|
|
Just when I thought I had seen it all... now the story breaks that Fairfield County has a GOP politician living in an apartment and paying rent to a landlord that is not paying their taxes. AND that same politician is likely just using the apartment as a front to establish residency in the county. It turns out that she and her husband own a huge chunk of land with a horse farm in Perry County but live in an apartment in Bremen. They just visit their horse farm on the weekends... yeah right, that makes perfect sense.
What is it with these Fairfield County Republicans? Do they all think that they are above the law? We've pretty much seen it all here in Pickerington but I had no idea that the GOP Mafia was all over the county. The party seemed to not have any problem when the mayor commited his hit skip incident in downtown Pickerington or when a certain city councilman was running for office he stacked the deck for the endorsement of the party. But now it's everywhere!! Now the GOP decides to toss Mike Kiger to the curb in favor of someone with no experience what so ever. Perhaps Kiger is too clean cut and this new guy is willing to break, bend and destroy some laws right along with the rest the Republicans in the county. Sorry, Mike but we evidently don't need good law abiding citizens like yourself in office here in Fairfield County.
What is going on?? I say we get these criminals out of office as soon as possible and allow the Democrats a chance. There is no way they could be any worse than what we have now. If you pride yourself on being a Republican, I urge all of you to vote for Democrats in the next elections!
By Changed
|
|
|
|
|
|
I agree
I'm kindof tired of the ''vote for me if you want change'' crowd acting even worse than the old guard. Do you remember when ethics, honor and integrity meant something? I do, and I don't see any ethics, honor or integrity currently in Fairfield County Republicans.
Well, it was a good experiment while it lasted.
|
|
|
I Disagree
You guys sound like part of the old guard, trying to get the rest of us to bite on sour grapes.
The vote for change crowd on city council and in the mayor's office are bringing us the change that we wanted. The annexation wars have ended. The sewer expansion that would have committed us to runaway residential growth for years has been stopped. The much-vaunted Pickerington bypass is no longer going to bypass anything, and a good part of the old village has been saved in the process.
The new regime has stopped the borrow and spend cycle of its predecessors. Cooperation is being initiated between the city and surrounding municipalities. The impact of growth on schools, roads and other infrastructure is now taken very seriously. Real comprehensive planning for the future of this community is underway. Residential developers are no longer offered inducements to build here.
I could continue, but I think I've made my point. As for ethics, honesty and integrity, I think the members of the old guard who are now in prison make that point.
As for the original point of this string, do parties really matter in local politics? I think we have seen that any effort to link local reform to a national political party brings in a host of unwanted baggage, and creates pointless divisions. People who do not agree on national, state or even county policy can agree quite strongly on what needs to be done locally.
I have known in this community both Democrats and Republicans with whom I strongly agree, and with whom I strongly disagree, on local issues. At least at our level, good government does, and should, cut across party lines.
Maybe, instead of a local affiliate of some national political party, what we need is a civic association that cuts across party lines, and that is committed to managed, planned growth, good schools, open and honest government, and reasonable taxes -- something like the original PATA.
By Bigfish
|
|
|
Apathy
There seems to be a number of issues here that need to be addressed.
The connection with the County Republicans and the local politics has been broken. I think the two county wide Republicans that are currently in jail were there because they did receive documented support from the local Republicans here on The Pickerington City Council. Brian Fox and Craig Maxey did support publicly McAuliffe and DeMastry even after the criminal charges were level against both. I doubt that anyone on the current City Council would touch anyone charged with felonies in the county. I truly believe that the current council would distance themselves from the county politics with even the hint of any scandal like we have seen in the last decade.
As for the Republicans versus Democrats I think the Democrats have become complacent and allowed their party to be taken over by the extreme left wing nationally. The National Democratic Party many times doesn?’t reflect the same views as the local people that I know that call themselves Democrats. As a Republican I see my party trying to move to the extreme right. Based on that and if the party continues to support the bible packing Blackwell who has his own ethics issues versus a Ted Strickland, I will vote for Strickland.
I do see a problem with bringing those partisan politics to the local issues like our City Council and the Township Trustees. I think putting labels on whether someone is a Democratic or a Republican in local campaigns tends to reflect the National parties more than address the local issues which may be very different from the National issues or for that matter State issues. When we went to the polls last fall were we thinking about rebuilding New Orleans, immigration, border security, or for that matter the war in Iraq.
With that said, I believe that it is everyone?’s responsibility to be at least informed if not involved in the local political process. This last fall we saw the Trustees with only token opposition and the school board members ran unopposed. The City Council did field 7 candidates for the 4 open seats. They at least put on a spirited campaign. With a couple of expectations there was some mud slinging and controversy but the citizens did elect a new council majority. My point is that what allowed this city and this community to get in the mess over the last decade or so was CITIZEN COMPLACENCY.
When we have those longing for their power back we hear the chants of ?“nothing changed?” and ?“the same old crooks?” in office. Before you start to make the broad claims of corruption and unethical behavior we should outline our expectations of our leaders. Otherwise your creditability begins to suffer and makes you nothing more than a bomb thrower. Revolution is easy to get started but extremely hard to sustain.
Big Fish did point out some of the accomplishments of the local government bodies since the 2003 election. Some of the law suits resulting from these 2001 annexations have been settled. The has been agreement of the sewer territories of the county and Pickerington. This allows for planning in both the City and the County for future growth. Jointly the City and the Township have coordinated their thoroughfare plans to help with future planning of our roads. There are ongoing talks about CEDA?’s and JEDD?’s. I am sure there are many more examples of cooperation in our community.
By Larry
|
