3rd District Congressional Debate
I attended yesterday’s debate at IPFW involving the three candidates running for the 3rd District Congressional seat. In general it’s nearly impossible to gain any real information from these debates as the candidates have to sum up their positions in 30 or 90 second soundbites. But I’ll give my general impression of the candidates’ performance. You can follow the link given on the Allen County Democratic Party’s blog if you want to watch it yourself.
Bill Larsen (L) - I’ve spoke with Lasen before and he’s an intelligent guy - he’s an engineer but he’s no politician. He just doesn’t know how to connect with people to get his point across. He was clearly uncomfortable on stage and his closing argument was so statistics-laced that nobody could follow it.
Mark Souder (R) - Souder has come a long ways as a public speaker but his entire message during the debate was an attack on Montagano. He also had the audacity to complain about how negative the campaign has been and how he has been unfairly attacked. Souder’s entire campaign - nay, his entire political existence - has become intellectually bankrupt. He articulated no new ideas or coherent message about why the voters of this district should continue to support him. He has become a career politician who is scared to death that he might have to return to the private sector and earn his keep.
Mike Montagano (D) - Montagano seemed nervous at times but he was able to point to specific votes where he felt Souder had broke with the wishes of his constituents. Montagano is young, ambitious and has relatively little experience but is that such a bad thing in this case? I know what I’m getting with Mark Souder and it ain’t much.
I’ve spoken with Montagano and he’s an extremely intelligent and personable guy who has a good grasp on the issues this country faces. He’s the type of guy that everybody likes and after speaking with him you may not agree with him but you will respect him and his position.
I’ve heard rumblings from people that wished former councilman Tom Hayhurst would’ve ran again this year but I don’t agree with that. Montagano is a better choice and I don’t mean that as a slight to Tom Hayhurst. They both have the intellect but Montagano has the personality that will allow him to succeed in Congress - an area where Souder has been a miserable failure and will continue to be so with the Democratic majority.
I won’t bother to try and analyze who won or lost the debate because the truth is that it doesn’t matter. It all boils down to this - will voters continue to send a sub-par career politician back to DC or take a chance on the young, intelligent yet inexperienced guy?
If you are unhappy with Souder and want to replace him then this is your chance. If not now when? Do you want to be voting for a 36-year incumbent Mark Souder in the future? Don’t fool yourself into thinking the primary process will take him out - it won’t; it rarely ever does. The only way to oust incumbents is to vote for the other party and regroup in two years.
If you’re so inclined then there’s still time to help get rid of Mark Souder. Call (574-971-8708) or e-mail (Jen@montaganoforcongress.com) the Montagano office and ask them what you can do. Or donate to the campaign - think of it as contributing to Mark Souder’s going away party…
City Budget Cuts Tabled Until Nov 18 - $2.4 Million Cut So Far
The city attorney convinced council that they could not legally cut a flat 3% from the budget. As a response the council voted on a motion to cut 3% from every line item. That motion failed by a 5-4 vote with councilmembers Harper, Smith, Brown and Didier voting for it.
From there the council went line by line and voted on each and every proposed cut. The most significant cuts that were passed were a zero salary increase for all employees and the elimination of a public information officer from the mayor’s staff which was the only city position eliminated.
There was also serious discussion about eliminating the entire 911 communications department and forcing the city and county executives to finally consolidate those two departments. The motion failed with councilmen Harper, Hines and Pape voting to eliminate the department. While the vote might have failed, several councilmembers including Goldner, Shoaff and Smith made it quite clear that if this consolidation does not happen by the next budget cycle then they will vote to eliminate it from the city department.
After going through all the proposed cuts councilwoman Liz Brown commented that she was unaware that the 3% flat cut would be illegal until earlier today. Because of that she said that she did not have the opportunity to go through all the department budgets to find the $4.5 million cuts she wanted to find.
She then made a motion to table the budget ordinance until Nov 18. The delay is due to the fact that there will have to be another public notice and public hearing requiring a 10 day lead time. The motion passed 5-4 with Brown, Shoaff, Harper, Didier and Pape voting for it. So the council will reconvene their budget talks on Nov 18 to finalize their cuts.
The itemized cuts the council agreed to thus far are listed below:
Mayor Prepares To Fight Flat Budget Cuts
Word is the city attorney is coming to city council to inform them that they do not have the statutory authority to cut the budget bottom line by 3% as some councilmembers (and myself) wanted to do. In other words the city attorney is insisting that the council cut the individual line items themselves.
I’m not going to try and play lawyer here and determine who’s right but let me just say that this is going to kick things up a notch. The council could clearly cut 3% from every line item if they chose to and the mayor may be forcing that upon them.
At this point I feel like council should accept the mayor’s legal position and then proceed to cut 5% from the budget item by item. I would also take JQ Taxpayer’s half-serious approach of gutting the entire 9th floor in the process. It would surely be a symbolic vote as undoubtedly the mayor would use his veto power to send it back to council. (Update: Councilman Tom Smith said during the budget meeting that the mayor cannot veto the budget ordinance.)
That’s really the problem here - we’re at gridlock. The mayor is unwilling to cut a single nickel from the budget but council probably doesn’t have the 6 votes to override a veto. Something’s gotta give…
FWCS Race Baiting Abound
From day one Fort Wayne Community Schools has leveled the racism charge against anybody that was opposed to their ridiculous half a BILLION dollar tax increase to remodel the district’s buildings. Seeing how the plan was defeated 7 to 2 they must think we have a lot of racists in this community. Here was superintendent Dr Wendy Robinson last year:
Wendy Robinson wonders whether opposition to the district’s proposed $500 million building project is really about raising property taxes or balking at providing better schools for inner-city kids.
“Below the surface, it’s, `Those kids don’t deserve better buildings’.
Now in the latest Fort Wayne Reader board president Mark Gia Quinta picks up on the same tired smears:
“I don’t understand a platform that says you’re going to return to the 1950s,” says Mark GiaQuinta, president of FWCS board. “I don’t understand how you can educate and prepare people for 2050 by going back to 1950. The 1950s was a racist decade in this country. That gave us Brown vs. Board of education. What exactly do you want to go back to, Evert? What about the 50s is it that you want to see?
I thought it was unanimous that Brown v Board of Education was a good ruling - you know, the one that overturned segregation in our schools? I’m not even sure what GiaQuinta is ranting about here - it’s just race-baiting nonsense pure and simple. But GiaQuinta doesn’t end there, he leaves us this supremely ironic gem:
“(Mol) builds himself up by tearing other people down. He’s just a very bitter person who can’t see the benefit of working with people.”
I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. And since they were feeling left out of the race-baiting game our own local newspaper editorial staff piles on:
He has publicly questioned the use of the district’s effective Racial Balance Fund and in an e-mail to The Journal Gazette two years ago, he remarked on TV news coverage of a teachers’ strike in the predominantly black Gary school system: “Judging by the newsreels of the picket lines, it looks like Gary has done quite well recruiting minority teachers. How’s that working out for them?”
Needless to say that is a distortion of Evert Mol’s position and the quote was taken completely out of context. You can read Mol’s response here if you wish. Another interesting observation, if the paper’s editorial staff were capable of such things, would be that the board’s only African-American member, Kevin Brown, isn’t out in public calling people racists. At times he too has been extremely critical of FWCS and the lack of academic progress.
The school board and the administration aren’t capable of solving the issues facing our schools because none of them will even admit there’s a problem. They are all still stuck in the denial phase and think good public relations can save the day. It can’t and it won’t. If we don’t make significant changes in this school district now then it will fail.
It will fail as miserably as Gary and Indianapolis have. If I didn’t know better I would almost assume that’s what these mindless FWCS automatons/cheerleaders want. Here’s the bottom line, more of your property tax dollars go to our schools than anything else by far. Do you feel like you’re getting bang for your buck?
When a governmental body is wildly off track it is our democratic duty as citizens to right the ship by voting for leadership that will apply rational problem solving skills to improve the situation. The only choice that will make a difference is to vote for Oligner, Mol & Schaab - a vote for anyone else is a vote for the status quo…
YLNI Candidates Night Tonight
From YLNI newsletter:
Be informed about local candidates before heading to the polls Nov. 4 (or before for early voting happening now at the City-County Building).
When: Monday, October 27th (TODAY) starting at 6 p.m.
Where: Meeting rooms in the downtown branch of the Allen County Public Library. Parking is free with a library card.Open to the publicMeet candidates appearing on Allen County ballots that evening, and listen to their ideas on how they want to make northeast Indiana a better place to live, work and play as your elected official. National races get plenty of attention, but often local and statewide races can come down to just a few votes, so get yourself informed about the candidates’ positions at this important event. It’s designed for the political junkies and political novices alike. Your vote is your voice so come out tonight to find out more.
The Only Buck Passing Is Coming From Mayor Henry
In one local paper there was a story related to a post I did yesterday regarding the upcoming budget vote on Tuesday. Council President Tom Didier confirmed that the council will be voting on a generic 3% budget cut.
The Fort Wayne City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to cut Mayor Tom Henry’s 2009 operating budget by 3 percent.
The overall cut is preferred, Didier said, because he is not a city department expert. By just cutting the bottom line, he said, the mayor can choose where to cut spending.
This is exactly how it should be done in my opinion but councilwoman Karen Goldner disagrees:
Councilwoman Karen Goldner, D-2nd, opposes the generic cut, saying if council members want to cut spending, they should have to identify where to take the money. She said it was “major buck passing” for the council to cut the budget, then blame the mayor for reducing services.
“I think it is very easy to say you want government to be smaller,” she said. “The appropriate thing for us to do is to come up with specific cuts.”
What am I missing here? The council is coming up with specific cuts but they would be provided as recommendations. That’s not passing the buck. The mayor’s complete disengagement from the issue and failure to provide one nickel of cuts is passing the buck.
Do some members of city council really think they have better insights into what the most efficient cuts would be - more so than the city professionals and department heads? Goldner’s council-cut-first philosophy works well when trimming the budget of a minor line-item here and there but it’s not the optimal solution when making million dollar cuts.
Just put yourself into the shoes of one of the department heads. Would you rather find the cuts within your own department or leave it up to a legislative body that may be influenced by politics more than policy?
As to the political point made by Goldner, the council would not be able to blame the mayor as she suggests - at least not successfully. For one, everybody understands that services need to be cut to trim 3% from the budget. Also, the mayor could simply implement many of the suggestions offered as recommendations by the city council.
I think the mayor’s disengagement shows that he’s truly the one wanting to gain political points from this issue. It’s incredible to suggest that part-time legislators should come up with every single cut and that the mayor, with a massive staff of full time professionals, can’t won’t come up with a single one himself.
The council should approve the generic budget cuts - it’s the only way to get the mayor involved in the process…
Council Budget Cuts On The Way
Budget cuts from the city council members are due tomorrow and they will be voted on next Tuesday. After watching tonight’s meeting and speaking with a few of the members afterwards I am beginning to gain confidence that this council will do the right thing and cut the budget by 3%.
The mayor has not taken his budgetary responsibilities seriously and has pushed the entire problem into the hands of the city council. All I have to say to the mayor is, be careful what you wish for. The individual councilmembers have come up with several millions of dollars in cuts and they may not be areas the mayor would like to see reduced.
At this point the best thing the council could do is to cut the budget by a flat percentage and tell the mayor it’s his responsibility to prioritize and find the specific line items to cut. Obviously the department heads and other professionals are in a much better position than city council to identify the most cost-efficient cuts.
The mayor has abdicated his responsibility thus far but next Tuesday is D-day (or is it B-day?) and the council should force him to make the tough decisions. It would be irresponsible of this council to demand the mayor cut the budget without providing recommendations but that’s not what’s happening here. Each councilmember is submitting millions in cuts and the mayor should be able to utilize their input, as well as from his staff, to cut 3% of the city budget.
And just remember that if you are an Allen County resident you should be paying attention. If the city doesn’t solve their financial problems then they will most certainly raise the income tax. And if the city raises it then everybody in the county pays. That may not sound fair but that’s just the way it is - you can thank your state legislator.
I do know this, next Tuesday will be one interesting meeting…
Souder Jumps The Shark While He “Pals Around” With Former Communist and Black Panther
Every time I think congressman Mark Souder couldn’t get any more ridiculous I am brought back to reality and proven wrong. Seriously, how could one top the comment that all the worthless paper assets the government would be buying up via the Wall Street bailout were really worth 95 cents on the dollar?
Now Souder is saying that congresswoman Michelle Bachman’s comments calling all liberals anti-American and suggesting we should have a McCarthyite congressional investigation really weren’t her fault. No, you see she was tricked, tricked I tell you, by that evil genius Chris Matthews:
SOUDER: I read the whole interview. Chris Matthews tried to trick her into that question, over and over for the entire interview. Unfortunately, her last comment, she fell for the trap. No, we shouldn’t have an investigation into Congress. They are elected by the people of the United States. I have full faith and confidence. Now, I think some of them, for example, Sen. Obama, should be careful who he pals around with.
And it doesn’t end there. Souder was also one of 17 politicians to sign David Horowitz’s new book “Party of Defeat - How Democrats and Radicals Undermined America’s War On Terror Before and After 9-11.”
For those of you that don’t know, Horowitz is a former Communist and Black Panther financier turned far-right neoconservative whackjob and racist. Here’s a quote from some of his previous Marxist work:
More than ever before, for humanity to live under capitalism, is to live on borrowed time.
I can only assume that Mark Souder would call the Black Panthers a terrorist organization yet he’s supporting somebody who was a personal confidant to Panthers’ leader Huey Newton. And Souder has the audacity to question who Obama “pals around” with?
Can we please end this sad and embarrassing chapter of 3rd District congressional representation?
My 10 minute talk with Mayor Tom Henry
In my opinion the best item that Mayor Henry has implemented is “Mayor’s night in.” Basically the Mayor meets with citizens for ten minutes each and discusses their concerns and opinions.
Earlier today I met with Mayor Henry and we discussed my concerns with the Fort Wayne Budget. Here is what I took from this meeting:
1. Several enterprising readers of this blog had already sent my proposed budget to the Mayor so he had already seen it.
2. The Mayor feels that our City Council is the fiscal body of Fort Wayne and that if they want to cut the budget; they will have to cut the budget themselves.
3. The deadline for an approved budget is December 1st, so the City Council needs tomove quickly.
I enjoyed talking to the Mayor. I re-iterated to him that I would be happy to volunteer my time to helping with budget cuts.
We briefly discussed the shortfall in the fire and police pensions from the old pension plans. He stated that it was still “pay as you go” and that no provision has been made for the current liability.
We also briefly discussed the recent property tax cuts. We both agreed that all the recent property tax decrease did was shift taxes from one group of taxpayers to another group. Mayor Henry said that he thought the Indiana Legislature would address this in the next session.
I enjoyed talking to Mayor Henry
Mike Sylvester
Evert Mol & the Future of FWCS
Evert Mol, Fort Wayne Community School Board candidate, had an excellent op-ed piece in one local paper today that you should take the time to read. Mol lays out the problems with the current board and where we need to go in the future:
Despite its stated objective and state and federal mandates to improve test scores, Fort Wayne Community Schools has gone five years with no improvement. Incumbent board member Steve Corona and other board members did not set measurable objectives for academic improvement until this year and still don’t have a timetable for coming into compliance. Up to now they have been satisfied with staying the course
This statements get to the core of the problem regarding the FWCS board. Members like Corona would rather yap about public relations nonsense than actually make an honest assessment of our schools and what we need to do to give our students the kind of education they deserve.
Ostriches like Corona bury their head in the sand and refuse to address the serious realities within our school system. Stop telling me we are “ on the verge of greatness“. Stop telling me we don’t have a discipline problem and that we should be a model for every other district. Stop hiring consultants to come in and blow smoke up my ass.
