The Revenge of Local Politics
Oct. 28th, 2009 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
naomikritzerI've done roundups of local candidates in previous years, but I think I did it right before Election Day. This year, I started these posts way further in advance. As a result, I've gotten all sorts of responses from the candidates themselves, which has been interesting but then makes me feel obligated to do follow-up posts.
On with the follow up:
1. Jason Stone responded here, basically just to add a little more information.
2. Dave Wahlstedt complained that I dismissed him too quickly, and said that he was misquoted in the SouthWest article I linked to. On looking at his website and some other information, I'm convinced that he's right I was too offhand with him based on that article. However, I am not going to vote for him because I feel a profound nervousness about putting the parks into the hands of someone who describes himself as a "Liberty Candidate" in any forum -- quite often, that's code for "Libertarian in all but name." Moreover, he talks about how the parks should be offering a "return on investment." And -- to some extent he's right; one of the things that impresses me so much about Erwin is his desire to look for outside funding sources. And in his TV interview (local access cable), Wahlstedt gives the example of Sea Salt as an example of how the parks could raise money; it's a private business that pays rent, but it's also a totally AWESOME asset to the park. I guess what it boils down to is that I have a lot of trouble trusting Republicans. This hasn't always been the case; I have, in the past, voted for Republican candidates on a couple of occasions. (Not many! But some.) But the more damage they do to the state I live in, the less inclined I am to trust anything any of them say.
3. Speaking of Republicans, that Republican party site with links to interviews has some links to Michael Martens, the BAT candidate. I was disturbed to see that one of them is from a Ron Paul/Michele Bachmann forum. I have some inherent prejudices against Republicans running for office, but I do not usually assume they're all as batshit crazy as Michele, or support her batshit craziness. Unless they go to rallies for her, in which case... he didn't SAY anything crazy in that interview but it definitely raised my wariness of him. (Michele, if your google alert turns this post up, please feel free to drop by and tell me how totally crazy you aren't, oh you woman who hid in the bushes to spy on a gay rally, which I think may have been the very first time I read your name and thought, "wow, she is NUTS.")
4. John Charles Wilson, who wants a sovereign communist nation for the Lauraist movement, stopped by to complain that I characterized him (and others) as joke candidates and loonies. For the record: I consider pretty much all current secessionist movements in the U.S. to be made up of nuts and/or complete lunatics. When in addition to being a separatist movement a group bases itself on a religious ideology AND demands as its territory a circular piece of land defined by a 240-mile radius surrounding Minneapolis (which for the record appears to include most but not all of the state of Minnesota, a huge chunk of Wisconsin, a good sized piece of Iowa, and small bits of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Illinois) I really don't feel an obligation to take it seriously.
That said, I think Wilson is less of a lunatic (and certainly less of an embarrassment to the state, not to mention doing far less damage) than Michele Bachmann.
If I get around to it (and my Internet connection speeds up) I will do Ward 12 City Council. I don't think that one should take long.
On with the follow up:
1. Jason Stone responded here, basically just to add a little more information.
2. Dave Wahlstedt complained that I dismissed him too quickly, and said that he was misquoted in the SouthWest article I linked to. On looking at his website and some other information, I'm convinced that he's right I was too offhand with him based on that article. However, I am not going to vote for him because I feel a profound nervousness about putting the parks into the hands of someone who describes himself as a "Liberty Candidate" in any forum -- quite often, that's code for "Libertarian in all but name." Moreover, he talks about how the parks should be offering a "return on investment." And -- to some extent he's right; one of the things that impresses me so much about Erwin is his desire to look for outside funding sources. And in his TV interview (local access cable), Wahlstedt gives the example of Sea Salt as an example of how the parks could raise money; it's a private business that pays rent, but it's also a totally AWESOME asset to the park. I guess what it boils down to is that I have a lot of trouble trusting Republicans. This hasn't always been the case; I have, in the past, voted for Republican candidates on a couple of occasions. (Not many! But some.) But the more damage they do to the state I live in, the less inclined I am to trust anything any of them say.
3. Speaking of Republicans, that Republican party site with links to interviews has some links to Michael Martens, the BAT candidate. I was disturbed to see that one of them is from a Ron Paul/Michele Bachmann forum. I have some inherent prejudices against Republicans running for office, but I do not usually assume they're all as batshit crazy as Michele, or support her batshit craziness. Unless they go to rallies for her, in which case... he didn't SAY anything crazy in that interview but it definitely raised my wariness of him. (Michele, if your google alert turns this post up, please feel free to drop by and tell me how totally crazy you aren't, oh you woman who hid in the bushes to spy on a gay rally, which I think may have been the very first time I read your name and thought, "wow, she is NUTS.")
4. John Charles Wilson, who wants a sovereign communist nation for the Lauraist movement, stopped by to complain that I characterized him (and others) as joke candidates and loonies. For the record: I consider pretty much all current secessionist movements in the U.S. to be made up of nuts and/or complete lunatics. When in addition to being a separatist movement a group bases itself on a religious ideology AND demands as its territory a circular piece of land defined by a 240-mile radius surrounding Minneapolis (which for the record appears to include most but not all of the state of Minnesota, a huge chunk of Wisconsin, a good sized piece of Iowa, and small bits of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Illinois) I really don't feel an obligation to take it seriously.
That said, I think Wilson is less of a lunatic (and certainly less of an embarrassment to the state, not to mention doing far less damage) than Michele Bachmann.
If I get around to it (and my Internet connection speeds up) I will do Ward 12 City Council. I don't think that one should take long.
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