Started seeing the Montgomery County Democratic Party slate cards on doorsteps. They call it the “2009 Election Report” and it says “Dayton: Ready for Lift-off.”
However, the two issues on it have me wondering what’s wrong with the party and the people who let their name go on this piece of trash. It endorses “Issue 3” “-Casinos” and says to “Vote FOR Issue 40- Dayton Metro Library”- however, it doesn’t mention or support Metroparks.
I guess handing a monopoly over to Penn National is more important than our amazing park system. That just plain sucks.
Also, they tout Tech Town and mention some of the partners on the front of the piece. I’m sorry, but Qbase [1] isn’t a company that I would want to be associated with either. Besides sucking tax dollars for providing jobs that never materialized, employees have been forced to donate to politicians including Congressman Steve Austria and Governor Ted Strickland. How Qbase, a Greene County business, has anything to do with Dayton is beyond me.
Slate cards are for sheep. I hope voters are smarter than following a “sample ballot” and actually think before voting.
If I could raise another $600 and have volunteers to stand outside polling places- I’d put together a slate card for intelligent voters- it wouldn’t include endorsing constitutional amendments that aren’t in your best interest, or include candidates who are accepting huge checks from questionable sources [2].
I’ll scan it and post the pdf tomorrow. Democratic Party Slate card”Dems slate card [3] pdf
I wonder what Metroparks did that got them the cold shoulder? Or maybe they didn’t pay off the party like they are supposed to?
UPDATE: 26 OCT reliable sources tell me the original ask was $10K to be on the piece, Metroparks counter offered with $2500 and may or may not have paid, we’ll look at their campaign finance filings later today. However, Metroparks was left off.
You should approve of this one at least:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbwXisacO38
See link below for a cool 125 mile hike in and around Dayton that is happening this week. In the end they will have hiked to all 18 MetroParks finishing at 9:30am on Friday at Deeds Point MetroPark.
http://www.metroparks2009.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68:park-trek-2009&catid=35:campaign-news&Itemid=74
Ugh @ $10K being the cost to get an endorsement of Issue 4/the Metroparks levy on the Democratic slate card. The Democratic candidates who appear on that card should be asked whether they support the levy, what their feelings are about Issue 4’s exclusion from the card, and whether they support issues being included based on affected organizations’ paying for placement.
A Democratic party member receiving that “official sample ballot” might reach the conclusion that the Montgomery County Democratic Party and its Democratic candidates didn’t care one way or the other whether Five Rivers Metroparks had funding.
Also I’d love to know whether the Dayton Metro Library paid to be included and if so how much.
@David L. I’d love to know how much they charged the libraries too-
I’d also like to know the candidates positions on these levys- why don’t you try to get answers on their sites?
I’d really like to know how much the Casino backers paid the Montgomery County Democratic Party- but the Secretary of State’s site is a P.O.S.
why don’t you try to get answers on their sites?
Very funny. Although actually, as it happens, on an issue about which I care deeply I have had some recent success in getting a candidate to take a public stand on his website.
I asked a friend who was involved in the decision making process on the Parks levy campaign about the Dem Slate card. MP decided they wanted to be totally NON PARTISAN as regards the Levy and chose not to have the Dems put them on the slate card for that reason. Democrats overall support the levy, as, I am hopeful, so do the Republicans and your candidate for mayor…
@Gary S.
You don’t know what you are talking about. Metroparks paid the Montgomery County Democratic Party $2,500 for “Get out the vote services” and thought they’d be included on the mailing.
He’s not “my candidate for Mayor” he’s the only challenger. He’s also the only clean candidate.
You chose who you want to vote for- go look at who bought McLin.
That was not my understanding at all. And my friend was definitely in on the discussion.
But whatever.
So, are you supporting Mr Leitzel? Because he is the only challenger or because of his politics?
Thus far Mr Leitzel has never directly answered my question about why he named Thatcher and Reagan as politicians he admires. Two VERY conservative “leaders” with very right wing views on many key issues, especially the key question of fiscal responsibility. Stating he is the “only clean candidate” is nothing but hyperbole and does nothing to advance the debate about POLITICAL issues at the core of the Mayoral race.
@Gary S.
Unequivocally.
Gary Leitzell could be George W. Bush II and do less damage to our community than Rhine McLin. It’s one vote of four. There is no “right wing” agenda here- nor will there be.
The only “political issue” at stake here is who is on the take- and it’s not your namesake.
and, btw- I didn’t know you were friends with Tom Ritchie.
David, I’d be a little more concerned about trying to convince a citizenry who hates you to vote for you next week rather than worrying about some slate card.
Attack Yard Signs? Seriously Jeff Wellbaum? That’s the “October Surprise” you’ve been yapping nonstop about for weeks??? You guys really are desperate. I know you can’t do much with a candidate for Mayor who can’t raise more than a few thousand dollars, but jeesh, that’s pathetic.
Your comment about Tom Ritchie was a real cheap shot unworthy of a candidate for office.
But I digress.
To equate the Criminal President G.W. Bush with our city commission is but another example of the depreciating, over the top rhetoric that increasingly characterizes your campaign . Molly is right. Obsessing about things you cannot prove [eg/bought and sold] and Mr Letizel’s continued obfuscation about his personal politics is not going to get you two elected. Whatever good ideas you have get lost in the heated atmosphere of bellicose boasting and belligerency.
Speaking of Gary Leitzel…I simply don’t understand how a candidate like yourself, a self professed smart guy could make a statement like the one above where you seemingly equate your entire campaign with a focus on whose “on the take” in stead of on the political questions at hand. Personally OI think many of your ideas about local government are very good [omg…] but your combativeness, while it attracts some followers, alienates a far larger mass of voters.
I am asking a very serious and focused question of Mr Leitzel and yet you dismiss it with a flamboyant and flip attempt at poetic license:
“The only “political issue” at stake here is who is on the take- and it’s not your namesake.”
Please.
Just stupid how stupid do you think the hard core politicos who make up the bulk of primary voters are?
You apparently don’t think that people would want to know the answer to a fundamental question about where Mr Leitzels professed POLITICAL influences would lead the city were he to be elected. No answers to my question are forthcoming. When you [Gary Leitzel] cannot articulate a more nuanced response other than to say you made a lot of money in the insurance business while Ronald Reagan was President and times were good… you’re in deep trouble, politically speaking that is.
@Gary S. If your friend wasn’t Tom Ritchie, he wasn’t in on the discussion that I know took place.
And, if you can’t see that Rhine McLin and Nan Whaley have campaign contributions in excess of their value, I can’t help you.
Look at the campaign finance reports. Look at how much Rhine has spent to stop Gary Leitzell. Look at this latest debacle over the raises- either she’s on top of the financial situation in Dayton- or she’s not. Can’t have it both ways. You’ve just made it onto my troll list Gary S. Once you start making sense again- I’ll respond. For now, you’re just like Molly- not worthy of a response.
Troll list. I’m honored. And all because I kept asking a political question. Sweet.
@Gary S. It’s not that you kept asking a political question- you kept asking the same one, as if it was the answer to the holy grail. It has no bearing on a single member of a 5 person board. It takes three votes to make anything happen on the commission. You’re looking too hard in the wrong places.
I kept asking the the same question because it never got answered. And still hasn’t been.
If you think that wanting to know what kind of politics is reflected in a candidate who admires two of the most conservative & reactionary “leaders” in of the last century doesn’t have any bearing on 5 person board, your are simply wrong. Wrong as in very wrong. Every vote counts. The person you are backing is running for MAYOR and the bully pulpit that goes with the title, hence not just another vote. And, quite frankly you are pretty naive if you think that admiring the icons of the Right Wing is inconsequential as it relates to the Mayors race. The quote goes like this: “All politics are local, even at the National level”.
So, indeed, it DOES Matter, and, since your candidate appears incapable of articulating the political rationale for his admiration of the two icons of the Right, perhaps he has something to fear about being candid about his personal political beliefs in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. Just maybe.
“in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.” by Gary S.
Please make a huge note folks, he is correct, and Dayton is UNSUCCESSFUL. You do the math, and thanks for making my point Gary.
This city is going down in flames (or has already burned to the ground, depending on who you ask) and this is “in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.” Government, in general, is bad. Let people keep their own money and get rid of 2/3 of all government jobs/agencies. They just take take take, on the local, state and national level.
Look in the mirror, the unions (overwhelmingly a Democratic thought process) screwed this city. Stop taking. Start doing. But a liberals “doing” is complaining or crying and be jealous bc someone else is successful.
Pitiful.
I am looking in the mirror and I like what I see.
But I have a question.
Why doesn’t anybodyANSWER MY QUESTION?
What kind of politics does Gary Leitzel represent and why is he or his alleged supporters unable to answer that basic question??
The Unions did not “screw” this city, business “leaders” and their cohorts did. Can you say General Motors? Can you say NCR? can you say Mead? All of whom have deserted this town despite tax incentives and other concession made by the city.
David Lauri forcefully answered the economic question about Mr Leitzels hero, Ronald Reagan, by showing, in stark cold figures, just how much of a fiscal conservative Reagan actually was not. What can we expect from Gary Leitzel, a plan for more tax give aways a la Mike Turner? We can see how well that worked with General Motors, Mead and NCR now can’t we? Screwed by the unions? Hardly. Screwed by big business? Over and over again.
@Gary S. How do you see more tax giveaways under Leitzell- the Dayton City Commission gave away $125,000 to private companies TODAY- under the heading “neighborhood grants”
Comparing Leitzell to Turner is a laugh. Turner still had to get 2 other votes to do anything- but, he must have been way smarter than the rubes the party put in power- since he did all the BS you accuse him of.
The tax giveaways to GM, Mead and NCR- you’re blaming Gary Leitzell for them? Give me a break. Note your girl, Rhine, got a $5k check from former Mead honcho Jerry Tatar. Explain that please?
Welcome to the troll list Gary!!!! David doesn’t think to highly of people who call him out on his idiotic ways. He’s a little paranoid of Tom Ritchie, as if that wasn’t brutally obvious…. something about a slurpie being thrown in a parking lot or something like that. Who knows…, no one can make enemies like David can.
Ask unions members who are out of work if their Union helped them? They helped them get sweetheart deals that made companies go broke. You can’t pay people 115% more than they are worth and expect to have a successful business. They got 5 no call, no show days, – what other business would allow that? Pay retirees for 30 extra years – and you wonder why your broke? And to top it off, most union members slow production, slow their personal work pace in the name of the union. They screwed themselves. They work less, the don’t work as hard yet want more. They have the “it’s not my job” mentality. Now a lot are sitting on their asses.
Yes, leaders and management screwed up too. Both are to blame.
You own a business, do you over pay your help? The answer of course is NO.
@Molly: In the real world David can actually be [hard to believe] engaging and interesting to talk to. On line, well that’s a different world indeed. I’ll give him credit for allowing the opposition view point plenty of space on his blog, more than one can say about a lot of other forums, including the DDN and various Dems.
@David
A/MCLin is NOT “my girl”. If anyone should know that, David, you should. The large contributions bother me as much as they do you. And recall, I have backed you in party meetings on just these subjects.
B/I’m not blaming Gary Leitzel for the Mead, NCR and GM debacles, he wasn’t involved with those decisions; just pointing out how the tax cutting strategies of his hero, Ron Raygun work [didn’ton a local level. Can we expect Mr Leitzel to come up with similar responses, the no tax, no government is good government mantra espoused above by Gene? That is the essential question about his politics here that you and yours keep ignoring.
@Gene
“And to top it off, most union members slow production, slow their personal work pace in the name of the union. They screwed themselves. They work less, the don’t work as hard yet want more. They have the “it’s not my job” mentality. Now a lot are sitting on their asses.”
After that comment I have decided to start my own troll list, and you are my first inductee. Your comments about Union workers are so off the wall, egregious and insulting that they are completely unworthy of a response. Whatever.
@Gary S. it’s really too bad you’ve never met Leitzell. He’s so far off your idea of no tax government- in fact, his first claim to fame was trying to pass a “Special Improvement District” tax for Walnut Hills (much like what funds the Downtown Dayton Partnership) to guarantee that the tax dollars paid by the citizens actually came back to the neighborhood. He was shot down by City Hall. It’s that kind of outside the box thinking that the man brings to the table.
Congrats on figuring out that Gene is a regular troll here. We like him- he keeps the discussions going- although most of us are smart enough not to put too much into it. He’s been gone for a while- welcome back Gene!
New mailing today- slate card with issue 4 included. However the logo for “Yes on 3” gets equal billing with the picture of “the team”- making me wonder how much the local party took as payola from the Casino people.