A voting guide for Dayton 2025: things to consider

(Full disclosure, in this cycle, I’ve done work for the following candidates, Terry Posey Jr and Sr., Ann Marie “Mario” Gallin, Dr. Ann Stalter, Jamica Garrison, Georgeann Godsey, Shenise Turner Sloss, Darryl Fairchild, Jacob Davis, Forrest Greenwood, Katherine Cyphers, Bryan Suddith (who also is a client through his employer- the Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission) Pleass also note, I probably do more work for Republican’s than Dems). Yes, I have worked with some of these candidates. I also hold them to the same standard: transparency, honesty, and public-first leadership. If they don’t meet it, I don’t support them. Period.

Most voters never go to a candidates night. Trust me, I look closely at the audiences. The league of women voters asks inane questions. The Newspapers voter guide is just as minimal. Most candidates can’t build a website, fill it with good info, or even tell you exactly what they are going to do for you.

In fact, most people running for office should have their heads examined first, because this whole process is insane and getting worse not better.

By now, some of you’ve gotten mailers, emails, ads online, and some even on TV. You’ve seen yard signs (the absolute bane of my existence) and some billboards and maybe been given a door hanger or a hot card. Most of which don’t say enough about why you should vote for them.

The media does a horrible job vetting candidates these days, missing criminal records routinely. The Boards of (S)Elections play games with who gets on the ballot. And campaign finance records are not easy to find or use (most not meeting A.D.A. requirements).

The two parties like it like this. They like to think they can control the outcomes. They get discounted mailing rates, while outsiders have to pay full ticket postage. They refuse to acknowledge that 71% of Ohio voters don’t associate themselves with either party.

Many local races, no D or R even shows up on the ballot, they are “non-partisan.” But, eventually, you may get a “Slate card” mailer that lumps a bunch of chumps together and serves as gospel according to the parties. There’s also “endorsements” that mean nothing- but that they love to plaster all over their campaigns. I almost guarantee you that if there was a “none-of-the-above” option on every ballot, they’d win.

All that said, we still have to hold our noses and vote. So here’s the run down.

Montgomery County Issue 1 is a renewal of one of two “human services levies.” This is how they hide the insane costs of these things. I believe our human services providings are awesome, but, what I don’t agree with is the continued employment of Helen Jones-Kelley executive director of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services System (ADAMHS). This woman should have been fired long ago, and someone needs to remove her before she’s allowed to touch another tax dollar. See her Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Jones-Kelley ^[1]
She’s making over $203,414, and squandering millions. See my posts about the Huber Heights facility clean out. ^[2]

Fire her, then we’ll talk.

Dayton’s Issue 9- the Public Hospital. This is a brilliant idea, but the team leading it is trying to reinvent the buggy whip. There is no question that Good Sam should never have been torn down, but when you have a City Commission living large off demolition company and landfill operator kickbacks, this is what happens.

Had the hospital been put on the open market, there would have been other hospital systems interested in operating it. Or, if it had just been mothballed, it would have been ideal place for a tornado victims shelter and then when covid hit, a covid only facility. The community got robbed of an asset it had built and supported for decades.

Why we need a public hospital now is to both break the duopoly of Premier/Kettering and shut down the collusion factory, the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association- GDAHA. A third, public player that is owned by the people, could bring costs down, and most importantly, also serve as the medical provider at the jail- where millions are being squandered on a private company that’s a lawsuit magnet: NapthCare. Unfortunately, this isn’t a countywide issue- it’s only Dayton, and it’s only promising enough for a study and organizing initiative, not an actual hospital. The ideal location was just cleared for it when they tore down the old Trolly Barn on James H. McGee, right off 35, near where Children’s is building its new branch. The way I see it, a vote for this is a giant middle finger to the crooks running our current hospitals and a referendum on the need for a better solution for the jail care. Voting no on Human Services and Yes on this, balance in a weird way. BTW- Cleveland’s metro health system is public- and manages their jail health care. See this post for more insight. ^[3]

While I’m not going to go into every tax levy, it’s time to put a bullet in Jefferson Township’s school district. Calling it a school district when it’s smaller than a single DPS elementary school is a gargantuan stretch. Giving them an income tax is an insult. Merge with Trotwood or DPS and fire the board, the treasurer, the Superintendent and all the other overhead that comes with running a school district. For that matter, why is Jefferson Township itself still in existence? We need to move to unigov and eliminate so many of these banana republics that cost way more than their worth. Case in point: anyone following the clown show in New Lebanon should realize that less government would be so much more efficient. Just give up this idea of “self-rule” and foolishness, stick a fork in this one, it’s done.

I can’t count how many races where “none of the above” would be the best choices, or that there isn’t any meaningful reason to vote. Slowly but surely we’re both making the case the for unigov and ranked choice elections, but most politicians still think they have something to offer in their part-time pretend power positions.

Miami Township Trustee

As a warning, if anyone in Miami Township votes for Bob Matthews ^[4], it’s complete proof that voters are in desperate need of a verified and single point voter information system. This man (a former client of The Next Wave) has gone so far off course that the State Attorney General’s office has actually stopped him from being able to go to work, but stopped short of actual removal or cutting off his pay over his illegal attempt at investing township money in gold bars. Let’s be clear, being a crook in office is now sanctioned by the Prosecutor, the Ohio Auditor, the Ohio Attorney General and who knows who else, considering Montgomery County Clerk Mike Foley is still drawing a paycheck and terrorizing witnesses and “community activists” (me) false claims in a court run like a vaudeville act.

Dayton Daily newsless #FAIL

Quick note: Last Saturday morning I both sent over all court docs from the private docket to the Dayton Daily snooze about the continuance filed by Foley’s new lawyer, Dennis Lieberman (wife of Debbie Lieberman, Foley’s illegal hire). Despite the granting of the continuance, the DDn still ran a story on Monday saying the case was going to be heard that afternoon, and they refused to print a correction to their story. Also note, I talked to their “star reporter” Josh Sweigart for 26 minutes at 12:52 pm that day (Sat 25 Oct 25) and filled him in on this. Their answer was “we corrected it online” which is like saying that what you did playing Madden counts for coverage on an actual NFL game. 2 totally different worlds and and two audiences.

If you get something big wrong, fix it where your readers actually saw it. Online corrections do nothing for print-only readers. That’s PR behavior,  not journalism. When I get something wrong, I own it publicly. That’s the standard. It should apply to people who get paid to do this.

But that’s what passes for reporting in Dayton right now, stenography for power, silence for inconvenient truth, and no corrections until someone sues..

I warned people about the dangers of early voting ^[5]. That things come out at the last minute. Like how well seasoned politicians like Jeff Mims somehow file only the first page of their Campaign Finance report with NO details of where his $141K came from or where he spent it. This isn’t his first rodeo and he knows better.

The Dayton Mayor’s Race: Follow the money — if you can

If you tried to track campaign donations in this city, congratulations: you now understand why people don’t trust politics or the Board of (S)Elections. The system is not ADA-compliant, nothing is structured data (it’s not easily searchable or available) and candidates file late like it’s a sport. Transparency-by-scavenger-hunt isn’t transparency, it’s obstruction.

Jeff Mims raised six figures again, and, surprise! Sat on his full report until the last minute. He dropped only a cover sheet first, no itemized donors. Seasoned pros don’t “forget” to file. They delay on purpose. Why? Because when your donor list reads like a roll call of contractors, connected insiders, and folks hedging their bets on who controls the purse strings, daylight isn’t your friend.

Meanwhile, Turner-Sloss filed a real report. Yes, it includes one unusually large donor, and that stands out precisely because the rest of her support is what democracy is supposed to look like: small contributions from actual Dayton residents who don’t expect a city contract in return.

It’s simple:

• Turner-Sloss: Powered by neighbors, nurses, teachers, students, and retirees
• Mims: Powered by developers, political patrons, and the Everybody-Gets-a-Favor Club

My rule hasn’t changed in 30 years:

Go where the money isn’t.

If you want a Dayton run for people instead of pay-to-play donors, the choice isn’t complicated.

Turner-Sloss and her underfunded, overworked, actually-for-the-public team are the right choices. Vote Turner-Sloss, Darryl Fairchild and Jacob Davis, or we’re stuck in pay-to-play for at least 2 more years.

And yes, you can see the donor lists yourself, here they are. Good luck parsing that mess. Maybe by the 22nd century our BOE will figure out scanned PDFs aren’t data.

Other Races

Kettering Mayor

There are so few true contested races and some really bizarre ones, like the Kettering Mayors race. Both candidates are already on council, so, if one gets elected, the other is still there to meddle. It’s Bryan Suddith vs Rob Scott’s Dad. Rob is the Kettering Clerk of Courts and has a storied past of starting the Tea Party in Dayton, taking over the Republican Party (Only to be booted as chairman mid-term) to running the Trump campaign in Ohio, working for the Trump administration for the SBA while getting his then girlfriend Missy May Walters a job with the dept of Agriculture (she’s no longer his girlfriend- and she works for Montgomery County Treasurers John McManus), to coming back and getting elected Kettering clerk of courts.

His dad? Well, he lived in Dayton for at least 10 years, before coming back to Kettering to be Rob’s proxy candidate. Scott Sr. is hoping his own money and his and his son’s name recognition propels him to the center seat. His son is working hard on this campaign, mostly because he can- the Kettering Clerk of Courts run fine without him there.

Suddith is current Mayor Peggy Lehners choice. And while I’ve differed with Peggy on many things, she is cognizant that the job of an elected official is to represent everyone. Suddith even has Democrats backing him. That part sets young Scott’s pants on fire.

It’s unfortunate that voters can’t rid themselves of Scott on the commission in this election, but that will change in 2 years. Suddith is the clear choice.

Oakwood Commission

I don’t know squat about Sam Dorf or his campaign, but after seeing the attack ad sent out by the Republican’s vote for the guy. When they spend that much and do that bad a job at an attack ad- he’s got to go.

Clayton Mayor

You were lucky with Mike Stevens. Now your choice is between Ryan Farmer and Dennis Lieberman. It’s long past time to put both Lieberman’s out to pasture. Dennis hated me as long as he was the Dem Party Chair, and once he got dethroned by Whaley and her crew, his tone changed. His wife is a walking example of questionable criminal behavior in office ^[6].

It’s time to purge the Lieberman’s from power. Please Clayton, send a message.

Dayton School Board

I’ve also written previously about the Dayton Board of Education. I agree with the Dayton Education Association 100% Gallin, Garrison, Hayes and Rhynard are the only and clear choices if you want sanity to return. See “The Dayton Education Association is letting the dog eat their homework ^[7]“

Judges

This is an area where you need the most info, get the least, and can never ever vote them out. It’s effectively giving them a job for life. And, judges can’t really say anything.

In the Montgomery County Municipal Court race, between Brandon Myers and Cindi Westwood it’s Westwood all the way.

In the Vandalia municipal court race, between David Caldwell and Nicole Amrhein, if I could vote for none-of-the above and it would stick I would. I watched Amrhein for 4 days in a court case where she embarrassed herself. ^[8] Caldwell is MAGA. Given the choices, I’d hold my nose and vote Amrhein.

Beavercreek Township Trustee

Normally, I don’t get involved much in Greene County, unless I’m running out there and see the candidates at candidate events. However this is a race between the old guard and the new hope. Bob Stone is almost petrified and Deborah Wallace has outlived her political life a few times over.

The third candidate on the ballot is a breath of fresh air and a good choice, Joseph Jenkins, and Dr. Ann Stalter who is a write in is one of the most awesome candidates I’ve ever worked with. If Beavercreek Township voters don’t write her in, they are missing out.

Please not only vote, but make sure your friends and neighbors get out and vote, and are informed.

Sorry I’ve not got more candidates nights filmed, or interviews done, but with the Foley case and it’s fallout, I’ve been busy,.

And because I like to end posts with a song, here’s the one, turned into a video, that we did for Stalter.