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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > October > 21
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Gary Leitzell: Editorial was sexist, didn’t tell truth
Gary Leitzell, candidate for mayor of Dayton, wrote the following in response to the Dayton Daily News’ recommendation of Mayor Rhine McLin.
I am not surprised by the DDN’s recommendation of our incumbent mayor. She is part of the political machine that the newspaper is expected to support.
However, the DDN fails to print the truth.
It states that I am not ready because I speculate that our business regulation ordinances are outdated and I don’t cite examples. Every business owner whom I have talked to agrees with me, and I have spoken with more than 100.
The DDN says I am disconnected from the real-world problems at city hall. Yet I have attended hundreds of city meetings during the last 10 years, and I can honestly state that no editor of the DDN attended any of those meetings.
So I ask, Who are you to state that I am disconnected?
If City Hall became customer-oriented years ago and reconnected with the taxpayers, it would have fewer real-world problems today.
The DDN is sexist when it mocks me as a “stay-at-home father” and is narrow-minded when it adds “who paints miniature figurines to add to the family income.”
No one from the DDN has ever questioned my role in the miniatures gaming industry. They may be impressed my credentials. Since I work from home, I stay at home.
My work takes skill. Writing opinions does not.
My house blog (www.thisoldcrackhouse.blogspot.com) is mentioned in many national magazines and newspapers. It provides inspirational information to the do-it-yourself home remodeler.
I own rental property. I teach my child. I run a neighborhood association, I have maintained a monthly newsletter for seven years. I chair a priority board.
The latter position is elected — not exactly the things you would expect a “house husband” to do.
The DDN states, “Nothing in his background suggests readiness to be mayor of a diverse, complex, troubled city.” The editors have a copy of my resume. That resume is viewable at www.GoGaryGo.net.
It documents considerable sales, marketing and management skills. I have excellent people skills. The DDN failed to list the information the resume contained.
The incumbent mayor has 20 years of political experience, but is she better qualified? You can have all the experience in the world. It does not make you good at your “job.”
Experience is simply a term we give to our mistakes. If the quality of one’s work sets the standard for experience, I excel. Twenty years of my life exceeds one year of political experience 20 times.
Look at how the “leader in tough times” markets herself. Count the number of green/white/black signs you see on vacant lots. Quality marketing?
I hope the DDN will hire the mayor to market its paper since the editorial board feels she is the “best” choice. My feeling is that she will need a job.
Vote Nov. 3 for the candidate who will move Dayton in a positive direction and make it a quality place.
By his own hand and in his own words.
Permalink | Comments (80) | Post your comment | Categories: City of Dayton, Elections, Guest Columns, Miami Valley Politics
TweetMartin Gottlieb: Leitzell cites Reagan, Thatcher; what’s it mean
Two columns for the price of one:
In this business, one meets new candidates for political office all the time. One ponders how to get a fix on them. You can — you do — ask them a bunch of questions about specific issues in their races. But you sometimes come out of a session like that with the feeling that you haven’t really gotten to what makes them tick.
You can ask them to place themselves along the liberal-conservative spectrum. But you’re likely to get a lecture about the dangers of labels, especially in local races, where ideology doesn’t really count for much.
I’ve found that asking people whom they admire in public office often yields a lot. Name someone whom we are likely to have heard of whom you think does the job right.
So last month, Dayton mayoral candidate Gary Leitzell was at the paper. He’s a first-time candidate.
At one point, I asked him about money or other help coming from the Republican Party. He said that people shouldn’t read too much into the fact that he has the Republican endorsement. He emphasized that, while he appreciates the endorsement, he is all about the independent label.
Well, sometimes the word independent signifies somebody who finds the two major parties equally offensive; but sometimes it means somebody who is to the left of the Democrats or the right of the Republicans. It can mean just about anything.
So I went to my question: Tell me somebody in political life whom you really admire. He thought for a while, and said, “Ronald Reagan.”
Hmmm, I started to say, you’re kind of throwing me a curveball.
“OK, Margaret Thatcher,” he said. (Remember, Leitzell grew up in Britain.)
Like I say, hmmm. Two conservative icons.
The discussion quickly found its way back to local issues and the candidate’s biography, partly because it was clear he wasn’t there to sell Reagan or Thatcher.
Now, I don’t believe that Leitzell’s answers suggest that he has a hidden agenda of tax cuts, privatization and union busting, or that he necessarily plans to join the Republicans upon election.
My interpretation is that he mentioned two people he sees as having come into bad situations and made them better.
Certain kinds of political advisers would have warned him against naming two icons of the conservative Republicans when he’s seeking election in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. I’m not really sure there’s much danger. But it generally doesn’t take much danger to instill political caution.
My sense was that Leitzell just isn’t enough of a political junkie to have thought in those terms. Which can be either a good or bad thing.
LIMBAUGH AND THE NFL
OK, let’s talk about this Rush Limbaugh football stuff. Everybody else is, or was, last week.
I have no opinion on whether he should be an owner of a National Football League team. Just this observation:
Though something he said about a black quarterback is often mentioned as the heart of his problem in getting approved, clearly there’s more to it.
Here we have a guy who goes out of his way to make himself hated by an awful lot of people, over politics. In his business — the polarization business — being hated by many is the other side of being loved by many.
He has taken up the role of the enemy, not just of a school of thought, but of the people who adhere to it. He paints them as all things ugly, as people who hold ordinary people and their values in contempt, who hate the country, who are peculiarly mendacious in the way they conduct politics, habitually dishonest and hypocritical, not to mention dangerous because they are dripping in money and in control of institutions.
He foments hatred, then asks, Why do people hate me?
Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment | Categories: City of Dayton, Columns, Elections, Martin Gottlieb, Miami Valley Politics
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