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I think there seems to be an attitude held my many in public life that they want to control the press or they want to control the image they present to the public in a way that makes them look smart and brilliant at times. This desire is so prevalent in the human mind that we find our elected officials going to great lengths to cover up screw ups and out right blunders by withholding information from the public. However no matter how good a person is at standing before the public and presenting their lie, that lie many times has holes it and the public and the voters can see right through the holes in the lie everytime.
I happened to be home early one day about a month ago and our dear Governor Taft was standing before the press explaining his lie about the Bureau of Workman?’s Compensation and how they had just lost another $215 Million in BWC funds to a faulty investment. I am not a reporter but I could smell blood over the aroma of the drink in my hand made mostly from hops (what ever hops are). I suspect the Governor will be the last person in Ohio to know that most of his answers were lies or were based on lies told to him by intimidated staff members. My advice to Gov. Taft, give it up Bob they caught you and now come clean for the sake of the entire state and your party. Continuing to try to cover this up only prolongs the damage to your legacy (see Nixon 1974).
One tell-tell sign of public corruption comes from the officials in charge and their intimidated staff. This is when public employees are terrified to speak to the citizens on any matter and that staff then must seek permission before providing public records request to the public (micro-managing). What we are seeing here in the Governor?’s office is documents being provided with names blacked out, the Governor claiming executive privilege and a general stone walling of the press.
Clearly the Governor has lost the trust of the majority of the State?’s voters and citizens. It is time for him to come clean and resign with a full disclosure and provide all of the information he has omitted (?“by mistake?”) to the public. The office of governor is more important than Bob Taft the individual.
Clearly for the type of corruption we are seeing at the State house it must be supported by either corrupt staff with blind loyalty or a large group of ?“insiders?” that are good at over looking these ethically lapses. For those old enough this current Ohio Scandal looks very familiar to that dark period in our history when Nixon tried his cover up strategy in the 1972 Watergate breakin. Nixon accomplished many very important tasks during his term as president (opening up China, ending the Viet Nam war, and the EPA agency to name a few). However despite all of his accomplishments he will always be remembered as the President that resigned in disgrace.
By Bill Bailey
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Learning behavior in Picktown
The purpose for this web site, I believe was to allow the citizens of this community to state their concerns and basically vent when frustrated with our local leader?’s actions. At the same time I think it is safe to say many local elected leaders do visit this site just to see and hear what the public gripe is on any given day. I started my message out with the poor example the Governor is showing us all of it also relates to the local politics and you can see that same deception regularly practiced by the local politicians.
If you take for example the previous City Hall leadership that was voted out in 2003, you will find many of the same behavioral issues occurred here in Pickerington that is currently occurring in the Governor?’s office. We had an entire City Council that was supported by outside interest groups and they all were ethically challenged. Public records will show that the previous council and mayors had their campaign financed by outside interest groups. The City Manager was a micro-manager who tried to control all public information coming and going to the city. In addition she was benefiting from land speculation as far back as 1998 (documented to your left in ''our pages''). Then there was the Mayor Lee Gray scandal where he intervened in the arrest of a drunk driver and removed the man from the police cruiser before he could be hauled off to jail. The City Council at the time actually defended the Mayor?’s actions by saying he was ?“helping a friend?”. Are drunk drivers ever a friend to our society? The point here is that trying to promote a lie by public elected leaders never works and it always seems to come around and bites the entire local government that those lies come from.
The second point is some times there are blunders by either staff or those elected. Trying to convince the public of something that is very obvious to all and not so obvious to those in office normally ends in a true loss of trust for the ENTIRE GOVRNMENT entity trying to put one over on the public.
When Mayor Lee Gray tried to talk his way out of the 1998 drunk driver incident he tried to portray himself as a loyal friend. However most in the community saw through his defense.
I often wonder if Lee would have come forward and admitted his mistake and come clean with the public and he had been sincere would he have a much better legacy than he does now?
He survived temporally because he had a blind loyal group on council that supported his actions because they all had a bigger fish to fry in what ever they had going on for themselves in the back room. Was the council at the time intimidated or were they part of the conspiracy? Can we relate that same question to our state government now? Were Brian Hicks, the Governor?’s former Chief of Staff, and his executive secretary intimidated or were they part of the conspiracy?
By Bill Bailey Cont.
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Relating it to the PLSD
Now let me apply what we have all have seen here in our state government to our local school board and school system.
I think we have all read here on this web site the public outcry about the public funds that were spent to build the ?“Taj Mahal?” at the corner of Refugee and Pickerington Roads. The passage of that $77 Million bond issue slipped by with only 40 votes to spare out of over 16,000 votes cast (normal school issue elections draw around 9,000 voters or less). In the last three bond levy elections the same voters have turned down the school by well over 60 plus % NO votes.
I think many in our community and especially those elected what to disregard the comments on this web site based on the mere fact they most are from anonymous or phony names and not the poster?’s real name. Yet it has been my experience that many of the comments posted on this site do reflect more about what the voters are thinking than those that have time or they are school zealots that are willing and are folks that feel comfortable in standing before a school board or city council and speaking out about their concerns.
Clearly there is a historical record of public intimidation against those in this community that chose to oppose or speak out against the actions or policies of the local school board and our school system in general. That public intimidation was also recorded on this web site and all are welcome to research those comments going back to before the new high school levy was ever put on the ballot. This intimidation proved to be a deciding factor in the pro-levy North High Complex in winning their coveted prize that huge sports complex at North High School.
To accomplish that kind of victory it took an enormous effort and a very intense lobbying effort on the part of those pro-levy people. To keep everyone in line they had to make promises to their coalition partners, and they had expectations higher than the average voter was willing to pay for.
The intensity of the leaders of this movement, worked for a couple of years with intimidation and threats of boycotting the board member?’s places of employment and the individuals in the community that spoke out against the insanity at the time. Obviously our human minds can never keep up that level of intensity for an extended period of time especially when the entire campaign was based on the BIG LIE.
The pro-levy group now says and they are trying to follow the former Pickerington Mayor?’s lead in promoting the myth that the two Pickerington High Schools have equal facilities.
By Bill Bailey
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You were right Dear
Like Governor Taft and former Lee Gray the Pickerington community is NOT buying the school board?’s crap about equal facilities. Our school system leaders have a huge credibility gap to fill and soon. Despite the fact that some on this current school board were not there during the planning and implementation of the ?“Taj Mahal?” bond levy.
Also recorded on this web site are the comments being used in defense of the North High Facilities spending?
Things like ?“well Central High was state of the art when it was built.?” ?“Different High schools are different in all districts?”. And so on!!
The credibility problem I now see with the current school board is that they want to cover up this blunder made by former Pickerington school boards and their supporters. Many times voters will pay very little attention to plans on paper. There are probably two reasons: one most can?’t conceptualize the drawings in front of them and visualize what those plans will look like once built. The second issue is that unless you are a real local political junky and have no life you simply don?’t have time or the understanding of those written proposals.
However with the above stated; once that building and those new high school facilities were completed EVERYONE in the district now can see where their money went. I feel this ?“Taj Mahal?” issue is snow balling out of control for the school system. Just a couple of nights ago I had a friend mention to me that they had a professional landscaper plants and many ?“designer?” type scrubs and plants around the new school, his complain was the did the current janitorial staff have the expertise to maintain and trim this type of greenery. Hiring outside help costs big bucks.
The more the board tries to defend the actions of the former school zealots the more damage they do to their own credibility.
IT IS TIME TO COME CLEAN FOLKS.
Quit defending an issue that at least 8,000 voters walk away opposing from the polls in 2001 and the light is dawning on the other 8,000 voters.
Please Pickerington Local School Officials I would ask that you finally face the truth of what so many of the voters now have faced and that is the school board in 2000 blew it and yielded to the pressure of these schools zealots. The more you and your current supporters try to defend those actions the more miss-trust you create in those required and needed programs and buildings you are currently asking for.
I am sure there are those that have had a real strong argument with your spouse. Sometimes those arguments can go on for years. After being married for over a quarter of a century I think those four little words have provided bliss in our relationship are:
?“YOU WERE RIGHT DEAR?”
By Bill Bailey
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