Yes sir! Very interesting...
Here's a link to a copy of the Ludeman memo to council members.
posted by paulhem at 11:25 A.M. EST on Thu Jul 26, 2007 #
The part of the article that I found most troubling was the fact that McNamara will respond with a press conference this afternoon. I am surprised that guy doesn't have a tan with all the time he seems to be spending in front of the camera lights these days. I voted for him, but have been annoyed with his petulant whining lately. His pose on the cover of the Blade today with a crown for Carty surely means that he has finally become just the kind of polical bombthrower that we don't need. Hey Joe, stop grandstanding and get to work!
posted by Ace_Face at 12:12 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 26, 2007 #
The Blade has a preview of the newsconference:
"Mr. McNamara, joined by Councilman Mike Craig, said city Law Director John Madigan told him he did not violate any laws by mentioning Democratic candidate Ed Cichy during a council debate Tuesday."
posted by paulhem at 02:59 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 26, 2007 #
Ludeman is a Czarty toady. Czarty is getting tired of fighting and losing to McNamara, so Czarty probably wanted a favor from Ludeman. Afterall, Czarty's B Team helped Ludeman get elected Council president in January 2006.
McNamara was the first or one of the first to call for Czarty's friend, John Irish, to resign after the golf outing fund raiser problem.
McNamara has been outspoken on getting a change to the city charter that would force the mayor to give Council a budget estimate a lot sooner than normal. Naturally, Ludeman is opposed to this change.
McNamara made fun of Czarty after Czarty's suggestion to reduce the size of Council.
"This statement from Joe McNamara was received via email:
"So why cut democracy by only 25%? Why not go all the way? That’s why we’re proposing eliminating the City Council entirely and presenting the Mayor with this crown. Because if the Mayor is going to govern as a tyrant, he might as well look like one."
Hah! Beautiful.
McNamara has been beating the hell out of Czarty lately, and Czarty probably asked little Robby for help.
Yeah, we know Czarty is a buffoon, but Ludeman is right there with Czarty. Toledo will be a better city with this clown Ludeman out of office next year.
After the September 2005 mayoral primary where Ludeman finished fourth, Ludeman endorsed Czarty.
In January 2006 after Ludeman assumed the throne as Council president, one of Robby's first moves on behalf of Czarty was:
"Toledo City Council President Rob Ludeman replaced Councilman Frank Szollosi as chairman of economic development and appointed Councilman Robert McCloskey in his place. Mr. Ludeman said Mr. McCloskey wanted the seat and is interested in the Marina District."
McCloskey voted for Robby for Council president.
McCloskey was not interested in the Marina District project because I saw first hand his disdain for that project. Less than a month after McCloskey's appointment by Robby, McCloskey was indicted, and is now in prison somewhere.
Obviously, Robby has no judge of character. But then again, look at Ludeman's character.
posted by jr at 04:18 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 26, 2007 #
jr.
I think that "Czarty" term is starting to catch on.
Don't you think?
Not that I agree or disagree. Just find it interesting...
posted by paulhem at 04:39 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 26, 2007 #
Credit belongs to anonymouscoward for creating the name "Czarty" on Toledo Talk. Maybe "Czarty" was used elsewhere when Czarty was mayor in the past. I think this comment on Feb 9, 2006 is the first use of "Czarty" here.
Definition of czar:
1. an emperor or king.
2. (often initial capital letter) the former emperor of Russia.
3. an autocratic ruler or leader.
4. any person exercising great authority or power in a particular field: a czar of industry.
posted by jr at 05:26 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 26, 2007 #
posted by jr at 08:36 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 26, 2007 #
So the issue Ludeman has is July 2007 is:
"Rob Ludeman says two council members talked about a candidate for council in a meeting the other day, and that could violate either the city charter or the city's ethics policy."
"At issue is an e-mail from Ed Cichy, a candidate for the District 2 seat on City Council. It was an "open letter" to the council, regarding a proposed charter amendment that would change city budget procedures. Ludeman says council member Mike Craig read Cichy's e-mail in a meeting on Tuesday, and council member Joe McNamara congratulated Cichy by name during the "first call" part of the meeting."
Dave Schulz ran for Toledo City Council as a Republican in 2005 and 2006. Clarifying the definition of term limits for City Council was an issue for Dave during one or both of his campaigns. Republican Rob Ludeman "supported" Dave's idea.
After the November 2005 election, Dave made a posting here titled Term Limits in Toledo. An excerpt:
"In late September, Schulz asked council to clarify term limits but had no official response from any member, although President Escobar and Councilman Ludeman expressed support for the effort to clarify term limits in a Toledo Blade story."
In October 2006, Council Candidate Dave Schulz spoke out against Toledo's new trash policy.
Implying nothing, only asking, and maybe Dave can post here and help answer the question: Did Ludeman ever bring up Dave's name in a Council meeting in the fall of 2005 or 2006 about any of Dave's issues, especially term limits?
Here's a little more about Ludeman's brilliance from my May 2007 comment about Toledo's Wi-Fi idea:
"On Fred L's May 30, 2007 radio show, I thought I heard Fred say that City Council discussed Toledo's Wi-Fi plan. Is that true? I cannot find the story about that anywhere."
"Fred said something about Ludeman forwarding a photo to the city's IT person, and this photo showed some Wi-Fi entity in Australia. Where in the hell is this info on the WSPD site? Again, some media sites suck."
"Anyway, Fred "Googled" the entity in the photo, and it turns out the org or whatever has nothing to do with wireless Internet. Way to go Rob."
And this comment from the fall of 2005 gives us more insight into the character of Ludeman's friend Bob McCloskey who was one of Dave Schulz's targets, concerning the term limit issue.
posted by jr at 09:21 P.M. EST on Thu Jul 26, 2007 #
Section 178. Political activities.
No person in the administrative service shall directly or indirectly solicit or receive, or be in any manner concerned in soliciting or receiving any assessment, subscription or contribution for any political party or political purpose whatsoever. No person shall orally, or by letter, solicit, or be in any manner concerned in soliciting, any assessment, subscription, or contribution for any political party from any person holding a position in the classified service. Any violation of this section shall operate to forfeit the officer or portion held by the person violating the same and shall render any such person ineligible to any municipal office or position for a period of one year.
First, this section is in the chapter on the Civil Service Commission. Other than say they can't solicit or promise, I don't see how this applies to a member of council.
Second, this referenced section has nothing to do with mentioning a candidate's name at a council meeting.
posted by MaggieThurber at 08:01 A.M. EST on Fri Jul 27, 2007 #
JR,
Bob Vasquez and I testified at a hearing on ethics reform and term limits in early August 2006. Bob and Sobczak got in a heated exchange and I was complimented by Ellen Grachek and dialouged back and forth with Frank during the hearing.
Obviously, this was a political issue which I championed for over a year at the time and with the help of Blade editorials, council was forced to act on term limits.
The current controversy is a result of well coordinated strategy of certain council members to use the council meetings to advance their chosen candidates. That much is clear. Hard to control this during the silly season. I guess the only difference was that I had to use tactics outside the help of elected officials and in spite of their general reluctance to help me to spur action while this is just coordinated political strategy by elected officials to promote their candidates.
My .02.
Dave
posted by daveschulz at 10:45 A.M. EST on Fri Jul 27, 2007 #
Look at the photo in the Blade today about this - Ludeman's face has a permanent scowl. He looks like somebody who's been angry or annoyed his whole life, like his face has grown into that scowl. I don't know the facts, or if the accusation was even valid, but just seeing his photo made me think "He's a guy who just likes to be an ass."
posted by starling02 at 03:34 P.M. EST on Fri Jul 27, 2007 #
Starling...the running joke was always that you could always tell whether you were 'in' or 'out' based upon how good/bad your photo was in a Blade story...
I wouldn't read anything into a photo in the paper...
posted by MaggieThurber at 04:07 P.M. EST on Fri Jul 27, 2007 #
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