Great Horny Toads! Webber Keeps His Job?

I saw on 13abc tonight that Mayor Carty Finkbeiner has decided not to fire his spokesperson, Jason Webber for the things Webber wrote in his myspace blog. Here's the story...



I can only come up with two explanations for this. Either nobody else is willing to do the job; and given the public relations disaster that is Carty Finkbeiner, that's not an unreasonable thought; or Webber is dumb enough to fit right in with the Finkbeiner theme.

I've talked to people who have questioned Chris Myers' ethics of posting something that he knew could get Webber fired. I suppose. I don't think I would have put it here. I'm not sure if the media had come across it first if they would have kept it back, but who knows? That notwithstanding, Webber doing this has to be one of the dumbest maneuvers I've seen in awhile.

Seriously, how dumb does this guy have to be? Let's begin with the fact that he posted the writings on myspace and thought they would be private. Then there's the idea that he said it was only meant to be between himself and about 20 to 25 of his friends. Something that you're telling that many people is not private.

Then, there is my personal favorite, where Webber said that some comments were meant to be satrical and others were taken out of context.

From Jason's blog:

"The mayor continues to dig his political grave, as he gets himself in one
pickle after another."

Would someone please explain to me how this is satirical? Conversely, I would accept an explanation of what context makes this anything but a negative statement - unless maybe they left out the part where he says, "...but in a good way!"

Jason Webber needs to spend some time going to church and thanking God that he still has a job. If he were on my staff, he'd be gone - if for no other reason than I wouldn't want someone who is dumb enough to think that things posted to the internet can be private to have access to sensitive information.

Then again, maybe Carty didn't want to help raise the skyrocketing unemployment rate in Toledo. Just a thought.

Observations...

There have been a few stories in the news the past few days that warrant some short observations...

The first is the story about Mayor Finkbeiner's latest spokesperson. It seems that Jason Webber's comments that he made about the mayor in his myspace blog wound up on Swampbubbles.com. Webber said that it was his way of updating his friends on his job, his comments were taken out of context and that he thought his profile was hacked because the blog was set to private.
Having read the comments, I have to ask... for example, in what context would comparing your boss's voice to Yosemite Sam would be considered positive?
Then there is the obvious thought of whether Webber will get to keep his job. I don't know that I would want a senior staff member of mine to be stupid enough that he thinks there is such a thing as privacy on the Internet. At my job, we take annual training in computer security, which always seemed pointless to me because so much of it was obvious. Now I know why our company does it. Apparently the idea of not posting private information on myspace isn't so obvious to everyone.
Given how fast the mayor seems to be going through spokespeople, maybe leaving the position vacant and speaking for himself could be part of the solution for the budget deficit.
Which brings us to the second item, which is the city council deciding not to approve the city-tax reciprocity measure that the mayor had as part of his balancing of the budget. The mayor had planned to have people who live in Toledo and work in other cities (some 19,000 of them) pay city taxes. They currently receive a 100 percent credit for taxes paid to the cities in which they work. Dozens of people were at the council meeting to protest this idea, and in a rare performance, the council listened to the voters and didn't approve the mayor's request. It came as a surprise to me. I didn't think that the folks at Government Center met a tax or a fee they didn't like.
Finally, the city council passed a measure encouraging congress to put a temporary moratorium on foreclosures. Council president Mark Sobczak said on the radio that the system in place isn't working because within 6 months 55 percent of the people who are saved from foreclosure are right back in it. This is probably a silly question, but is it at all possible that the reason these people are right back in foreclosure is because the majority of them were not qualified to buy their houses in the first place? In case you missed it, Mr. Sobczak, people buying houses that they had no way to afford was one of the first dominoes in the chain that led us to the current economic situation.

What to do?

The city has a committee looking over whether the mayor and the city council should have a pay raise, a pay cut, or a pay freeze. Is there really that tough of a decision here?

Committee member John Stainbrook said on the news that in this time that they are asking all the city employees to cut back, the mayor and the council should be subject to the same conditions. True.

One could also look at it from another angle. People are looking at the CEO's of companies getting bailout funds and saying that their salary should be cut by as much as 80 percent. Personally, I think that's not such a bad idea. It's a lot like the captain of the Exxon Valdez. If you were driving the boat when it hit the sand bar, a big salary should not be in your future. Well, when I look around the USS Toledo, I see sand. Sand, a few flowers and some lights on trees.

Sherrod votes yes

So, Sherrod Brown got to cast the deciding vote for the Porkulus bill Friday. He was in Ohio attending a wake and had to be flown into Washington specially to cast that vote. I have a number of questions that I'll be addressing in the coming days, but here's my first...

"When they flew him from Ohio to Washington, did they use a private jet, and if it was a private jet, did the White House use taxpayer money to fund it?"

Budget cuts

The mayor came out and announced his plan this week for cutting the city's budget to cover the $8 million budget gap that has grown to $14 million. Once the announcement hit, it only took hours before a TRO was filed.
One of the cost cutting measures that he announced was in the Fire Department. He said that they will be taking one apparatus out of service and reshuffling the firefighters from that apparatus to cover other areas and times. The problem with this is that in his usual ready, fire, aim method of governance, he forgot to check and see if that would be a violation of the Firefighters' Local 92 contract.
According to the folks at the union, it is. Their contract says that the city must keep a manpower level of 103 line personne each dayl. Unfortunately for Carty, a chunk of his plan's savings comes from the fact that the city would only have 99 line personnel each day.
In general, I'm not a big fan of unions, and to be really truthful, I'm not sure that four people in a city the size of Toledo is that significant, so I'm not sure how much it would jeopardize safety. The apparatus taken out of service would be a ladder truck, which Local 92 reps say would slow response time. I'll give that a maybe bordering on a probably, but again, we have a number of them in service at any given time, so I'm not sure how much it would change things.
What I see as more telling is that this is indicative of Carty's failure to know how things work in the city he's been charged to run and his attempts to short circuit the system. We don't know, Local 92 may have been able to work something out with the city. Perhaps there was a way to reorganize and move some people around to hold the 103.
Had the mayor bothered to talk to them, it might have been worked out. Now, with the city in a time of economic peril as the mayor put it, the city will be spending those precious dollars on lawyers to deal with this. To add insult to injury, if the mayor's past performance is any indicator, the money will go to outside lawyers instead of the ones that the city already employs.

Still waiting

I watched yet another act in Toledo's version of Waiting for Godot last night - starring councilman George Sarantou and Toledo Police Patrolmen's Association President Dan Wagner. Channels 13 and 24 had reports about the city dealing with the $8 million budget gap.
There's talk of layoffs and some of those layoffs may be in the Police and Fire Departments. That couldn't be, could it? We passed the 3/4% the city told us that they wouldn't have to lay off police officers and firefighters, right? But I digress.
So, what is the city going to do about it? Sarantou cited programs that he's hoping the Obama administration hopes to put through. Sarantou said he hopes that money will come to Toledo through those programs and then everything will be fine.
Wagner is planning on going to Washington to meet with Vice-President Biden to explain how bad things are for Toledo cops and try to get Biden's help in getting some money sent to Toledo.
And so, we continue to sit under our tree and wait for Obama.

Two thoughts

I saw a report on channel 13 last night that there is a low-fare airline looking at locating at Toledo Express, and it gave me two thoughts...
First was a skeptical enthusiasm. The idea of something locating here is always a good idea. Unfortunately, these low-fare airlines seem to be 15-minute flashes in the pan at Toledo Express, so I can only get so excited. In the time that I've been in Toledo, I've seen so many of them open and close at Express that I understand why they have revolving doors on the terminal. Still it's good news that they're considering it. It's not a done deal, so we'll have to wait and see.
One of the things that's going on is that they're looking for startup capital from this area, which brings me to my second thought on the matter. Could somebody go bar the door to the 22nd floor at Government Center? It would be nice to see this business come to Toledo and high on the list of things to do to facilitate that would be to make sure that the mayor doesn't put his hand to this and drive them away.

Marcy votes yes

It's official. The spending bill that Obama calls economic stimulus has passed the House. Not surprisingly, Marcy Kaptur fell in line with her party and voted yes. What surprised me was that the Republicans hung together and voted no. I really thought that at least some of them would have jumped ship to stay in good with the Obama people. I'm proud of them for holding the principles of fiscal responsibility.
Also on the surprising list was the fact that 11 Democrats moved right and voted no. It was really nice to see.
Now it heads off to the Senate. I've already sent an email to Sherrod Brown's office urging him to vote no on this giant barrel of pork. Unfortunately, if you listened to Maggie Thurber on WSPD today, or read my previous blog entry, it appears that Mr. Brown will not be entertaining viewpoints that differ from those of President Obama.

Still, as constituents, we should make our voices be heard.

You can contact him here:
455 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
p (202) 224-2315f (202) 228-6321

Or you can send him an online message here.

I'll also be contacting Kaptur's office to express my displeasure.

2186 Rayburn Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
Tel: (202) 225-4146Fax: (202) 225-7711

Or contact her online here.

A tale of two phone calls

I was listening to Maggie Thurber filling in for Brian Wilson on WSPD today and she read an email from a listener who called Sherrod Brown's office to give his opinion on the economic stimulus bill. He was told by the staffer that Brown is not entertaining phone calls about the stimulus bill because the President had explained the urgency of the bill to the Senator and Brown had pledged his support.

Meanwhile, this morning, my wife made a call to Marcy Kaptur's office. She asked what the Representative's stance on the stimulus bill was. The staffer who answered the phone told my wife that they were not authorized to release that information. Not authorized? She was a constituent asking for a stance on an issue, not the Taliban asking for the nuclear launch codes.

When, exactly, did these people decide that they work for Obama and not the people who elected them?

Waiting for Obama

It seems to me that the city is acting out its own version of the play, Waiting for Godot, except our play would be titled Waiting for Obama.
Apparently the officials are waiting for the President to save us. In the mayor's recent state of the city speech, as well as in the last few council meetings that I've attended, I've heard at least one and usually multiple references to, "When the Obama administration takes over," there will be prosperity, there will be money, the roads will be fixed... You name it, the city officials have attributed it to him in one way or another - just you wait and see.
And so, it seems that we wait.
Now Obama has taken over. The stimulus package is in the pipeline and all reviews are saying that it will be at least one to two years before nearly $800 billion of the $825 billion will ever see the light of day. This is not partisan talking. There are even a growing number of Democrats who are saying that the stimulus plan will be too little and, more importantly, too late.
And so, much like Vladimir and Estragon in Godot, Toledo sits under the tree and waits for our version of Godot. The problem is that the play ends without an appearance from Godot.

Police and living wage

There were two things yesterday that caught my interest.

The first would be the report I heard on WSPD that a local businessman is making an effort to raise private money to fund a police and fire class. I was disappointed that in the report, they never elaborated on who or how, but I found it interesting. I was hoping to find a link to a story about it where I could get more info, but I could not. Hopefully I can soon.
Even more interesting was the mayor's reaction, saying that the businessman should not bother and that his office was better equipped to deal with such things. Apparently, the mayor hasn't looked at his budget lately. That would be the budget that contains no money for a police and fire class. One can only assume that if the businessman had been raising money for flowers in front of vacant storefronts, the mayor would have been on board.

The second item of interest was Ben Konop's attempt to institute a living wage resolution for the County Commissioners. An interesting idea, but from my research, not something that the commissioners can do legally. According to Maggie Thurber, Pete Gerken attempted this before and was informed of the same thing. You can link to her blog at the left to read about it. You would think that a lawyer would be able to figure these things out ahead of time. Maybe it's just best that Konop stick to his own version of planting flowers and tend to fairly harmless and uncomplicated things like poet laureates, artists and fat czars.

At some point, the city and the county have to elect some public officials who can do something besides rearrange the deck chairs on this sinking ship without tripping over themselves.

Fine!

It's just after 7 a.m. and I've just finished shoveling last night's layer of snow from my walks and driveway. A fresh layer of salt is down and my property is safe for travel. After all, "You, sir..." must take care of your property. "You, sir..." must have your walks shoveled within 24 hours or the city can fine you.
However, as I shoveled the last of the snow away from the end of my driveway, I noted that on the street, the fresh snow has covered the packed snow and ice from the last snowfall because my street has yet to see a city truck this winter.
Then, of course, there's the prediction of one to three inches of snow tomorrow night, which I anticipate will fall on top of the snow from last night on my street.
So I have to wonder if I can fine the city for not taking care of their property? I'm not asking for much in the fine - maybe just my share of the 3/4 percent.

The condition our condition is in

After taking a couple of weeks over the holiday to do something of a political detox, I got back into it last night by attending both the City Council meeting, where they passed the 2009 budget, and the Mayor's State of the City speech.
I'll start with a couple of observations from the Council meeting. The first is that I noted the absence of WSPD or anyone else from Take Back Toledo. Maybe someone was there who I didn't see, but I did see people from both papers and all four television stations there. I'm still behind the effort to bounce Carty, but I'd feel better about what Take Back Toledo says is their motivation if I saw them at other events like this.
That said, I have to applaud a few things I heard at the meeting. The first would be Councilman Tom Waniewski when he pointed out that the Council has let the city down, referring to the fact that they have not provided for promised city services like police and fire as promised in the 3/4 percent campaign. Second would be Councilman Collins' and Ashford's impassioned speeches against passing the budget based on what is most likely faulty numbers and not providing for public safety as promised. Finally, and possibly most importantly, was that Councilman McNamara's amendment to provide for the people to vote on the reapplication of the 3/4 percent to allow for a police and fire class. I still contend that this adds police and fire too late in the year to do any good, but it's better than what some of the council members (George Sarantou leading that charge) wanted to do, which was nothing and hope for the best down the road. My word to council, you've passed a plan B, now find the plan A, which is putting the money together for a police and fire class that will allow us to see more cops and firefighters in Toledo before 2010.
Now, on to the Mayor's speech. It was quite impassioned, very upbeat, and like so many other things that the mayor says - was tainted by his rose-colored glasses and missed the point in several ways. For those of you who didn't attend or couldn't see it on WGTE, Maggie Thurber has published the complete text of his speech on her blog. Or you can read it on Glass City Jungle.
Having waited to see the end of the budget discussion in council, I was late to the mayor's speech and apparently missed the fireworks. I was told that someone stood up and sang the Marine Hymn until he was removed by police. Kudos to him! Now onto the speech at hand...

The mayor posed this question..

Why is it that ABC News, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The London Financial Times, and the Governor all praise Toledo’s transformation — and Toledoans remain our own worst critics?

Perhaps, Mr. Mayor it could be that, unlike me, the producers at ABC News didn't call the city to complain about trying to negotiate the three-inch thick ice rink that their street had become only to be told that the city wouldn't be coming out to do anything about it? Could it be, Mr. Mayor, that unlike my neighbors, the producers at CNN didn't call the Toledo Police Department following a break-in at their house only to be told that they couldn't spare an officer to come out since the burglars weren't still in the house? Maybe, Mr. Mayor, it could be that, unlike some of us, the editors at The New York Times didn't drive through town and notice the increasing number of boarded up buildings. In short, Mr Mayor, could it be that they don't live here?
In his speech, the mayor pointed out that privatization of some city services was a realistic option. Really? The mayor who put the city into the ambulance business and put private ambulance companies out of the business is going to privatize city services? I really don't think so.
He pointed to a number of business developments in the area, but so many of those are either not actually in Toledo or, like the Westgate shopping center, developed in spite of the mayor's efforts. He has instead turned to these Joint Economic Development Zones to attach Toledo's name to the success of other cities in attracting business.
On that same line, he pointed to all of the high-tech training that is going on at the 49 colleges in the Toledo region. Of course, to do that, he had to go well into Michigan to the north, as far south as Lima, to the Indiana line to the west, and, I think nearly to Cleveland to the east.
It would seem that the Mayor is going with the success by association thought. As long as the areas around Toledo are doing well, Toledo must be doing well too, right?
Toledo needs a cheerleader, there is no doubt, but the mayor is so caught up in the cheerleading that he fails to see the forest for the trees. Cheerleading and positive speeches are just hollow words if they aren't backed up by actions.
Which brings me back to the council meeting. Councilman Craig said of his fellow councilpeople in that meeting that saying they support a police and fire class without actually coming up with the money to do it is just hollow words. I couldn't agree more. This, of course, came just moments before the council passed the mayor's 2009 budget, with the numbers some of them are saying are faulty, and without the police class that so many of them spoke in favor of, 7-5.
This is why I would like to see the Take Back Toledo folks at these meetings. Getting rid of Carty is a good idea, but holding a council that rubber stamps his every move accountable is just as important.