FREE – TAKE ONE Betty Toasted Pal Noe Page 2
NO, NO, NO!
There is one local issue on the ballot Nov. 7 that
gives voters the power to send a strong message to their “representatives.” I
put the last word in quotes because most elected and appointed officials in
Bowling Green are anything but
representative of the public’s will.
The issue that provides the opportunity to send them a message of disapproval is
the BG School District’s proposed $27.5 million bond issue.
Last November, the school district asked voters to
support a measure nearly twice that size and it was soundly rejected, 61 to 39
percent.
After hiding out
for nine months and going through the motions of pretending to listen to the
public, the superintendent-captivated school board quietly voted to place before
voters a smaller measure of 2.93 mills to build a new junior high school and
auditorium.
Later the board passed a measure to enable it to hire an
architect almost immediately after the measure passes. Such confidence!
Rather than lead a
public discussion on the pros and cons of the measure, the superintendent
decided to use an advertising strategy that he used years ago to pass tax
issues in
The strategy uses little or no public advertising and
public discussions of the measure through the media because, the reasoning
goes, that just stirs up the negative votes. It uses direct mail and
person-to-person contact instead.
What a way to
treat a university community! They apparently think we’re not smart enough to
read all the viewpoints in the media and make an intelligent decision.
While the
More than just defeating the bond issue, a NO vote sends
a message to all local officials who do not listen, including some who are
never accountable to the voters.
It sends a message
of disapproval to the school board for closing
It sends a message
of disapproval to the parking lot-loving library board.
It sends a message
of disapproval to BG’s mayor and City Council that their inability to stop
the library board is not appreciated and that whatever allegedly secret deals
they have made to take over the old junior high building for a parking lot or
It sends a message
of disapproval to county commissioners like Tim Brown and state legislators
like Randy Gardner and Bob Latta for their special legislation to give away
millions of tax dollars to Bass Pro shops to come to Rossford. Yet they refuse
to pass special legislation to keep the stench-ridden factory farms out of
And it sends a
message of disapproval to the BGSU Trustees that they should have better
things to do than building a housing and retail development on the east side
of I-75. How about buying the increasing
number of vacant former student rentals in
-- John K. Hartman, Editor and Publisher (OVER)
Page
2 4
Corners News & Views November,
2006
Betty Toasts Noe, Gets $$, Drops Him
Betty Montgomery is good at public relations, politics and fund-raising, but not good at telling it straight and serving the public.
The fact that she took political donations from now convicted felon Tom Noe and ignored his coin fund machinations as attorney general and auditor until it was too late to save the taxpayers’ money is hardly surprising to those of us who have observed her career.
The
The Blade described Noe’s wife
Bernadette as furious at her husband’s Republican friends for abandoning him in
his time of need and described her giving access to a Democrat to a videotape
of the event. Montgomery is
shown telling childhood stories about Tom Noe and about her BGSU sorority
friend Beth, Tom Noe’s sister.
She took money and got the endorsement from the Ohio Education Association in 1992. Her OEA board member sister was a paid staffer on her campaign. It may not have been illegal but it was ethically dubious.
Later
In my opinion any public educator who votes
for
Finally,
Yet, we
know that party politics triumphs over personal beliefs and that
Look beyond her slick advertising – paid for in part by the $1 million Montgomery raised under the pretense that she was running for governor – and you will see that Montgomery along with her fellow Republicans have outlived their usefulness to Ohio.
When
4 Corners Reader Worries About E-Voting
A reader writes: “We've got those 'electronic voting machines'
right here in
I respond: I agree that electronic
voting machines like punch cards leave too much to the imagination and to
manipulation. I suggest that paper ballots that can be read by optical scanners
be re-instituted. They provide a record of all voting and can be hand-counted
easily if necessary
BG 4 Corners You Read It Here
First Tip Of Month: Democrat Robin
Weirauch upsets lame-o Paul Gillmor in the 5th Congressional
District and
BG 4 Corners Lamest Coverage Of Month: The trial of Tom Noe, a BG native, is clearly
the biggest local story but The Sentinel-Tribune won’t send a reporter and put
the story on page one where it belongs.
BG 4 Corners News & Views
of