Candidates are Certified for March 4 Primary — Few Primary Contests Have Competition

Posted on January 11, 2008 by Mike Bock

For the March 4 primary, my quick count shows that only eight of about 50 primary races have any competition. This is not accidental. The way democracy works in Montgomery County is that a small leadership group in both the Montgomery County Democratic Party and the Montgomery County Republican Party control the primary process and deliberately use a selection process that suppresses primary competition. The list below shows that there is not only a lack of competition in the primary races, there is no competition in many of races in the general election as well. The leadership of the parties works together in a cooperative effort to divide up offices, effectively suppressing competition in the general election as well. See the post, “Montgomery County Dems/GOP Conspire to Limit Democracy.”  And, see the post, “The Montgomery Democrats Decide to Suppress Democracy — Just Like the Republicans”

According to the Montgomery County Board of Elections, the following are the primary candidates whose names will appear on the March 4 primary ballot. Competitive races are marked with an asterisk (*).

3rd District: Candidates for U.S. House of Representatives
*Democrats:
David Esrati 113 Bonner St. Dayton 45410
Louella Jane Mitakides 5323 Split Rail Rd. Dayton 45429
Charles W. Sanders 576 Robindale Dr. Waynesville 45068
Republican:
Michael R. Turner 5815 Stone Lake Dr. Kettering 45429

2nd District Candidates for Court of Appeals
Democrat:
Jeffrey E. Froelich 5430 Sherfield Dr. Trotwood 45426 1
*Republicans:
George B. Reynolds 1901 N. Regent Park Dr. Bellbrook 45305
Gary C. Schaengold 12991 Newburg Ct. Dayton 45458

5th Senate District Candidates for State Central Committee (One Male and One Female to be Selected for each party)
Democrats:
Joseph E. Lacey 161 Huffman Ave. Dayton 45403

*Marcia R. Knox 1660 Newton Ave. Dayton 45406
Michele Roberts 1115 Wisconsin Blvd. Dayton 45408

Republicans:
Darryl D. Mehaffie 3715 West Dr. Greenville 45331
Drucilla I. Stewart 231 Hart St. Dayton 45404

6th Senate District Candidates for State Central Committee (One Male and One Female to be Selected for each party.)
*Democrats:
Lee C. Falke 1181 Yankee Trace Centerville 45458
Thomas J. RitchieSr. 1644 Spaulding Rd. Dayton 45432
P. Michael Robinette 1502 E. Schantz Ave. Dayton 45419

Judy Ann Dodge 397 Farrell Rd. Vandalia 45377

Republicans:
Patrick A. Flanagan 6960 Mad River Rd. Centerville 45459
Sue A. Findlay 3380 Southdale Dr. Kettering 45409

6th Senate District Candidates for Ohio Senate
Democrat:
John R. Doll 10091 Beaufort Run Centerville 45458
Republican:
Jon A. Husted 148 Sherbrook Dr. Kettering 45429

36th House District: Candidates for Ohio House of Representatives
Democrat:
Charles Ray Morton 456 Gregory Ave. New Lebanon 45345
Republican:
Seth A. Morgan 6543 Larcomb Dr. Huber Heights 45424

37th House District: Candidates for Ohio House of Representatives
Democrat:
Andrea F. Eveslage 834 Shroyer Rd. #2 Dayton 45419
Republican:
Peggy Lehner 533 Lockerbie Ln. Kettering 45429

38th House District: Candidates for Ohio House of Representatives
Democrat:
Susan W. Lienesch 192 Laurel Oak Ct. Centerville 45459
*Republicans:
Terrence L. Blair 10280 Grand Vista Dr. Dayton 45458
Tom Young 1121 Cedar Creek Cir. Dayton 45459

39th House Candidates for Ohio House of Representatives
Democrat:
Clayton R. Luckie II 69 Horace St. Dayton 45407
Republican:
Joshua S. Smith 851 St. Nicholas Ave. Dayton 45416 1

40th House District Candidates for Ohio House of Representatives
*Democrats:
Victor A. Harris 209 McDaniel St. Dayton 45405
Roland Winburn 3636 Wales Dr. Dayton 45405
Republican:
Ann E. Siefker 25 Macready Ave. Dayton 45404

Montgomery County (1/3/09) Court of Common Pleas- General
Democrat:
Frances E. McGee 1325 Princeton Dr. Dayton 45406
Republican:
Dennis James Adkins 9455 Parkside Dr. Centerville 45458

Montgomery County (1/2/09) Court of Common Pleas- General
Democrat:
A.J. Wagner 7 Stonemill Rd. Dayton 45409

Montgomery County (1/1/09) Court of Common Pleas-General
Democrat:
Barbara P. Gorman 7462 Warrior Ct. Dayton 45415

Montgomery County (7/1/09) Court of Common Pleas-General
Republican:
Michael T. Hall 4900 Northern Cir. Huber Heights 45424

Montgomery County (7/2/09) Court of Common Pleas-General
Republican:
Mary Katherine Huffman 1732 Haley Dr. Centerville 4545

Montgomery County (1/2/11) Court of Common Pleas-General
*Democrats:
James Douglas Piergies 12701 Air Hill Rd. Brookville 45309
Mary L. Wiseman 2324 Linwald Ln. Centerville 45459
Republican:
Margaret M. Quinn 600 Woods Rd. Dayton 45419

Montgomery County (2/9/09) Court of Common Pleas-Probate
Republican:
Alice O. McCollum 805 Foxfire Trl. Vandalia 45377

Montgomery County Commissioner
*Democrats:
Deborah A. Lieberman 7475 Kimmel Rd. Clayton 45315
Mark Anthony Newberry 652 Longvale Dr Dayton 45427

Montgomery County Commissioner
Democrat:
Judy Ann Dodge 397 Farrell Rd. Vandalia 45377
Republican:
Joseph K. Ellis 2201 Kershner Rd. Dayton 45414

Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney
Democrat:
Mat Heck, Jr. 6454 Crestway Brookville 45309

Montgomery County Clerk of Courts
Democrat:
Gregory Alan Brush 3743 Whisper Creek Dr. Dayton 45414
Republican:
Jeffrey J. Busch 8681 Normandy Creek Dr. Centerville

Montgomery County Sheriff
Republican:
Dave Vore 9101 Pleasant Plain Rd. Brookville 45309

Montgomery County Recorder
Democrat:
 Willis E. Blackshear 1116 Dennison Ave. Dayton 45408
Republican:
Arlene J. Setzer 375 E. Stonequarry Rd. Vandalia 45377

Montgomery County Treasurer
Democrat:
Carolyn A. Rice 1135 Green Tree Tr Dayton 45429
Republican:
Gary V. Ross 7635 John Elwood Dr. Centerville 45459

Montgomery County Engineer
Democrat:
Joseph Litvin 6460 Noranda Dr. Dayton 45415

Montgomery County Coroner
Republican:
James H. Davis 637 Carrick Dr Centerville 45458

Posted in Local/Metro | 3 Comments

In Socialistic Europe, Krugman Sees Economic Vigor

Posted on January 11, 2008 by Mike Bock

The “socialism” of Europe is often criticized dismissively by U.S. politicians. Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times today, “For example, does Hillary Clinton have a plan to cover the millions of Americans who lack health insurance? ‘She takes her inspiration from European bureaucracies,’ sneers Mitt Romney.”

According to Krugman, sneering at the economic progress of Europe may be a thing of the past. “Europe’s economy is actually doing O.K. these days, despite a level of taxing and spending beyond the wildest ambitions of America,” he writes. Excerpts from the article:

  • Today I’d like to talk about a much-derided contender making a surprising comeback, a comeback that calls into question much of the conventional wisdom of American politics. No, I’m not talking about a politician. I’m talking about an economy — specifically, the European economy, which many Americans assume is tired and spent but has lately been showing surprising vitality.
  • It’s important to get the facts about Europe’s economy right because the alleged woes of that economy play an important role in American political discourse, usually as an excuse for the insecurities and injustices of our own society.
  • Are top U.S. executives grossly overpaid? According to a Times report, Michael Jensen, a professor emeritus at Harvard’s Graduate School of Business whose theories helped pave the way for gigantic paychecks, considers executive excess “an acceptable price to pay for an American economy that he believes has outstripped Japan and Europe in growth and prosperity.”In fact, however, tales of a moribund Europe are greatly exaggerated.
  • It’s true that Europe has had a lot of economic troubles over the past generation. In the mid-1970s the Continent entered a prolonged era of sluggish job creation, which contrasted with vigorous employment growth in the United States.
  • Since 2000, employment has actually grown a bit faster in Europe than in the United States — and since Europe has a lower rate of population growth, this has translated into a substantial rise in the percentage of working-age Europeans with jobs, even as America’s employment-population ratio has declined.
  • In particular, in the prime working years, from 25 to 54, the big gap between European and U.S. employment rates that existed a decade ago has been largely eliminated. If you think Europe is a place where lots of able-bodied adults just sit at home collecting welfare checks, think again.
  • The number of broadband connections per 100 people in the 15 countries that were members of the European Union before it was enlarged in 2004, is slightly higher than in the U.S. — and Europe’s connections are both substantially faster and substantially cheaper than ours.
  • I don’t want to exaggerate the good news. Europe continues to have many economic problems. But who doesn’t? The fact is that Europe’s economy looks a lot better now — both in absolute terms and compared with our economy — than it did a decade ago.
  • What’s behind Europe’s comeback? It’s a complicated story, probably involving a combination of deregulation (which has expanded job opportunities) and smart regulation. One of the keys to Europe’s broadband success is that unlike U.S. regulators, many European governments have promoted competition, preventing phone and cable companies from monopolizing broadband access.
  • What European countries definitely haven’t done is dismantle their strong social safety nets. Universal health care is a given. So are a variety of programs that support families in trouble, helping protect Europeans from the extreme poverty all too common in this country. All of this costs money — even though European countries spend far less on health care than we do — and European taxes are very high by U.S. standards.
  • In short, Europe continues to be a big-government sort of place. And that’s why it’s important to get the real story of the European economy out there. According to the anti-government ideology that dominates much U.S. political discussion, low taxes and a weak social safety net are essential to prosperity. Try to make the lives of Americans even slightly more secure, we’re told, and the economy will shrivel up — the same way it supposedly has in Europe.
  • But the next time a politician tries to scare you with the European bogeyman, bear this in mind: Europe’s economy is actually doing O.K. these days, despite a level of taxing and spending beyond the wildest ambitions of America

From the New York Times, “The Comeback Continent,” written by Paul Krugman

Posted in Local/Metro | 4 Comments

U.S. House To Act On H. Res. 888 — Condemned As Supporting The Formation of U.S. Christian Theocracy

Posted on January 9, 2008 by Mike Bock

I’ve been reading Daily Kos about House Resolution 888. Introduced by Congressman Randy Forbes December 18 in the US House Of Representatives, H. Res 888 is preceded by seventy-five Whearas’s, each of which claim to show how Christianity impacted the founding of our nation. Jean Schmidt (OH-2) is one of the 31 co-sponsor of the bill.

H. Res 888 claims to be about “”Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation’s founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation of the first week in May as `American Religious History Week’ for the appreciation of and education on America’s history of religious faith.” But the only religious history cited in the bill is one emphasizing Christianity.

According to Kos, “Actually, the resolution is packed with lies – American history lies to be specific….The easiest way to make the US into a Christian theocracy is to just re-write American history so that Americans grow up believing that the founders intended the US to be a Christian theocracy.”

Kos refers readers to an detailed article written by Chris Rodda, in her blog Talk to Action, that details the misinformation promulgated in this bill.

Rodda writes, “Thirty-one representatives have already embarrassed themselves, demonstrating their lack of knowledge of our country’s history by becoming co-sponsors of this resolution… This resolution, is packed with the same American history lies found on the Christian nationalist websites, and in the books of pseudo-historians like David Barton.”  Rodda dissects this bill here.

Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation’s founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation of the first week in May as `American Religious History Week’ for the appreciation of and education on America’s history of religious faith.

  • Whereas religious faith was not only important in official American life during the periods of discovery, exploration, colonization, and growth but has also been acknowledged and incorporated into all 3 branches of American Federal government from their very beginning;
  • Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed this self-evident fact in a unanimous ruling declaring `This is a religious people … From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation’;
  • Whereas political scientists have documented that the most frequently-cited source in the political period known as The Founding Era was the Bible;
  • Whereas the first act of America’s first Congress in 1774 was to ask a minister to open with prayer and to lead Congress in the reading of 4 chapters of the Bible;
  • Whereas Congress regularly attended church and Divine service together en masse;
  • Whereas throughout the American Founding, Congress frequently appropriated money for missionaries and for religious instruction, a practice that Congress repeated for decades after the passage of the Constitution and the First Amendment;

See the entire bill here

Posted in M Bock | 5 Comments