Is Ben Konop A Liar?

I read an article in The Blade in which Toledo mayoral candidate Ben Konop is reported to have said he has knocked on the 10,000th door in his primary campaign efforts. Another part of the story states: "The 10,000 addresses include homes and apartments visited by members of his campaign staff." The article also reports that others have taken exception to Konop's claim of having knocked on more doors than any of the other Toledo mayoral candidates. Then, there is the admission by Ben Konop that half of the home visits (or more) were met with no personal face-to-face contact with the residents of those homes.

Read the article Konop declares he's knocked on the most doors; rivals disagree by Blade staff writer JC Reindl for yourself and then answer the question: What are we to believe? Is Ben Konop telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth OR is Ben Konop a liar?

This isn't the first time that the veracity of Ben Konop has come under scrutiny. Apparently, some people do believe Ben Konop is a liar.

Click over to read the SwampBubbles message thread Ben Konop Is A Liar.

Publius over at the Law of Reason wrote Ben Konop - A Liar In Liar's Clothing. Go ahead, click on the title to read it in its entirety.

Maxwell Austin can be heard calling Ben Konop a liar in the YouTube piece Toledo Mayoral Candidate Ben Konop Heckled at Press Conference.

I ask you:
Is Ben Konop a liar?

Ben Konop. A Dumb Idea.

From where in the world did Ben Konop come?

Here I am feeling somewhat aghast at the latest publicity in Toledo Ohio in regards to Ben "doesn't fall far from the tree" Konop.

Ben Konop may just hold the record for northwest Ohio politicians who are publicity seeking political opportunists. He may even have surpassed the political opportunistic Wade Kapszukiewicz.

Konop proposes privatizing Lucas County EMS ambulance service endowing college scholarships in the process. That's the latest scoop of Ben Konop poop from WTOL 11 and from the Toledo Blade.

(Hey, what are you thinking? Shame on you. Get your mind out of the gutter and bring it on up here to the sewer. When I wrote "scoop of Ben Konop poop," I was making reference to the "current details" of Ben Konop "inside information.")

As it turns out, this is really not new news from Ben Konop, as can be read over at Thurber's Thoughts Konop's college conspiracy. (Gee, for some twisted and strange reason, some how I think that entry could have been entitled KKK: Konop's Kollege Konspiracy, even though there really isn't any connection of any kind to the Ku Klux Klan; it just strikes me as a kute katchy konopism.)

My thoughts on the Konop proposal are three-fold.

One:
I am opposed to privatizing EMS.

Two:
I am in favor of college scholarships.

Three:
This Ben Konop proposal is A DUMB IDEA!!!

Ben Konop: Lucas County Commissioner Opens Can Of Worms

Hmmm. I have made a couple of commentaries in the past in regards to Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop, specifically on August 22, 2007 and on October 11, 2007.
Well, today is yet one more; and, it is related to the October 11 commentary. Ben Konop has pounded away at the operations, effectiveness, and efficiency of the Lucas County Improvement Corporation (LCIC) and its CEO Shawn Ferguson. While I, myself, have questioned the way about which Ben Konop initially began his foray into the LCIC issue, I also applauded the resolution that he brought before the Board of Lucas County Commissioners regarding the LCIC as the proper procedure to follow and of the appropriateness of the resolution as a means of holding the LCIC accountable.
Now, there has been another interesting development in this saga as reported in this newspaper article regarding the sudden resignation of Shawn Ferguson as the chief executive of the Lucas County Improvement Corporation.
Some persons, mostly of the opposite political party from the one of which Ben Konop is associated) have questioned his motives and have put forth some speculation as to his political agenda on this issue. Quite frankly, I could care less about Ben Konop's political motivation as long as the public is the prime beneficiary of Ben Konop's efforts, and as long as Ben Konop's actions are proper and legal.

P.S. How can I get Ben Konop or anyone else to put the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and its Toledo Express Airport operations under the same microscope as is the Lucas County Improvement Corporation? The Toledo Express Airport operation has been sadly lacking for many, many years. For the amount of public funds involved with the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and the airport, there ought to be far more accountability, efficiency, effectiveness, and results. Decades have passed with little or no noticeable improvement.

Ben Konop: Buying An Election?

I never understood why a politician would need to pay people to circulate his or her nomination of candidacy petitions. It seems to me that a person seeking elective office should have the initial support of interested voters who would volunteer their time to support the potential candidate. If not, that tells me the potential candidate does not have a loyal following; ergo, that person is not a leader and is not worthy of my support. Such seems to be the case of Ben Konop, former Congressman wannabe, present Lucas County Commissioner, and Toledo Mayor wannabe.

It is my opinion that paying people to circulate petitions in order to seek elective office is the same as trying to buy an election.

Read Judy's Jewels Konop, Konop.

You see, when the young fella knocked at our door seeking our signatures on a Ben Konop petition in order for Ben Konop to appear on the primary election ballot as a nominee for Mayor of Toledo, we posed a couple questions accompanied by our own opinionated comments. It was from that discourse that the young man told us that he was doing the door-to-door thing as a part-time job to get some extra money. Gee, maybe that is why Ben Konop wants to be Mayor of Toledo.

Maybe, Ben Konop just wants some extra money from the salary. Who knows? I don't.

I just think Ben Konop is on one big ego trip, just like his sorrowful Aunt Sandy Isenberg, former Toledo City Councilman, former Lucas County Recorder, former Lucas County Commissioner, and former Lucas County Democratic Party Chairman. They are both so full of themselves as demonstrated by their egotistical, egocentric actions and behaviors and what seems rather apparent to me in what I perceive as their very own self-impressions. It makes me want to vomit.

Lucas County Commissioner in 2010

Back on July 6th, 2007, I started a message thread on the Toledo area political message board, SwampBubbles, attempting to stir up some serious conversation about the next Mayoral election that was more than two years down the road; that is this year's election. While my posting resulted in quite a few comments, there was very little serious dialogue by the so-called self-proclaimed political activists, bloggers, commentators.

It was soon after that message thread that some people began to circulate a rumor that I, Roland Hansen, was going to be a candidate for Mayor of Toledo and posted some negative commentary along those lines on various political blogs and internet message boards. I guess these folks just had to practice their art of political predictions and character assassination.

Regardless of that bit about me, here we are today in the heat of the initial stages of the primary election battle to determine the next Mayor of the City of Toledo, Ohio in which many people are bemoaning the choices being proffered to date. I guess the electorate will always remain the same, a bunch of crybabies who sit on the sidelines complaining about "bad" government and "dirty" politicians. For reference sake, I suggest you take a look at that message thread: Toledo Mayor in 2009.
(Oh, incidentally, did you read my prediction back then about the recall effort of the Mayor? Such useless and wasted energy as is today's Take Back Toledo push!)

Now, what has all that got to do with the Roland Hansen Commentary of today? Okay, if you went to the aforementioned message thread and read it, you will understand more fully what I am now addressing.

Here goes ...

All right, I know we haven't even elected the Mayor of the City of Toledo, Ohio yet this year, let alone chosen the two candidates for Toledo Mayor in the primary election that is still just short of three months away. Heck, the general election is still five months off into the future from this entry of Roland Hansen Commentary.

None-the-less, one of the candidates for Toledo Mayor is Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop who was elected to a four-year term back in 2006 and who has broken his 2006 campaign pledge to complete his full term if he were to be elected a Lucas County Commissioner.

I suspect that Ben Konop will not even survive the September 2009 municipal primary election to be a candidate for Mayor of Toledo in the November 2009 general election. In the unlikely possibility that he does survive the primary election to be a candidate in the general election, he should be soundly defeated.

All of that brings me to my main focus today. The seat on the Board of Lucas County Commissioners currently held by Ben Konop is up for election in 2010. I'm going to assume Benny Konop will fall flat on his face in his Toledo mayoral quest and seek re-election as a Lucas County Commissioner, that is, of course, providing Benny-boy doesn't find some other political elective office that suits his political opportunistic fancy and go for it instead. In the event that Ben Konop does seek re-election as a Lucas County Commissioner, he should be tossed out on his ear. My previous entries here on Roland Hansen Commentary about Ben Konop provide the information as to why I have such thoughts. Just plug his name in up there in the blog search box and you can read them all if you so desire.

Onward.....

I have heard and read that some people are dissatisfied with the current political faces on the Board of Lucas County Commissioners and want change. Some have said the heck with the political parties. Some clamor for an independent. Whatever!

The reality is if you truly want something different in the 2010 election for the Board of Lucas County Commissioners, it is necessary to start now in order to offset the advantage of incumbency and political party affiliation.

That long-winded introductory statement is the lead in to a question. Here is the question:

Who do you suggest run for Lucas County Commissioner in 2010?

Bye, Ben Konop. Hello, Harry Barlos.

Well, it seems that Ben Konop must have gotten the word. He has apparently decided not to seek re-election to the Board of Lucas County Commissioners. You may read about it here. Gee, I wonder if Ben ever read any of my Roland Hansen Commentary "Ben Konop" entries. I think the departure of Ben Konop is just fantastic news.

On another happy note, it seems as though Harry Barlos, former Administrator of the Village of Holland Ohio and former Lucas County Commissioner and former Lucas County Clerk of Courts and former Mayor of the City of Maumee, is coming back into elective politics. I first met Harry way back when he was a page for the late great Vern Riffe, Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, and when he made his first attempt in the mid 1970s at elective politics in seeking the Ohio House seat that was held by incumbent John A. Galbraith. Harry has filed to run for the 46th district seat of Ohio House of Representatives. Mark Dansack is not seeking that seat this year, nor is he seeking the seat for Lucas County Commissioner, but Mr. Dansack has echoed my sentiments in wishing Harry Barlos well in his quest.

Konopnomics vs. Thurbernomics: Let The Debate Begin

Whether you think it is just throwing stones, a jab fest, or a slug fest, it is a pugilistic event of the written kind, a war of the words, if you will.

The first jab was thrown by Republican Maggie Thurber, former Lucas County Commissioner, when she wrote a guest opinion piece in the June 20, 2008 edition of the Toledo Free Press in regards to Democrat Ben Konop, current Lucas County Commissioner and his economic development proposals. She entitled her contribution Konopnomics.

Ben Konop bounced back with his own guest column piece in the June 27, 2008 edition of the Toledo Free Press in response to that of Maggie Thurber. What other title could Ben Konop choose but that of Thurbernomics.

For the nitty gritty details, read both Konopnomics and Thurbernomics.
Then, if you want to add your two-cents worth, feel free to weigh in with your comments.

Hey, I have what I think is a great idea. Both Ben Konop and Maggie Thurber should meet, face to face, in a public forum and debate one another on the perspectives each shared in their Toledo Free Press guest commentaries.

Furthermore, I would go so far as to suggest that such debate should be sponsored by an organization such as the League of Women Voters or the area Chamber of Commerce or some such other civic organization.

I'll even go one step further in my suggestion. Should such an event take place, I suggest (nay, I challenge) the local broadcast media (to step up to the plate) to cover the debate live.

Ben Konop: In The Public Eye

Ben Konop sure knows how to keep in the public eye. In my 36 years of experience in the Lucas County political arena, I have never come across a County Commissioner, especially one in the position of being the junior Commissioner, whom has had such extensive media exposure in so brief a timeframe.
If you are a resident of Lucas County, Ohio and whether you think this thing about Ben Konop constantly being in the media is good, bad, or if you are indifferent toward it, the fact remains that the Lucas County Board of Commissioners has been the recipient of much positive mass media exposure since Ben Konop took office in January 2007. That aspect, if nothing else, is a very refreshing change.
I see no need to make any further comment other than to suggest you read "I have to admit he stays in the spotlight" from Chili Dog Blog.

Ben Konop -- What the hell???!!!! Today: Ohio. Tomorrow: Who knows?

What's with Ben Konop and his exploration about running for Mayor of Toledo????!!!!

Back in 2004, he ran for a congressional seat in northcentral Ohio, i.e. the 4th congressional district, quite a distance from Toledo and from Lucas County. He lost that election and then he moved to Toledo, Ohio to run for Lucas County Commisioner in 2006. In his campaign for a seat on the Lucas County Board of Commissioners, he promised that if elected he would serve the full four-year term. Well, he won that seat; but now just mid-way through his elected term, he is considering making an electoral attempt to switch seats in becoming the next Mayor of the City of Toledo thereby breaking his promise.

As an interesting aside, I see from reading the various news stories of his Toledo Mayoral explorations that he has been making political campaign forays outside the City of Toledo.

What the hell? Does Ben Konop have any loyalty to any voters?? Or, does Ben Konop just wish to use voters, any and all voters, to further his own personal career choice of professional politician, as opposed to elected public servant???

Maybe, he will just up and move to another state, if it will serve his choice of occupational path.

Ohio: Lucas County Commissioners and Political Posturing

Give me a break! All the damn political posturing by the Lucas County Commissioners is nauseating.

Read the latest Blade newspaper article Konop skips event to attend one of his own.

A few excerpts from the article that especially caught my eye are the following:

“I cannot, in good conscience, pontificate on the State of the County to campaign contributors, recipients of no-bid contracts, and assorted politicians,” Mr.Konop said in a statement.
“So, I will forgo the State of the County and instead have an honest dialogue with working-class members of our community.”

Mr. Gerken didn’t mention Mr. Konop in his speech, but he did call for unity.
“We need to show that we can do the long haul. We need to stay together,” Mr. Gerken said. “Fighting with each other might boost political fortunes in the short-term, but it does not help in the long term.”
Mr. Gerken also defended the Lucas County Improvement Corp., a frequent target of Mr. Konop.

During her speech, Ms. Wozniak said she wanted to look at ways to restructure county government.
“Our form of county government is older than the airplane, older than the automobile, and older than the telephone,” she said. “We don’t fear change because we know that business as usual has not worked.”
She said she wanted the University of Toledo’s Urban Affairs Center to present options on how to change the county government.

My reaction to each of the above is: Cut the crap. Quit all the political posturing, all of you. Who are you each trying to fool by asserting you are not practicing the fine art of political posture?

Mr. Konop:
You raise some very valid concerns but going off and politicking through press releases and one-person media events is s-o-o-o transparent!
Some things never change. Remember this Roland Hansen Commentary?

Mr. Gerken:
Give me a break! That was a slap at Ben Konop if ever I saw one. And for you to defend the totally inept and ineffective LCIC that rips off us taxpayers in royal fashion. Hang your head in shame!
My thoughts on LCIC have been expressed before in this particular Roland Hansen Commentary and in this other Roland Hansen Commentary.

Ms. Wozniak:
Yeah, right, like I really believe you are willing to change Lucas County government! You have been involved in Lucas County politics and have been a Lucas County Commissioner for how long now???
If you are truly interested (or anyone else, for that matter) in reforming the structure of county government, read Change Lucas County, Ohio Government!

I am so sick and tired of the games and consistent lack of positive governance displayed by the Board of Commissioners of Lucas County!

And you know what?
The same goes to the Toledo City Council and to the Toledo City Board of Education.

Ben Konop for Mayor of Toledo

Given the latest press announcement from Ben Konop, a politician who seems to communicate almost exclusively by means of press announcements and press conferences and who seems to be nonresponsive to the citizens and who just happens to be the nephew of former Chair of the Lucas County Democratic Party and former Lucas County Commissioner and former Lucas County Recorder and former Toledo City Councilperson, and given the fact that today is April Fool's Day, I couldn't think of a better title for this Roland Hansen Commentary.

Who's the fool? Need I say more?

Ben Konop: Lucas County Commissioner also a Dragonslayer?

I am consistently being surprised at the consistency of public statements and actions of the junior member of the Board of Lucas County Commissioners, Ben Konop, here in Ohio. And, I have absolutely no problem in my admission of that surprising-even-to-me statement.
Take a look at this Glass City Jungle entry.

Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority: Toledo's Own "The Price Is Right" Show Hosted By James Hartung

I remind people of the October 26, 2007 entry of Roland Hansen Commentary Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority: Public Accountability or Not? in which I brought up the issue of accountability of and for the quasi-public, tax-payer supported agency. If you do not recall the entry or if you had not previously read it, I suggest you read that entry now before proceeding any further.
Apparently, the taxpayers don't much mind authorizing tax dollars to a nonprofit agency that pays a salary to its CEO that is much more than than the salary of many elected officials. I wonder how many taxpayers of the City of Toledo and of the other parts of Lucas County pay attention (let alone realize) to the salary that is paid to James Hartung, President of The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. For those who may not be aware of the tax support given to that private, nonprofit agency, I draw your attention to the fact that the taxpayers of Lucas County are contributing 2.5 million dollars a year to the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority in the form of a tax levy that the voters themselves have approved.
For those who may not be aware of the salary issue, I suggest you read this newspaper account about the issue (or is it really a non-issue) of the salary of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority President James Hartung. While the vast majority of the taxpayers may not have voiced opinions on the salary, you might wish to read the newspaper opinion Hartung's Gravy Train that was published by the daily newspaper in Toledo, Ohio. At least one taxpayer has expressed concerned as can be read in the "Letters to the Editor" column of the newspaper that you may read here.
This is not the first time the salary issue has been raised. For example, I found one article on the internet that goes back to August 17, 2000, and another article from 2005, and a some-what related side story (Update as of September 29, 2013: all three of the links to those cited references no longer work.)
So, dear readers, do you have an opinion on this issue? If so, I would appreciate reading your comments here.

As a side note: James Hartung telephoned me twice last fall right after I had made this comment
"How can I get Ben Konop or anyone else to put the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and its Toledo Express Airport operations under the same microscope as is the Lucas County Improvement Corporation? The Toledo Express Airport operation has been sadly lacking for many, many years. For the amount of public funds involved with the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and the airport, there ought to be far more accountability, efficiency, effectiveness, and results. Decades have passed with little or no noticeable improvement."
as a postscript to the October 24 Roland Hansen Commentary in which the main subject was Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop and the Lucas County Improvement Corporation. Because I was not at home at the time of the calls, Mr Hartung left messages on my answering machine. Mr. Hartung had asked that I call his office to make an appointment with him and his "airport director" to discuss my concerns, thoughts, and ideas.
Given the fact that he is the highly paid CEO and that he has a well-paid 'Director of Airports' and a whole slew of paid staff to do the professional work, I found it interesting that he wanted me to be a volunteer to aid the paid staff in doing their jobs! Sheesh, he didn't even offer a consultant fee. lol
Incidentally, I have retained copies of those voice messages for posterity.

Judy Hansen for Lucas County Commissioner?

I wonder if you remember the Roland Hansen Commentary Lucas County Commissioner in 2010.

Well, it appears that the possible previous candidate for Lucas County Commissioner with whom I had spoken has decided against running for Lucas County Commissioner in 2010.

Hopefully, you familiar with all the Roland Hansen Commentary Ben Konop entries.

If you have read all that, then you know why I think it is imperative that Ben Konop be replaced as a Lucas County Commissioner.

So, now, I think that my wife, Judy Hansen, should be put forth as a candidate for Lucas County Commissioner in 2010. What do you think? Should Judy Hansen be Running for Lucas County Commissioner or Not?

Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority: Public Accountability or Not?

In my immediately preceding commentary on October 24, 2007 regarding Ben Konop and the whole issue of the accountability in regards to the operations, effectiveness, and efficiency of Lucas County Improvement Corporation and its CEO, I closed with a postscript on a tangental subject when I wrote:

How can I get Ben Konop or anyone else to put the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and its Toledo Express Airport operations under the same microscope as is the Lucas County Improvement Corporation? The Toledo Express Airport operation has been sadly lacking for many, many years. For the amount of public funds involved with the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and the airport, there ought to be far more accountability, efficiency, effectiveness, and results. Decades have passed with little or no noticeable improvement.

It is with hindsight I realized almost immediately when I published the postscript comment that the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority deserved to be a subject of its own in a separate message thread here on Roland Hansen Commentary. That thought especially hit home when I read this newspaper article that the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority Board of Directors intend to have public tax payers assist the Catholic Diocese of Toledo.

Are any eyebrows being raised about the appropriateness of taxpayer public support for a religious organization? Will the Protestant, Islamic, Jewish, and other religious organizations receive the same support? Will there be any questions raised by non-Catholic religious groups, or agnostics, or atheists, or by the Amercan Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), or by any citizen and taxpayer watchdog groups?

Incidentally, you might find this specific Roland's Ramblings entry 'Resistance Is Futile' or Managing Dissent interesting in-as-much that it is about how governmental agencies and other organizations and persons in positions of power manage to stifle real citizen participation.

Unigov and Hooda Thunkit

There's a great entry about unigov over on the blog of Dave Zawodny that I believe people should read. I feel even moreso if you are a concerned citizen and you believe that government should be responsible, responsive, and accountable that you really ought to read Hooda Thunkit's (Dave Zawodny's) Blog, 2010/03/24, Unigov..., Is Now The Time?

I think that more people should become better informed about government and take an active role. I am sick and tired of the ignorant passivity of a vast number of people.

UPDATE: Dave Zawodny has since removed his blog from the internet. However, I was able to locate much of it on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. I replaced the original embedded link contained in the last line of the opening paragraph with the page to the wayback Machine that contains the original post of Dave Zawodny.

In addition to that, for your convenience, the following is a copy and paste of that blog entry of Dave Zawodny, aka Hooda Thunkit:

2010/03/24

Unigov..., Is Now the Time?

This recent post found on mi amigo Roland Hansen's “Roland Hansen Commentary” and titled, “Ben Krompak, Lucas County Commissioner candidate, and Police Proposal” caused me to flash back to my previous posts on the subject on my very own blog...

Here, 2005/10/05, “A low risk way to prove/disprove whether UniGov will work for Lucas County”

here, 2005/10/23, “More practical, yet non-political Lucas Co. Unigov projects…”

here, 2007/05/09, “Some thoughts and suggestions on Commissioner Ben Konop's “unigov” study group”

here, 2007/05/14, “A Unigov Question…"

and here, 2009/06/13, “Candidates urge turnover of parks to Metroparks"


I leave it up to the reader to go back to read the original posts, because I intend to update those old posts and repost the gist of what was written then in this post.

Clearly the changes in both time and the fiscal reality of many municipal governments financial problems seem to make yet another look at combining services an idea whose time has finally come.

Now I know that Roland's post only addresses Ben Krompac's addressing police protection throughout Lucas County, but if it looks like Unigov, walks like Unigov and “quacks” like Unigov, then let's call it what it is and discuss again the benefits and potential pitfalls of Unigov, which encompasses so much more that just police protection...

This could be quite a long post, so I'll break it up into a few posts and see how/where this goes ;-)

Unigov, the financial reality of the times:
Especially now, almost, if not all of N.W. Ohio's municipalities/governments are facing rising costs, decreasing tax revenues and plummeting property values.

Consequently, they need to find long-term solutions to strengthen and improve police protection within their own borders and throughout Lucas County.

But the problem is bigger than that, it extends to all services funded by the taxpayers, whether it be through property taxes, income taxes, or some other form of income producing means..., and times are tough, very tough.

How to solve this growing “universal” problem must be uppermost in the minds of every elected official.

That is why I'm going to rehash my old posts on an obvious possibility..., Unigov, combining departments/divisions, minimizing/eliminating the number of workers needed to provide the (hopefully essential) services and thinning the overhead (management) which modifies the ratio of employees on the street working vs. those flying desks.

Yes, Unigov shows much promise, and is especially attractive when money is tight and work needs to get done, as in right now.

So, let's explore the advantages, the pitfalls and the problems of implementing Unigov and see what can be done to make our taxpayer dollars work more efficiently for us to provide the essential, mandated services we expect our various governments to provide and see if combining services to save money is indeed doable...


Unigov, what services should be provided by our governments and what should they get out of...
Recently, a group of political newcomers proposed streamlining city government and paring expenses by turn Toledo's city parks over to the Toledo Area Metroparks, a county operation.

At the time, I thought it was a good idea, but have since changed my mind.

Why?

Because this (parks) is a nonessential and non-mandated service.

Others would say that is a quality of life issue, but quality of life on the taxpayer's dollars falls way, way far down on my list of essentials, and only after we have streamlined all of the necessary/mandated services and the taxpayer's burden has been lightened as much as practical/possible...

I must add though that, if parks were essential, this would be a perfect place to test the Unigov concept harmlessly, to ally the fears of the skeptics and naysayers.


To my thinking the following departments/divisions/services are non-essential and should not have the government involved with it/them in any way:
Parks (includes swimming pools and golf courses), Sister cities and other similar non-essential services.


Further, these departments/divisions/services most certainly are mandated and should be excellent candidates for consolidation under a single county-wide provider:
Police/Sheriff services, Fire/Rescue Services (including, to some degree, basic/advanced ambulance services, road repair and maintenance (including leaf pickup, street sweeping and snow & ice control/plowing), Jails/prisons and the courts systems, water and sewer services, rights of way leases and utility franchise fees, municipal buildings maintenance and grounds keeping, street and utility engineering and inspection services, zoning enforcement and building inspection, and other utility regulation (or, possibly even providing or group contracting for them).


Additionally, the following may or may not fall under governmental purview, depending on whether it can be done by the government in a cost efficient manner, which is somewhat to highly unlikely, IMNHO:

Police impound/tow lot, Garbage/recycling (including compostables) collection and disposal, Municipal vehicle repair, and Purchasing of everything municipalities need/use, from road salt to computer equipment and vehicles.


Unigov, optimally, which services should be tested/tried first...
The non-public safety services; these less critical services should (in a perfect world) prove to be the easiest to merge with the least difficulty and build the needed trust to encourage everyone to tackle the bigger tasks/projects.


Unigov, realistically, which services need to be put to the head of the line...
Unfortunately, the greatest need is to cut public safety's costs/expenses, so by necessity they would have to go to the head of the line. The greatest problem with public safety though is the merging of the Chiefs, not the Indians, as there are so many compared to the officers on the streets...


Unigov, given the current financial climate, how to go about merging operations smoothly...
The easiest way would be to initially merge the forces and then go about restructuring the management, eliminating the overlap either through attrition or a selective buyout of those employees who have enough years to retire.

Either method costs money, so the net savings would not be instantaneous but gradual, which doesn't solve the budget problem, so a way to encourage employees with enough years to retire must be found.

Not allowing retiring employees to be paid for accrued comp time, sick days and unused vacation comes immediately to mind, but is protected by those pesky union contracts. So maybe inviting the employees to offer suggestions would yield a less costly way of achieving the desired goal ;-)


Unigov, how to deal with the managerial “deadwood,” both in the targeted services AND amongst the “political royalty...”
I think that I have addressed the managerial issue above, but that still leaves the thinning of the ranks of “Political royalty” which must be done by the voters at the polls.

Perhaps a Blue Ribbon committee could convince the electorate that a single lean, mean team of business savvy managers can run the whole county better than the current collection of politicos that we have misteakenly saddled ourselves with.

But, even with minimal representation of all affected entities would make for an unwieldy governing body, much like Cleveland.

The task is then to get everyone to believe that a small body can govern dispassionately for the good of all; and that certainly means governing by businessmen and women and NOT by politicians. . .

Think of it as a board of business managers and NOT politicians, and you too just might begin to see the light. . .

Ben Konop, Lucas County Commissioner, Defendent in Court Law Suit

Continuing in my personal quest to bring about the downfall of the poor excuse of an elected official, I bring your attention to The Blade article Suit filed against Konop claims injuries in crash.

Hey, at least I am open and honest about my intent.

Pet Peeve or Barking Up The Wrong Tree

I read an article in which some pet owners and pet lovers have a pet peeve with Lucas County Dog Warden, Tom Skeldon. These misguided animal activists are barking up the wrong tree in calling, nay, petitioning for Mr. Skeldon's dismissal. Apparently, they are unhappy that Tom Skeldon is doing his job of enforcing the law which has also been upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court. I kid(d) you not. They want him fired because he is doing his job in performing his duties as he is legally obliged.
Hey, don't take my word for it. Read the Blade article 474 sign petition to oust Lucas County dog warden for yourself. I hope you read the part that states "Mr. Skeldon said pit bulls are 'the number one biter in Lucas County,' and that last year his office seized 1,354 of them" and the last sentence that states "Lucas County, with more than 61,000 licensed dogs, has had Ohio's highest license compliance rate in the state."
Wow, one thousand three hundred fifty-four pit bulls seized! That's a lot of pit bulls.
And, it's a lot of BULL---- (fill in the blank) that County Commissioner Ben Konop thinks "a large public outcry could represent a cause for dismissing Mr. Skeldon."
What kind of political crap of reasoning is that???!!!
Just cause for job termination in the public sector is misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance.
Just cause is NOT for doing the work you are supposed to be doing in accordance with your job duties and the law.