Jon Olinger endorses Tom Smith
On Tuesday we have a choice to make in Fort Wayne’s 1st City Council District. The choice is between Tom Smith, a strong proven conservative, and Ken Nicolet, a nice man, but by his record a “RINO”.
Tom Smith has been working for the tax payer as Fort Wayne’s First District City Councilman for many years. Tom has tried to hold the line on senseless spending. He opposed Harrison Square and the lavish spending by the Mayor’s Office on Renaissance Square. Tom has fought for small business and helped to keep jobs in Fort Wayne. Smith has shown integrity and has tried to reign in unnecessary government spending over the past two Democrat Mayoral administrations.
At the same time Ken Nicolet went to work for Graham Richard and continues to work for Mayor Tom Henry. In fact Mr. Nicolet’s campaign finance report looks like a “who’s who” of Fort Wayne Democrats. Graham Richards, Jerry Henry, Karen Golder, and Jill Downs all contributed to Ken Nicolet’s campaign. I was always told that if it looks like a Duck, quacks like a Duck, and swims like a Duck, it is most likely a Duck. In Ken Nicolet’s case, if he works for Democrat Mayors, upholds the policies of Democrat administrations and is funded by Democrat donors… he is most likely a Democrat.
I’m voting Republican in the Republican primary¸ I’m voting for Tom Smith.
Sincerely
Jon J. Olinger
My predictions for the Fort Wayne Republican Mayoral Primary
I am greatly looking forward to voting in the upcoming Mayoral Primary.
We are lucky two have two great candidates (Brown and Doden) and one good candidate who has unfortunately decided to run negative attack adds against her fellow Republicans (Hughes).
I will definately be voting for Liz Brown for Mayor in the Republican Primary.
Two weeks ago I was talking to Jon Olinger on the phone and predicted this race would be close and I thought that: Hughes and Brown would both get 39% of the vote. Doden would get 20% of the vote. And the two lesser known candidates (Osheskie and Walker) would each get 1% of the vote.
What a difference two weeks make. Apparently Paula Hughes learned that she was behind and starting churning out negative attack adds against her fellow Republicans in an act of desperation. I have talked to a lot of people about these negative adds and the majority of people I have discussed this with were put off by these negative attack ads.
Angry White boy has the data from a pollcommissioned by the Mike Downs Center to poll this primary. According to that poll Liz Brown was up by 6.7%. I think that Hughes and her negative campaigning will backfire and I think she will finish in second place. I also think a few Doden supporters will move away from Doden since he is clearly in 3rd place and I think those voters will gravitate towards Brown and Hughes.
My current prediction is:
- Brown 45%
- Hughes 37%
- Doden 16%
- Osheskie and Walker, 1% each
What is your prediction?
Mike
New Poll about about Paula Hughes and her negative attack ads
The new poll is on the right sidebar of the blog.
Mike Sylvester
Jon Olinger endorses Russ Jehl for 2nd District City Council
So many times during Fort Wayne City elections we choose the same candidates and they pursue the same policies. At best, these candidates, keep the lights on in the city-county building, at worst they sink millions to building downtown monuments to themselves.
This year we have the opportunity to make a difference. When I vote, I will cast my vote for Russ Jehl. Mr. Jehl is a professional commercial realtor who believes that the most successful development of real estate is done by private investment dollars, not by my tax dollars. Mr. Jehl understands that government does not create jobs, people do. Mr. Jehl understands that for our children to have opportunities to work and build their lives in Fort Wayne our economic development planning must be about creating jobs and building business, not creating government subsidized $300,000 condominiums and building luxurious government office spaces.
It is time to elect someone who remembers that government is accountable to us. It is time to elect someone who will be more concerned about growing the city’s economy, than growing the city government’s office space. It is time to elect Russ Jehl.
Sincerely
Jon J. Olinger
Paula Hughes goes negative…
There are three strong Republican candidates for Mayor. From the beginning I have leaned towards voting for Brown, I have considered Doden, and I decided long ago I would not vote for Paula Hughes due to her “misadventures” on County Council. In the last couple of days I have decided to vote for Liz Brown!
Paula Hughes sent me a mailer that directly attacks Liz Brown. As I was writing this post AWB apparently was working on one as well. You should read his post. The negative attack add reminds me of the cheap shots Mark Souder used to take at his opponents. I hope that Paula Hughes is defeated in the primary; at this point I doubt that I could vote for her in the general election…
On one side of the “hit piece” is the statement “Who in their right mind would vote to pay our Mayor more than our Governor?” Next to this is a picture of an older woman scowling and pointing at the reader with a mean look on her face. On the back side of the piece are some facts including a picture of Liz Brown discussing the fact that Liz Brown voted to maintain the Mayor’s salary at a rate nearly $30,000 higher than what the Governor and mayors of South Bend and Indianapolis makes. Check out the picture AWB uploaded.
I do not like attack pieces like this. There was no reason for this piece to be sent; Paula Hughes already sent out another piece discussing the fact that if elected she would lower the Mayor’s salary and give up the take home car.
I already was not going to vote for Paula Hughes because she is a big government establishment type Republican. There are several reasons I will note vote for Paula Hughes in the primary:
- I detest attack ads like this; I think they tell us a lot about Paula Hughes and her character. She seems desperate to win the primary…
- She is being dishonest about raising the wheel tax. There are many posts on this blog about the role Paula Hughes played in the debacle when the County stopped paying for bridge maintenance. Just do a key word search on this blog using the work “wheel.” There is also a recent post over at AWB with a video. Paula Hughes flat out asked the Fort Wayne City Council to raise the wheel tax and there is video of it on this blog.
- She fully supported the “doomed to fail” Maplecrest Extension Project and the associated TIF. No reasonable person who actually understands economics could possibly believe that this project could ever be cost justified. The consultant generated a report to cost justify this project that was absurd and Paula Hughes bought it hook, line, and sinker.
- Paula Hughes of course supported the failed Harrison Square Project.
- Paula Hughes of course supported the failed Grand Wayne Expansion.
- I was the Treasurer for Jon Olinger in his last School Board race. Paula Hughes was the campaign manager for Becky Hill. Becky Hill was hand picked by Wendy Robinson to defeat Jon Olinger and Paula Hughes spent a lot of effort to defeat an actual conservative; Jon Olinger. Paula Hughes sided with FWCS, the teachers union, Mark Gia Quinta, and the like in order to defeat the only conservative School Board member, Jon Olinger.
- Most telling is the fact that she has been the President of the Downtown Improvement District on one hand and then in her role in Allen County Government she has repeatedly supported developing projects on the edges of Fort Wayne rather than supporting “in-fill projects.” No reasonable person could possibly support both. If you want to develop downtown Fort Wayne you MUST limit development at the edges; this is common sense and apparently beyond Paula Hughes…
I will be voting for Liz Brown for Mayor in the Republican primary. In fact this negative attack piece makes me so mad I may well contribute money to Liz Brown’s campaign.
Paula Hughes needs to be defeated…
Mike Sylvester
The United States of America is in serious financial trouble, post 1
I have done a lot of research on economics, debt, accounting, taxation, etc. over the last several years. I read a great deal on these topics and I read detailed research papers produced by both the liberals and conservatives.
The truth of the matter is that the Republicans and Democrats have done a great deal of damage to this country and it is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to fix the countries finances. No matter how you look at it and no matter how partisan you are; there is no doubt at all that both major political parties are at least 40% responsible for the horrible financial mess our country finds itself in.
Currently the Federal Government is 14.3 trillion dollars in debt. Recently both sides have unveiled budget proposals that would not balance the budget for at least 25 years. These proposals are NOT sufficient and all of these proposals are too partisan.
The truth of the matter is America is staring bankruptcy in the face. Bankruptcy is inevitable unless drastic changes are made in this country. We need to create a plan that cuts spending on EVERYTHING and has no sacred cows and we need to increase Government revenues. Nothing else will work. We can no longer do one or the other; we must do both.
Consider the following statistics:
- Over the last 20 years Federal revenues have averaged 17.9% of gross domestic product. Over the last 20 years Federal revenues have ranged from 14.9% of GDP to 20.6% of GDP. They are currently only 14.9% of GDP.
- Over the last 20 years Federal spending has averaged 20.4% of gross domestic product. Over the last 20 years Federal spending has ranged from 18.2% of GDP to 25% of GDP. They are currently 25% of GDP.
Over the last twenty years the annual Federal budget deficit has averaged 2.5% of GDP. In accounting terms this is called a structural deficit.
Upcoming local elections
Local residents will be voting in the upcoming Fort Wayne primaries in a couple of weeks.
If you wish to have an article posted on this blog in which you support a particular candidate please email it to me at Mike.Sylvester@frontier.com.
I will post positive pieces and your name will be included in the post.
Mike
Abortion and the primary races for Fort Wayne City Council
I received a mailer a few days ago for the Republican primary for the 2nd City Council District (Which is the district I reside in). The entire point of the campaign mailer was to let me know that this particular candidate was extremely “pro life” and that the candidate would make a good member of City Council because they are ”pro life.”
This mailer turned me off…
I am “pro life” myself. That being said I abortion is not one of the issues that is extremely important to me. Further it is not an issue that I would consider in a City Council race at all.
While I am “pro life,” I still believe that:
- The fifty states should each regulate abortion as they see fit and the Federal Government should stay out of this issue; that being said Federal funds should not be used to pay for abortions.
- I beleive that abortion is OK in same cases when there is rape or incest.
- I beleive abortion is OK when the safety of the mother is a consideration.
If you were running for City Council would the first major mailer you distributed to Republican Primary voters be a single issue mailer focusiing on abortion?
Mike Sylvester
Farewell
I suppose this post has been a long time coming, and I fought it as long as I could, but the truth is that I have only been delaying the inevitable - I will no longer be posting here at FWP (the site will continue under Mike Sylvester however). This was not a decision I came to lightly, and perhaps few really care what the rationale for my decision was, but I still feel like I owe it to everyone that’s been involved with this site as writers, commenters and readers.
Let me just start by saying that I love this place, hell I built it, and only if you’ve had to walk away from something you’re truly passionate about can you know what this feels like. This isn’t just a place where I could come to spout off about a variety of topics - although I did do my fair share of that. No, this was a community to me and not just some virtual community either as I’ve built real relationships and met many people through this site that I’m proud to call my friends.
I couldn’t possibly mention everyone here but before I talk about why I’m walking away I wanted to discuss a few individuals that have shaped my blogging path so to speak. Apologies in advance to anyone I leave out as there are just too many to mention.
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DC Democrats blow it, yet again
The Democrats in Washington DC are an extremely clueless group as a whole. The Republicans are currently a little better; however, they are only a little better due to the influence of the “Tea Party” and its threat to “Primary” Republicans who vote like Liberals (Like our own Sr. Republican Senator.)
The recent Government shut-down battle is an excellent example of the absolute stupidity of BOTH major political parties. In summary here is what happened:
1. The Democrats had strong majorities in the House and Senate and were required by law to propose a Federal budget on or before April 15th, 2010. We are currently half way through the Federal budget year and the Democrats still have not proposed a budget. The President sat on the sidelines and did nothing. The Democrats looked extremely weak and they were actually AFRAID to pass a budget before the 2010 Fall elections.
2. So in January the Republicans took over the House. They proposed a budget that cut 100 billion in spending from the current year budget as originally proposed by President Obama. The Senate did not like it and so did not even vote on it. Over the last several weeks the two parties commenced negotiating in a childish and partisan fashion.
3. The Republicans made an absolutely stupid decision and decided to try to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the budget negotiations. This kind of crap is done on a regular basis by both political parties. In this budget battle the Republicans had a clear advantage and squandered it…
4. Then at the last possible moment an agreement was struck and a government shutdown was averted. The Republicans got either 78% or 79% of the original 100 billion in cuts they wanted and this deal was clearly a last minute victory for the Republicans. I personally believe the Republicans would have largely been blamed had the Government been shut down and that the Democrats let them off the “hook” politically.
It is clear to me that neither Political Party really understands the fiscal trainwreck that they have created over the last couple of decades. Cutting a grand total of 78 or 79 billion from President Obama’s budget request is certainly a very small step in the right direction. That being said neither major political party has a realistic plan that would lead us to a balanced budget.
The Ryan plan has some good ideas; however, it is just not that well thought out and its assumptions concerning unemployment are absurd. The Democrats do not have ANY plan.
Interestingly enough President Obama recently proposed a ten year budget that did NOT address our fiscal problems in any way, shape or form. His budget just kept spending like usual and kicked the can down the road. That being said this weekend the White House is flip-flopping on the very ten year budget they just released and the White House is now saying that they are going to propose new and large spending cuts.
There is no doubt in my mind that President Obama wants to get elected and has decided that he has to find a way to at least appear more moderate.
The Republicans have truly taken over the discussion concerning the National debt, the Federal deficits, and the fiscal train wreck that is approaching.
I think the Democrats will regret giving this topic to the Republicans. Instead I think the Democrats should unveil their own plan for dealing with the long term issues…
Mike
