Outgoing Dayton Mayor Gary Leitzell picked up petitions to run for Montgomery County Commission yesterday. The independent candidate faces the daunting task of collecting at least 1,800+ valid signatures of registered voters to be placed on the ballot. Since this is a partisan race, major party candidates only have to file 50 signatures of party members 60 days before the March primary date. Independents having the higher standard, have until the day before the primary to file their petitions.
The seat held by Dan Foley is up for grabs in 2014, and word on the street is that Foley will not be running again.
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Noting DDN article today, Leitzell is quoted as saying that this candidacy gives him an opportunity to campaign for the other independents–Esrati and Greer.
Dave, did you quit the Democratic party? :-)
But more seriously: I have no doubt that Gary told the reporter a lot of quotable things, and this was the one the reporter pulled out for inclusion. If I’m advising the Leitzell campaign (and no, he hasn’t asked) I’m urging tighter message discipline. Never give a reporter too many quotes, and make every one as compelling as possible.
The “we are the Indie candidates” message resonates weakly. Certainly, go out and campaign for one another, explain why you’re bucking the party system, talk about the flaws in the current government. But you will rarely get elected for upsetting apple carts; it’s necessary to make the primary message a positive, optimistic one.
Leitzell might consider saying to reporters only things like “my term as mayor showed me that I can bring value to the public through my service, and that’s what inspires me to continue” and then talk about positives in Dayton over the past few years. (note: whenever I do advise candidates, I hesitate to “put words in their mouths”–I want to know what they want to say and then I try to focus and refine how they say it–so Gary should not adopt that statement unless–as I suspect–it rings true for him).
Accentuate your positives. Accentuate your opponents’ negatives. Quit messin’ with Mr. In-between.
TRuddick- Once again, the DDN counts on esrati.com for their stories. And- no, I’ve not quit the democratic party Nationally- just, want very little to do with the people that run it locally, who believe it’s their right to decide who gets on the ballot, who runs, who gets what patronage jobs and who they take care of.
Here’s the link- but it’s behind their paywall folks:
http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/news/news/dayton-mayor-to-run-for-county-office-in-2014/nYctj/?icmp=daytondaily_internallink_textlink_apr2013_daytondailystubtomydaytondaily_launch
you have to pay them to read what you get first and free on esrati.com please consider donating to my campaign.
[…] via Leitzell takes out petitions to run for County Commission as an independent. […]
I think Gary Leitzell will make a great County Commissioner, and wish him well in his campaign.
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Both Gary and David Esrati are decent guys, interested in doing positive things for the community. Perhaps there is a better way for them both to help the community than the quagmire of Dayton area politics?
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There is a certain amount of slime inherent in all politics. The local slime-factor seems particularly high, though. I wonder if David, Gary, and other like-minded individuals might be more effective disentangled from the local political morass.
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Even if a couple of good-guys manage to get elected to local political positions, they are still outnumbered 10 to 1 by local political slimeballs. Maybe de-sliming Dayton needs to be done from the outside?
David Esrati – I’m sorry to hear you’re still very attached to political parties, especially after the partisans have locked you out. Do you really think the Democratic Party on the national level is any more virtuous than the folks on the local level? Seriously? Maybe you have Stockholm syndrome? When will Americans learn the two party system sucks?