Why bother buying the Dayton Daily “News” when posturing and conjecture by the local GOP gets more column inches than people who’ve taken out petitions?
Why answer a reporter’s inquiry when you send a quote via e-mail [1], but instead she uses the word lost like a vowel in your description- even adding a race you weren’t in?
GOP ‘fresh faces’ likely to make bids to unseat incumbent Democrats.
DAYTON — The Montgomery County Republican Party plans to burst “fresh new faces” onto the Dayton political scene with first-time candidates for mayor and two seats on the city commission, but those endorsements likely won’t be finalized until after the March 6 filing deadline.“Until I have that person who says 100 percent ‘yes,’ I don’t want to throw anybody out there. Every (candidate) I know of has not been in public life,” Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Gregory M. Gantt said.
Republican candidates hoping to win endorsements were interviewed last week, Gantt said. Some were told they needed more experience. Others haven’t fully committed to a run.
Democratic incumbents Mayor Rhine McLin, along with commissioners Nan Whaley and Joey Williams received endorsements from the Montgomery County Democratic Party in December.
“In these tough economic times, they’ve stepped up to the plate and kept the city afloat,” party Chairman Mark Owens said.
Candidates must submit petitions with 500 valid signatures to the Montgomery County Board of Elections by March 6 to participate in the May election. The two mayoral candidates who get the most votes in the primary will be on the fall ballot with the top four contenders for city commission.
Others who have taken out petitions to challenge McLin include:
Gary Leitzell, 114 Volkenand Ave., a self-employed, professional miniatures painter, a home renovator and home-schooling parent. He has served as president of the Walnut Hills Association for five years; and, he has been a member of the Southeast Priority Board for 10 years.
Tojuan W. Minus, 2535 Bridgeport Drive, is the director of the Info Kids Early Learning Center. She has served on the Northwest Priority Board for about a year.
Other candidates for mayor include: Jerome Franklin Savage, 400 N. Cherrywood Ave., who also took out petitions for mayor in 2005, and Jamie M. Simpson, 53 Birchwood Ave.
Candidates vying for the city commission seats held by Whaley and Williams include:
Donald Allen Domineck Jr., 1035 Superior Ave. Domineck took out petitions for the 2007 city commission race, but dropped out before the filing deadline.
David Esrati, 113 Bonner St., a local activist and owner of an advertising agency, ran an unsuccessful primary campaign for mayor against former Mayor Richard Dixon and now Congressman Mike Turner in 1993. He lost city commission races in 1997 and 1999. Esrati also lost a bid for the 3rd Congressional District seat in the March 2008 primary election.
Lorana M. Kelly, 2235 Ravenwood Ave., is the community development coordinator for the Montgomery County Community Action Partnership. Kelly has run for a city commission seat three times. If elected, Kelly said she would focus on reducing crime and vacant housing, along with building opportunities for youth.
Mark Anthony Newberry, 910 Crestmore Ave., is director of marketing for Jeni King, a commercial cleaning service. Newberry lost a run for a Montgomery County Commission seat in November. He also took out petitions for city commission twice.
Jeffrey L. Wellbaum, 437 Shroyer Road, a U.S. Army reservist and Iraq War veteran working at Walmart, said his first bid for an elected office has been frustrating.
“I was the only one that I know of who was screened (by the Republican Committee) for city of Dayton commissioner,” Wellbaum said. “It seemed like the main question they had for me was how much money I had for the race.”
Dayton Police Officer Douglas S. Brandenburg withdrew his name as a candidate after learning a department policy prohibits his running for city office. Sandra Brasington, chief of staff for the county Republican Party, also took out petitions, but is not a candidate.
via Mayor, commission races taking shape [2].
Note, Wellbaum dropped out by posting on this site on Saturday, yet he got more inches than a 5 time candidate. As a reminder, even Abe Lincoln lost more races than I have. There are other candidates for Mayor who are Democrats still on the horizon (I’ve seen a website already), but the DDN doesn’t have them on their radar yet.
The part about the Democratic Party endorsing incumbents in December was reported here first [3] as well.
Not to bitch, but David keep your eye on the ball. Who cares what DDN thinks or writes. You objective is to get elected. Bitching about the boring DDN makes you seems petty and juvenile. You want to get elected, right?
Wellbaum should have stayed in for the experience alone.
I am tired of the establishment Montgomery County Republican Party games…They are making me sound wishy-washy. I would give a million dollars to run and my right-arm. The Republican Party wants to play games and be secretive. The establishment Republican Party is more interested in THEIR image not little old me who fought for freedom and liberty. I only have around 50 signatures…it will take an “Almost Miracle” to get the required signatures. Since I am a Reservist I was not aware until early to mid January that I could run for something like this. The only chance I could have is to get Veterans in an uproar and get me the signatures… I have to leave for Warrior Leadership Course in Wisconsion on March 4th and don’t want to be running around town 5-7 hours a day (with some precip, which is not good for collecting valid signatures) going door to door trying to get signatures (I have a family who I want to spend time with,plus a JOB!)…I might try to get veterans to come to the rescue. The only reason I decided to probably drop out is that I have less than 10 days and I should have just focused on step #1 get the signatures and not play their song and dance with me, planning for me to have a press release with the Mayor’s speech given to me 12 hours before announcing my candidacy. Now the Republicans might not have a candidate for Commission because the Grand Old Geezers want to play mentors and control giving the voters one or two less choices. It must be told now that I was almost shot down (by two RPGs) flying in on a Chinook into Mosul, Iraq in Nov 2003. I very well could not be here now….it all makes me white, hot mad! It is ultimately my fault, I am a political scientist, I should sort of know how they play and think.
Jeff- you are in the Army- I’ve been out 20 years. I didn’t seem to have a problem going door to door in your ‘hood on Saturday and mine on Sunday getting 120 signatures all by myself.
Don’t blame anyone else.
And remember, Mike Turner wasn’t endorsed by the GOP when he beat Clay Dixon.
Don’t worry I have Polly Wellbaum, my wife and veterans… who needs the Republican Party establishment.
Well then Jeff I think you should run. The hell with the Republican Party.
Jeff, I would recommend you run from Gantt and GOP HQ as fast as you can. They only won the Sheriff’s race on a county level in 08 because Plummer had Vore’s endorsement and money. If Gantt does sucker a candidate to run as a GOP candidate that person will be left out in the dark just like Arlene Setzer, Jeff Busch, Joe Ellis, Gary Ross. Quit worrying about Gantt and Co. and get your signatures.
I plan to!!! There will be a little “Air Assault” this weekend by myself and others in an “Enclave of Dayton” with heavy voter registration. I bet I might be able to get 300-600 sigs in 15-20 hours…. Also, another GOP candidate “unendorsed” will be trying to get sigs to get on the ballot. Can anyone guess who the other candidate might be?
Are you planning to run Jeff? Tell me where to sign………
I will be at the Kroger’s in north Dayton on Brandt Pike around 1030AM on Saturday and Sunday before going out to collect signatures. Or you can call me at 231-9378 and we can arrange for you to sign. Thanks