The Observation Deck

Thomas J. George wrote:Fellow Lakewoodites,

To continue to move Lakewood forward, I am strongly urging Lakewood residents to support Congressman Ted Strickland for Governor and Lee Fisher for Lt. Governor.

Was there ever any doubt that the Mayor would endorse Strickland/Fisher? Let's see, Mayor George is a Democrat as are Strickland/Fisher.

This is far from earth shattering news.

Either way, I'm glad to know which way our Mayor stands.

Bryan Schwegler wrote:Was there ever any doubt that the Mayor would endorse Strickland/Fisher? Let's see, Mayor George is a Democrat as are Strickland/Fisher.

This is far from earth shattering news.

Either way, I'm glad to know which way our Mayor stands.

Bryan,

Yeah, last year he was thinking of voting Republican, because he was a fan of Jim Petro's. His thinking was that perhaps NEO would get a better share of the economic pie than those downstate. In my opinion, not a bad theory to base your vote on.

So there might have been some question as to who he would support, this doesn't surprise me either. We shall all see on November 8th

Tim-- I assume you are being tongue in cheek by suggesting that Tom George would have considered supporting Jim Petro for governor. While I'm sure Tom has a high regard for Petro and he is from our county Tom is a Democrat through and through. And he (and I) are proud to have an extremely well qualified candidate in Ted Strickland for governor.

I think the Mayor's post was to serve as a reminder to Observers of the importance to Lakewood of this year's statewide elections. And through Tom's 30 plus years of local and state government involvement he feels that Lakewood and Ohio will best be served by Ted Strickland as governor and our own Lee Fisher for Lt. Governor.

Stan

Stan Austin wrote:Tim-- I assume you are being tongue in cheek by suggesting that Tom George would have considered supporting Jim Petro for governor. While I'm sure Tom has a high regard for Petro and he is from our county Tom is a Democrat through and through. And he (and I) are proud to have an extremely well qualified candidate in Ted Strickland for governor.
Stan

If a tongue was planted in anyone cheek, it was the Mayor's as he stated that very clearly to me prior to a Council meeting. So there is no third party elaboration on that issue.

Besides that would have been a bold move on his part to say to the Citizens of Lakewood, that I as Mayor am setting aside my party affiliation to work with a Candidate who in his (George's) view will help make Lakewood better.

I am sure the Lakewood Democrat Club would have beaten him up over it, but it sure would have been interesting.

Now I will make a tongue in cheek remark, Stan maybe if you moved up a few rows in the Council Chambers you might over hear comments such that instead sitting in the back rows!

Like I said, we will see the results on November 8th.

Observers,

For the record, I grew up on Overlook Rd. and was first elected to the Democratic Central Committee in precinct 1 B in 1972.

Upon graduation from college in 1974, Tim Hagan hired me as his staff assistant to run Senator Howard Metzenbaum's west side campaign office.

I was hired by Commissioner Edward Feighan and by Governor Richard Celeste to work in their administrations.

In 1990 was hired by Lee Fisher to serve as Deputy Director of the Cleveland office of the Attorney General.

I have been a member of the Democratic Executive Committee for twenty years and involved in numerous other local, state and national campaigns.

As a Democrat, I have proudly been elected to five terms of office in Lakewood..four as a Councilman and one as Mayor.

I stand behind my list of accomplishments as they relate to the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates.

Yet I am dismayed by the increasingly bitter partisanship that I have witnessed both locally and nationally over the past few years...partisanship that often has taken priority over good public policy.

I believe should Jim Petro had won the Republican primary and gone on the be elected Govenor, he could have been an improvement over the current governor.

Anyone who would intrepret those sentiments as an endorsement for Petro for governor is mistaken.

TJG