The wrong way to vet candidates

When Mike Bock, publisher of DaytonOS, and member of the Montgomery County Democratic Party Central Committee, stood up and tried to get an amendment passed for the party constitution to “Not endorse in primaries”– to let the people decide- the response of the “Party Faithful” was: “Well then, what would the screening committee do?” I spoke up- and said, “Find, groom and prepare candidates for every elected office.” We were both laughed out of the room.

Enter former local newscaster, Guy Fogle. A man who may have good intentions, and is probably just as capable of  being a congressman as any of the crooks we now have in office, and the paper does a hatchet job on him, 5 days after he gets on the ballot:

Fogle has had a series of financial problems, with three mortgage foreclosures and five judgments, all still open, filed against him in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in the past decade. In 2008, he filed for bankruptcy, listing $4,000 in assets and $284,000 in liabilities.Fogle said Monday, June 14, that those problems, which started when he developed testicular cancer in 1998 and continued through bouts of unemployment, are one of the reasons he is running.“There have been times that I’ve lived in a car,” Fogle said. “I’m not backing away from what happened to me.”

via Area candidate, ex-TV broadcaster owes $8K in child support.

[UPDATE] 9:58AM  the DDN stopped taking comments on this story- after a number of people questioned its motives, considering Fogle’s wife works as a stringer for the paper). Even though he’s been part of the media for years, he obviously doesn’t understand it well. He should have been well out in front of this, with his case online, long before this story hit. Fogle will not be taken seriously by anyone, especially Turner. His campaign is toast.

However, before you cast stones, just remember, that unless you are rich, or working for the government- your job, your mortgage, or your health insurance are all questionable these days. This could happen to you. Unfortunately, due to Mr. Fogle’s fight with cancer- he’ll lose the fight financially. Our health care system is an embarrassment, and Turner is partly to blame. Just remember, that your outrageous health insurance premiums go to multi-million-dollar paychecks for CEOs for Anthem, United Health Care and even CareSource (which only works with Federal money)

I had just written the other day that we don’t really have health insurance in this county- it’s more like bankruptcy protection– having a “lifetime cap” on health insurance is almost an oxymoron- when we won’t pay anymore, you die, that’s your lifetime. Fogle, like almost every other American facing catastrophic illness, has suffered financially- how common is this, we even have a TV show, “Breaking Bad” that has a High School chemistry teacher turning into a Meth Cooker to pay for his cancer treatment and support his family.

Should Guy Fogle be a candidate? Probably not. But, with the way our system works now, with its protection of incumbents, barriers to the ballot, costs of elections, media scrutiny, you almost have to have a death wish, or have faced some pretty terrible things to have the gumption to run.

If nothing else, without hearing him speak once politically, I have more respect for Mr. Fogle now for trying than before I learned of his troubles.

Just remember, we’re heading to an America with only three types  of people, the super rich, the poor, and those who work for the Government. Mike Turner is already 2 out of three.

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