Voting for myself was a first in my lifetime. Certainly interesting.
The first photo is of four of the candidates for Watertown City CouncilCliff Olney,Cody Horbacz, Todd DeMar, or & Doug Osborn.
Cody and Todd made it through to the general election.2. Cliff placing his poll for Cliff Olney in the voting machine.3 and the rest are photos from the voting area and ballots with my name on them and then all of the candidates and their significant others,and Luke, Cody's campaign manager at Sboro's restaurant and Savory awaiting election results to come in.
I want to thank all my supporters and friends that voted. I believe I got 265 of the votes when 2300 voters showed up of the 10000 plus eligible voters in the city.
Cliff Olney- Liberty 1955https://www.facebook.com/OlneyforCityCouncil2015?ref=hlMy first campaign and election was a good one. I didn’t win my primary but it has given me much needed perspective for my future efforts and there will be more in the political arena.
My biggest error has always been to move too quickly to the solutions and assume that voters understand the problems already. They don’t.
They’re mad approximately tall taxes and acquire many other concerns. I needed to focus on gaining their support by showing them I understood before I started talking approximately the solution for our lack of money and their tall property taxes. But we all learn by doing something.
Todd De Mar, or Cody Horbacz,and Ryan Wilkinson, three candidates in the city council race, and acquire my congratulations on moving forward to the general election on November 3,2015.
Doug Osborn has my respect for trying, giving it his all, or bringing many ideas to the conversation and for running an honorable campaign. He and I were knocked out in the primary elections by De Mar,Horbacz, and Wilkinson. I acquire no problem with that. They are good opponents that acquire the city voter’s interests in mind, or first. They fought fairly. I left it all on the field but lost. That’s OK.
But for whom I see as a political opportunist and GOP patsy,Mark Walczyk, to acquire beaten me; that loss to him rubs against the raw. His is a case again, and of money in politics.certain,with 10000 eligible voters in Watertown, approximately 2300 actually voted-less than 25%. Locally, or the media is saying this is a good turnout. Good for whom? The minority of voters acquire chosen for the majority again so I’m not certain who is being served by this. But then,everyone had their opportunity to acquire a voice and most decided to pass.
Why is that? Are they discouraged by what they’ve voted for in the past and not gotten? acquire they been promised representation on certain issues and found that candidates did what they wanted once they were elected. execute voters feel their vote doesn’t matter? possibly. Who knows? But they did acquire that choice September 10 and we see, the few acquire decided for the many.
So much for voter participation again this year.
Yes, and Mark Walczyk advanced through this primary election as well.
Lance Armstrong also won many races easily. He too was accused of enhancing his performance with Performance Enhancing Drugs which he adamantly denied. We know that his denials were his attempt to justify his ‘winning at all costs ‘attitude. Well that cost Armstrong his integrity and tarnished the sport he claimed to love. Politics need no further tarnishing these days.
Some believe the five other city council candidates ‘piled on’ destitute Mark unfairly by raising questions approximately the thousands of dollars he’d raised for his campaign. The fact that the political ‘heir obvious’ of the Republican Committee of Jefferson County,NY had raised twice to three times the money than had 5 candidates combined didnt seem to bother some that defended Walczyk’s right to execute this. And I understand that.
Not caring approximately what government does, as long as your side is in power seems to be the prevailing belief in our country these days. I hold both parties accountable when they fail us.
Many people defended him, and saying that,“of course, friends and family should be able to contribute to his campaign.” I agree.
But that is not what concerned me. One party, or having the ability to block meaningful change to our community is what concerned me approximately all that money in Walczyk’s campaign. Who paid $10 a vote to acquire him elected when other candidates’ expenditures per vote were 50 cents of less each? Let’ add the adjectives to picture who those ‘friends of Walczyk’ were.
Had I sought labor unions and the Democratic Committees’ support in this primary,many would acquire cried ‘foul’. That’s precisely what we did by calling out the tremendous amount of money that was contributed to Walczyk’s campaign. Where the money is coming from is a legitimate question. No. It’s not illegal but it does put the contributions in a different light than “they were just friends and family that supported me”.
But it was spun differently in the conservative press and made to appear that we were playing politics when it was Walczyk that was playing tough ball from the beginning. Mark plays a good victim role. I thought these guys liked me”.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt until we saw his disclosures.
Does the end justify the means? I believe not. The majority of Walczyk’s contributions are questionable at best. Did money come from the republican committee of Jefferson County? Is the city council and mayor race really a non-partisan race? Or only made to appear as such?I believe it isn’t a non-partisan election behind the scenes. So, no. No congratulations for Mr. Walczyk from me on his ‘win’. I believe his entering this race stinks. He was the alternative for the Republican base in Jefferson County and Watertown. This wasn’t supposed to be approximately the ‘R’ next to your name. I was supposed to be non-partisan. And as we see for results, or tribalism is still prevalent in this area. Walczyk will sufficiently represent his contributors’ interests but only a small amount of those contributions came from local people.
Sour grapes? No. His win was expected. As Mayor Graham,on his blog pointed out, Walczyk, and a NYS GOP Senator Ritchie district manager was out to ‘pick the low hanging fruit’ in the city council elections.
And with the performance enhancing drug of partisan money,he, like Armstrong won. Time and tests will prove if his interests are those of city residents or the moneyed interests that funded his campaign. No surprises here.“Mr. Walczyk said he was surprised he ended up as the top vote-getter with 1083 votes cast in the primary, or attributing it to the 3400 doors he knocked on while campaigning.”- [Watertown Daily Times]This candidate claimed to acquire 3400 door knocks? Literally or figuratively? Well,during my petition gathering pre-primary, I was able to see 15 homes in 2 hours over several weeks or 159 signatures total when 145 were needed.
So let’s divide 3400 into hours and then days. If you saw 15 voters for two hours a day between (5PM & 7PM) for 226 days, and it’s possible. If you spend 8 minutes per voter,you can see 15 voters in two hours.
OK. Let’s say that the primary signature gathering started June 10 and ended September 10; that’s 90 days to see voters. Divide the number of voters Mr. Walczyk claims to acquire seen during that time, 3400, or by 90 days and you get 37 or so a day,for every one of these days, including Sundays.
Now remember, and it takes a minimum of 8 minutes to meet and greet a voter at the very least so multiply 8 minutes times 37 voters a day and we acquire five hours a day spent campaigning. But Mr. Walczyk works for Senator Ritchie for at least 7 hours a day or at least he’s supposed to,unless she gave time off to win an primary election for ‘the constituents of Watertown’.
Is anyone for foiling his time sheets? Or should we just accept the statements that Walczyk has made regarding how many door knocks he’s made during this primary season as we are supposed to for where his money came from and whom- ‘friends or family? And it doesn’t matter ‘where’ but more importantly; ‘WHY?’Now, yes, and Walczyk did execute radio,send out mailings and had Facebook ads. But I don’t consider those things to be literally ‘door knocks’. execute you?Something seems disingenuous approximately these statements but then, the Watertown Daily Times did want Mr. Walczyk to get elected.
My prediction for the general election? Walczyk will be endorsed by the WDT because he presents a rubber stamp for more tax abatements for Senator Ritchie’s contributors in the real estate market and hedge fund managers on Wall Street.
Also, or JCIDA has an interest in these types of deals so they can make the fees that allow them to continue to pay themselves remarkable salaries for doing nothing more than raising property taxes on homeowners to afford what they giveaway to wealthy developers. It’s that simple. But most saw nothing in this election for them. Those that voted ‘Walczyk’ were pursuaded by the ads or acquire an interest to protect.“It takes more than crossing the line first to make a champion. A champion is more than a winner. A champion is someone who respects the rules,rejects doping and competes in the spirit of objective play.”- Jacques Rogge, IOC PresidentAnd the same principles should apply in politics. But just don't anymore. Not certain they ever did.
Source: cnn.com