I apologize for taking a bad day out on you. There was no reason to go after you as I did. It won’t happen again. Please take this as sincere as it is.

Have a good night.

Abe

I really believe that part of the problem is the intolerance of too many voters regarding a single issue. I remember back in the 1970s when the county was under a court order to build a new jail. The three commissioners at the time were Sol Wittenberg, Jim Holzemer, and Bill Gernhauser. Gernhauser was a Republican, the other two Democrats, but just as with Maggie Thurber, he voted most of the time with his colleagues. There were conditions which the new building had to meet. When the final product was announced, our only daily newspaper labeled it a “Taj Mahal” and started one of their vendettas against all three commissioners. Wittenberg was up for election first, in 1974. The electorate bought the “Taj Mahal” attacks and he was defeated. I was at the opening of an alcohol rehab halfway house shortly thereafter. I talked briefly to Holzemer and Gernhauser, both of whom I was aquainted with. As Gernhauser put it, “It’s as though I’ve served in office all of these years with most people believing I’ve done a good job, building up a political line of credit, and someone cancelled all of that good will in one action.”

I have no doubt that the news media — especially our only daily newspaper — are a major contributing factor in the dearth of candidates. While the editors of The Blade (and some others in the local media) seem to leap gleefully at any opportunity to tear down local elected officials, they will concurrently editorialize about how terrible it is that we lack real choices in too many local elections. Who has a thick enough skin to run in this county? Not many!

It’s been interesting that very few have mentioned the Recorder race…especially since it is now the only county race where there will be two names on the ballot.

I whole heartedly agree with the quote made by Metzenbaum, I think few of us would find a candidate or an elected official that we agreed with on every issue or on every vote. I also believe our process works best when voters have a choice, that was something I said to Mr. Scotland personally when he was at my home. Or election process is the only time we have an actual say on how we feel our current elected officials are doing, to have almost every single Lucas County official running unopposed to me shows we have a larger failure on the side of democracy than just this one race…

I want to reiterate that I have openly supported all three current county commissioners. I really like Tina Skeldon-Wozniak. What I like most about Tina is her willingness to listen to all sides. But neither she, nor any other politician, can please everybody on every issue. The problem I have with too many bloggers is that being open and listening to them isn’t enough for them. If they disagree with an elected official on one issue, far too many condemn that person forever. I always go back to something Howard Metzenbaum used to say when he was campaigning. “You may not agree with everything I say. You may not agree with every vote I make in the United States Senate. But I will make you a Senator of whom you will be proud.” I am proud of the type of commissioner that Tiny Skeldon-Wozniak had been. That’s not to say that I agree with her on every issue.

I also like and respect Pete Gerken and Ben Konop. Ben’s very public differences with Pete and Tina prove that no political party can keep all of it’s members in lock step. As Pete pointed out in his guest column in the Free Press, all three vote the same on most items that come before them, but then so did Republican Maggie Thurber.

It’d be great to think we solved all of the problems of the City and the County here within these blog pages. However, the best we can hope for some days is to find areas we can agree on.

Simple-mindedness always strikes a nerve with me. Don’t give me the problem, I can figure that out myself, provide to me a solution.

Obviously a man who can’t even get himself on the ballot is not the solution I’m looking for.

Namecalling never solved a problem, Pam. Get involved in a positive way to better the community.

Yes, you have your right to your opinion, but opinions are like heads, everybody has one. Mine is different than yours, but, hey, flail away at the system we all know is wrong. That’s productive.

Peace out Pam, it’s just a discussion after all. Count to ten and breath in and out slowly. It’s called meditation and it appears it would be useful for you to try.

Saying all of that, it is always best to be as open and honest as possible when running for public office. In addition, Mr. Scotland is not new to the game. He certainly should have known what he was getting himself into when he declared his candidacy. Lisa well points out that there are many people proficient in doing public records’ searches. Nothing stays hidden for long. It is best to be out front with all information.

Having spent 15 years in a small business, I am well aware of the problems faced by entrepreneurs. I am also aware of tax avoidance as well as purposeful tax evasion by many in business. In my younger days, I sometimes ate lunch at a popular eating establishment where the cashier often “forgot” to ring up some of the tabs. When I ate in the same place for dinner, every tab was rung up. I dealt with “vest pocket” coin dealers. They often set up at 20 or more coin shows a year on weekends. Most never charged sales tax and never paid it. I doubt if they declared any of the money they made as income for taxation purposes, since most had full time “5 day a week” jobs.

Many businesses “lose” money according to their tax returns, but their owners still live well. I wonder how? Remember when about 15 or 20 years ago Donald Trump’s net worth was negative $100 million or so? He never moved out of any of his plush homes. It’s ironic that he is now bailing out Ed McMahon.