WELCOME to my new blog, created to provide analysis and commentary in the City of Broadview Heights for its 2011 primary and general elections.
Between Mayor and City Council, Broadview Heights voters will need to choose among about 20 candidates for offices. These candidates and their campaigns will spend more than $100,000 to grab our attention, vying for your votes.
In whom do you place your trust? Which of these candidates have the voters’ best interests and put the City’s well-being first and foremost? Will candidates taking large sums of money from some donors become beholden to their contributors?
Those are the key matters we’ll explore over the next several months.
“Facts are stubborn things.” That statement was attributed to one of our earliest patriots, John Adams, second president of the United States. David McCullough’s award-winning biography of Adams, which later became an HBO miniseries, chronicled Adams’ struggles to help secure our nation’s liberty and then to establish a better form of government, our Constitution.
More than 220 years later, facts are STILL stubborn things. We’ll examine facts surrounding the various candidates, making certain that voters are appraised about any matter that might help us answer that key question: Whom do we trust?
There are a few disclaimers I wish to share with you, dear reader, as this journey begins. First, opinions expressed in this blog are mine. Other opinions are welcome in COMMENTS, but the commenting person must provide a name and street of residence in Broadview Heights. I’ll be glad to engage in polite back-and-forth commenting with anyone who’s a Broadview Heights resident, as long as that person is civil and is willing to allow his or her identity to be known. No anonymous comments. Broadview Heights’ future is far too important for that.
Second, because I did some paid political consulting work four years ago for one candidate for Mayor, Joe Price, some people will accuse me of things. I did NOT provide any paid assistance to Mr. Price when he was elected to Council-At-Large in 2009, and I am not being paid now to do work for Mr. Price or anyone else. (Aside — I did not provide paid political assistance to ANY Broadview Heights 2009 candidate for that matter.) If you hear anything contrary from anyone, that person is either spreading unfound rumors or intentionally misinforming you.
Also, what I post here will be both “proactive” – original comments based upon what I’ve learned through examining City of Broadview Heights, campaign filings, and other records – or “reactive,” responses to candidates’ literature, commercials, and other claims.
My education and background includes earning a master’s degree in journalism and working in both the journalism and PR fields before becoming a professor, teaching journalism/mass communication at Cuyahoga Community College. From this perspective, I hope to provide an objective counter weight to the “slants” candidates might place on accomplishments, background, contributors and qualifications as they tout themselves for elected offices.
Finally, opinions and analysis presented here belong to me. They do NOT reflect the views of my employer, any candidate for office or current office holders, or others.
It wasn’t legally necessary, but I went through the time and trouble to create a political action committee – STANDING FAST FOR BROADVIEW HEIGHTS – for the purpose of expressing the opinions you will see here. If this political action committee ends up spending funds or receiving any contributions, you’ll know about it through this web site and through the legally-required campaign financial filings. FAST, in this case, is an acronym for FACTS ARE STUBBORN THINGS.
Primary election day in Broadview Heights is September 13. Early voting will begin in August. Watch for analysis or commentary from me about every 10- days or so between now and then, beginning on Monday, June 27.
Thanks for reading. Please “bookmark” this page on your computer, and come back often.
John Kerezy
jdkprof@gmail.com
factsforbvh 