Montgomery County Democratic party continues to insult voters

Last Thursday, the Montgomery County Democratic Party “voted” over Zoom to endorse candidates in the Dayton City Commission Race, the Dayton and Huber Heights Mayors race. They did it based on the recommendations of a “screening committee” that was never elected to screen anyone. They were hand picked by Mark Owens, the party chairman, who has also decided at the last possible minute to announce he’s not running again for Dayton Clerk of Courts.

The only candidates who were allowed to speak to the party central committee (made up of elected and appointed precinct captains) were the endorsed candidates, despite other candidates being in “the room.”

I have always protested the endorsement of one democrat over another in a primary/runoff/special election – for at least the last 20 years. I usually get about 3 supporters in agreement with me- and hissed at by a particularly nasty old biddy who recently died. This time, a few others said that they didn’t agree with this process- including one labor representative who questioned how Scott Sliver- who ran against the endorsed candidates 6 years, earned the right (did his time in the party) to get the endorsement. In the Monarchy of Montgomery County, for years, you were supposed to “wait your turn” to get your shot. This was what they told Darryl Fairchild when they wanted to run to fill Nan Whaleys seat- and he acquiesced, only to be passed over the next time when they pushed Chris Shaw over him and Chris barely won.

Darryl Fairchild didn’t even bother screening for the endorsement. They’ve never shown him any respect- trotting out the Reverend Daryl Ward to run against him in the special election to fill the disgraced Joey Williams seat (although at the time- only they knew that Williams had been forced to resign by the FBI for his corruption case). The idea of running a man of god against a man of god seems to be their modus operandi. Now, they’ve picked Sliver- a suburban church preacher, who moved into the city just before his first try 6 years ago, and think that somehow- they’ve got their winners picked.

Overlooked, besides Fairchild, were two well established Dem party folks, Shenise Turner Sloss and Jared Grandy. Neither was even mentioned, never mind given a chance to speak. Also ignored was Valerie Duncan- a long time Dem. (full disclosure- at one time or another, I’ve done work for Fairchild, Sloss, Duncan and Sliver).

The sad fact is, the party central committee vote wasn’t verifiable the way they run their zoom meeting. A list of attendees wasn’t available, you couldn’t see anyone on camera other than Owen’s and his hatched man Hatcher- and they even cut off comments among members in the chat while things were being said. The “vote” wasn’t done by a verifiable poll- just by trusting their counts of “hands” which we couldn’t see. This is some way to run a party- NOT. It’s more like the way the Britich Royals run their family business.

To top it all off, today we find that Russ Joseph, their perennial loser (he’s been appointed to 2 county offices, run for re-election and gotten beaten by Republicans both times), announced that he’s resigning as treasurer before his appointed term is up. What’s insane, is that the voters of Montgomery party already said they didn’t want him, they wanted former Dem John McManus who ran as a Republican and beat him. The only reason McManus hasn’t taken office is because Ohio is trying to pretend that appointed people get to finish a term for almost a year after voters said they don’t want someone- the Treasurers term is staggered and starts in September.

Now, to add insult to injury- the appointed hack, gets to ignore the will of the people, and hand over his job to his buddy Paul Bradly for 6 months. Had McManus been a dem still, the party would have handed it to him, but now, because they still think they are kings instead of elected representatives, they choose to ignore the fact that Joseph isn’t just a loser, but a quitter too- and that the rightfully elected McManus should ascend to take over. Note, when Mike Foley beat Joseph who had been appointed to be Clerk of Courts by the Monarchy, the power transferred immediately (supposedly the difference is that Foley was being elected to finish a partial term, whereas McManus was elected to a full term- meaning Joseph gets to finish his appointed term no matter that he wasn’t elected).

McManus, always the pleaser, gave Esrati.com this statement:

I wish Russ the very best with his new opportunity and I join with others in thanking him for his service.

Ohio’s newly elected treasurers are five months into a ten month waiting period to take office. I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing we could get to work sooner rather than later, but I respect the law and I’m taking full use of the time to listen, learn, and plan. I’m incredibly honored to have the opportunity.

I congratulate anyone who may be appointed to fill the next few months of the term. I’m hopeful that the appointee will be open to engaging and working through a transition plan to best serve the residents of Montgomery County.

I’m not sure the citizens of Montgomery County should be filing an injunction over this corrupt circumvention of the voters will. Since Joseph was appointed, he should have been forced out the day the election was certified and his successor had been chosen by the people, because, last I checked, we’re a democracy, not a monarchy, and we’re supposed to elect people to office, not anoint them.

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