The Montgomery County Democratic Party (you know the one that forgets to run a candidate for Congress) is already putting word on the street that they have a “super candidate” a “political heavyweight” ready to run in four years to “beat Gary.”

Wow.

Nevermind that they need to have a candidate to fill Dean Lovelace’s seat when he keeps missing meetings, or one for Matt Joseph when he gets that State Department job he’s dreaming of. How about having enough candidates to force a primary in two years- and let the voters decide? Last time Matt and Dean ran they were unopposed if memory serves right.

And who is this “super duper candidate” that they have in the wings? My guess is Judge AJ Wagner. It’s really too bad that he didn’t run this time to force a primary, where we would have seen Rhine knocked out early.

The reality is, in four years the Montgomery County Democratic Party won’t have any power left in the commission elections. The days of raising $127K plus to lose to an unknown are over. There are quite a few people wondering what they got for their money they donated to Rhine’s campaign right now.

In fact, their days of counting on the Get Out The Vote in West Dayton to deliver their slate will be over. We’re going to reinvent the way we elect people in Dayton, much the way we invented the City Manager form of Government. Introducing:

The Dayton Process

I am organizing the next group of candidates to run in two years. They will work together to make sure they all turn in valid petitions with at least 500 notarized signatures. They will each keep a blog with at least one post per week on their position on city issues. They will each raise a fixed amount of money in small donations from a wide donor base to pay for a single mail piece that will be delivered to every registered voters home in Dayton with equal space for each candidate. They will participate in several organized debates which will be broadcast on public access, available on YouTube and the public will be invited. There will be no yard signs, tv spots, radio ads, print ads, door hangers or any of the other “noise” that goes with our typical election process.

The candidates will meet at least monthly to learn about the various parts of the city charter, the organizational structure of Dayton, to discuss issues like regionalism, urban planning, sustainable strategies, best practices in other cities. The meetings will involve thought leaders in the community, elected representatives who support this process and experts in fields as diverse as criminal justice to green technology. Think of it as an apprenticeship for public leadership.

When these candidates show up on the ticket, they should have already learned about all the neighborhoods in Dayton, met with neighborhood leaders, built a collective database of voter data and established relationships around the city. There will be no unknowns running for office. Yes, the primary process will eliminate at least several of them from the actual election, but, they will then be the cadre for the next batch.

Of course, the incumbents will be invited to participate, but they too, must play by the same rules- no additional money or marketing. If they choose not to join in, they will be running against not just a well prepared, extremely bright, prepared group of candidates- they may seem out of place when going begging for thousands of dollars to promote their candidacy in the outmoded way.

Unless they have a great set of accomplishments, voters will see no reason to return them to the ballot after the primary. The stranglehold on the ballot will be forever broken.

Sure, this sounds a bit idealistic, and there may be candidates who decide they want to drop out of this programmed approach, but, since all meetings will be openly documented, voters will already have a good sense of the group dynamic and who the best leaders are for the job.

I’ve already mentioned some of the people I hope to have on the ballot in 2011, if you are interested in participating in this program, please let me know.

Last Tuesday we proved that underdogs can win. Now, we have to make sure there are plenty of dogs in the race so that the voters feel that they really have a choice and a voice.

I believe Gary Leitzell was an eminently better choice for the next four years than Rhine McLin. I expect he’ll support this initiative. As to those of you who question his qualifications, and think that he’s beatable in four years- let me remind you- before Rhine McLin ascended to her daddy’s House seat, she had less experience in leadership that Gary, and she was consider unbeatable this year by her last opponent, David Bohardt.

Times change, imagine that.

We have some amazing voices in this community- and they opened their meeting in song. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the recorder going for the opening.

There were no strict time limits. When I arrived on time, only Joe Lacey of the Dayton school Board and Charlie Shoemaker, executive director of Metroparks were there. We were invited to the table- excuses were made for a candidate who said he could be there by 1pm (Gary Leitzell- but he wasn’t named). Then the Mayor with Nan and Joey popped in about fifteen minutes late.

The Mayor was given the podium first, then Whaley and Williams. I was at the end. I didn’t do the normal stump speech if you take the time to listen. I think I made a few friends.

The questions were pointed- and the moderator, Reverend Stewart, cut off the question on the candidates’ support for the casinos- listen and you’ll hear.

The issue of the step increases/raises was asked- the answer from Commissioner Williams and “the team” was evasive.

I don’t usually make speeches like this one. It’s worth a listen.

Please note, if elected, I’ll keep providing you with insight and recordings of events and meetings that affect you. That’s my job.

Excerpt for Will- just my parts (14:18):

I’m not sure what just happened, unless the Issue 3 people wrote the locals a check to back their incumbent “Team” of McLin, Whaley and Williams, but breaking ranks with the Governor and Senator Brown is big.

The Montgomery County Democratic Party, the people who routinely try to (and succeed at) stop primaries, now want to hand a monopoly in casino gambling to a single entity- without any guarantees of performance, with a constitutional amendment. Also note, Dayton, isn’t even eligible for a casino in this plan, doing nothing to help keep people, or jobs here.

The Montgomery County Democratic Party has endorsed Issue 3…

The endorsement puts the county party at odds with leading Democratic officeholders, including Gov. Ted Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher who oppose the issue. Also, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio….

In a press release on Wednesday, Oct. 21, the county party said that the plan would bring jobs to Ohio and millions of dollars to Montgomery County, the city of Dayton and local schools.

“This plan will keep important money and jobs in Ohio,” Mark Owens, party chair said in the release. “The Montgomery County Democratic Party is proud to stand with local labor in support of State Issue 3.”

via Montgomery County Dems endorse casino plan | Ohio politics.

If there is, or was a time, for the religious leaders in Dayton to look clearly at the Montgomery County Democratic Party- and it’s undemocratic ways, and call them on the carpet, this would be it.

If you read my post about how Issue 3 bans fish frys- and doesn’t guarantee performance or payment to the State, you’d understand how bad this Amendment is.

It’s time to look closely at the Democratic Party- and ask, is this the party I want to be a part of, run the way it is, in Montgomery County?

Is it time for a new Democratic Party to take over? Or, for a overthrow of the current crew of patronage people and union bosses?

Of course on election day, they’ll now be handing out slate cards encouraging people to vote “for the team” and for casinos. Do you really want to bet on the current horses who’ve sold out to the local Democratic Party to get elected at any cost?

This is the full meeting. Sorry it took so long to get up.

15 Oct. 2009 the candidates participated in a “forum” at the South East Priority Board Offices.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Attending were David Esrati, Joey D. Williams, Nan Whaley, Rhine McLin, Gary Leitzell, Deidre Logan, Joe Lacey, Yvvone Isaacs, Ron Lee, Jim Weir.

It gets interesting when Gary asks why the negative campaigning- and responds to it- and when a citizen, Polly Wellbaum gives her own speech on the subject towards the end.

If you keep electing the same people and expect a different result, you’ve got a problem. If you read the story in today’s Dayton Daily News about the candidates’ position on jobs, you won’t hear anything different than you heard four or eight or twelve years ago.

In fact, the “streamlining” of the permit process has now been going on for at least 15 years. And, no one better tell Nan that when they hiked the water fees and wouldn’t negotiate a discount rate for Cargill- they went and drilled their own wells.

I’ve pulled some excerpts-

To keep the city better in step with the business community, McLin said she has assembled the Mayor’s Economic Development Council. The group meets quarterly to share ideas and concerns.

The 14-member group includes representatives from industry, large and small businesses along with academia.

“It has opened dialogue between City Hall and business,” said KeyBank District President and member of the council Ed Reilly….

Leitzell believes city government should operate like a business and also do a better job of marketing itself.

“I think we need people at City Hall who have marketing experience, who have a background in sales and business,” he said. “People (now) are being hired right out of college with degrees in public administration.”…

City commissioners Nan Whaley and Joey Williams say they also recognize obstacles in the city’s construction permitting process. They have organized a committee of architects, construction managers, developers, the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, CityWide Development and city staff to work on solutions.

“We want to get this done quickly,” Whaley said. “I’ve really taken a lot away from what the developers are saying.”

In March, the commission agreed to pay $60,000 to the Illinois-based Metrix Consulting Group to study Dayton’s permitting process and explore best practices. In December, the company will recommend ways to improve the operations here.

“Of course we’ve heard people want our permitting process to be easier to use. We’ve wanted to do this study two years ago, but didn’t have the money,” Williams said. “At the end of the day, we have to look for ways to reduce bureaucracy.”…

“We have to use water as a leveraging tool. It can be a way to market Dayton to the world,” she said.

Whaley said Cargill, one of the city’s largest water customers, is an example of Dayton attracting industry with its natural resource.

via Dayton candidates present strategies, solutions for unemployment.

How many more committees do we need to help these people along? Must everything be done by a herd of people.

Ross Perot, when reflecting on the cultural differences between his company, EDS, and GM after the ill-fated purchase said this:

An EDS employee who sees a snake kills it, Perot graphically said. At GM, they form a committee on snakes, hire a consultant who knows about snakes, talk about it for a year…

Why can’t we hire a city manager who can actually lead- and focus on what a city is supposed to do? Of course, this issue is nothing new. It’s probably a big part of the reason John H. Patterson implemented the City Manager form of Government in the first place- he was sick of politicians and their wishy-washy platitudes. No offense to Gary, but if I hear “we need to run city hall more like a business” one more time, I’ll hurl- it’s got to be the most tired line in politics.

Patterson knew that to keep his factories running, he needed good neighborhoods for his workers to live in. He invested heavily in South Park, and the city, to try to make it a desirable place to live. Somewhere along the line, we got turned around and started focusing on how to buy jobs instead. This hasn’t been working out for us so well- as the Mayor lists the companies who’ve packed up and left in the article.

Yesterday, I was walking door to door on the West side. While some streets have one out of five homes vacant and others even more- I hit a street of well kept, clean, small two bedroom, 1 bath homes with people who took pride in their street. The yards were expertly manicured, there wasn’t a bit of trash blowing on the street and the people knew they had a good thing- they also knew their neighbors. They knew their neighbors really well. And for those few blocks, I was reminded that strong neighborhoods are what gives people hope and confidence in their situation.

Almost everyone of them agreed that change in City Hall is what we need. They want someone who won’t give these same old tired answers- or have to pay a consultant $60K to do what we should be able to do ourselves.

Until we stop making excuses, until we start understanding the value that we have in this community- so clearly demonstrated by the people I talked to yesterday, we’ll never attract the jobs or the investment that we want so desperately.

We have people who want to work. We have the buildings to fill with jobs. We have places for people to live inexpensively- if they only believed their investments would be safe. It’s our job to restore confidence. How that will be done by people who still can’t do anything without a committee is beyond me.

And, if what Nan says is true ““We want to get this done quickly,”” it would seem obvious to voters that she isn’t the one to do it- she’s already wasted four years on the Commission and is still depending on others to tell her what to do.

There are ways to attract investment, but giving away tax dollars that were collected to provide city services to private companies isn’t the answer. On November third, you can add one voice to the City Commission that will continue to remind the others that service to you comes first. Those people on that nice street, deserve better.

OUR RECOMMENDATION DAYTON CITY COMMISSION

Williams, Whaley easily best for city
This year should be a tough election for incumbents on.the Dayton City Commission. The city keeps shrinking in population, keeps having to make painful budget cuts, has seen record numbers of home foreclosures, loses NCR, shows up near the top of embarrassing lists and faces periodic crime sprees.

In truth, though, Dayton’s government is managing to do more than struggle from crisis to crisis. It has neighborhood  revitalization programs going. It’s managed to maintain a solid bond rating, nothing to be taken for granted these days. It’s on track to do something about all the empty houses resulting from foreclosures.

It has the Tech Town development project on the move. It has won a state designation as an aerospace hub and, with Montgomery County, has a well-conceived project going with Israel that seems likely to bring some new jobs to the region. The city commissioners divvy up jobs among them selves, functioning basically as a Democratic team. Some might see them as too cozy, which is a good and fair point, but at least there’s not a lot of posturing.

One incumbent seeking reelection is Joey Williams. He’s been on the commission or the Dayton School board for the better  part of two decades. As president of Chase Bank for Dayton and Cincinnati, he brings a voice from the business community  to a commission that includes others who are especially tight with labor or come out of neighborhood activism or the party. That mix is good.

Commissioner Williams’ colleagues credit him with helping keep the city on sound fiscal ground. He’s been less successful in his. effort – with Commissioner Dean Lovelace- to find solutions to self-destructive violence among the city’s young people. But give him credit for taking on the toughest of problems.

Commissioner Nan Whaley, seeking her second term, came up through the Democratic Party. She has, among other projects, led the city’s effort toward “land banking,” that is, taking control of abandoned and neglected property with the goal of reusing it someday.

Unfortunately, the state legislature has not passed the legislation that would create a revenue stream for such projects. But the city has demolished hundreds of buildings and is aiming for 1,500 more. Demolition is necessary to prevent these places from becoming eyesores and magnets for crime.

Despite Dayton’s problems, the city commission race hasn’t generated much action. That’s partly because a lot of people  who might put together a strong candidacy have left for the suburbs. Other would be candidates failed to get enough signatures to be on the ballot.

The only challenger to the two incumbents is multi-time candidate David Esrati. He runs a Web site discussing city issues. He has somewhat smoothed the rough edges on his highly abrasive act that has never won him many votes. Still, though, the task of disagreeing agreeably appears to be a painful, difficult stretch for him.

And his ideas are strangely bad. He faults the city commission, for instance, for intruding too much on the domain of the city manager. In fact, however, City Manager Rashad Young had plenty of authority, and used it well. At times in Dayton’s history, the charge might reasonably have been made that elected officials over-intruded on the city manager. Think Mike Turner or Paul Leonard. But neither Mayor Rhine McLin nor any other commissioner is in that mold.

Also, Mr. Esrati, in the good name of regionalism, wants the city to give up its authority to run Dayton International Airport. He points out that the airport’s role is regional. True enough. But he can’t point to any complaints from suburban officials about how it’s run. And the airport is one of the city’s few assets. He wants to fix something that ain’t broke.

Incumbents Joey Williams and Nan Whaley have been steady, responsible voices. They have better judgment about the issues and personalities better suited to governance. They are the best bets for Dayton voters.

[update: 5pm The editorial was finally posted online: http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/opinion/entries/2009/10/08/editorial_williams_whaley_easi.html?cxtype=feedbot After speaking with Ray Marcano, it was agreed that it makes no sense to take it down here. The paper claims it was a tech glitch/ or oversight on their part]

Click here to view the embedded video.

Candidates night at c[space hosted by upDayton and the League of Women Voters. Candidates from left to right, Gary Leitzell, Rhine McLin, Nan Whaley, Joey D. Williams and David Esrati.

A few thoughts:

• Good lighting makes for better video.
• Don't expect candidates to speak from their seat when there is a HUGE POLE in front of them. Podiums, or a single mic work best.
• Combining questions into mega-questions by combining them, makes it easier for politicians to pick and choose answers
• Don't use a 1 hour Flip Cam when it goes over an hour (and don't try to record the levy people first).

So, the end is cut off- I took out my iPhone and made an audio recording of the end.

There is a bit of a gap.

Thanks to Gary Leppela for running a tight ship and announcing each speaker- which saved me subtitling.

Why don’t all the other candidates supply video for you? Why didn’t upDayton make their own? Why am I the candidate and the news team- all in one? Is it because I’m the only one who believes in democracy and an informed electorate. This is one of the best examples of what to expect if you elect me. No more secret meetings.

It was nice to see that my moving around- and standing behind the “team” spooked them enough to ask the League of Women voters to change the rules- as you can see by the instructions handed out last night at Ruskin School.

The "Esrati rule" for candidates forums

Sorry it took so long to post- still figuring out the best workflow for the Flip Cam to Youtube. That the lighting was horrible made for some bad compression artifacts, bringing Final Cut Pro to it’s knees.

UPDATE 9 oct 09: upDayton posted their video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Joey Williams got beefed up his platform over the weekend. Now instead of just the bullet points, there are also FAQ’s. The navigation is a bit rough, but it’s substance, which is severely lacking over at Nan Whaley’s site.

From his site, jump to the link to read the answers to the FAQ:

* Steadfast concentration on financial stability

* Developing initiatives to create jobs

* Keeping safety a top priority

* Enhancing youth development activities

* Further developing regional cooperation opportunities

* Continued focus on senior citizens and all members of our community

Frequently Asked Questions & Joey’s Answers:

* Commissioner Williams, what have you done to help the youth?

* Commissioner Williams, what have you done to help Dayton’s financial position?

* Commissioner Williams, outside of your activities to help keep the city’s budget balanced and your work towards the youth, what other activities do you point to show your effectiveness?

* Commissioner Williams, can you better clarify your position on the City’s 2007 local anti-discrimination vote?

* Commissioner Williams, what are your thoughts on regionalism?

* Commissioner Williams, what community activities and meetings do you attend?

* Commissioner Williams, what are your ideas on economic development and job growth for City?

via Joey D Williams – Platform.

Still no ability to hold a conversation online, in public, but- it’s a good start toward a substantive discussion of the issues. I plan to read all his responses this evening.

On another note, I pose this question to Joey, who has always abided by the anti-negative campaigning guidelines set out by the League Of Women Voters: What is your position on the smear site launched and paid for by the Montgomery County Democratic Party? I also pose this question to other elected Dems- how do you feel about your party investing effort in a smear site, when the actual party site is still full of placeholder greek text?

Will any of the elected officials condemn the actions of their party?

Stay tuned to see how this turns out.

One of the most important parts of government is the ability to stay in touch with the community.
I’ve been doing that with this online community- for over 4 years;

If we look at each post taking half an hour- (not including moderation and response times) I’ve written 1073 posts- and at least 536 hours. And while this community isn’t limited to Dayton- there are a lot of influential people in Dayton reading this site – and adding to it.

I used to have “Made you think” as the “tagline” for this site. It’s still my mantra. If we’re not thinking about how to change or improve things- having a debate, or discussion or at least a conversation- how can we move forward? It always bewilders me how the Dayton City Commission prides itself on its 5-0 unanimous votes- no discussion, no questions- just all say “aye.”

I believe in open, honest government. I’ve fought the illegal Commission “work sessions” as much as I can as an outsider. As a commissioner, this practice will stop- or I will podcast every one of them. You have a right to watch over your government. Don’t ever forget it. I’ve fought slush funds, no bid contracts, exposed graft, political corruption. All of it- unpaid- and, uncompensated.

Not long ago, a reader thought we’d reached a new record for comments on a post. It wasn’t even close, it turns out, but, I thought today, I’d put up the most commented posts for you to review your handiwork:

I can’t even say that these are my favorites- but they are the ones that got you going.

Some of you who joined the conversation late- may want to click through a few. Some, may have more to say.

As I walk the neighborhoods, I ask people to look at this site- and compare it to the sites of my opponents.

• Nan Whaley
• Joey D. Williams

Where are their ideas, where is the input from people like you? Do they even care?

If you had to pick one of the posts above as the best or worst, what would it be? Which one has the best discussion? Where do I make the biggest fool of myself- and did you set me straight?

Can you imagine putting the power of all of your great minds together to help formulate the answers for our Dayton’s future?

That’s why I’ve been asking for your support to help me serve you on the Dayton City Commission.
Please, consider donating, or volunteering. To be the peoples voice, I need your support, not that of the power brokers who have run our community into the ground.

Thanks for the last four years- and I’m looking to four more, as a Commissioner. Our Dayton, Your Voice.

But, I also have to remind myself- stay humble, because for all my “ego”- the most visited page is still:

Cheers! Have a great labor day.

The Montgomery County Board of Elections received a whole bunch of petitions today. Now, the wait comes for them to check to see who has 500 valid signatures and who doesn’t. Their findings will be presented to the Board on Tuesday for approval.

Here is the list of candidates: Italics signifies incumbents

Mayor    Larry E. Ealy     204 S. Woodward Ave Dayton 45417
Mayor    James R Greene III    1820  Ruskin Rd Dayton 45406
Mayor    Gary D. Leitzell     114  Volkenand Ave Dayton 45410
Mayor    Rhine  McLin     23 N Paul Laurence Dunbar St Dayton 45402
Mayor    Tojuan W Minus     2535  Bridgeport Dr. Dayton 45406

Commissioner    Donald Allen Domineck Jr    1035  Superior Ave Dayton 45402
Commissioner    David  Esrati     113  Bonner St. Dayton 45410
Commissioner    Lorana M Kelly     2235  Ravenwood Ave Dayton 45406
Commissioner    Mark Anthony Newberry     910  Crestmore Ave Dayton 45402
Commissioner    Nannette L Whaley     217  Wroe Ave Dayton 45406
Commissioner    Joey D Williams     1229  Sunnyview Ave Dayton 45406

Top 2 candidates for Mayor go on to general election if 3 or more turn in qualifying petitions.

Top 4 candidates for Commission go on to general election if 5 or more turn in qualifying petitions. Once the ballot is confirmed, I’ll start to gather info on each candidate, their website and their positions for you. I’ll also keep you up to date on candidates nights and debates and anything that can help you make your decision.