Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

I have not followed Fairfield County politics closely. Perhaps I should have. County government certainly is important, especially these days.

I suppose the reason for my apathy, and the likely apathy of a lot of other baffled voters, is that the folks in office now don't have much vision and aren't doing much. Maybe they just want to keep their jobs. That's politics, I guess, but let's try to get away from that.

Anyway, I have followed the postings here about Mike Kiger. So my question is, why should I vote for him? What has he done, what does he propose to do, why are these good things, and why is he the best candidate to get them done?

No name-calling or Republican politics, please. And no labels either. I am neither a Republican nor a Conservative, and never will be (although some of my best friends are, may the good lord save their souls), so it won't help to tell me that he is one or both of these, even a ''true'' one.

Please stick to County policy, and get specific. What will he try to accomplish in Fairfield County if he is re-elected, and why would those be good things to do?

I also would not mind hearing the same things about Steve Elsea. Again, no name-calling or labelling please. Stick to things that this baffled voter would care about. Be objective. Be specific. What does he think needs to get done in this great County of ours, and why would he be the best one to do it?

Indeed, I would not mind hearing these things about any candidate for these County posts. But remember -- any candidate who slings mud deserves to stay in the mud, as far as I am concerned, and I am not impressed by labels. I want to know what each candidate would do for baffled voters such as me, why these would be good things to get done, and why the candidate in question is the best one to do this.

If a candidate does not know what to do if elected, or how to get it done, then I don't think anyone should vote for them. There's too many public officials asleep at the wheel, or on the golf course, already.

By Baffled Voter

Also baffled

Any candidate, regardless of party affiliation, who could give conceivable, realistic plans for solving issues facing our community would get my vote. Incumbents should state specifically what they have accomplished to correct current prob-
lems. Instead we end up with the same rhetorical blah blah and no concrete ideas or plans to address the issues. Then we are subjected to a ''throw more money at it'' solution which becomes a coverup for inefficiency and mismanagement.

By lin

Close call

A long time ago I had a fifth grade teacher that described her definition of a conservative and a liberal. This was before they took on wings like left and right. It was before they questioned each others morals and it was before being labeled a liberal or a conservative also meant which National Political party you belonged too.

Her definition was that liberals were more likely to make changes to our laws to solve problems that they perceived and the Conservatives were more than likely to resist that change and only change after a long period of consideration.

I think both attitudes are very important in the creation of any public policy and when we enact our laws and policies.

So if going with my fifth grade teacher's definition is both of these candidates (Kiger and Elsea) claiming to be conservative? Is Steve Elsea a religious conservative like his mentor Blackwell? Or is he a financial conservative? I understand that Mr. Elsea does own and operate his own business and I am sure he has some feelings for being pro-business. Beyond that I know very little about Mr. Elsea.

Mr. Kiger has served four years or will have served four years as County Commissioner and it was noted by Carl Tatman (who I understand is Elsea's Treasurer) that Mr. Kiger has only opposed the other Commissioners a token number of times over that term.

I also know that Mr. Kiger upset the rank and file and the order of the Fairfield Republican party in 2002 by turning out the long time County Commissioner Allan Reid. I do not believe Mr. Kiger was endorsed by the party in 2002 either.

As someone that is more conservative than liberal I like to think out my actions. Especially those big decisions. I do know that Mr. Kiger was raising the alarms about the county budget well before the 2004 election and the other two commissioners (Myers and Shupe) were saying Kiger didn't know what he was talking about. Once Shupe and Myers were re-elected we then learned that there indeed was a problem or a short fall in the county budget. We then saw them send out the Sheriff to lobby the voters for a sale tax increase to build a new County Jail.

The monkey on Mr. Kiger's back is who he has associated with over the years. Clearly he has formed an alliance with Brian Fox and Craig Maxey. Those two former Pickerington City council men have been aligned with and they were advocates for the BIA for years. When recall petitions stared to circulate on these two from feed up Pickerington residents Mr. Kiger wrote to defend these two and called those circulating the recall petitions as cowards and not willing to fight it out at the ballot box. In the end, these two were the cowards in that they refused to run for council in 2003 to save their remaining political capital to run again some day. As we can see both Maxey and Fox are candidates running for the Republican Central Committee once again. Maxey is unopposed.

It should also be noted that both Maxey and Fox stood by DeMastry and McAuliffe right up to the time the jury Forman said guilty. In fact, I heard that Maxey has the Judge's power of attorney.

So I would say that Mr. Kiger has probably done a good job over the last four years. However considering his close association with the two former councilmen and their close association with a favorite developer here in Pickerington I am very concerned about what might happen to the county when all of the land speculators start and they probably have already made purchases of lands along the new Lancaster bypass. I would hope we could attract and find good commercial development along that corridor and not a sea of homes like what Maxey and Fox promoted in Pickerington for so long.


I think I will probably favor Elsea in this one.


By Liberal Conservative

What to do, what to do???

You mean I have to chose between a bible thumper and someone known to fraternize with criminals?

That's a toughie.