Fort Wayne, IN
Sometimes when the facts or circumstances turn out to be not what one expects, it is easier to attack the messenger rather than the message.. I called for Jerry Harvey to resign from the Huntington County Council and when he finally did, elected officials their surrogates responded with personal attacks on local blog sites, letters to the editor and in the media; when you cannot attack the message, attack the messenger. I do not know Jerry Harvey and from all accounts he is a very nice person and served the community well, but is that enough to allow him to continue to serve on the Huntington County Council in direct violation of the state constitution?
When I called for Kathy Branham to resign from her positions as Huntington County Council President and the Republican Nominee for Huntington County Commissioner for concealing from the public her knowledge of Mr. Harvey’s situation and continuing to allow Mr. Harvey to serve on the county council; even allowing him to vote to raise income taxes on Huntington’s middle-class. Again, I am attacked personally by her and her surrogates but no denial. Attack the messenger when the message cannot be disputed.
I then called for Pam Updike to resign from the county council and from her position as Executive Assistant to the Mayor for concealing from the public her knowledge of Mr.. Harvey’s violations and for running the Huntington Republican Party from the Mayor’s office. She issues petty insults but offers no denials. Her surrogates offer nothing but personal attacks but no denials. We even heard its ok because she is trying to make Huntington a better place to live. Is it really ok to use city resources to run a political party? Is it making the city better by listing a phone number in the city building and a fax number in the Huntington City clerk Treasurer’s office as official Republican contact numbers for the party on the Indiana Republican State website? Maybe the Huntington Democratic Party should get an office in the city building at the tax payer’s expense? My guess is that wouldn’t go over well?
I ask the Huntington County Council for public documents and emails to try to get a better understanding behind some of their decisions and I am told by the county attorney that these emails (public documents) have been deleted (destroyed) by county officials. Again, personal attacks in the newspaper, which by the way sound awfully similar to each other and mirror some of the personal attacks and statements issued by some of the people mentioned in this article.
While some may be comfortable with politics as usual, I am not. I refuse to accept a culture of ethical failures and nepotism as normal in my government, even if it is “for the public good” or “they are just trying to make the city better.” As a candidate for Huntington County Council, I try to show what I “stand for” by actions and words, but just in case you have missed it, here it is: Lower taxes for Huntington’s ignored middle-class, get county spending under control, hold elected officials accountable for their actions and to be a voice for all of Huntington County’s residents, just not a select few. So, if you pay attention to my message and ignore the attacks on the messenger, you will see the message of what I “stand for.”
Gary Snyder
Gary-Do you ever follow up at this site after your thoughts are posted? I responded to your initial posting on resignation requests with the following and I am still awaiting a response:
Gentlemen-I am not sure your are aware of it-or even care-however, these are peoples lives you are playing fast and loose with here. One question, please state exactly how either of these folks “willfully concealed it from the public” in regard to what you describe as “Mr. Harvey’s circumstances”?
How about it Snyder? Easy to write a nice little letter to the editor, but never respond to someone’s question. So, since a rumor unanswered or responded to in 24 hours is then the truth….I shall state that as of 9/28/08, Gary L. Snyder is has a unibrow. Its true, right?
Will you respond to that statement or will you take the time to explain to JRWSKW what your response is? Or mine for that matter how much of a dollar increase is this annexation going to cost you? Not percentages, how much dinero? I might just send you a check for the difference.
21yr and jrwskw -
I don’t know if Gary reads the stuff on this site or not. HuntingtonDaily.com is on his mailing list for press releases etc. that go to all of the news outlets (the hearald press, Indiana News Center, the Tab, etc).
21yr –
I don’t think Gary is or was associated at all with the annexation. If you look up his address he lives out north of town and wouldn’t have been in the annexation area had it gone through so it wouldn’t have changed his taxes.
jrw and 21y,
I would be more than happy to respond to your concerns if and when you stop hiding behind a screen name. I stand behind my statements using my name and will only respond to people willing to do the same. thanks for your comments.
No problem. My name is John Wonderly.
Gentlemen-I am not sure your are aware of it-or even care-however, these are peoples lives you are playing fast and loose with here. One question, please state exactly how either of these folks “willfully concealed it from the public” in regard to what you describe as “Mr. Harvey’s circumstances”?
jrwskw,
Since you can’t figure out the answer to your own question. Let me explain it to you. If these two members of the council know the Mr. Harvey situation violated state law, and they did nothing to correct the circumstance and in fact attempted to either state that he was not in violation or conceal the violation than they “willfully concealed it from the public”.
Being GOP chairwoman, part of here job is to make sure people who run for office under the GOP ticket are eligible for office. Thus it is a reasonable assumption that they knew of his other position and its violation. But more importantly, they defended his apparent conflict of interest, which he, himself would not even defend.
Big ‘IF”, stealth. My question to Gary was how did they willfully conceal it from the public as he alleges. By definition, a truthful response to that cannot include an “IF”.
John,
Mrs. Branham as County Council President and Mrs. Updike as council person and Republican Chair were notified of Mr. Harvey’s violations when they were all named as defendent’s in a lawsuit back in May. Once this was brought to their attention, they continued to let Mr. Harvey to serve on the council and not once brought it to the public’s attention or asked for his resignation.
The nature of a lawsuit, Gary, is an adversarial, judicial proceeding. Meaning, there is some issue requiring adjudication. If every time Gary Snyder filed a lawsuit, we assumed his facts were correct we would no longer need judges or juries. Gary Snyder filing a lawsuit doesn’t make something so. In this case, the ultimate result was the rule of law prevailed. Asking for anything more reeks of someone out for their “pound of flesh”.
John,
I think we can agree if Mrs. Branham, Mrs. Updike and Mr. Harvey were named in a lawsuit making the claims of wrong doing, then I would not call for their resignations. They were informed by state and local officials in May about Mr. Harvey’s seperation of powers issue because he was named as a defendent in the lawsuit as a Huntington County Councilman and also worked for the court. These violations were not mentioned in the lawsuit but they were notified in response to the lawsuit by the state and local officals. As a result, Mr. Harvey eventually resigned, but only after we went public with Mr. Harvey’s violations and 3 months after Mrs. Updike, Mrs. Branham and Mr. Harvey were notified. That is 3 months of willfully concealing this from Huntington County Residents.
Gary-What was the time lapse between when you notified Mrs. Updike, Mrs. Branham and Mr. Harvey and when you “went public”?
Well, waited a week. I think Gary got my point.
John,
No, I just found it irrelevent?
Gary-How long did YOU keep this information from the public after YOU became aware of it?
John,
Received the information from a prominent Republican, sought a legal opinion and went public, less than 24 hours.