This morning, I received this letter to the editor from a Mt. Lebanon Republican. Perhaps the anonymous commenter on a previous thread had it right. "The time for a new Republican Committee that reflects the true heart of Mt. Lebanon Republicans has come." Here is the letter to the editor:
Yesterday I received in the mail the Lebo Republican Committee candidate letter. The first thing I noticed was the ridiculous and pathetic writeup from Tommy Dunn. Here's the clincher--"most candidates of the opposite party sound like a Republican until they are in office, then their true colors come through". Uh, gee Tommy, you mean like Remely and Kubit? Or did you mean like Birks? I'm getting confused since they're all liars and nowhere near real Republicans.
Below that Tommy Dumm, oops, Dunn, includes his helpful tips. Again, he launches a real winner--"When you are in the voting booth, no one is looking over your shoulder, no one knows how you vote. Make your vote count". Aside from being totally patronizing (by virtue of voting it DOES count, Tommy Dumm) he seems to be suggesting that Republicans are afraid to be open with whom they're supporting. Given the candidates endorsed by the MLRC, I can understand why. But if he's aiming to motivate voters, he has failed. Big time.
Then I opened up the flyer. After tamping down my gag reflex, I noticed there are two people I've never heard of running for commission seats. I must be really out of it since I thought there was only one seat up for grabs. I can't blame the MLRC for that...on second thought, yes I can. They still don't get the whole communication thing. (Tommy, I don't know it worked in Alabama or wherever you're from but up here we have a thing called email. And if that's too complicated for you, try mailing out a monthly letter. You might even get people to start showing up at your meetings.)
So once again the MLRC is backing some candidates who will not only not make a difference but likely be a detriment to the party. I think we all know Remely's track record. Nice to see him so committed to a particular goal that he's running for two different offices simultaneously. Now that's dedication and integrity.
Then we have Krista Harris. First off, she's what we could call a carpetbagger. Second, she works as a "political consultant" in a firm that has a record of backing losing campaigns. Of course that fits well with the MLRC so maybe my criticism is redundant. Also, I got one of her mailers. Cute attempt with the whole mom and baby bit. But what are your ideas? Why are you running for County Council? Considering you already have a bad relationship with the county executive on a board dominated by Dems, just what do you think you'll accomplish? I'm suspect of someone unknown in the community. It all smells a lot like a certain pol named Obama.
John Ferguson is a nice guy. But come on. Isn't it time for someone new? Maybe nobody wants the job. Forget my opinion. Go John!
On the back of the flyer is a blurb "I am a Republican because...", and it lists five beliefs. Smack dab in the middle is this gem-" I believe in a limited government that practices fiscal responsibility and works to lower taxes so individuals can keep more of their hard earned money". Oh yeah? How's that working out for the community?
I've had a lot of conversations with neighbors in the last few months, both Ds and Rs. They all agree the R party in Lebo is a sorry shell of what it once was and it is basically dead. After the primary, where I will write in my own candidates, I will be changing my registration to Independent. The local committee is a joke. Notice I said local. The party seems to be doing relatively well outside our borders. Maybe someday I can be persuaded to come back. Remember this quote-"I didn't leave the party. The party left me".
17 comments:
This is an excellent letter and anyone that ever attended the party meetings will understand it immediately.
This party is so mentally bankrupt and out of it that it still list Sue Rose and Mary Birks as Republican School Board directors!
Then as the SB democrats and union faith bash the Republican governor for cutting education funding, (he hasn't, even retired CPA and democrat Hill knows it) the republican directors sit with their thumbs up their a____!
Not once will one speak up about how Obama and the democratic Congress cut education funding.
The party is a washed up, has been intent on protecting a status quo that left Lebo years ago.
I only have one comment - John Ferguson is a very fine man who has had a genuine interest in Mt Lebanon for many, many years.
Me. Kendrick, there are some good people In the committee and individually most are good people. Clueless, but good people.
Unfortunately with the MLRC, the whole is less than the sum of it's parts!
I have not been able to find any Campaign Finance Reports for Krista Harris. I was able to find this article about her in the PG.
Means for council Of course the RCML endorses Krista Harris.
Elaine
Well that's curious. Why would she keep her campaign finance information a secret? Is that how she'd behave if she ended up winning? Shameful. Im voting for Means. She's an adult and had enough respect for voters to post her information.
Her mailer certainly didn't say a whole for a new personality. Pretty empty of content.
I have known John Ferguson for many years and I respect him as a man of integrity who has contributed his talents to Mount Lebanon unselfishly. We need more folks like John.
Asolutely, Ferguson and the MTL tax office are one area where things run so smoothly you never think about them. Always accessible, ready to answer questions, convenient.
Jordan Tax Service on the otherhand is the complete opposite, bumbling, unreachable and never wrong even when you show them in black and white.
The MLRC is a shell of what it once was and a shell of what it still could be. It's no secret that the division started when there was a divide between the fiscally conservative Republican's who wanted to spend less than $75 million or so (or at least work out a decent funding plan that didn't tax us to oblivion) and those members who didn't care much about the financial repercussions of maxing out the school district's credit card.
This Hart/Fraasch vs Remely/Kubit/Rose/Walton/Silhol fiscal planning issue really divided that committee. Once that high school battle was lost with a project that was unaffordable even according to the state, it has been all downhill since then.
As was was stated in the post, Rs are supposed to stand for fiscal responsibility. When more than half the committee agrees with spending more than is necessary on a construction project when there are clearly more affordable options on the table, it tends to ostracize those members of the party that stuck by their guns. If the local party won't even fight for this, what will they fight for? If they can't make a stand against members of their own party who want to max out the credit card, what will they make a stand for?
Is Hart still a member of that committee? Is Fraasch?
There is room in this town for fiscally responsible conservatives. It is the job of Tommy Dunn to make sure they know they are welcome back in the committee. It is the job of Tommy Dunn to make sure his committee will back them as much as possible if they decide to run for local office.
Tommy is a good man. But he faces serious challenges in rebuilding the committee. And that is what it is going to take, a rebuilding.
I would like to see the committee take form again but with a commitment to those candidates that practice fiscal conservatism. If the focus of the committee becomes this one, singular issue, and not the social issues that are more inclined to divide Rs and Ds alike, I think there is hope for a Republican Renaissance in Mt. Lebanon.
11:40 that is a pretty good review, except that the cracks first started appearing with Sablegate in my opinion.
But you're right when Fraasch and Hart came under attack and the party sat back and said nothing, did nothing to support them, that was the final blow for many republicans.
Have someone read you unidentified board comments
made by Kubit, Posti, Kubit, or Birks. There's not a difference on any topic.
Don't even group free spenders Lebowitz and Cooper, they get excited about anything that involves spending money. Some how we need to find a fiscal conservative to counter their liberal spending agenda.
The MTLRC will not recover until it rediscovers the principles it supposedly believes in. Review the decisions of either the school board or the commission-- see any difference between the sitting Ds or Rs?
Who is standing up for the following? Just one example, does MTL magazine perform "those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations"?
Republican Principles
The strength of our nation lies with the individual and that each personal dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored.
Believe in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age or disability.
Free enterprise and encouraging individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity.
Government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn.
The proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations and that the best government is that which governs least.
The most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people.
Americans must retain the principles that have made us strong while developing new and innovative ideas to meet the challenges of changing times.
Americans value and should preserve our national strength and pride while working to extend peace, freedom and human rights throughout the world.
The Republican Party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government.
Nice words 12:57 but any fiscal conservative on the school board over the last 30 years has been dumped by the League of Parent Teacher Voters.
John Ferguson may be a fine man, but his tax office leaves much to be desired.
In previous years, my tax receipts were stamped with the wrong date.
In 2012, Mr. Ferguson's office gave me two stamped receipts for municipal taxes, but no receipt at all for school taxes.
For a government with the power to place tax liens on real estate, this sloppy accounting is unacceptable.
David Huston
And 4:23 the party has done absolutely nothing to back or support them!
Instead sending a bunch of Rinos that are indistinguishable from the democrats.
Goldman's hanging in their tough on his own right now, be nice if the R party would wake up and get him some support.
The Republican Party talks a good game when it comes to fiscal matters, but when it attains power its actions show something else entirely. This is not a phenomenon that is limited to the local party. Veronique de Rugy, Ph.D., a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, writes in the May issue of Reason magazine: "With the one clear exception of President Dwight Eisenhower, all Republican and Democratic administrations between 1945 and 2013 have increased spending from their predecessor’s final fiscal year in office. (Fiscal years run from October 1 to the end of the following September, making presidential ownership tricky during transition years, though generally the federal government operates under the departing executive’s budget.) What’s more, during the last 30 years, Republican administrations have spent taxpayer money at a much faster rate than Democratic administrations." One may say that the spending increases under Republican presidents were due to Democratic congresses. However, "..during the first half of 2001 and all of the 2003–07 period the GOP maintained full control of both the White House and Congress. With Washington unified, the purported party of limited government increased total spending by more than 20 percent in real terms, an average of 5 percent a year."
It seems that the best we may hope for, nationally, is when the country has a Democratic president and a Republican congress; for it is under that combination that spending increases the least or remains flat. Dr. de Rugy writes, "Why does the federal government grow at some times and not others? It could be that spending slows down when Washington is divided. Under both Clinton and Obama, Republicans regained control of Congress during the first midterm election and may have restrained the president from indulging his desire to spend more."
Again, I adduce the national Republican organization to show that as far as the local party is concerned, the "apple doesn't fall far from the tree" and that Republicans are just as willing as Democrats to exercise power by increasing both spending and regulations.
Republicans might wish to assume the rather libertarian attitude of famed British economist C. Northcote Parkinson (he of "Parkinson's Laws") who said, "A minor revolution would date from the day when officials came to realize that reputation is more readily to be won by saving money than by spending it."
Why wont the media ask who is funding Harris? Why arent the Dems pouncing on it? Is Raja funding the campaign? The Russians? I want to know.
Mount Lebanon has two "free lunch" political parties both backed by the League of Parent Teacher Voters.
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