For as long as I’ve been in Dayton, the Montgomery County Democratic Party has been the least “democratic” organization in town. Joe Shump ruled for years with a style more akin to a Russian Czar. When Dennis Lieberman took over, the old ways were hard to stop: closed door meetings, no active recruitment of ward and precinct captains- it was still run like a private club.
People got places because of who they knew and snuggled up to. People in power, tended to stay in power- so much so that many potential good leaders got disgusted and walked away (Victor Harris got snubbed for wanting to have the chance to run for State Rep against the insider Roland Winburn- Bill Littlejohn switched parties- and then handed out dummy voter cards with his picture next to every Democratic Candidate).
It worked for years thanks to the ability of the Party to use their get-out-the-vote (GOTV to political junkies) expertise to drive (literally and figuratively) the West Side to the polls. Now that they’ve suffered their first major defeat in grand fashion with the dethroning of their queen, Rhine McLin, there is a lot of finger pointing going on inside and outside the party.
The last putsch, just before the presidential election where Dayton Clerk of Courts, Mark Owens pushed Lieberman out was engineered by about a half-dozen people, none of whom have the skills needed to run a party effectively. They rose to power based on cronyism and believe that they rightfully deserve and are entitled to ultimate power. I’m not saying Lieberman was any more worthy, but as the machine had rolled so effectively for so long, people made assumptions and we all know what happens when you base decisions on assumptions.
The number of people who feel disconnected from the party is growing. The question of how much money did they sell out to Issue 3 for may be the wrecking ball to the Mark Owens short lived dynasty. People may not follow like sheep if they see that McLin gets left out of the gravy train that they’ve all been accustomed to (she needs a job for at least 3 years paying considerably more than the $50 odd K that she made in the State house to pad her pension) yet- it may be hard to place her due to thin budgets and her lack of credible skills.
The first step in the overthrow will be to identify who exactly belongs to the Montgomery County Democratic Party central committee, and who all the ward and precinct captains are (at least half are empty) and start finding people to fill the uncontested seats and others to run against the entrenched good ole boy network (that includes quite a few women).
Don’t expect to see this covered anywhere but here. The Dayton Daily News editorial page editor, Ellen Belcher is best friends with one of the people at the “top” of this failing organization. However, seeing as they’ve lost the faith, trust and respect of quite a few of the most powerful people who have been elected thanks to the old regime, don’t expect them to stay silent now that the once mighty machine has shown it has major cracks in it. Also, don’t expect the State party to look favorably on the loss of a Mayorship, or the support of Issue 3. They still keep score at the State level, and have a governors race to win. If the party can’t deliver a Mayor, someone will be looking for help delivering Montgomery County for a Governor who isn’t looking too solid right now.
I’ll be publishing the list of precinct captains once I get it- along with a Google Maps precinct mashup thanks to one of my readers to make it easier to determine where you live. We’ll see if we can recruit a force to bring democracy to the democratic party- even if it has to come kicking and screaming.
Viva la revolution!
Troll lists are created by guys who use the government for money. Hand out central.
Business owners in this part of the world grab with right hand and choke customers with left hand. They are owed it bc there are RICH people.
Liberals need not apply…… the government will soon send you a check from the rich.
@GENE
BULLSHIT
OK, so name one or two of the “a lot of social issues” which you agree with the “Liberals” on, Gene.
None of your business. :) Why do you care?
I am a libertarian, you do the math.
@Gene
MORE BULLSHIT
Hey everybody, it’s me, D. Greene! I’m the smartest guy on the internet! I cannot be trolled! I never lose arguments on the internet, even with trolls, because <em>I</em> end up trolling <em>them</em>! Instead of arguing trivialities like facts, statistics, and reality on the ground, I am more interested in cutting straight to the heart of the matter, impugning the personalities of other internet characters, thus completely invalidating any and all arguments <em>before they are even posted</em>. Some say I am prescient, others claim I am clairvoyant. I’m just smarter than all of you. I’m D. Greene, and I vote for the status quo.
[editors note- don’t impersonate anyone- don’t use multiple aliases- and stop attacking each other- I do moderate- this isn’t the DDN pigpen]
What is BS Gary S? That I have some liberal views on social issues….. I do.
I don’t want to type every little last thing on this subject. And that was not me above, but really funny.
I claim responsibility for the above formatting snafus, but I blame rich people for everything else!
@GENE
Ok, but when David L asked what they were you told him none of your business…
What I object to is your not speaking to the issues, but rather resorting to low brow red-baiting and name calling. So what if I’m a liberal, or even a socialist? This is, after all, a pluralistic society where even libertarian views are heard… Speak to the issues. Get over the name calling & participate in an intelligent discussion of ISSUES.
Get over the name calling & participate in an intelligent discussion of ISSUES.
The word of the Lord: “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Blessed be the word of the Lord. Amen.
Right on Gary S. Please note smiley face after the “none of your business”….. it was in fun, hence the :) Calling someone a liberal is not bad. And most of the time I am just pointing out what is a liberal viewpoint, therefore (in my opinion) that those viewpoints are often made with the heart and not always thought through. The fact is most of us want a better world, we have different views. I just believe throwing money at “problems” is not always the answer. Life is not perfect, I get that. But I do have a problem with liberals always wanting tax money for their agenda. People work hard for their money and I don’t believe the government is entitled to it. Yes, we need to pay taxes. Everyone does. But why do we try to beat up on rich people all the time and take their money. Most rich work hard for their money. 90% of millionaires are self made, meaning that were not exactly rich before becoming rich. A lot of social ills are covered by tax payers. I feel bad for a lot of people. But a lot of people take advantage of the system, produce unwanted kids, burden tax payers, etc. I don’t like that at all. I hate war. I hate this war. We should get out of these wars. Among other reasons, it cost too much and it certainly is not worth risking American life (or any life for that matter.) I want less taxes across the board, eliminate non-essential government services, including a lot of military. Tax me less, and with my tax money (with the elimination of so many programs and service) I want to see a strong but smaller military, a health care system that includes everyone yet still charges for care (ie to see a Doctor you still would need to pay some out of pocket, what that is is debatable, so we don’t over load the system with the common cold, sprained toe, splinter, you get the idea.) I honestly think that politicians (both sides) are corrupt.… Read more »
Fun answer, Gene. I tend to agree that too many people are having kids. What always gets me about people who complain about the danger to “the family” and “children” from “the gayz” and every child not having a father AND a mother is that the majority of child-related problems (abuse, neglect, etc.) are caused by the breeders. And I really get irked by people who’ve lost parental rights once then going on to pop out more kids for the system to have to take care of, although I do think it’s best for society to try to care for such kids — does “I don’t think society should take care of them” mean, Gene, that were you Emperor there’d be no Department of Family Services? I do not agree, however, that life was better in the good old days, 40 years ago or whenever one’s particular notion of when the “Golden Era” was. In the “Good Old Days” girls learned they weren’t equal to boys and queers learned they better keep quiet (and hide in heterosexual marriages, as if that’s any way to protect the family). An example of something that wasn’t better in the Good Old Days is access to safe and legal abortions. Personally, were I ever in the situation of deciding whether or not to have an abortion, I probably wouldn’t choose to have one, but my sperm aren’t getting near any eggs, so it’s not a dilemma I’ll ever face. I got in mild trouble on a Facebook thread for asking a feminist whether she thought it would have been better for the country as a whole if we had no health care reform whatsoever unless health care reform included coverage for abortion (pointing out that abortions cost on average only about $375). She declined to answer, instead commenting how ironic it was that so-called progressive men couldn’t see the importance of abortion coverage. I took her answer to mean that she did in fact think it’d be best for people to go on dying for lack of health care coverage rather… Read more »
@David L & Gene.
Interesting and well said///Gene, keep it up and I will gladly remove you from my troll list!!
To clarify, I don’t think society “should have to” take care of them, and we do often, bc of absentee fathers, among other reason. Certainly there will be kids born to unfit parents, and yes we should take care of them. But fixing the first problem drastically would reduce the second problem. I don’t think it was better 40 years ago, just that (as a %) more fathers were involved and supported their kids. Yes, those were different days, but now guys simply skip town or go across town and get another woman pregnant. No, nothing is perfect, but that needs to get better. The lack of parental support (financially, emotionally, etc) makes society worse. It simply does. We have more crime, our schools are worse off (esp in poor areas) and other things here and there that are directly connected to there being no father around. Two PARENTS are better than one. In general it is the father who leaves or is not wanted around, certainly there are cases where woman do this. The rich do get richer. Some poor get poorer. But as to the middle class, often it is defined on 1/5 s. That being Top 20% rich, next 20% middle class, next 20% middle class, next 20% lower middle class, next 20% poor. The middle class exist. But what has happened, among other things, is that the jobs they once had are way different from the jobs they have today. And there are a lot of two income households which puts a spin on things. But with out a doubt the fact remains, 20 or40 or 60 or 80 years ago we did not have as much STUFF, which is a huge problem in ALL households, including my household. What I mean by that is often we get so absorbed with STUFF and CASH that we miss the simple answer of having more money = having less stuff. STUFF does create jobs, but to a single household the more stuff you have the less money you have. Stuff is not worth that much. If it makes… Read more »