On the Ballot

[XLFD]

On Friday afternoon, I became the first candidate in the City of Ludington to file a completed and sufficient nominating ballot.  I am officially running for the office of Third Ward City Councilor. 

To get on the ballot I had to get twenty signatures of registered voters in the third ward in Ludington.  As an additional help, the city clerk, Deb Luskin, gave me a walking voters list that had the 1000+ registered voters in my ward when I went to city hall and expressed my intent to run. 

After looking through the list, I decided to keep close to home and use the signature search as an additional exercise to get to see whether the neighborhood was supportive of me or not.  It was largely a pleasant experience with me getting 24 autographs all from residences less than three blocks from my palatial estate on Dowland.  Only one time did I go to a door and get rejected outright.  It was made up for by a couple of times when I got treated especially nice.

When I took the two petitions with a dozen signatures each to the clerk, she had to check them to make sure the signatures were authentic and that the signers were legitimately registered in the Third Ward.  Nineteen of the people I had were on my voter list, but the five others claimed to have been registered in the Third Ward, so I had them sign. 

It turned out four of those people were mistaken about their data, and one other on my list had came back as a potential problem since they had been living in a different state recently, so verification of their registration needed to be checked by the state.  This left me at nineteen until that was resolved.   

But Clerk Luskin did point out that I hadn't signed my petition and I was qualified to do so.  This was good news, but I hesitated because I just didn't totally trust the guy I was signing for.  I got over that, signed on a new sheet, and then finished the process to become a bona fide candidate for office. 

Now this probably isn't a very interesting, entertaining, or educational story to most of the readers of this, but I want to put it out there as a final call to those who have an interest in taking back some of the control of a city government that keeps going further in the wrong direction.  A trained monkey like myself, vilified and defamed by city officials and the other local media, can get on the ballot with little effort in order to help my fellow citizens fight a corrupt tyranny. 

What's your excuse for not doing so?  What's your excuse for not urging someone you know, who would be a great official, into helping sort the mess out? 

This is the eleventh hour; after Tuesday April 12, you will not be able to get a nominating petition to get on the ballot for this year.  You also will need to get those twenty signatures by April 19, not a difficult task, but one that needs to be done quick.  If you run for the treasurer or at-large councilor, you will need an additional twenty signatures from anybody in the city. 

I appeal especially to those in the Fifth Ward.  Councilor Nick Tykoski is not only a no-show at a great number of meetings, but someone who has used his official position to advantage in getting work for his private business without lawful protocol being followed.  Yet he is (probably) running unopposed, all the while voting for all the tax-raising, rights-lowering litigation of the last five years.

[AQUAMAN]

Yes, I agree, except that #9 has broad implications and is not specific. Besides that, I see the CM position as making the most of the budget to include for constant, routine, and special infrastructure to be maintained in good to excellent condition at all times. In that regard, Shay is a HUGE FAILURE! For the last 5+ years, he has repeatedly been warned and informed by the Water and Sewer, WWTP, and Water Dept. heads that the entire system is severely inadequate and in need of dire repair. Yet, he ignores these people, and instead recommends projects like the West End, water tower painting, selling off city parcels to friends for under-market values, and passing more silly and wasteful ordinances that are not prudent. The Mayor used to do about 1/2 of what the CM does now, and make informed recommendations and solution to problems for the entire city. I think that's what a good Mayor should do, and is expected, not the figureheads we have today just there for looks.

[Jasper]

I truly believed Mayor Cox was going to bring changes to the COL. Very disappointing. Cox does have the power to over ride Shay? Correct? But no he sits up in his Mayor chair and agrees with Shay and the lot of them on the city counsel. Cox is nothing more than a puppet. So disappointing! Cox even had the balls to change the amount of time for citizens to speak. Here is hoping Mayor Cox performs his job at Home Depot! Obviously he was allegedly terminated from LAS for some unknown to the public reason. Cox is now either separated from his wife( mother of his son) who happened to be a cop! Does this not say something?