So then, let's recap:
Democrats:
Smiling, err... Jack "Sleepy" Ford (the master of raising the cost of government through his ineffective/phony M.B.E. sham) is - IN
Carty (two doses of my abrasive style and constant micromanagement is never enough) is "Still unannounced, but running via his in-your-face presences on WTVG-TV, until the very last nano-second)- Technically out (but, for all practical purposes) IN
Republicans:
George Sarantou is undeclaired, but still considering a run.
Rob Ludeman is also undeclaired, but still considering a run.
Republican Strategy note:
One candidate from your party would likey be best. Especially with the likely split on the Democratic side side. Don't waste the advantage.
Others, lurking:
Opal Covey (too much to expect that she would come to her senses) is - IN
Ed Emery (once a brilliant mind, now addled and quite confused and obsessed with fighting his mortal enemy Marcy Kaptur (former shining star of the Dems now showing early signs of beind addled) is - Thankfully, undeclaired.
The Dem's likely strategy:
Keep it simple, keep 'em dumb, keep right on "conning" the unions, and kiss J.R. BLOCKhead's "ring."
Hell, anything we throw up at the political positions available, no matter how bad they are/look/act/smell, will still get the blah's endorsement and will likely win.
Business (our business) as usual :-)
Decline as usual :-)
Flight out of this area as usual :-)
Ain't democratic politics great?
The Curmudgeon's advice/strategy to the Republicans:
Start early. Look at all of the time you've already wasted! Get going, there's LOTS of work to do.
Put together and promote a plan for remaking the area back into a pro-business, pro growth area like it used to be.
Expose the waste and mismanagement that has our costs of government going through the roof, and offer logical/practical alternatives to the same old, same old.
Develop a full slate of candidates for all offices and promote them, enthusiastically and endlessly.
(note:)
I know that it's darn near impossible to convince highly effective and sucessful business types to abandon their careers, so you'll have to appeal to their patriotism. Sell them on the idea of making a difference that will make a better community and a better business environment. It's worth a shot anyway.
Or, tell them that we're in a war for the hearts and minds of the next generation of leaders. And, that we want/need to stick a collective Republican in J.R.B.'s "eye," so to speak.
And, when the campaign's turn dirty, (as they surely will), contact me here. I know where to find thisgs that the Dem's whould PREFER never to see the light of day ;-)
i.e., Play fair, stick to the issues and facts.
But, don't be afraid of getting s little dirty.
After all Toledo/Lucas County has often been thought of and described as a "one horse town."
A "one horse town" maybe, under the past ~ 50 years or democratic rule, but that only means that there will be lots of horsestuff to throw out in the future.
The curmudgeon steps down off of soapbox, briskly brushes his hands together, turns his back to the (mostly imaginary) crowd, and walks off exhibiting significant "attitude," (to the thunderous applause, of a mostly imagainary , but there none the less, in his own mind), crowd. :-)
posted by Hooda_Thunkit at 03:05 P.M. EST on Sun Apr 10, 2005 #
Aw, c'mon...it's not been that long since there was a Republican mayor in Toledo, has it?
Donna Owens, 1983-89. OK, so it wasn't strong mayor at the time.
It could happen again.
Also, Hooda_Thunkit:
If you are serious about exposing the Dem's dirt, I am all ears. Email me at historymike AT yahoo DOT com if you want to talk more in private. I will maintain any confidentiality if I use it or connect you with another writer.
posted by historymike at 10:19 P.M. EST on Sun Apr 10, 2005 #
historymike,
Yahoo is reporting no such user...
And, I made the obvious adjustments.
posted by Hooda_Thunkit at 12:29 P.M. EST on Mon Apr 11, 2005 #
ARGGH!!
I can't do anything right...
historymike47 AT yahoo DOT com.
DOH!
posted by historymike at 03:28 P.M. EST on Mon Apr 11, 2005 #
Toledo definately needs a change from Jack Ford. I don't live in the city so I can't vote, but I am hoping whoever wins can turn the city around. The downtown project seems like Detroit minus casinos, meaning it is mostly a failure.
posted by someguy23475 at 10:16 P.M. EST on Tue Apr 12, 2005 #
From the above Blade article about Ford's announcement comes this disturbing but not surprising fact:
"Mr. Ford says he confers mainly with businessman Bob Savage; friend Weldon Douthitt; political strategist Jim Ruvolo; businessman George Isaac; Dan Johnson, president of the University of Toledo; state UAW leader Lloyd Mahaffey, and John Robinson Block, editor-in-chief and publisher of The Blade."
Ford said:
"I always thought John probably had about the best world view of anyone in Toledo, with the exception maybe of Bob Savage, because they both travel a lot, and they both think about policy a lot. I don't call him every week, but if I have a major idea that I am thinking about, I call him. I don't see anything wrong with it. He's usually right 85 percent of the time."
JRB lives in Pittsburgh, but Ford seeks Block's advice on Toledo issues. 85 percent? Ford may get in trouble for not throwing out a higher average. And how did Ford come up with that 85 percent number, besides pulling it out of his ass? Does Ford have an independent research firm track JRB's ideas? How many other mayors seek advice from the newspaper's editor-in-chief? Sounds like a major conflict of interest when a newspaper editor is advising a mayor. Another example of the lack of an independent media. Does Ford voluntarily seek Block's advice, or is the Toledo mayor expected to contact JRB?
More from the Blade article:
"Mr. Finkbeiner does not own a computer. Neither turns to the Internet to get their news."
Well that's it then. No way can Mr. F be elected mayor in 2005. Maybe that's why Toledo doesn't move away from a manufacturing-based economy toward an information-based economy. It's because Carty doesn't own a computer.
Seriously though, it's hard for me to imagine not owning a computer and not having Internet access. And it's not an age thing like only people under 40 own computers and access the Internet. My parents are around retirement age, and they use their computer and the Internet a lot. I wonder how many Americans use the Internet to get their news? For young people ...
"... a recent report commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation, a philanthropic foundation, [showed] 44 percent of 18-to-34-year-olds say they use Web sites at least once a day for news."
Catch up Carty.
More about Ford and his "accomplishments."
"[Ford] also pledged a renovated mall in South Toledo, saying "Southwyck is going to come back. It's not going to fall down." He said he has successfully pressured its absentee owner to sell the ailing mall on Reynolds Road."
From Ford's January 2003 state of the city speech:
"We will reach a deal on the revitalization of Southwyck Mall."
I guess this "pressure" is the deal.
More ...
"Mr. Ford has also touted an expanded Jeep plant and Franklin Park mall ..."
Wait a minute. How much has the Mayor and Toledo government been involved with the Wesfield mall expansion? The roads around the mall have been nicely redone. The city would have been involved there, right? Anything else?
Seems to me that if Toledo government was involved in the mall expansion, the expansion would have never happened. The project would still be in the feasibility stage. The politicians would be trying to figure out how to take credit for the project.
posted by jr at 11:20 A.M. EST on Thu Apr 14, 2005 #
Will Mayor Jack Ford be perceived as a racist or a promoter of diversity?
The excerpts below are from a March 22 story in The Toledo Journal titled "Diversity policy inciting." The story is no longer available on the Journal's website, because like a few other local media outlets, the Journal's content management system or archival practices suck. The story, however, is still accessible in Google's cache.
"Mayor Jack Ford said black businessmen should remember that smiling faces sometimes pretend to be their friends. Mayor Ford, addressing about 35 members of the Minority Contractors Group on Saturday morning, March 19, pledged that he will continue to insist on diversity in the awarding of government contracts if he is re-elected this November."
"He said some white business people smile and say they also embrace diversity, but really are upset that they’re not raking in as much government money as they used to."
Ford's words:
"There are people who don’t believe in it [diversity], who think that it should be the way it was in 1950."
More from the story:
"[Ford] said that no matter which part of town he’s in, he always reminds groups that minorities strongly support public works and other levies, and that they should have a fair chance to compete for contracts."
Ford's words:
"Some of the school levies would never pass if it wasn’t for the black and Latino vote. I point that out all over town. Folks nod their heads in the majority community but I have the sense sometimes when I walk out the door that they say ‘Yeah, that’s true, but we want it all.’ Affirmative action really has no teeth to it anymore. So the only teeth you can put into it is what the mayor and the council say that they want to see happen."
Does that last sentence help explain the current steam plant debacle over the choice of development plans? Mayor Ford was caught in a lie about that this week.
More from the Journal story:
"The mayor also got laughs when he talked about some white businessmen’s reactions to artwork in his office on the 22nd floor of Government Center. One is a picture of Muhammad Ali. The other is of Malcolm X, the more militant Civil Rights Movement peer of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "That’s so when folks come in there, I want them to see instantly what time of day it is," Mayor Ford said."
Ford's words:
"Literally, business guys have come in there and their legs buckle. They come in and say ‘Oh my gosh, the mayor’s got Malcolm X on his wall.’ That means we’re going to do the right thing; that’s why that picture’s up there."
posted by jr at 11:52 A.M. EST on Thu Apr 14, 2005 #
You had my interest up until you said the words, "Toledo Journal."
-Dan
posted by photodan at 05:01 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 14, 2005 #
Josh summarizes Ford's latest lie, which involves the steam plant project.
One more thing to add, although I need to double-check this. Supposedly, Toledo gave the plant to Jackson's company. Kagy’s company was going to buy the plant from Toledo for $500,000. Can anyone else verify this?
Little Ford tried to act like a big man at this week's council meeting when he said:
"If you've already spent over a million dollars and you haven't got squat, why are you bitching about $300,000?"
Ford directed this comment at Ludeman. Ford was referring to the million dollars spent on the steam plant by the Carty administration.
Someone should tell puppet Ford that the reason why it's important to bitch about $300,000 in 2004 and in 2005 is because Toledo, supposedly, doesn't have money to waste. Who is pulling Jack's strings?
Frank Szollosi, a Blade lackey masquerading as a Toledo city councilman, said on his blog:
"Great work by Ford's Economic Development team, Bill Carroll, former Dana executive, and Robert Gilcrest, a young man with with solid corporate experience, on the Steamplant project. Council heard yesterday from Dave Ball, a well known downtown building owner and businessman and partner in the project with Jimmy Jackson. We also heard from Dana Noel, from the general contractor, Jera, that Ball & Jackson selected. Mayor Ford is well justified in offering $300,000 from our capital improvements budget to achieve a $19 million riverfront investment."
Mayor Ford should be required to explain to Toledoans what this justification is. I don't see it.
Franky S. adds:
"My colleague Phil Copeland and I are leading the charge to insist that as much of that construction work as possible get done by local labor and with minority contracting goals in mind. Mayor Ford is as solid a supporter of local labor as we are. We want the jobs to go to people in Toledo."
Well, supposedly Jackson's company uses a construction firm from Akron, while Kagy's company would contract with Lathrop in Toledo. Is that correct?
Frank said in a later blog post:
"... elected Democrats are working together to move our city and county forward & creating jobs, as the steamplant is only the latest example."
With the way the steam plant developer was selected, the blatant cronyism, and the questions surrounding it, maybe the steam plant will be this century's Port Side blunder.
And what is with Jackson's company intentionally being delinquent with paying taxes and bills? Sounds kind of shaky. What's the story here? Is it politically incorrect to do a rectal exam on a hometown boy's company?
Everything associated with the Mayor lately sounds shaky: Southwyck, Toledo Works, the steam plant, OI, his idea of diversity. Where's the task force? Where are the front page investigative stories in the Blade?
A frigging task force is taking 100 days to find out if the firing of the zoo's Dr. Doolittle was justified or not. The Blade published a week-long series of trash in an attempt to create a scandal that doesn't exist over a person who is making money for Ohio and helping the state.
Where's the task force to investigate Ford?
posted by jr at 09:27 P.M. EST on Thu Apr 14, 2005 #
You raise important questions, jr.
I hope that the new Toledo Free Press will bring more accountability to City Hall. If nothing else, they will force the Blade to work harder.
posted by historymike at 10:54 A.M. EST on Sat Apr 16, 2005 #
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