Indecent proposal: Five Terms for Mayor

[XLFD]

(Courtesy City of Ludington Daily News 8-9-12, p 1 and 8)

This is kind of scary on several levels.

Is there actually 300 people who actually believe Mayor John Henderson deserves a chance at four or five terms with his track record?

Check out what he promised in his first term, and say 12 years later that he's been successful.  Where are the lifeguards to save swimmers, and why are we now spending more (and budgeted more in the future) than what we ever used to spend on lifeguards by hiring Beach Cops/Recovery Rangers.

Where's that Copeyon-Stearn's walkway?  Haven't seen any talk on that except by Les (Three Hat) Johnson last year.  No follow up.

Where's that full-time fire chief?  Your father-in-law is going to be retiring soon.

What about SOS Badger?  This 'grass roots effort' started last year by your daughter  hasn't done anything since June 2011  while the Badger running up against a hard deadline.  You guys made a few bucks selling shirts, stickers, and bottled water for outrageous prices and just what did you achieve?

Why are we spending so little on sidewalk repair and installation?  Instead of having more properties with sidewalks, the City has lost more due to all the new constructions that have failed to install sidewalks according to City Code.

Where's that self-sustained youth center?  It's been a good secret.  Were you talking about tattoo parlors or the new AGS store downtown?

And how about working with LEDCORP (Ludington Economic Development Corp.) to bring all those high tech jobs to Ludington?  Can you say LEDCORP was disintegrated, reformed into the Mason County Growth Alliance, and has led to a great big tax money-sucking enterprise that even the County is ashamed of.

This is just a few of your non-achievements, you've actually made several things a lot worse, which overshadows your accomplishments.  But I'm sure some of your friends have made out like bandits.  Gee back in April when this originally came out, the Neals and Reeds were pushing it.  After hearing too many people laugh in their face, they gave up without getting 300 signatures.  So new folks came and made the new proposal only affect the Mayor's office, because they like the job you are doing.  And it is not the well-heeled families of the Reeds and Neals this time.

City Councilor Kaye Holman.  I ran against this woman for City Council and she swore on WMOM that she was a "no" vote for extending John Shay's career in Ludington.  Guess what, when she had that vote, she not only voted "yes" but punctuated it by saying he was the greatest thing since fire was discovered.  No surprise to me, because this hypocrite beamed with pride saying that she always responded to everyone that contacted her.  My girl and I had contacted her via the mail and E-mail 30 times asking for, and never got a response.  Never.

Community Development Director Heather Venzke Tykoski.   I could go on for a while with this one, but let's remember she applied for a PPO on someone she had never met, someone she had never corresponded with directly, someone whose main offense was posting a link to a "City of Ludington" Assessor's page that showed she and her fiance (now husband) brought a nice house for a nice price, while she was signing invoices/checks in her official capacity to him and his business when the City never had a contract with him.  She then had the City make a new policy which had the same effect as a PPO for public facilities, but without all the problems of due process.

Treasurer Linda Rogers.  Are we seeing a pattern here?  These are all Ludington officials.  Ms. Rogers benefitted from being appointed just after the 2009 elections when Reeds-Mortensen retired.  Instead of a special election then, or when it was mandated when Councilor Scott retired mid-term, she just kept her interim post.  None of this is her fault, but a more law-conscious Mayor may have made her work for the post.

"I'm a big John Henderson fan, he has too much to offer the city to be limited."  Holman said.

Bullocks, the well connected families who were for this earlier, and now the City Councilors, the CDD Venzke, and the treasurer are undoubtedly worried about what a new Mayor might actually do to stop their feeding at the public trough without consequences.  And maybe actually call for the law to be followed, or even question why the City Manager and Police Chief is blocking the free flow of information to the public.         

[AQUAMAN]

Kinda sounds like Holman got her customers, ( dementia people), to sign this, along with other "minions" that follow that agenda.

[XLFD]

What scares me about this is that with an effective and well-funded ad campaign, along with firm support of the COLDNews and their lax facts, and presuming token opposition, this reformulated proposal just may pass.  I may come from the wrong side of town, but I hear a lot of discontent with the status quo right now.  Even with all these summertime festivals and events the public is paying for through taxes.

[Marty Redman]

I swear, the Daily News has a Mayor-gasm whenever they talk of this guy.  There is no bigger phony and it dont surprise me that the usual cronies are pushing his kinghood.

[XLFD]

Mayor-gasm, LOL.  I almost believed John Henderson had actually parted the clouds for yesterday's sunset celebration at the last minutes, after reading the COLDNews today.  What will we ever do without the leadership of John Henderson in 2014? 

[XLFD]

Yikes!  I'd much sooner be King-maker than King.  I could never, ever fit into the ego-hat of Mayor Henderson.

And it would just be my luck that John Shay would re-enact the Letter of Trespass if I did decide to run. 

[XLFD]

I was able to condense the full story of the arrival of John Shay into Ludington in the above one minute video.  A strange UFO hovered in orbit, the people of Ludington were rioting in the streets, somebody tried to clobber Mr. Shay with a circular pipe wrench, First Lady Penny Henderson went into hysterics over the previous City Manager and had to be restrained, Mr. Shay had a pancake thrown on his back during his interview with the council, after recovering he took control forcibly at the City Council chambers, throwing the whole council in disarray, someone shined a heavy duty flashlight in his face, he became blind, and has since managed our fair city. 

[Jmoney8]

I don't see what the problem is people. In the end, he still to win the election. If you're so certain that he's doing a terrible job, you can vote for someone else....good luck with that.

[XLFD]

As the first gentleman who spoke at the Council meeting tonight said, the initiative being on the ballot this year will not be seen more of a term limit issue, rather it will be seen as whether people think the current mayor is doing a good job or not.  Which isn't fair to either issue.  The ballot initiative, as worded, was passed 7-0, afterwards with Kaye Holman acting as unabashed groupie for Hizzoner.  Before going off on me with her opinions and prejudices, of course.

What I don't get is that they claim nearly 500 people signed this initiative (which doesn't necessarily equate to a vote, just a nod that it can come to a vote-- I may have signed it myself even though I think term limits should be reduced and I think Henderson is not the same Mayor I helped elect in 2001), and yet they needed the City Attorney at the end of last week to "write the final ballot language".   Are they changing the language after they got all those signatures?!

Lastly, Jmoney8, I see you've arrived on our forum and bashed Jeff Fiers for using "optical" instead of "obstacle", in your very first post, then in your very next post you use poor grammar when you said:  "In the end, he still to win the election."  Put a "needs" after the word still, and you're good.  Welcome to the Torch.

[AQUAMAN]

Looks like the Torch is starting to attract the "underbelly" of the population of recent, these people seem to get their jollies making noise and chaos for a hobby. If only they were using their efforts for something constructive and positive....lol. Holman seems to be repaying all the favors of the last 2011 election, the one where her opponent had all his signs vandalized and/or removed from public display to give her an extra edge.

[Jmoney8]

Speaking of Monday night's council meeting, I'm sure that the people are curious to see exactly what it was that took place there. So I'll do the honors by providing that link now:

 

http://www.masoncounty.lib.mi.us/index.php?option=com_ttvideo&v...

 

Pay particular attention to the 25:40 minute mark. It seems that, for all your fearless leader's efforts to scrutinize the city for wasting tax payer money, he himself has been costing Ludington tax payers thousands of dollars to pay the cost of his FOIA requests because he uses his girlfriend to claim that he is indigent. And for what? So perhaps he's been able to show that the city hasn't done everything exactly the right way. Is any government perfect? And while I respect your right to raise these issues, sir, there's a line that gets crossed when money comes out of my pocket to fund your "fishing expedition," as Counselor Holman so elegantly put it. But of course, you wouldn't understand that, would you Mr. Rotta, since you don't pay taxes.

 

Lastly, my personal favorite comes at the 34:55 mark. So that the lifeguard issue might finally be put to rest, I think the Mayor adequately summed it up when he said that "you have to make value decisions when you're looking at budgets," and no one understands that more than the mayor himself, who, as a resident of Ludington and volunteer firefighter, is often personally affected by these decisions.

 

Sure, it would be great to have lifeguards. But, as every council member seems to agree, the beach has never been safer. So please, Mr. Rotta, continue to make a fool of yourself by nit-picking, while the people of Ludington foot the bill.

 

[XLFD]

I embedded that video last night so people can make that judgment themselves as whether I am the problem, or trying to help be the solution in the Kaye Holman:  Freedom of Information Fighter thread.  I'm sure you found that thread after you placed this one out, Jmoney8, but I'm not the one spreading misinformation, the City is.  If the beach has never been safer with recovery units (the beach patrol) rather than rescue units (the lifeguards), I must have missed something.

I am indigent myself, you moron, if you saw the video.  I used my girlfriend for FOIA request because our Ludington City Hall saw me as such a credible threat last year to exposing their corrupt practices that they wanted to prevent me coming to City Hall or the Police Department to view records.  I was banned from City Hall by a special policy that you won't find in the Ludington City Code or at its website, how cool is that. 

If you like that; read more of the back stories of the Ludington Torch to become informed, not get the piecemeal information and outright lies the City will give to you.

[Willy]

Jmoney8

Your another foolish person who doesn't ever question Government. Why in the world would public infrormation which has be already been paid for by tax money be subject to a fee, especially since it should be easily accessed on computers. Why should we pay for the privilage of obtaining public information? Why does the CIty or any other Government agency require a FOIA? It's our information, paid by us and it is held hostage by beaurocratic fools. It's people like you who are bowing and conceding to the loss of freedom and liberty we are experiencing. Why would Mr. Rotta have to fight city hall to find the truth? The real problem is folks like you who cannot recognize the corruption that is pervasive in our Government.