Hi Elaine,
I’m writing not only to give you the picture you asked for, but also to help my friend and neighbor Bob Lee win a seat on the Mt Lebanon Commission.
Bob is a former Marine who trained helicopter rescue crews after the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut in ‘83. He has a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon and is in charge of data for one of Pittsburgh’s biggest employers. Bob raises money for charities and families in crisis -- in March, he and his friends raised $5,000 for a disabled American veteran and his family after their house burned down.
His priorities are public health – particularly our children’s health, our environment, and being careful with our tax money. Courage, expertise and leadership are what Bob is offering. He is one of the finest human beings I know.
Once you meet Bob, I think you’ll agree that he deserves our vote, and an opportunity to serve us.
Dave Adler
P.S. feel free to use all or some of this in the blog at your best judgment, with or without my name.
P.P.S. Like you, I am a Ward 3 resident, but wish I could vote for Bob over Silverman (or Charlotte over Silverman if Bob loses), or Bob Fischer over Craig. I'm a liberal on national issues, but the local landscape is different, and Fischer - like Lee and Fraasch - is a true voice for the people.
23 comments:
I like Mr. Lee's priorities as described in Mr. Adler' endorsement, but I'm curious as to when Mr. Lee was the MTLDC Chairperson?
After all this is the committee that brought us Cappucci, Birks, Silverman, Bendel, and Brumfield. Will Mr. Lee be more like Miller or more of the same on the commission now?
I find the last paragraph on the second page of Mr. Lee's flyer a little disconcerting. It reads "In an era plagued by an egomaniac in Washington, Bob listens." Are your truly listening, Mr. Lee?
Ummmm, an era is by definition a long period of time, so which egomaniac is Mr. Lee referring too?
President Trump? He's only been in office for like 90 days, and is a relative newcomer in Washington, so hardly meets the era definition.
Is he critical then of Obama, whose eight years in the White House would meet the definition of an era.
Inquiring minds want to know before we cast our vote.
11:04 AM, Bob Lee served as MLDC chair before Michelle Zmijanac's predecessor.
Elaine
Are you actually going to need that answer before you cast your vote 11:37 ?
If I had a choice between two candidates, one of which may consider the current president a plague, then yes, I would need that answer 12:24.
You see 12:24, my personal investments are up by thousands of dollars after years of stagnating or declining, it looks like we maybe getting some Federal tax relief, so if that's a plague give me more.
If a candidate for local office finds those results a plague then I'd be concerned what initiatives they'll instituted here.
12:35 PM, you do realize that only Democrats in that ward have to have that answer. It is either Bob Lee or the current commissioner, and we already know his track record. If you aren't happy with the current state of affairs, then vote for Bob Lee. It is a pretty simple choice.
Elaine
Yes Elaine, well aware this is a primary election.
Is there a problem with getting more insight into the candidates' thinking regardless of their party affiliations? If a candidate claims they are all in for transparency I'd think they'd welcome questions.
12:54 PM, so you are asking here? Why don't you call Bob Lee? His phone number is right on his yard sign. He can't be more transparent than that!
Elaine
I'm not going to call a candidate at home. It is a plus that Lee makes his number available though and there are a number of items in his resume that are a positive in my book.
Hopefully we will have a Meet the Candidates night or some similar venue where questions can be asked and a large number of voters can hear each candates answers. That is a more efficient way to get a better perspective into each.
All well and good but where does Bob Lee stand on issues in Mt. Lebanon? Does Bob Lee support future deer culling? What would Bob Lee like to see happen with our dead passive parks such as Robb Hollow and McNeilly Park? Does Bob Lee have better ideas on how to use unallocated funds? Where does Bob Lee stand on fiscal responsibility in Mt. Lebanon? Did Bob Lee ever get a list of expenditures and figure out where taxpayer dollars can be saved? Would he stand up and actually support the residents of Mt. Lebanon? What specific ideas does Bob Lee have to make Mt. Lebanon a better place to live? Would Bob Lee actually question billing statements from third party contractors, especially White Buffalo in which we got hosed or question RFP's on why we only received a two year warranty on a $7 million pool project? Does Bob Lee have ideas on how to reduce juvenile arrests in Mt. Lebanon which seem to keep getting worse? Would he get on the phone with Kossman Development and try to get something going with the ugly empty property at the intersection of CSB and MLB?
These are questions that all of the candidates should be answering but since this post is in regards to Bob Lee I thought I would start with him.
Nick M.
Yes, you're right, Nick. We should be asking Craig Grella, Charlotte Stephenson, Bob Fischer, and Bob Lee. We all know where the cowardly Silverman, who ducks out the side door of the municipal building to avoid answering questions stands on killing deer and being afraid to question third party contractors. He is also for taking grandmothers on Social Security to court to avoid disclosing where high powered rifles are being fired in private yards. Silverman started working on the toxic turf project before he was sworn in as commissioner.
Bob Lee stopped on his way home from work to chat with deer protestors at the municipal building. He was truly interested in what we had to say. That was over a year ago.
Craig Grella is afraid of deer, but not afraid of lethal weapons in Mt. Lebanon and he wants them killed. He was also surprised to hear that Toxic turf is...well..toxic.
Charlotte Stephenson had no hunting tape around her yard. She organized Concerned Citizens of Mt. Lebanon during the high school renovation. She also ran the anti turf yard sign campaign and spoke at an anti turf rally, and did an intense email exchange with several commissioners about the dangers of artificial turf.
When talking with Bob Fischer, he thought the turf project was wasteful. He was also against lethal methods being used in Mt. Lebanon to control the deer population. Bob also objected to the money being spent to kill deer. Bob questions third party contractors on a daily basis since he is Scott Township's building inspector.
You're not going to get that from Silverman or Grella. That should simplify voting choices.
Elaine
Why are we only hearing these things on your blog Elaine? Don't these folks know what campaigning means? What about town halls or neighborhood get togethers? I thought there was more to running for a commission seat than some yard signs, if that. Most of these folks don't even have a website. I will credit Steve Silverman for a decent informative website even though many folks don't share his views.
These folks are applying for a job and the taxpayers are the employers. So where are the resumes?????????
Get it together folks!!
Nick M.
I am in favor of having a citizens' forum for the Democratic primary candidates in Ward 2 (Lee; Silverman). I believe that is the only contested primary race for commissioner. The primary is June 16. Anyone have any suggestions about where we could hold such a forum? Of course, all would be welcome, regardless of what ward you live in.
Nick, because about 28 to 30% of us don't demand that they do. Of those, a little name recognition and a few tired and hackneyed campaign promises that can soon after elected can be shucked is good enough.
The other 70% of the voters are too apathetic to even get out to vote so why would they want more info.
12:26 AM, the Primary is in May, not June. It is May 16, 2017. And yes, that is a wonderful idea. Perhaps Bob Lee's committee can organize such a forum. Rent out Hoover's auditorium. The League of Women Voters sponsored a Candidates Forum. When I was running for commissioner in 2011, the forum was held on May 4, 2011. The one in 2013 was canceled due to lack of interest. By the candidates.
https://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2013/04/primary-and-special-election-news.html
The school board candidates which included Mary Birks and Dan Remely would not support it. Durwood Hill was running on the same ticket as Mary Birks and had some meet and greets scheduled, but had pulled out of the race for personal reasons. In that post, I wrote how I told Durwood that I would never vote for Mary Birks.
Because it was canceled, I pulled together a committee to host our own community forum. https://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2013/05/candidates-forum-update.html
Elaine
Lifelong Republican, I certainly figured out whom Lee was referring too.
I'm also pretty sure that there are plenty of lifelong republicans that have been hunkering down in there fallout shelters for a long, long time.
As a lifelong republican I'm sure you can recite word for word the Republican Principles and then tell me why Rs are now in the minority and why the SB and Commission are run by democrats.
Bob Lee running on honest and open government is wise. Many folks I speak with get the sense that the Commission and the School Board have both become just too clubby. Cappucci getting her son hired on as a teacher was the topper. It has to stop.
Elaine--Sorry about that at 12:26. I meant to write that the primary is June 16.
Nick--To your point about the candidates' websites, I agree. A website for each candidate would be great. Silverman hires a PR firm to do his website. He's got a lot of money on his hands. Others may not have those resources at their disposal. In the presidential election in 2016, I voted for a major party candidate. I must admit, however, that I never looked at any websites for the presidential candidates. Maybe I am an aberration (or so I've been called).
What I do know is that Bob Lee has knocked and is continuing to knock on every door in Ward 2. I think that touchy feely stuff beats websites.
Sylvia
Based on history in so-called "off year" primary elections, Mr. Lee has his work cut out for him. The last primary year for a Ward 2 Democratic candidate was 2013. In that year there were 2,733 registered Democrats, out of which 811 bothered to vote - a paltry 29.6%. As we know, Mr. Silverman won his party in the Spring, and went on to win in the general election that Fall.
In most "small town" elections the incumbent has the edge. For Mr. Lee to win he must do two things: 1)get his message out to the Democratic faithful, and 2)prod the 70.4% Democratic indifferent to vote! This cannot be done with "yard signs" - a meaningless device that studies have shown to have almost zero effect on the outcome of an election.
If Mr. Lee wants to win he'll have to spend money on direct mailing to Ward 2 Democrats. He'll also have to pound the pavement. And he doesn't have that much time left.
Very good report, Mr. Gideon.
One thing you might have failed to consider is the support the incumbent, Mr. Silverman, will get from the municipal staffer like the PIO and manager and the democrat party's leadership that supports Cappucci, Birks, Bendel, etc.
Mr. Gideon---
Well said. My recollection is that Steve Silverman had no opposition in the 2013 primary. It was a rather easy election for him to win because I think the Republican challenger in November (Doyle?) only came out toward the end of the campaign season.
Of course, Silverman has the edge as an incumbent. But, remember when Daley was an incumbent and lost in the general election to Kluck?
Sylvia
Sylvia @ 5:57...the reason I'm pushing for candidates to have a website is because as a ward 4 resident I am not able to vote for a ward 2 candidate. However, if Mr. Lee is fortunate enough to win against Mr. Silverman, his decisions at those commission meetings effect all residents, not just ward 2 residents. Mr. Lee won't be knocking on my door so I'd like to know as much about him as possible.
As far as Mr. Silverman's website, it's a very simple and basic design. What makes it effective is that it is full of information. It was designed by Jim Lillicotch, I don't know who that is but I bet you could find a high school student to build a simple website for around $100 or so.
Nick M.
I get your point, Nick. Sure, that makes sense.
S.
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