kerry: 6,975---Bush: 11,397
Fingerhut: 5,279---Voinovich: 12,778
Hagan: 3,225---Taft: 7,049
Gore: 6,175---Bush: 9,540
Celeste: 5,070---DeWine: 10,133

Paulding: Kerry: 3,610---Bush: 6,206
Fingerhut: 3,134---Voinovich: 6,385
Hagan: 1,939---Taft: 3,972
Gore: 3,384---Bush: 5,210
Celeste: 2,973---DeWine: 5,175

Putnum: Kerry: 4,392---Bush: 14,370
Fingerhut: 3,794---Voinovich: 14,671
Hagan: 3,110---Taft: 8,592
Gore: 4,063---Bush: 12,837
Celeste: 3,616---DeWine: 12,714

VanWert: Kerry: 4,095---Bush: 10,678
Fingerhut: 3,721---Voinovich: 10,697
Hagan: 2,085---Taft: 6,561
Gore: 4,209---Bush: 8,679
Celeste: 3,416---DeWine: 8,954

Williams: Kerry: 6,481---Bush: 12,040
Fingerhut: 4,503---Voinovich: 13,563
Hagan: 2,967---Taft: 7,731
Gore: 5,454---Bush: 9,941
Celeste: 3,980---DeWine: 10,820

Wood: Kerry: 29,401---Bush: 33,592
Fingerhut: 19,641---Voinovich: 41,821
Hagan: 11,521---Taft: 25,172
Gore: 22,687---Bush: 27,504
Celeste: 16,333---DeWine: 32,097

This post at Buckeye State Blog is what "inspired" the research for this post. I don't agree with his perception that North Ohio is more liberal, NEO might be but NW Ohio is different than NEO.

Ohio Politics Weekly...Flannery V Strickland

Bryan Flannery and Ted Strickland both answer three questions put to them, I found the differences in their answers, especially when it related to jobs to be very revealing.

Flannery answers specifically as to this region, Strickland gives general points and directs people to go to his website.

It's a recommended site to visit, there are other features that might interest you including online sources.

:-)

Teen arrested for creating false alarm...now what?

Local news channel WUPW is reporting the March 23rd abduction incident was false and that the girl who made the claim has been charged in Lucas County Juvenile Court on a count of making false alarms earlier today.

This was the third incident as reported by the Toledo Blade and other local media.

This week's edition of the Toledo Free Press has an article titled Experts offer tips for abduction prevention; still a valid concern because at this point the two other abduction attempts are believed to be true as well as the three Perrysburg incidents.

One does wonder though if it had been known that this third abduction attempt was false if the Mayor would have issued this release:

Beginning March 24, Toledo police and firefighters will team up in a citywide effort to patrol neighborhoods surrounding schools before and after classes. The extra precautions come in response to three attempted abductions of teenage girls that occurred in the past eight days. Composite sketches of two of the alleged perpetrators in those incidents have been disseminated throughout the city to public safety officials. Mayor Carty Finkbeiner urged anyone with information on any of the cases to contact Crimestoppers, police or his office.

At this point no word on if the increased patrols will continue.

Unemployment numbers for Lucas County improving

In the figures just released by ODJAF, our area has continued to show improved numbers since January and compared to February of last year. With the exception of Fulton County which made a .1% increase since January 06.

Lucas 221,000 (Labor Force) 205,300 (#Employed) 15,700 (#Unemployed) 7.1 (2/6) 7.6 (1/6) 8.0 (2/5)
Toledo 144,100 (Labor Force)133,200 (#Employed) 11,000 (#Unemployed) 7.6 (2/6) 8.1 (1/6) 8.7 (2/5)
Wood 66,000 (Labor Force) 62,200 (#Employed) 3,900 (#Unemployed) 5.8 (2/6) 5.9 (1/6) 6.6 (2/5)
Fulton 22,800 (Labor Force) 21,200 (#Employed) 1,600 (#Unemployed) 7.0 (2/6) 6.9 (1/6) 8.2 (2/5)

As to the rest of the state?

Among the state's 88 counties, the February 2006 unemployment rates ranged from a low of 3.8 percent in Delaware County to a high of 13.9 percent in Monroe County. Rates increased in more than half of the counties. The comparable rate for Ohio in February was 6.1 percent.

Nine counties had unemployment rates at or below 5.0 percent in February. The counties with the lowest rates, other than Delaware, were: Holmes and Mercer, 4.4; Warren, 4.7; Auglaize, 4.8; Hancock and Medina, 4.9; and Geauga and Shelby, 5.0 percent.

Nine counties had unemployment rates above 9.0 percent during February. The counties with the highest rates, other than Monroe, were: Pike, 11.0; Morgan, 10.7; Meigs, 10.5; Vinton, 9.9; Adams, 9.6; Huron, 9.5; and Ottawa and Perry, 9.4 percent.

Curtsy to Ohio 15th District Blog for the information.

Fort Industry Square and 18 parking places...

As I read the above linked Toledo Blade article, several questions immediately came to mind. This plan will create 18 parking spaces, now taking part of what was stated in the article:

The Mills family trust, owners of the block-long, 19th century Fort Industry Square brick structure across Summit from SeaGate Centre, has had trouble filling retail space for several years. Its biggest obstacle: no curbside parking in front of the development, which is 60 percent vacant.

"We're talking about adding curbside parking so we can market the building and concentrate on retail and resale shops, or where people can stop and get a quick bite to eat," said Matthew Mills, the building manager.

Without even getting into the financial aspect of what these Summit Street improvements would cost. Adding 18 parking spaces isn't going to dramatically improve desire to shop or to eat, except for perhaps 18 cars. Where are all the rest of them going to have to park? Where they currently have to park which according to Matthew Mills, parking alone wasn't the only reason they lost tenants.

Then, this next part made me think:

Left-turn lanes, originally created to get vehicles out of the flow of traffic while they wait to make turns across Summit, would be removed and replaced with raised medians with plants and greenery like that added recently to Cherry Street.

Wouldn't that make traffic even worse after a large downtown event? Sure, it will look pretty as you sit there and wait but creating more traffic flow problems especially when there is still talk about building an arena downtown just doesn't make sense, especially to only gain 18 parking spaces...

Murphy's Place Jazz is on the web, they are mentioned in the Toledo Blade article.

Test of Audioblogging

Lisa on her own blogger challenge...

I've written about my favorite place to eat on Toledo Talk but wanted to highlight that here. It is El Tipico Restaurant, 1444 South Ave in Toledo, Ohio. I have been going there since I was 8 or 9 years old, they have been in business for 38 years. Beyond the food always being excellent no matter what I select, and the fact they take such care with my one daughter who is a vegetarian it is a place of memories for me. Memories of my father because he's the one who used to take me there and it's the first restaurant that Miguel and I went to as a couple. The lack of a liquor license bothers some people, however that's never been an issue for us, infact it makes it even more of a family dining experience. I never miss a chance to enjoy their guacamole. Ironically, this week El Tipico is the featured restaurant in the Toledo City Paper. Eric Olsen does an excellent job in covering the many reasons why it's my favorite place.

I'd also point out when I first started this challenge I wasn't aware the County started a "Buy Local" emphasis almost a year ago...but it doesn't appear it went anywhere beyond the initial announcement.

Maybe this time it will, especially if we keep it going. All in all I'm glad I did this, I found some new places I want to try and once again confirmed that there are reasons why I love this area.

Unions "enraged" with Frank Szollosi

I watched this yesterday on 13 WTVG they don't have a hard copy of it only the video. So, since they don't keep the video up, I'm transcribing it here because I think some of what was said should be documented.

Lee Conklin: Close to a shouting match has really developed now, a true war of words between the Police and Fire unions and Toledo City Councilman

Susan Ross Wells: On Wednesday, Councilman Frank Szollosi told 13 ABC Action news that police and fire officials are abusing overtime with permission from Mayor Carty Finkbeiner. But the head of the Toledo Fire Fighters Union fired back demanding an apology from Szollosi.

Frank: So at this point Finkbeiner it would appear is giving them what they want more overtime and it's yet to be seen what kind of a wage increases that the administration will agree to.

Gregg Harris (identified under screen as President TPPA): Frank Szollosi before he opens his big mouth ought to check the facts.

Susan: Well that was Wednesday, today the Police Union continued firing in this war of words, 13 ABC news Bill Hormann is on top of the story. Bill?

Bill Hormann: Susan, Gregg Harris says Toledo Police and Fire members are enraged by Szolloi's comments. So today, the TPPA demanded that Szollosi say I'm sorry and step aside.

Frank: He came into this office and he expressed his displeasure at the tape you showed him.

Bill: Councilman Frank Szollosi admits that and TPPA President Gregg Harris had a short but intense meeting Wednesday regarding Szollosi's charge.

Gregg: I was very upset with his comments they were totally false and the comments that he made were totally inappropriate.

Bill: And after fuming for two days, Harris issued this press release demanding that Szollosi apologize for his remarks and then resign from City Council.

Gregg: I'm not shutting my mouth and I'm not being quiet until that man both apologizes and resigns.

Frank: It's a ridiculous notion to think that I would resign for asking tough questions about the public's money.

Bill: Szollosi says his real concern is the City's budget that he says he meant to take aim at how the Finkbeiner administration is handling overtime charges but recognizes his comments may have missed the mark.

Frank: If my remarks were inartful and were hurtful to the men and women of the fire department or the police department, I absolutely apologize for that because that was not my intent.

Gregg: I don't think he mispoke unless he is an extremely ignorant man, more ignorant than I assumed but he absolutely should not have made those statements and I have not heard an apology.

Bill: Well now he has, but Harris is continuing the fight.

Gregg: He needs to turn around and watch his butt walk out of town. I'm tired of his mouth.

Frank: I do encourage people to have a thick skin and to remain civil in our discourse about all of this.

Bill: Frank Szollosi is also quick to point out that he supports funding for better police and fire equipment and supports funding for more man hours even fought for proposed, fought against proposed layoffs but the unions are still upset with him right now and they say unless he resigns there is no cease fire in this war of words.

Lee: Alright, thanks Bill, and Frank Szollosi also points out if you look at the numbers that police over time is up 23% so far this year and fire up 69% in OT. He says that at the current rate the city will spend over 5 million dollars in over time for this year but the Finkbeiner administration has only budgeted 3.5 million dollars. Gregg Harris who you saw doesn't dispute the numbers but says they are justified. He claims the shortage of man power for big events like the Nazi rally for last year and the recent fires we've had in the City of Toledo.

What is obvious or at least should be obvious is Gregg Harris has a problem with Frank, and Frank has some issues with the Union Leadership as opposed to the union members as a whole. I'd also point out that costs related to the Nazi rallies happened in 2005. Not 2006. One also can't help wondering if the real issue was overtime why the Unions would not present facts rather than making this some type of personal vendetta demanding that Frank resign over an issue that has some basic truth to it once you remove the A vs B team bs from it all. Lastly, there is a professionalism aspect to this as far as how this represents our city.

I think Frank could have handled it better initially, but I think Gregg Harris was also very inappropriate and made it clear it was "I" not "we" in most of this. With the new edict from the mayor concerning increased patrolling of both police and using firefighters to patrol before and after school, it's obvious that the City is going to go way over the 3.5 million dollars budgeted. That should be addressed, and that was the whole main point that seems to have been missed in this "War of Words" coverage.