Hot enough for ya?
No, we’re not talking about the unseasonably steamy early September weather. Instead, we’re talking about the fast-approaching November elections, and the heating-up of the 2014 political races.
Sure, some of the current ballot choices are so lackluster you’d be excused for not remembering that the races exist. Quick—name the opponent of County Auditor and long-time elected official Anita Lopez! Yeah, we didn’t think so.
But the elections are heating up nonetheless, and we’re here to help you sort out what’s hot and what’s not as we enter the post-Labor Day crunch time.
Hot: Toledo City Council. In case you haven’t noticed, Hizzoner Unca Dennis has been a bit scattershot in his policy initiatives. He’s gonna use Block Watch groups to clean up litter, and smokers need not apply for jobs. Oops, the water has been deemed undrinkable! Gotta find out the reason, as long as we can blame someone, anyone else! And in the meantime, our top employees need a raise into the six-figure range.
Yeah, it’s been a rough several months for the ol’ D. Mikey C. Wait! What light on yonder window breaks, flashing across the sky to take up the slack and provide some semblance of leadership as the Collins regime flops and flounders? Could it be that other branch of government, City Council? From blocking Collins at almost every turn to bold initiatives of their own, from digging deep and asking tough questions to forcing public input, this Council has filled the stark leadership vacuum left by the fact that Unca Dennis landed on the 22nd Floor without a clue. Which brings us to what’s not.
Not: The Collins Administration, especially his Department of Public Utilities. This is the group that thumbed their noses at the Ohio EPA and brought you the water crisis. DPU has long been a soft landing spot for employees who’ve moved from other places, or good soldiers who need a few extra bucks on their way out the door, is paid out of a lock box of funds generated by water and sewer bills. A slush fund, outside the public eye, awash in ducats outside the general coffers ever since the days of Carty.
Not anymore. Since the water to a half-million customers was stoppered, the lid has come off. Council has called for the heads of top administrators. And Council President Paula Hicks-Hudson called a letter Unca Dennis wrote to President Obama “stupid.” Not so hot, Mayor.
Hot: The Lucas County Board of Elections. The recent history of this group has been rough. Three out of four members were removed earlier this year. Then, the Republican choices for replacements were rejected and instead filled by the State. All eyes have been on the new Board.
Except the new Board has been absolutely boring in the professional way it has attended to its business. The special election in August went off without a hitch, with no allegations of lost votes and no near fights between Board members. And its most controversial decision was the protest filed by LC Dems Chair Steven Steel against Sleepy Jack Ford?
A complete anti-climax, it ended in a unanimous vote to follow legal precedent, uphold Steel’s protest, and remove the sleepy walrus from the ballot. No whining, no beating of chests, just a statement read by a retired judge. After the past few years of Stainbrookian antics, no news from the Board is good news. Which brings us to what’s not again.
Not: The J Fo-Carty unholy alliance. All indications are that Carty pushed J Fo to run against Senator Edna Brown in the first place — and to do so as an Independent when Ford missed the Dem deadline. Then he seemed to have J Fo convinced that he could actually win the protest. The battle proved to be a public shaming.
Time will tell if J Fo has learned his lesson this time around. Carty works on behalf of no one but Carty.
Wait, what? Carty who?
Not so long ago, rumors cropped up at every election that the Finkly fanatic would throw his hat into the ring one more time. First rumors said he was seeking a seat as county commissioner, then District Two on Toledo City Council, then an at-large seat on Council. Instead, he pushed the venerable Jack Ford into a race for State Senate, which ended with J Fo being ignominiously dumped from the ballot.
Will Carty finally do the right thing and stop meddling in City Politics?
When pigs fly. Or better yet, when walruses wake up.
