Tt post setp 5, 2017 - d

In the Yvonne Harper Order-gate thread, a small side-discussion formed about other political candidates. I did not want to hijack that thread further.

My comment below is related to comments in that thread that are found here, here, and here.

---

"... endorsements don't mean strings are attached, in all cases."

That might be theoretically possible in some cities, but we're talking about Toledo, Ohio.

Referring again to the 2015 Yvonne thread that pointed to a Blade editorial titled No rubber stamp

In filling two key vacancies, City Council members must answer to citizens, not party and union bosses.

Council members must elect a new president to succeed Paula Hicks-Hudson. Insiders say that council incumbent Steven Steel is seeking support among his colleagues for the position, and has the backing of local private-sector unions that traditionally have exercised broad political influence on the council.

The county Democratic Party and its organized-labor allies are leaning on council members to appoint Yvonne Harper, the party’s executive director.

March 2015 Keith Burris column about the city council event when Steel was made the new city council president.

I learned an important lesson about Toledo politics. The paramount value, and goal, is not that Democrats, Republicans, and independents compete. It is that everyone who belongs to the club gets a cookie at the end of the tree-house meeting.

It's not about party or program. It’s about insiders and outsiders. Not pretty. At a time when the city needed statecraft, it got burlesque.

Of course Mr. Steel’s boss, as everyone knows, is a man named Shaun Enright, head of the Northwestern Ohio Building & Construction Trade Council, who often acts openly as a whip on the council chambers floor — sending hand signals to council members and the new president.

I’ve never seen such an open and shameless domination of a political body by a special interest.

The insincerity oozed through the hall. You could cut it with a knife. Cynicism and self-service ruled the day.

All in the game. It is a game. If politics does not serve the common good at all, that only leaves self-interest and self-aggrandizement.

If it is not competitive it will inevitably become corrupt.

Back in early 2015, Scott Ramsey was appointed to fill the District 4 vacancy seat, and then Yvonne won it fair-and-square in the May 2015 election.

Remember the West Toledo Kroger-Sisters issue back in the spring?

A Blade editorial described the issue.

The words that come to mind are: blatant, sleazy, and shameless.

You’d think that after brazenly caving to a combination of pressure groups — unions, Catholics loyal to the leadership of the Notre Dame sisters, and big business, plus the promise of campaign help from all of the above — to approve a development deal that violates the city’s master plan, Toledo City Council and the Hicks-Hudson administration would lay low for a while. But you’d be wrong.

Here are the city council members who voted FOR mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson's sleazy shenanigans:

• Tom Waniewski
• Cecelia Adams
• Rob Ludeman
• Matt Cherry
• Theresa Gabriel
• Yvonne Harper
• Tyrone Riley
• Steven Steel
• Larry Sykes
• Lindsay Webb

Voted against:

• Sandy Spang
• Peter Ujvagi

2017 Lucas County democrat party endorsements:

• Paula Hicks-Hudson to remain mayor of Toledo
• Cecelia Adams to remain an at-large Toledo City Council member
• Larry Sykes to remain an at-large Toledo City Council member

The other side is equally bad.

2017 Lucas County republican party endorsements

• Rob Ludeman to remain an at-large Toledo City Council member
• Tom Waniewski for Toledo Mayor

Ludeman participated in or was an accomplice to what, in my opinion, was thievery when he failed to come forward in a timely fashion about the city's scam of ticketing motorists who did nothing wrong. And the city had no intention of refunding the money until the Blade started poking around. Man, that criminal activity got swept away quickly, despite the last count being over 400 motorists who were wrongly ticketed.

July 2017 Blade editorial asked a simple question.

Did the ticket revenue exceed expectations because officers have been directed to nab drivers who are not actually speeding?

What did Ludeman know, and when did he know it?

Find the July 2017 interview that WSPD afternoon host Scott Sands conducted with Tom Waniewski. Tom gave a nonsensical interview. In my opinion, a blatant disregard of logic disqualifies someone from political office.

Scott told Tom that the traffic enforcement camera program is a money grab, which obviously it is, but Tom disagreed. Tom said that it's not a money grab.

But Scott failed to ask Tom that if the cameras are not a money grab, then why is the money from the fines listed as revenue in the budget? Why does the city expect to receive 4 to 6 million dollars from these cameras to balance the budget?

Tom said that if you don't want to pay a fine, then don't speed. In other words according to Tom, obey the law.

The mayoral hopeful made his moronic suggestion approximately one week after the Blade published stories about the city wrongly ticketing motorists.

Earlier this year, hundreds of motorists did what Tom suggested and obeyed the speed limit, but they got ticketed anyway, and most paid the fines. But Scott failed to mention this.

Tom is a city council member, and city council approves the budget. The traffic enforcement fines are listed in the budget as expected revenue. But Tom told people to drive the speed limit. If that happened, then the city has a 4 to 6 million dollar budget deficit.

I infer that Tom endorses a budget that is not balanced, which for a city is against state law.

Scott failed to ask Tom where does the money come from to fill the budget hole if people obeyed the speed limits. But how could we have a budget deficit if the traffic enforcement cameras are not a money grab?

Tom wants to add a zillion new police officers to the force. Fine. Where does the money come from, especially if people are obeying speed limitis, and the city has a multi-million dollar deficit?

The traffic enforcement camera revenue goes to the general fund. Police and fire services are funded by the general fund. Does Tom know this?

Scott failed to tell Tom that Toledo has more police officers and firemen per residents in 2017 than the city had in 1970. Why do we need more officers?

The answer comes from some arbitrary number, and Toledo is below this seemingly fabricated number for police officers.

This July 2017 Blade editorial may offer a reason as to why Toledo needs more police officers.

Crime is a legitimate issue. Toledo police Chief George Kral needs more officers.

Apparently, Toledo's crime rate is significantly worst in 2017 than it was in 1970, relative to the population.

Have any political candidates said that we need more police officers because Toledo is more unsafe today than decades ago?

This month's primary should be the final one, during a mayoral election year.

In the September primary, the top 12 city council at-large finishers make it to the November ballot. This year, 13 people are running for city council at-large.

In the mayoral primary, the top 2 finishers make it to November. This year, three candidates are running for mayor.

I don't count Opal. I know that she met the requirements to run by getting enough signatures and all of that happy horeshit, but she ran in 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2015, and she didn't come close in any contest. A normal person moves on or runs for something else.

This month's primary eliminates two people from political contention. That seems like a waste of money.

In 2021, all city council at-large candidates and mayoral candidates should appear on the November ballot.