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Given the
weakened position of the GOP locally, you would think that
they would welcome the infusion of 170 new candidates for
precinct committeeman. But no, predictably the R’s are up in
arms over these putative precinct leaders. If Robert
Reichert, head of the local GOP, and others were real smart,
they would embrace Jon and his horde of young people as a
godsend to kick start the moribund Republican Party. And if
I were Ron Rothenbuhler, head of the Lucas County Democratic
Party, I would be hoping that the Stainbrook effort is not
successful.
The last
thing the local Dems want is a truly competitive GOP in
Lucas County. Plus, some of the folks Jon recruited are from
Democratic strongholds. Usually Republican Party candidates
do not even campaign in many Democratic precincts. But what
if suddenly a GOP precinct committeeman starts hosting
picnics or coffees on, say, Warsaw or Belmont or Consaul on
the east side. Heaven forbid.
Cindi
Lauper popularized a song a number of years ago titled
“Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” Well, Stain “just wants to
have fun” in politics. Go Stain!
We will see
how tough the reaction to the council presidency coup is in
two upcoming events. Will the new president of City Council
be front and center at the Perry Burroughs fundraiser
featuring Janet Jackson, head of the Franklin County United
Way? Will the black community, particularly the churches,
allow campaigning for the renewal of the ¾ tax that will
appear on the ballot on March 4?
Get ready
for a group to get tough in allowing politicians to access
the vote in the black community on levies. This is the
fallout for dumping Michael Ashford from the City Council
presidency. Rev. Floyd Rose will be in on this.
More
importantly, the campaign-savvy Weldon Douthitt is now
saying he will not assist levy campaigns in the future.
Douthitt is pretty good at getting out the vote in the
central city. Just ask Mark Luetke who used Douthitt to
increase the black turnout by 20 percent in the recent COSI
levy effort.
State
Senator Teresa Fedor fell victim to a coup in the state
senate two weeks ago. There is always that possibility in
statehouse politics – just as in city council machinations.
I put down
three attempts during the three years I was House caucus
leader. Just pick yourself up, Teresa, and regroup. That is
all you can do. Look for another battle on another field on
another day!
The
announcement that the Toledo Community Foundation is giving
$42,500 to the Center for Hope Church Children’s Defense
Fund School is a real stunner. It shows how sharp Keith
Burwell is on ascertaining the needs of the community. This
program is truly a self-help and empowerment program for
young folks in the Dorr, Oakwood, Norwood and Detroit Street
areas. This should be added to the Dorr Street
revitalization efforts.
And Bill
Kitson, at the United Way, gets it big time. Kitson has
quietly wrought a change over at the local United Way. He
has moved staff, empowered a whole bunch of young folk,
lifting, for example, Jason Daniels to a manager’s position.
Recently
the Toledo Free press tried to make a case that the
teachers’ union orchestrated a money scheme to get funds to
me and Lisa Sobecki.
The problem
with their article is that it was not only untrue but also
extremely misleading. First, the article questions why the
Board of Elections has not chastised those politicians who
supported me with contributions even though I was not
endorsed by the Lucas County Democratic Party. Well, the
Board of Elections has no jurisdiction in policing a county
party regarding support or non-support of candidates. So a
couple of columns were wasted right there.
Next, the
paper makes a claim that money given in April 2007 was then
re-given to me on October 2007. The problem is that I was
not a candidate for the school board until August 2007. For
Fran Lawrence to have done what the paper claims, she would
have to have been clairvoyant. She would have had to have
known in April that Deborah Barnett would resign a month or
two later and that I would get the nod … and that I would
decide to run some months later. None of those first
decisions were made until June 2007.
Finally,
the Free Press article implies that a $200 contribution to
Pete Gerken, for example, results in a $1,250 contribution
to Sobecki and Ford. Huh? Or a $100 contribution to Joe
McNamara suddenly blooms into a $730 contribution to Sobecki.
So, why the
hatchet job?
Contact Jack Ford at
jack@thetruthtoledo.com.
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