All Politics Really Are Local

The weather’s bad. You have so much stuff to do. Election day arrives.

But — hey — we’re not electing a new president this year. We’re not even electing a new governor. So maybe you can afford to just sit this one out. All those choices for mayor, city councilman and school board member? Yawners. Who has time to research all those people and their positions?

Answer? The religious right does. The Tea Party does.

And when it comes to politics — both national and local — they are operating very efficiently. In stealth mode.

Fortunately in some cases — judging from the results of yesterday’s election — voters in the general public seem to be waking up. Terry McAuliffe was able to defeat Ken Cuccinelli, for example, in the Virginia governor’s race.

Here in Ohio, the incumbent mayor of the city of Toledo, Mike Bell, who ran as an Independent (although he was endorsed by the Republican Party) and who had had a clearly GOPTP agenda was soundly defeated by a union-backed, more progressive candidate. It wasn’t even close.

This is widely seen as a rejection of anti-labor, pro-privatization, pro-Kasich policies of rewarding the rich while crushing the poor. Mike Bell was a black candidate who was turned out of office in a city with a very substantial number of black voters. Voters who could see that he didn’t have their interests at heart. How could he when he had openly supported Governor John Kasich‘s union-busting SB-5? When one of his first acts was to privatize refuse collection and throw away city union jobs in the process? When he sold prime river front real estate to Chinese investors with the promise that it would be developed and that good jobs would follow (neither of which, incidentally, ever happened)?

Good for local voters! Congratulations on figuring it all out. Because Bell was far from transparent when he ran for office — starting from running as an Independent with a vague, cliche-laden platform, when clearly the plan to go with slash and burn Tea Party privatization and union busting had been the agenda all along.

The resurgence of Progressive values echoed across Ohio. Ed Fitzgerald, the Democratic candidate for the governor’s office, posted the following post-election assessment:

Last night was a good night for Ohio Democrats. Congrats to our new Democratic Mayors: John Cranley, Nan Whaley, Don Walters, and John McNally! Also, congrats to Mike Collins, the new Mayor of Toledo, and to Mayors Frank Jackson in Cleveland, David Berger in Lima, and Dom Mucci in Steubenville on their reelection.

Lastly, Cincinnati voters defeated a ballot measure, Issue 4, delivering a HUGE blow to the Tea Party. Instead, Cincy voters chose to protect public safety and the heroes who protect us.

That’s good news, no doubt. But what happens when we get distracted? When there’s a lapse in our vigilance?

Then we get folks like the belligerent guy who ran for a local school board here a few years ago. He ran in spite of a record that included allegations of his disturbing past, which included “accusations of assault on a teacher when he was in high school, criminal trespassing, resisting arrest, menacing, driving under influence of alcohol, and failure to pay child support, according to reports.”

Amazingly, he won. With the support of a group of “values voters” who paradoxically saw that aggressive behavior as an asset — as “leadership.”

The bad behavior didn’t stop once he was elected. Shortly thereafter, he was involved in a loud confrontation with a fellow board member. It even made news in the local media:

During the loud argument, board member P.J. Kapfhammer told fellow board member Diana Gadus, “I’m going to kick your ass and I’m going to keep kicking your ass until you quit or don’t run again,” and used other expletives against Mrs. Gadus, according to Mrs. Gadus’ statement in a school incident report.”

So what happened next? Was he pressured to apologize and resign?

He was elected President of the School Board.

Did getting what he wanted modify his behavior? Hardly. Before much longer, he was back in court.

On Wednesday, the Oregon School Board President was charged with “menacing knowingly cause to believe serious physical harm” and “disorderly conduct recklessly by fighting, threatening harm or in violent turbulent behavior”, according to court documents.

He had gotten into a verbal altercation with a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome. This young man had been a student at the local high school and continued to return for sports events, where he would help out in the weight/equipment rooms. Mr. Kapfhammer was apparently unaware of this and approached him aggressively in the process of throwing him out of the school building. Bully first, ask questions later?  He ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor after having been charged with menacing.

So — is he gone YET? No, he is not. In part he’s still there because his “mission” of instilling “values” into this school system is not yet accomplished.

He’s getting there though. [Journalistic disclaimer: what follows is technically hearsay. I was given this info by a student in the school system. A student who’s credibility I have no reason to doubt. But I did not witness it firsthand.]
Junior high students — make that MALE junior high students — are no longer allowed to try out to be drum majors. Apparently, this role is no longer considered to be sufficiently “manly.” And the charming Southern custom of allowing students who run out of lunch money to witness the lunch that they were about to be served being dumped into the garbage can is now being imported to his schools. It’s regarded as “edifying” to “teach them a lesson” that there’s — quite literally — no free lunch.

So — yes. Turning our backs — even for one “unimportant” election — can be costly.

Just ask any unemployed Toledo refuse hauler.

Or a hungry 7th grade boy who only wanted to be a drum major.

{Sources:http://www.bridgetownlaw.com/newly-elected-president-of-oregon-school-board-had-a-dui-past/ http://www.toledoblade.com/Education/2012/04/07/Oregon-school-board-session-ends-in-expletives-records-reveal.html http://www.northwestohio.com/news/story.aspx?id=860158#.UnqGMiizKpg}