The Observation Deck

Observers,

Let's lighten up a little tonight. The Indians are winning and life is good.

Everyone's talking about the elections and it's important to keep life in perspective.

As I said at the Chamber debate, as long as I have my family, I've already won...what else really matters?

Just for the record, I like Ed Fitzgerald....after all I appointed him to City Council. That's right, in 1999 he approached Council President Bob Seelie and asked to be appointed to my friend Bryan Flannery's vacant Council position after Bryan was elected to the House of Representatives (good guy).

At Bob's request, I met with Ed and he convinced me he could serve the City well...so I told him I would support him.

In one of the most dramatic votes in City history, Brian Corrigan, Bob Seelie and I voted repeatedly for Ed over Madeline Cain's candidate for the vacant Council position.

Finally, after meeting after meeting of deadlocked votes, Michael Skindell switched his vote and voted for Ed...hence, Councilman Fitzgerald. That was nearly nine years ago...1999.

Ed and I teamed up together on many projects. I supported him for State Representative when he ran against Mike Skindell (that was a tough decision).

Ed is a bright guy and a savvy politician. I think of myself as kind of a mentor to him.

I know Ed inside out and he knows me. He knows how to get under my skin and vice versa.

I am hoping we can have a constructive dialog about the City's future over the next five weeks.

We both agree Lakewood residents deserve the best.

TJG

So the negative campaign plan lasted a couple hours. What do you try tomorrow ?

David,

On another thread, I believe that you asked me to chill out a bit?

Not a bad idea. A frosty glass of something cold seems like a great idea right about now.

I thought Tom just wrote a very classy post here. As far as negatives go, I don't think that responding to charges, either by Tom or Ed is negative at all.

I too, like both of these men, as I also respect you for your many well-considered postings.

We're fortunate to have these guys working for us, aren't we?

Heck, I'm going to even miss Ryan. He brought a lot to the table.

I'll bet he lands on his feet REAL quick someplace politically, if he wants to!

So tonight at least...

Kumbayah...

But be advised Lakewood....

In two years, just thinking about that At-Large Council seat comin' up for grabs?

This is all too much fun!

Gary Rice wrote:
This is all too much fun!

The frosty cold glass - good call.

The fun - as a neutral (I can't vote - Green Card) is very interesting. As an observer of Lakewood politics, it has been a very interesting past few years.

You are right Gary, it was a very classy post. Anyone can get pulled into negativity and respond to it, so this was the best post yet by a mayor candidate in my opinion. Lighten up, be glad for your family and what you have, and enjoy life. I think overall Mayor George has been the LEAST negative in this race.

Thank you for the post Mayor.

While I'll give credit for this post, I do find it interesting that the same day he posted this, Mayor George felt the need to start two political attack threads:

http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=
http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=

I got the feeling he started the one post in response to Ed's post on the money from Kauffman and then posted the last post because he didn't want this to go in such a negative direction. That was my interpretation.

Justine Cooper wrote:I got the feeling he started the one post in response to Ed's post on the money from Kauffman and then posted the last post because he didn't want this to go in such a negative direction. That was my interpretation.

You could be right…we'll just need to see how the campaigns go between now and November.

Thomas J. George wrote:Observers,

Let's lighten up a little tonight. The Indians are winning and life is good.

SNIP

Ed is a bright guy and a savvy politician. I think of myself as kind of a mentor to him.

TJG

It is a good start to a post, the Indians were winning; generally speaking, life is good, very good.

But the self annointed mentor comment - well, IMO that's clearly defining a hierarchical relationship that, to me, would seem to indicate Mayor George is framing the choice the City faces as a "mentor vs mentored".

It will be interesting to watch the the race unfold and the use of language.

The last time I checked, the mentor-mentee relationship is supposed to be consensual.

So this would be Aggravated Mentoring? (or AgMent on the scanner)

Don't worry Stan, it won't affect the crime statistics before the election.

Ed:

I truly enjoy your sense of humor and the risk you take in sharing it with us on the LO Deck.

The LO project is nothing if not about taking risks and placing big bets on feelings and thoughts in relationship to our neighbors.

The other night, I read deeply into Mayor George’s “classyâ€Â￾ and immensely evocative post. Then I re-read all your posts to LO Deck. I feel you have been quite expansive, expert and generous in giving to the LO project.

Mayor’s post suggested to me a heightening of intention to play by the rule of good sportsmanship. I also thought about the game of baseball, how good sportsmanship is displayed in the late innings of a rout. Through my third ear, I even wondered if between the lines he was referencing the size of your primary win.

Certainly the Mayor’s classy post was loaded with an emotional tone that at minimum called all us back to honor and respect. At the maximal level of encoded meaning, I even wondered if he was setting a tone of concession, of grace notes, of passing the baton of leadership to the next generation.

In the morality play of politics I am actively imagining here, I see the Mayor passing the baton from the heart and you sharpening it into a humorous spike of renunciation.

I believe it’s always been the original intent of all of us involved in the LO Project to honor and respect elders and to make way for the new.

Sometimes the battle of winning an election can get in the way of honor and respect.

I hope all the candidates realize our affection and care for each of you, even when our issues and personalities clash in the process of making way for the new.

It’s the love shot we need always to transform political life in the city.

Kenneth Warren.

Ken
With all due respect to all parties involved the contest isn't over yet. It would be a different story had the baton been passed and the gesture was used against him. I certainly expect that there will be more debates to come and a strong push for votes.
I guess in terms of the baseball analogy you don't stop playing when you're up by a couple of runs. Particularly when you're up against last year's champ and they're coming off of a respectable season.

Ken-

I appreciate your perspective and the advice. I took the mayor's comments in a bit of a different light, coming on the same day as his comments in the paper suggesting I am for cutting senior services and am extremely right-wing.

If the mayor has any interest in conceding and working on a transition for the next month instead of blasting away at each other, I'll be all ears.