LFC Comments by Brian Massie, average citizen
What is one of the more recent, blatant deceptions perpetuated by local, state and federal politicians?
Answer: Vote for him/her because he/she is a “Conservative“….What a crock! The word no longer has any meaning.
Let former Commissioner Ron Young tell you what he has learned in 20+ years as a politician.
We wonder if the Lake County political parties are concerned about what happened to their registered supporters? The following schedule was created from the statistics provided by the Lake County Board of Elections’ website.
[use the arrows to move the page from side to side]
Let’s see if we can “make the numbers talk”.
The number of overall registered voters is ~70% .
As of 8/27/22, there are 18,357 Republicans (11.4%) of the total registered voters.
There are 20,225 Democrats (12.5%), and 122,622 with No Party Affiliation – Independents (76.0%).
That means that 23.9% of registered voters determines who gets to run for what political office. Furthermore, how many registered in either party are actually active in the party? Even considering the precinct committeeman or committeewoman, there are no more that 200 decided the fate of Lake County from the political party point of view. Of that 200, how many have the real power to “move the needle”?
Independents have very little chance of getting elected, and it is designed that way by the leaders of the political parties.
As an example, if a Dem or Rep wants to run for Lake County Commissioner the rules (passed by the parties) state that the candidate only needs 50 votes on their petition to have their name on the ballot. However, an Independent will need 1,000 signatures. Talk about controlling elections!
The numbers that are even more revealing to us is the switch in party affiliation since 1/4/2019.
The total number of registered voters has shown a meager increase of 2,225 (1.4%).
The total number of Independents (No Party) increased by 34,192 (38.7%).
So which political party took the biggest hit in registered voters?
The Republicans lost 25,463 (58.1%), and the Democrats lost 6,429 (24.1%).
That tells us that the local Republican Party has done a miserable job in convincing the voters that they truly care about the average citizen. They are not connecting with the average citizen.
Ask any Commissioner, Trustee, Councilman, Mayor what is their role, or duty to their constituents?
If they say to follow the Ohio Revised Code, but do not say “to protect the best interests of my constituents”, that is a problem in our estimation. So what is “protection”?
They may say we will provide the best fire, police protection and our roads will be second to none. However, we have come to realize that NO ONE is saying that they will protect the citizens’ financial interests by ensuring that there is no excessive, burdensome taxation.
We have not heard ANYONE in public office complain about the “rainy day” funds of the Deepwood Center ($55 million), or the Crime Lab ($7 million). They are all turning a blind eye to the political sub-divisions’ ever-growing taxation. You can count on all of the political sub-divisions requesting even more money to cover the double digit inflation that is burdensome to all of us. It is political suicide if they speak out on behalf of the average citizen. The powers in their respective political party will shun them and drive them from office.
Please remember former Commissioner Ron Young’s parting comments:
The top priorities of government are:
- To Grow
- To Protect Itself
The top priorities of a politician are:
- To Protect Themselves
- To Promote Their Careers
They are all complicit in pricing seniors and those on fixed incomes out of their homes that they have worked all their lives to achieve!
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Categories: Lake County - General, Lake County Politics, Uncategorized