The mayor's proof

The mayor called a press conference yesterday to react to the Take Back Toledo effort. In it, he succeeded in proving why he needed to go. As usual, he went out and shot his mouth off without knowing what is going on.

He attacked the members of the group, starting with Tom Schlacter; saying that Schlacter has never lived in the city. Apparently, living in one of the suburbs and only owning a business in the city disqualifes him from the process. Actually, according to Schlacter, this isn't accurate anyway. Schlacter, while he doesn't live in town now, lived in Toledo for 40 years. According to Schlacter on WSPD this morning, his not living in the city didn't prevent the mayor from accepting donations from him during the campaign.

The mayor went on about the rest of the effort's founders, and those inaccuracies are addressed in the Toledo Free Press.

One thing that the mayor missed is that the city charter doesn't say you have to live in the city to mount a recall effort. That's apparently stored in the charter alongside how the city's bills are paid.

The crown jewel in the mayor's speech has to be his swing at WSPD. He is apparently going to turn the station in to Henry Waxman and have them investigated under the Fairness Doctrine. Alongside the recall info and the bill info in the mayor's file would be the news that the Fairness Doctrine was abolished 21 years ago. He said that he's going to send tapes of the last three years of WSPD's shows to Waxman for the investigation. I would be interested to see those tapes. That would have to rank right there with the Nixon Whitehouse. My guess is that is just more of the mayor's hollow words.

In his call for an investigation, the mayor was citing "vicious, one-sided diatribes" about him and not giving him the opportunity to "rebut the falsehoods and glaring misstatements of WSPD radio." Based on that, perhaps what he's actually reaching for is the Equal Time Rule, which actually doesn't apply either, since it is limited to political candidates, not office holders.

As is his style, the mayor has failed to engage his brain before opening mouth.

In his speech the mayor said, "I have made mistakes - but they have been in advocacy for Toledo. Never have I attempted to advance anything but Toledo and its citizens."

I'm not doubting his love and advocacy for the city, however, when you become a trivial pursuit question, are featured on Comedy Central and have a book published about your gaffes, it's time to realize that you have become a joke and for the good of the city that you love, it's time to get out of the way.