The Observation Deck

I would like to thank all of the candidates who trusted the LO and the process and took part in these Q & As.

This pdf is broken down as fairly as we could by Mayor's races, Ward races and School Board races. We tried not to break up responses and answers, while keeping them side by side with their opponent's answers. Position was chosen by alphabetical order. No questions or answers were edited from the time they were sent out and received. Every candidate got the questions at the same time, none were revealed to any candidate beforehand.

Here is a link to every word from the candidates. We are looking at other ways to get this information out.
http://media.lakewoodobserver.com/media ... 124016.pdf

Special thanks to Betsy Voinovich who worked very hard to get this piece together.

I realize there are other questions that need to be asked, some may seem more important than the ones we chose. We will be posting all the questions we received. I encourage everyone to read the responses we already have and ask more questions. All candidates have promised that the LO will have a chance to clear up any questions LO Readers have, and we have promised all candidates the room to clear up anything they would like to clear up heading into Election Day.

Here on the Deck I would ask for a modicum of restraint during this election cycle. All candidates with the exception of 2 are now back on the Deck and willing to engage in calm, non-adversarial discussions. I have spoken with every candidate that took part, and all are willing to engage, all love talking about things and moving an idea along through discussion.

At the end of the election season, let's make sure all of our votes are based on facts, not bullshit.

.

Ward One Council Candidate Tess Neff has requested that the Lakewood Observer post a rebuttal to Ward One Candidate Laura Rodriguez-Carbone's response to the first question in the LO Candidates' Forum.

Question One:

1.) Why should we vote for you and not the other candidate? (100 words).

Laura Rodriguez-Carbone's response:

I have a clear platform and proven professional history of service. On the other hand, my opponent claims to personally oversee 600 employees as a court administrator and manage a budget of $60 million. According to the latest annual Juvenile court report, her job falls under the court administration division, which does not directly oversee the budget - the legal division does. This statement is misleading. My opponents campaign is also backed by the old boys network of money and political influence. This is not the kind of leadership Lakewood deserves.

Residents in Ward 1 deserve a councilperson who will put their needs first, serve with transparency, integrity and be above undue influence. I am that candidate.

Tess Neff's rebuttal:

It is the responsibility of council to exercise due diligence when gathering all the pertinent facts to reach an educated conclusion.

The statement by my opponent regarding my budget management for the Juvenile Court is factually incorrect. Internal documents unequivocally delegate the Court Administrator as the responsible individual for the court's budget. My opponent's response necessitates that I submit a rebuttal to correct the factually flawed statement in question 1.

It is a fact that I manage and direct the court's divisions: Legal, Court Operations, and Court Administration. It is a fact as the Court Administrator I am responsible for the court's budget. It is a fact that I direct the work of the Fiscal department to prepare an annual budget and maintain court operations within the budget.

This language is directly from the job posting from which I was hired over four years ago and I have assumed the budget oversight during the entire tenure.

I notice she didn't rebut the part about being "backed by the old boys network of money and political influence".

She doesn't even have the guts to come on the Deck (or any social media that I'm aware of) to make her case for council.
She's taking her cues from Driver's Ed, Summers and Budish.

All I need to know is that Fitzy is involved in her campaign to know it’s Never Neff.

Thank you, Jim, for posting. Looking at the document provided me by the publisher of the Observer, which was provided to him by my opponent, I noted some potential missing elements and incomplete information. Because of this, I have submitted a public records request to Cuyahoga County to confirm. See attached for the screenshot of the receipt as well as a screenshot of the email receipt I was sent.

I believe that considering the circumstances, a public records request must be completed to ensure the veracity of the information submitted, which was incomplete, and is different than at least the last five juvenile court annual reports, that list administration and budget under two different departments.

Laura

Michael Deneen wrote:I notice she didn't rebut the part about being "backed by the old boys network of money and political influence".

She doesn't even have the guts to come on the Deck (or any social media that I'm aware of) to make her case for council.
She's taking her cues from Driver's Ed, Summers and Budish.

I find it interesting that Dr. Jim published this for Candidate Neff instead of Neff herself, but I don't see her failure to come on the Deck or social media as a lack of "guts". Rather, I find Candidate Rodriguez Carbone's choice to post here very informative of her evident skill set and Candidate Neff missing a potentially fruitful avenue for her messaging.

Mr. Deneen,

What evidence do you have that Candidate Neff takes her cues from from "Ed, Summers and Budish"?

I thought the endorsed Ward 1 candidate Gardina Sp? that lost was their "chosen one"?

She hired Democracy Advisors, the Fitzgerald Butler “political advisors.”

Would YOU hire a guy that blew up his gubernatorial campaign, and took down the rest of the statewide Dem ticket, to advise YOU on your campaign?

Brian Essi wrote:What evidence do you have that Candidate Neff takes her cues from from "Ed, Summers and Budish"?

As disclosed earlier this year on the Deck, Neff has hired FitzGerald's firm for "consulting" on the campaign.
"Democracy Advisors" is another name for Fitzy's "Great Lakes Strategies" business. (see link)

http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... +cleveland

As for Summers, it is widely known that he and Drivers Ed are political BFFs.

Budish originally endorsed Grdina earlier this year....but since she was eliminated in the primary.
His party machine intended to make a "new" endorsement of Neff instead. Laura wisely withdrew her name from consideration (as if they would ever consider her), I"m not sure if they went through it.

Michael Deneen wrote:

Brian Essi wrote:What evidence do you have that Candidate Neff takes her cues from from "Ed, Summers and Budish"?

As disclosed earlier this year on the Deck, Neff has hired FitzGerald's firm for "consulting" on the campaign.
"Democracy Advisors" is another name for Fitzy's "Great Lakes Strategies" business. (see link)

http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... +cleveland

As for Summers, it is widely known that he and Drivers Ed are political BFFs.

Budish originally endorsed Grdina earlier this year....but since she was eliminated in the primary.
His party machine intended to make a "new" endorsement of Neff instead. Laura wisely withdrew her name from consideration (as if they would ever consider her), I"m not sure if they went through it.

Thank you for the clarification.

Addressing Candidate Neff's Q&A Response In The Lakewood Observer

Here I quote her Answer to No. 3:

"There is still resentment regarding the hospital closing process. Speculating on what I may or may not have done is counter productive. My job if elected to city council is to focus on the future and moving forward while being honest and transparent on any issues arising out of the OneLakewood project and hospital foundations."

My Comment: I was very disappointed in this answer. The candidate missed the opportunity to offer a thoughtful response to the question. As an experienced public official and as an attorney she had an opportunity to comment intelligently about this sad chapter in Lakewood history. I also want to remind everyone that there is no hospital and that there are no foundations supporting a hospital, despite the fact that her answer erroneously implies that there are. Perhaps, she might want to post a correction on this error.

With respect to the foundations that remain, city council has no oversight role in these foundations, they are entirely private entities questionably funded with public monies. They do not have to be open or transparent to the public. These foundations support no hospital in Lakewood. I also want to remind all that the One Lakewood Place project has already been approved by city council and that tens of millions of public assets and funds have been dumped into this economic development nightmare.

How could there ever be problems when you are transforming healthcare into expensive townhomes for affluent consumers? Lakewood Democrats are unique in this misplaced effort. It would sadden me should I learn that Ms. Neff was of their ilk. Though, I fear the worst on this point.

My Conclusion: I understand that Ms. Neff is a well-qualified candidate and an experienced public servant, but while she speaks proudly of Lakewood's greatness, she was not prepared to address the fundamental questions of severe job loss and loss of access to healthcare. Neither could Mr. Anderson, the council-member she seeks to replace. I respect her decision and that of her family to seek elective office.

I’d also point out that several candidates mentioned, as one of the most frequent issue they encountered going door to door, that there was still “resentment” about the hospital.

Neff further mentioned that people felt they should be “informed and not be surprised when big decisions are made that impact their lives.” This, too, speaks to the hospital issue and how it was handled, especially the lying.

The hospital is gone, but the damage done in the process remains a gaping wound in the community.

Additionally, I don’t think Neff gets it. When people said they were u happy when surprised about big decisions, they didn’t mean they weren’t on the email blast list. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the behind closed door dealing for many months, denying the hospital was closing, then springing on us that is was closing and a deal was already worked out.

THATS what residents mean when they say they don’t like big decisions sprung on them. They want the secretiveness to stop.

Bridget Conant wrote:I’d also point out that several candidates mentioned, as one of the most frequent issue they encountered going door to door, that there was still “resentment” about the hospital.

Neff further mentioned that people felt

But it's "nostalgia" and unjustified anger and rage. Never mind the estimated 1500 jobs and the loss of health care, and the opportunities they had to replace the hospital with another provider. "Build Lakewood" - rah, rah, rah.