Elections that matter- and those that don’t

If the money spent on the Dee Gillis vs. Bill Beagle race were spent on a public works project, or hiring another (or 10) police officers in a rough neighborhood it would matter a lot. Instead, campaigns run by twenty somethings who have no idea about advertising has, or should embarrass both candidates, has been bombarding voters. In the grand scheme of things- one more Democrat in a gerrymandered house of Republicans won’t make a bit of difference. I’ll say this though- when I wrote 4 years ago to vote for Beagle because he wasn’t a career politician like Fred Strahorn– I made a mistake. Beagle is an empty suit, totally incapable of saying where he stands on the tough questions, and doing the repressive parties’ work perfectly.

He doesn’t deserve re-election, no matter how many mailers, TV ads, radio ads, etc., he runs. Strahorn on the other hand, humbled by his defeat, seems to be fully engaged and recognizing that to be a representative isn’t a union job where you can’t get fired for doing the minimum. He’s a way better candidate than the oddballs running against him for the house seat he inherited when Clayton Luckie went off to jail.

I consider myself lucky this election cycle. Due to an abundance of work, I’ve not seen much TV. I never watch our local news which is so negative and worthless I’m surprised we don’t have “breaking news” causing suicides every day. I did happen to catch the Foley ad attacking Mike Nolan which made me wonder why Foley, another life-long politician who thinks it’s his birthright to be elected, felt the need to run it? Polling must be telling his people that his career of smiling and wearing a suit is wearing on people- and that people are just tired of supporting the Royalty of Montgomery County. The good news here is that people can vote for a really good guy who would shake things up- former Dayton Mayor Gary Leitzell, who actually does have the capability to have an original thought- and isn’t having his seat bought for him by the local puppet masters behind the curtain (take a look at Foley’s campaign donations if you want to know who they are.) Full disclosure- Leitzell buys his printing and web hosting from me.

The most important race in the state- for governor was botched by the Ohio Democratic Party with their absolute failure in vetting their candidate. The rest of the Dem ticket fully deserves your support- because with the inevitable Republican landslide due to gerrymandering in the House and Senate (which is one elected body too much for our state) we’re doomed to more bull like “Jobs Ohio” which is just a political slush fund to hand out tax dollars to big business as if it’s play money.

For the top spot- I’m voting Green Party. Although they have no chance of winning, if they get over 2% of the vote, a major obstacle for their party goes away statewide- the requirements of getting way more signatures than the major parties to run. This would provide ballot access to many and give us a sliver of a chance of having a real choice at election time instead of the lesser of two evils.

Speaking of vetting- the race between two veterans for Ohio 41 is another case of party failure- although Wayne Small is a really nice guy, as is Jim Butler, Small has basically run a non-existent campaign, and may not be capable of handling the job if elected.  Not that he has a chance against the machine in the first place. Full disclosure- I printed signs and used to host Small’s site when he ran for Riverside council, and I’ve printed some things for the Butler campaign.

The only race where you can really send a message is the Oh-10 congressional race, where Mike Turner has gotten way too comfy doing whatever he pleases. Much like the Eric Cantor race upset, sending school teacher Robert Klepinger to represent us would be a shot heard across the nation- and give our country a chance at not being totally taken over by corporate and special interest money. Turner may be the only one in the country who still thinks nuclear weapons are a great idea- and while claiming to “work for WPAFB” so many times he sounds like a guy with a string you pull out of his back- and out comes the same dogma- he voted to shut the base down. We could have some integrity in office in a place it matters by just saying no to the bum in office. Full disclosure I printed bumper stickers for Klepinger.

The sad thing is that even if we “throw the bums out,” our system is being so co-opted by money, parties run like fraternities, and the glacial speed of change by government- that very few seats matter much, no matter how many ads they run. The only people who are benefiting from our woefully inadequate system of choosing figureheads only benefits the major media- who without this huge cash infusion would be struggling like the rest of us.

Hail to the losers and the victors for keeping broadcast TV, newspapers and the US Mail in business.
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We’re all screwed until we take the money out of politics and put the emphasis back on statesmanship.

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