Jersey Mike

After three years of blogging against Mayor Reed, we’re here with two very different choices for Mayor of Harrisburg.

One has been President of City Council for the past few years and the other is a Legislative Director of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

One rents an apartment in the upper floors of a high rise near Midtown and the other owns a home in the 3000 block of 2nd Street.

One runs a non-profit and apparently exists on a salary of about $20k/year and the other earns over six figures.

One has run a loud, boisterous, in-your-face and very well funded campaign and the other has been relatively quietly plugging along on the streets.

And for the first time in this writers life, I’ve been volunteering at a poll this morning handing out literature and attempting to sway those few undecided voters to elect Mindlin.

In the big scheme of things, I’m a relative newcomer to Harrisburg politics. I only started paying attention when a good friend brought me to my first City Council meeting sometime in 2005. Back in the Vera White days. And it was at that meeting that I wondered to myself how a person like that; so seemingly clueless and uneducated, so out of touch and delusional could ever possibly get elected to anything, much less president of City Council.

But then I got to know the players. Clare Jones. Andy Giorgione. Randy King. Judge Kleinfelter. Roxbury. Waters. Patty Kim, Gloria Martin Roberts and Susan Wilson. James Ellison. Bill Cluck. Darnell Williams. Gerald Kohn. Linda Thompson, Dan Miller and even Steve Ketterer.

This local election is historic for SO many reasons. And bloggers and independent media can deservedly take credit for enlightening the public to a lot of the murky underlinings of our local government that undoubtedly influenced the election results over the past couple of elections. So for that, I’ll never complain about Steve Reed being out of office.

But what I will make note of today is how incredibly uneducated many voters appear to be. How many voters I heard saying that they’re voting for Linda simply because they don’t KNOW Nevin.

Apparently, their decisions weren’t swayed by the massive amount of negative stories that have recently surfaced about Thompson. No, these voters who I spoke with didn’t care that she took a $5,000, zero-interest loan from her non-profit and refused to explain what it was used for and how she got such wonderful terms on it. No, these voters didn’t care about the fact that Linda Thompson- a “champion” for home ownership for the urban-dwellers is actually a renter, herself. No, these voters didn’t care that Thompson was recently sued for $1,400 by Discover Card for defaulting on a credit card. And no, apparently these voters didn’t care that, through nearly every debate and interview over the past three months, Linda Thompson did not clearly answer a single question asked of her.

You see, the way I view an election like this is that I want to know EVERYTHING about the person who is running. The person who is running is telling me that they are the best person to represent me as a constituent and they will have my best interests in mind when making decisions about what to do with city finances, public safety, economic development and quality of life in the city where I reside.

I want to know about what you’ve been doing for the past twenty years.

I want to know whether you own or rent.

I want to know what your credit score is.

I want to know who your campaign contributors are.

I want to know who you are beholden to in the event that you win.

And on many accounts, I’m simply not happy with what I’ve heard about Linda Thompson.

Nevin Mindlin, on the other hand, has never sued anyone after spilling gas on himself or getting into a fender bender. Nevin Mindlin appears to have AAA credit and a good grasp of how the financial system in the city works. Nevin Mindlin has verifiable employment and tax records. Nevin Mindlin, after speaking with him on many occasions now, seems to be a very calm, balanced and humble individual.

THAT’S who I want running this city for the next four years.

Whomever wins this election is going to have some pretty big shoes to fill. Not necessarily in a good way, but Steve Reed has twenty eight years worth of connections, alliances, contacts and contracts already in place. Most of his problems were able to be solved with a single phone call.

Mindlin OR Thompson will be starting nearly from scratch. Which is certainly a good thing, but it comes down to savvy. Are we better off with someone going in, aggressively swinging a battle axe and taking no prisoners? Or will it be better to have a calm, reasonable and more gentle hand who will facilitate the changeover smoothly? Will our basic services like police, snow removal and staffing of city offices suffer during the transition?

All of these are relevant questions and concerns.

And all of the campaigning, muckraking, dirt-digging and mud-slinging is over now. It’s in the voters hands.

But what REALLY wins an election? Sadly, it’s looking like the most qualified candidate will, again, lose this race. And if there’s one thing I learned from the people hanging out at the polling station at 15th and Market today (South Allison Hill) is that they’re not voting for Thompson because she’s the best candidate. They’re not voting for Thompson’s non-existent plans for doing the things she says that she wants to do. They’re not voting for Thompson as the best candidate to oversee a budget which barely buoys above hundreds of millions of dollars of debt. No, they’re voting for Thompson mostly because they know who she is. Her face is recognizable city-wide.

I heard it ALL morning. “How am I supposed to vote for Mindlin when I don’t even know who he is?”.

That’s the thing about our election process- those who are campaigning do the best they can with the resources available to get their name into our collective consciousness. Thompson out-fund raised Mindlin exponentially and was able to buy more propaganda and pay more campaign workers than Mindlin.

And it’s unfortunate. Unfortunate in this day and age that the most qualified candidate nearly never wins the election.

Most people aren’t voting for a policy or morals or philosophies of a candidate. They’re voting for the most well known name.

And in the City of Harrisburg, there hasn’t been more of a prominent name in the press over the past several years than Linda Thompson.

And that’s not a good thing.

Get your piece of Harrisburg’s Mayoral Election 09 history!

The direct quote was “These people who are on these blogs are really pathetic people” from Mayoral Candidate Linda Thompson.

What better way to let the world know exactly how you feel about those pesky, pathetic bloggers than with your very own tee shirt?

Sizes

Medium Large X-Large

Available in M, L and XL and just like every other tee shirt I’ve done, these will be a once-and-done item. Once they’re gone, they’re gone!

Be the envy of everyone at the next City Council meeting you attend! Wear it to the polls! That next public safety meeting? You’ve got your wardrobe all picked out!

They’re ten bucks plus two for shipping (and if you live within the city of Harrisburg, I’ll hand deliver them to you!)

They’ll be ready for delivery Monday night, October 26.

Sizes

Medium Large X-Large

“These individuals who are on these blogs are really pathetic people,” – L. Thompson

Hey Linda: You’re running for MAYOR.

People want to know about YOU.

You claim to be the most qualified, honest, respectable and capable candidate…but you sure ain’t acting like it!

ABC 27′s Andy Briggs reported today that Linda Thompson believes that bloggers are- gasp!- smearing her campaign.

“Bloggers have taken Thompson to task for renting a downtown apartment, even though she advocates home ownership as an economic development tool.”, reports Briggs. And Thompson’s response? “These individuals on these blogs are really pathetic people.”

Linda, you keep making it easier. Just when we think you can’t say anything worse, you go ahead and open your mouth.

I thought that Mindlin was running a pretty soft campaign and was sort of worried about his relative passiveness in this process. But with Thompson digging her hole deeper with every single word that comes out of her mouth, Mindlins momentum is picking up effortlessly.

“Pathetic Bloggers”? More like “Pathetic Candidate”

Our favorite message board- the “Harrisburg” forum on PennLive- has been ablaze lately with campaign chatter. Whether you’re for Mindlin or Thompson, one things for sure: the posts on that site are mostly venomous, accusatory, loaded and skewed in one direction or another.

Fueling the fire over there (and I’ve mentioned this before) is the anonymity allowed to posters. One may sign up for an “account” using a fake email address and without providing any sort of identifying information. Therefore, posting hurtful, egregious and untrue statements about a myriad of topics.

Recently, there has been a poster littering the forum with pro-Thompson propaganda. But the poster has been doing so in complete anonymity. While it’s fine to comment here and there about a topic or two, this poster has seemingly been posting from within the Thompson headquarters nonstop.

As a service to the readers of this site, I’ve copied and pasted sort of a “Best of” offering of postings from username “changezcomin”

Whether or not this person actually works for the Thompson campaign is up for debate…but based on the viciousness of the tone of the posts and the frequency of their activity, one would think that this person DOES, in fact, work for the Thompson campaign.

And if that’s the case, one would only have to read a few words to make a decision on whether or not they will want Linda Thompson to represent them as Mayor for the next four years.

[The following quotes are copied and pasted directly from the Harrisburg forum on PennLive. They are mostly geared towards where Nevin Mindlin resides. And they follow the information that Linda Thompson, while "Championing" for home ownership, is a renter and collects unemployment. I have not edited any of the following statements.]

I must have hit a nerve that caused someone to want my posts deleted. No response to any of those questions. Now all those posts are mysteriously gone. HMM. What’s the matter guys, I thought you liked this? Answer the questions. Will he or won’t he fire Kohn? Will he or won’t he sell the garages? How long has Mindless lived in the city? What is his actual marital status? He says he is married, but he also says he has lived in Harrisburg for seven years. I agree with you, it is easier to try to make me go away than to go ask Nevin to tell the truth.

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Blame Sharon Smith and the patriot news. Here is a quote from her article. “Mindlin’s attorney, Herschel Lock, supplied The Patriot-News with a copy of a deed executed between Feger and Mindlin on Feb. 3, 2006.”

You were all there to hear him say he lived in Harrisburg for seven years. Was he lying or what? He calls himself a great manager and mathmetician well 2006 sure isn’t seven years ago. Where did he live before that. Caught in a lie Nevin?

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I care if he is a big liar. He said he moved here seven years ago but he bought his house three years ago. Do you care if he tells you the truth? I think that matters. He said seven the paper says three. Should be pretty easy to clear up right?

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Who did he live with between 2002-2006 in the city of Harrisburg. i do realize what executing a deed in 2006 means. it means he has owned a home in Harrisburg for three years. It means that unless he lived somewhere else in Harrisburg for the four years prior to that, then he is lying about living in the city for seven years. Would you care to respond to the wife swap question as well?

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Is the woman Mindless claims is his wife, his actual wife, or his pretend wife? Did he leave his real wife for her?

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You people have bombarded this forum for weeks with lies, rumors, and innuendo. I just asked or should i say axed, as you people like to intimate that we say, a few simple questions. Answer them and shut me up.

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Since when did you get better. Mr. digitech. Mr. post number 7049. i will not bother to repeat the disgusting personal things you have said about Ms. Thompson. post #7049 speaks for itself and then i cannot believe you would actually repeat it, and joke about it as if it is funny. I am wondering if Ms. Auchey saw your post #7049 and what it really implies. There is a word for that as well. You wanna know who made it personal? You made it personal. You made it real personal. Did Mindless or did he not leave his wife for the woman he is parading in front of us as i his wife. And for anyone who is offended by my question, go read digitech posts under 7049 and when i see you offended by that, then maybe i will stop asking about the lies Mindless is telling us.

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Mindless Mindlin’s supporters have for weeks attacked the personal character of Ms. Thompson. They have raised all manner of questions which are mostly non sense. They have implied all kinds of things about her which have been proven untrue. they have attacked her at every turn.

Yesterday they went too far. Read post #7049 by digitech and you will understand why I ask these questions. Maybe you won’t understand, because for you it was just a joke. We did not find it funny.

So let’s talk about character. Nevin Minlind appears to be a big liar. last night he said he lived in Harrisburg for seven years. the Patriot reported that he bought his house in 2006. That is three years. Seven or three, whatever. The question is why did he lie about it?

Hear that?

They call it “exodus”. Movement of jah people.

Word on the street tells me that many (if not all) of the higher-ranking Reed Administration members have sold or are selling their homes in the city and moving to the surrounding, more stable suburbs.

Funny that’s happening now…do they know something us commoners don’t?

Methinks they do. Considering lame-duck Mayor Reed still hasn’t officially conceded the May primary to democratic victor Linda Thompson and also considering that Republican nominee Nevin Mindlin has been hitting the streets hard for months now…it almost seems as if Reed wants to see Thompson take his throne from him.

The reason for my thinking that is simple: a Reed write-in campaign simply cannot win. There are far too many variables which need to be precise in order for a single write in vote to even count…much less the three thousand-or-so which would be necessary for Reed to even stand a chance at winning.

Meanwhile, Reed could simply concede the election to Thompson and put 100 percent of his support behind Mindlin….getting the last-standing Reed supporters to guarantee a fighting chance for a relatively hopeful future for our city.

Linda Thompson is not a sound choice for Mayor of Harrisburg.

Let me repeat that: Linda Thompson is not a sound choice for Mayor of Harrisburg.

Considering the fact that she fails to acknowledge Mindlins repeated requests for three public debates; considering the questionable financial records of her non-profit “Loveship”; considering her emotional outbursts, delusions of grandeur and outright abuse of the English language while serving as president of City Council…this woman would not make a level-headed and educated-enough Mayor of a financially distressed city such as ours. (And don’t forget about the rumors of a couple of arrests back in her college days which have neither been denied or confirmed)

We’ve had entirely too much secrecy in the halls of the Martin Luther King building over the past twenty five years. And a vote for Thompson will almost certainly lead to more of the same.

This November, vote Mindlin.

It’s the smartest thing you can do.

“Yes we can” beat the hype machine that is Thompson and Co.