The launch of a new kind of campaign: Esrati for City Commission

Today, is 30 days from petition turn in for the “Non-partisan” Dayton City Commission race. The petitions are closely guarded and held by both the Montgomery County Board of Elections and the Dayton City Commission office. So far there are 7 candidates with petitions out for City Commission and 4 for Mayor that are known:

City Commission is: Incumbents Nan Whaley and Joey Williams. Challengers are myself, Donald Dominic, Lorana Kelly, Mark Anthony Newberry, Jeffrey Welbaum.

For Mayor, it’s incumbent, Rhine McLin and challengers Bill Krest, Jerome Savage and Gary Leitzell.

If anyone else knows anything- or can provide links to sites- let me know.

I have a pdf version of the form in rough form. If you want it- e-mail me (link below). The BOE even admits the form has a problem that they need to check with the Secretary of State. The form is obscenely overly-complex, as is the process. Note- it only takes 50 signatures to run for Congress.

My petitions are ready- and I need people who want to circulate them. Each petition holds 40 signatures. They must be signed by a registered voter in the City of Dayton who hasn’t signed more than 2 petitions for Commission in this race. After circulating the petition, the circulator must take the petition to a notary to get a notarized signature.

You can pick up petitions at 100 Bonner Street Dayton OH 45410 between 8:30 am and 6pm any week day or e-mail me for other arrangements.

I’ll also need to start raising money to hire a campaign manager. The incumbents will have the full support of the Montgomery County Democratic Party- even if they either don’t do anything, or abstain from critical votes.

However, this campaign will be more about ideas, this site and moving Dayton forward, than empty promises and :30 soundbites. It’s up to you if you want to see a change in Dayton, or continue to suffer through an administration that doesn’t understand that plowing snow is more important than paying people to do “Economic development.”

It’s time to stop putting lipstick on a pig. If we can’t deliver basic services- how can we expect to deliver a viable place to live and work.

I vow to bring discussion and ideas to a City Commission that doesn’t understand its role as advisers and directors to a large organization. It’s time we start asking the right questions, instead of rubber stamping a bunch of budget requests every week.

I’d also like to revise the charter to make the process of running simpler. It may also be time to change the process to eliminate the Mayor’s race, and make it an election where the top-three on this cycle get on the Commission with the top vote getter becoming Mayor.

Please help. Please pick up your petitions asap. Thanks.

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