I need a few good Republicans to make some comments!

I started this blog in July of 2005. I posted a long series of posts about The "Contract with America." I am re-reading, editing, and re-posting these posts over the next few days due to popular request. I hope many local Republicans will post some comments. I want to know how many of you agree with my take on the results of "The Contract with America!" I especially hope Andrew, AWB, Jeff Fraser, Bill Larsen and Mitch Harper partake!

In 1994 The Republican Party swept to power with an unprecedented political ploy. They made a "Contract with America." In this "Contract" they promised to do certain things. It turns out, they lied.

I was a devout Republican in 1994. I was deployed overseas on a nuclear submarine when the "Contract" came out. When I read it I was extremely excited. I mailed a contribution into the Republican Party in our next port visit. I thought that our politicians were finally going to straighten Washington out. I was wrong. The Republicans used the "Contract" as a political promise to get in power. Once they got in power, they became just like the politicians they replaced. The voters need to remember that and get rid of these politicians.

There are two portions of the "Contract." The first part of the "Contract" has a total of eight items that The Republicans promised to handle on the first day of the Republican majority. The second half of the "Contract" consists of ten items The Republicans promised to implement within the first hundred days.

Over ten years have passed since this "Contract" allowed The Republicans to take power in Congress. Each year the Republican majority has gotten larger and larger. There is no reason why the Republicans could not have passed all eighteen items over the last ten years. All eighteen items should be law. They are not! We will analyze all eighteen items over the next few days. Our very own Congressional Representative, Mark Souder, was elected on this platform. We will grade his progress on his promises. I want to know how you all feel about this "Contract!"

I especially want to know what local Republicans think about "The Contract with America."

Libertarian County Chairs Convention was a success

I spent most of Saturday at the annual "Libertarian County Chairs Convention" in Hamilton County.

This is an event that is used to focus on issues meaningful to County Chairs. The event was a lot of fun and I enjoyed attending. The night before Mike Kole hosted a small event at his house. Mike Kole is a great host and is a great Libertarian Candidate for Secretary of State.

The convention had two great speakers from Fort Wayne plus yours truly. Andy Downs from the Mike Downs center gave a half hour lecture on County Government that was very informative and interesting. Craig Ladwig of the Indiana Policy Review Group attended and gave a very interesting half hour brief on the media and changes he expects in the next few years.

I have several tax returns to prepare tonight before going to bed; so I have to go.

Fort Wayne Insight and Jeff Fraser

*EXCLUSIVE*

Possible censorship of a local Fort Wayne blog!

Jeff Fraser has been running a blog for about three weeks. He started this blog after his "Freedom of Speech" issues with NACS, since he had a lot of time on his hands.

Jeff has done some commenting on Carroll High School on his blog; but, he limited his commentary and kept it "clean." I have enjoyed reading Jeff's blog. I think we should encourage our young people to both think for themselves and to express their own opinions. I do not want to live in a nation of "sheeple."

Jeff has an extremely successful blog and he has managed to generate as many as 500 page views on some days. This is impressive and has given Jeff something to do since he was "booted" out of NACS for writing a "satire."

You can find a link to Jeff's Blog "Fort Wayne Insight" on my side bar or you can follow this link to his blog:
<http://fortwayneinsight.blogspot.com/>

I look at Jeff's blog daily. All of his comments about Carroll High School have been deleted... There is no explanation on his blog as to why he has deleted every comment about Carroll High School.

I can only think of one reason why he would delete all of these comments...

Since I am running for Northwest Allen County School Board I will be looking into this further...

I would think NACS would leave Jeff alone. They have already booted him out of school. They should not even consider trying to control his "Freedom of Speech" on the internet.

If you find out more about this please email me at Mike.Sylvester@Verizon.net or call me at 260-338-0833.

Mike Sylvester

Republicans Study Committee Top Ten issues for 2006

The RSC has come out with its top ten priorities for 2006. Many of these are items The Republicans promised in 1994.

Mike's comments in red.

RSC TOP TEN
1. Make the Tax Cuts Permanent, including the repeal of the marriage-tax penalty and the death tax and pass fundamental tax reform.
I am in favor of tax cuts AFTER we have our fiscal house in order. The Federal government is claiming we will have about a 400 Billion dollar budget deficit this year. Realize that the Budget deficit is actually over 700 Billion dollars. The real budget deficit is over 700 Billion dollars because our politicians are still stealing all the extra money that is still flowing into the Social Security system and they are spending it on other items.

I am certainly in favor of fundamental tax reform! I prefer The Flat Tax.

2. Pass Budget Process Reform, which includes budgeting for emergencies with a rainy day fund, instituting a sunset commission for federal programs, instituting a constitutional line-item veto, and making the budget resolution carry the force of law.
This is certainly a big deal and should have been done in 1994. I fully support this goal.

3. Pass another Deficit Reduction Bill in the form of budget reconciliation, to reign in autopilot spending, which has risen from 25% of all federal spending in 1963 to 54% today, and is expected to reach nearly 60% in 2014.
I am certainly in favor of this as well.

4. Pass Ethics Reform that requires transparency and earmark reform that permits Members of Congress to strike earmarks on the House floor.
This is certainly a must, should have happened in 1994.

5. Pass the Marriage Protection Amendment, to ensure that marriage, the union of a woman and a man as husband and wife, is not redefined by activist judges.
I tend to think that marriage should be between a man and a woman; however, it is NOT a Federal issue. The RSC should break out their copy of The Constitution. This issue should be determined by each of the fifty states. This promise is pandering to the Christian right... I am 100% against this since it violates The Constitution.

6. Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to put our fiscal house in order.
This was specifically promised by The Republican Party in 1994. This is the largest reason that I am no longer a Republican. They lied in 1994...

To balance the Budget today would require an across the board cut in spending of 25%! That is how much The Republicans have spent!

The Republicans do not have the willpower as a Party to even cut 1% across the board...

I fully support a blanced Federal Budget. So do my kids...

7. Offset all emergency supplemental spending with spending reductions and offset all new programs with simultaneous, equivalent reductions in, or eliminations of, existing programs.
Of course I agree with this. They have been promising this since 1994.

8. Defend the Sanctity of Human Life, which includes banning all human cloning, passing the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, promoting ethical adult stem cell research, and preventing federal funding for destructive embryonic stem cell research.
Banning all human cloning? Please tell me where the Federal Government has any authority to do this. This should be left up the the fifty states.

The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, oh my. I am personally against abortion. That being said Roe v Wade should be overturned and each of the fifty states should make their own laws. Please, please, read The Consitution.

I am ok with Stem Cell research.

9. Pass Protections for Religious Freedom, such as the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, and religious expression in the public square.
I am in favor of some portions of this and against some portions. It depends on how it is done. This statement is to vague to comment on.

10. Pass legislation that stops the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund and allows Americans to own a Personal Social Security Account.
Remember back when they promised the Social Security Lock Box. It never happened. I agree with this point; but, they have promised it before and passed legislation about it before.

It is disappointing to see how far The Republican Party has shifted to the economic left since 1994. They have had the power to pass all of these items for a long time...

The White American Male College Fund

I have friends from many different ethnic, educational, and geographic backgrounds. I have traveled to about 25 different foreign countries. I have lived in eight different States. I have experienced a lot of different cultures and places.

I still do not understand why we have quotas for Government jobs, why we have programs that solely support one ethnic group, and I do not understand why almost every Business class I attend at IPFW has a Professor that tells us that "The most important thing a business must do to be successful is to be diverse." Huh?

I believe that every employer should hire the most qualified person to do the job. I do not care if the person to be hired is a military veteran, pregnant, white, black, American Indian, gay, blue with purple spots, a Vulcan, or a member of any other group. It absolutely offends me that we have a system where you have to hire a certain number of people from certain ethnic groups. This practice as wrong and in my opinion is anti-American.

I know first hand of several government agencies that have been severely damaged by hiring due to ethnic requirements rather then based on qualifications. I think these quotas should offend members of every minority.

I have always considered starting the White American Male College Fund. I figure that if I do it I will be sued by someone and called a racist. What do you think?

Fort Wayne wants to hire yet ANOTHER consultant

This is getting very out of hand. Please read Cindy Larson's article in The Sentinel:

<http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/13973533.htm>

The article talks about a sewer project that Fort Wayne has been talking about since 1994 (The year Souder promised term limits and was elected to Congress).

The project is to install a sewer system and to have about 200 residents tap into the new sewer system. This project is unpopular with some residents due to the fact that they may have to pay part of the costs...

I think the residents should pay a part of the costs. The City and the residents should split the cost...

What I do not understand is that Fort Wayne is considering hiring yet another consultant to design the project. I look forward to seeing what City Council decides. I would think that we would use City employees to design this sewer project; hiring another consultant is completely absurd and fiscally irresponsible. Most likely The City Council will hire the consultant without once thinking about the taxpayers.

H&R Block

As many of you know my wife and I are Accountants. Karena is a CPA and has been an Accountant since she graduated college. I spent fifteen years working in various industries and recently switched to accounting.

This is obviously our busy time of year. It looks like we will do about 289 returns this year; of those returns 106 are done... We have 183 to go...

H&R Block had to restate its earnings because it understated its Income Tax Liability by 32 million. In other words, they screwed up their taxes and owe Uncle Sam another 32 million dollars. Wow.

<http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/earnings/2006-02-24-hr-block_x.htm>

Tax Refund Loans are a large part of H&R Blocks business. I do not think Tax Refund Loans are a good idea for 99.9% of the public. Unfortunately, H&R Block is pushing these loans...

Many of these loans work out to be in excess of 100% interest when annualized over the course of a year. Some are way over 100%! These loans work in a method similar to "check cashing" services in reality...

I would like some input from visitors!

What would you like to see me do more of on this blog? Please post some comments...

Robert Rouse

Local blogger Robert Rouse attended the protest outside of The Allen County Republican convention.

Apparently he was asked to stop taking pictures on PUBLIC PROPERTY. You can read more over at his blog Left of Centrist.

I may have to go to the next Convention with a camera...

Latest Congressional survey results are in

This survey is now closed. The results are:
Larsen (R) 31 Votes
Hayhurst (D) 18 Votes
Souder (R) 18 Votes
Boyd (D) 1 Vote
Schraeder (D) 0 Votes
Smith (D) 0 Votes

Thanks for voting!

Mike Sylvester's comments on Steve Shine's speech

2005 State of the Party Address by Steven R. Shine

Mike Sylvester, Chairman of The Libertarian party of Allen County in Red

Thank you, Attorney General Carter, for your kind words of introduction.

We are honored that you took time from your busy schedule to be here today for this fifth annual celebration of the State of the Allen County Republican Party. There are many Republicans in Indiana in whom we take great pride.Among those accomplished public servants, you stand out as a genuine friend of the people.From day one, you have taken to heart the significance of the job entrusted to you, and you’ve never lost sight of the good that it could do.In 2001 you took the helm of an office that was in disarray and badly in need of a mission, and transformed it into a force for good in the everyday lives of all Hoosiers.

Let’s hope The Attorney General’s Office stays out of the business of Hoosier Taxpayers; let’s hope they stay in Indianapolis and out of our private business.

Your goal of bringing peace and quiet back to the dinner hour succeeded with the passage of Indiana’s Telephone Privacy Law –– better known as the no-call list. With your help, more than 3.5 million of us have been able to say “No” to unwanted telemarketing calls by adding our names to one easy-to-use list.

I think the no-call list is a positive step in the right direction; unfortunately, you allowed many groups that were friends of yours to exempt themselves from the no-call list and that is too bad. I wish you would have made it so politicians and their hired telemarketers would leave me alone!

The results of your first term as Attorney General have been magnificent... you’ve cleaned up Lake County politics.

Really? I think declaring that Lake County’s politics are cleaned up is kind of like President Bush landing on an aircraft carrier and declaring victory in Iraq a couple of years ago.

You dramatically increased the return of unclaimed property to Hoosiers. You doubled the collection of money owed to the state and you cut in half the amount of money Indiana pays out in tort claim lawsuits and settlements.Thank you again for being here, and for being one of the many reasons Republicans have to celebrate the results of 2004.

Isn’t it amazing, the difference a year can make?On Election Day 2004, we delighted at one Republican success after another, from the White House to the Statehouse and the Courthouse. At the county level, Republican candidates won every single race. Our ticket leader, Allen County Coroner Dr. Jon Brandenberger, earned over 83,000 votes.In the race for Allen County Commissioner, the Democrats fielded their best candidate in a very long time. Yet our candidate for Commissioner, Nelson Peters, won by nearly 30,000 votes.

One of the secrets to our insurmountable turnout in November was a get-out-the-vote partnership between the Allen County GOP and the Mitch Daniels for Governor Campaign.Together, we ran telephone banks, recruited volunteers and registered people to vote. Together, we put out yard signs, knocked on doors and energized an electorate that was screaming for change.

By turning out our base in historic numbers, Allen County helped Mitch Daniels carry Indiana –– and carry the Governor’s Office back into Republican hands for the first time since 1988. While the job isn’t officially his until next week, OUR Man Mitch has already shown this his will be an administration remembered for its committment to ethics, innovation and dedicated public service.

I will be interested to see if there is a back-lash against the local GOP for backing Mitch Daniels. It seems like he is becoming more unpopular as time goes on. I like some of Mitch Daniels rhetoric; I just do not like his actions. I think there may be a back-lash over several issues:
1. Property taxes will increase dramatically with some of the changes Mitch has made. He lowered the Property tax Replacement Fund and assumed that local School Boards would immediately cut spending. This was extremely naïve of Mitch Daniels. The local School Boards have not cut any spending, they have increased property taxes. The property taxes in Perry Township have DOUBLED in the last four years. They are going up ANOTHER 18% this year. Mitch will most likely pay for this.
2. The time zone fiasco was just that, a fiasco. The only fair way to determine our time zone is to have a statewide referendum. Mitch really screwed up when he wrote the DOT a letter and suggested certain Counties be on certain time zones. Some people feel this broke State Law…
3. Leasing the toll road to a foreign company is an interesting idea. I have not had time to crunch the numbers myself. I think there is a lot of mis-information being put out by both sides. If the plan is passed and if the State gets almost 4 billion dollars this money should be put into a PROTECTED fund that the politicians can only spend the interest on each year. Unfortunately Mitch Daniels wants to spend over 90% of this money in the first ten years of the lease. Remember how both the Dems and Reps have abused the tobacco settlement fund and used it for everything but what it was intended for?
4. In each of Mitch Daniels State of the State Addresses he has advocated a tax
increase. I would rather he cut spending… I would suggest an across the board 1% cut to EVERY State program.

A new era is about to dawn in Indiana. Our comeback is about to begin.For that reason and so many others, it gives me great pride to come before you today –– for the fifth consecutive year –– to report that the State of the Allen County Republican Party is exceptionally strong. As this New Year begins, the Allen County GOP holds its strongest claim ever on the title, “Indiana’s Premiere Political Organization.”The New Year never comes without change and this year will be no exception. As 2005 gets underway, we must bid farewell to a few good friends.After 40 years of leading City and County government, Allen County Commissioner Ed Rousseau retired at the end of 2004. Every corner of this county bears his fingerprints, from General Motors and Glenbrook Mall, to Uniroyal Goodrich and the Airport Expressway. Ed, you never stopped standing for your convictions. When cancer came along a few years ago, you told it to “take a hike” and you kept right on going. There are many people in this community, Ed, who are living great lives because of the work that you did. They thank you, and we thank you. We know that there will be many more opportunities ahead for you to contribute to our lives.

We also bid farewell in a few days to Wayne Township Assessor Jerry Zuber. Jerry has served this community with distinction for a decade, a difficult decade of reassessments and the transition to a new, market-based system of taxing property. His dedication to his work and his community shows. As he prepares to leave this demanding job, Jerry remains one of Allen County’s most respected and beloved public servants. We salute you, and we thank you for 10 years of dedicated service.

In 2004 we lost a great friend, State Senator ““Bud”” Meeks, who passed away in March. Bud represented Allen County in Indianapolis since 1998, after serving as Allen County Sheriff from 1975 until 1982. He served us proudly in many roles, including that of President of the National Sheriffs' Association. We will forever be thankful for Bud’s service and his friendship, and for the dedicated service of his wife, Marge, who continues to help us make headquarters tick.

The 2004 election was a reaffirmation of the values and ideas which we Republicans stand for.

Actually the Republicans do not stand for the items they keep touting. The Republicans stand for the following:
1. Larger and larger government. The Prescription Drug Care expansion is
the largest expansion of the “Great Society” since the 1960’s. Heck, if Bill Clinton would have passed this plan Rush Limbaugh would have immediately labeled him a Socialist. The program has just started and the projected cost has MORE THEN DOUBLED. According to Sean Hannity (a mouthpiece for The Republican Party) the cost has already QUADRUPLED from the original estimates.
2. Crushing Budget deficits. We have annual budget deficits of about 400
billion dollars per year. Note the real budget deficit is actually much higher then the 400 billion they claim. They are using the surplus in Social Security every year to offset the budget deficit. If the government quit “cooking the books” they would have to report budget deficits of 700-800 BILLION dollars per year.
3. Broken promises regarding term limits. Our own Mark Souder is a great example of this.
4. The Republican Party has 100% failed America in regards to illegal
immigration. The borders are 100% open. At the same time our
government is spending tens of billions of dollars on security. These tens
of billions of dollars are absolutely wasted if we have an open border.
5. Ethics. The Republicans beat The Democrats on ethics issues in 1994. Now
that the Republicans have been in power for twelve years, they are every bit
as corrupt as the Democrats they replaced.

The re-election of President Bush by more than 3 million votes showed that Americans have no appetite for the politics, practiced by others, of anger and division. They want leadership and they demand results.

The re-election showed that The Democrats chose a terrible candidate. Any reasonable moderate Democrat would have beat Bush and beat him soundly.

For that, they turned to Allen County Republicans in historic numbers. Last year, I stood in this same place and told you that “Difficult days only make us stronger. Difficult times only make our victories sweeter.” Well, this past Election Night was pretty sweet... In addition to a new Commissioner, we elected two new at-large members of County Council, Paul Moss and Patt Kite, and re-elected a third, Roy Buskirk.

We re-elected a Republican Treasurer and Surveyor, Bob Lee and Al Frisinger, and sent Mark Souder back for his sixth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mark Souder is a large government Republican and is a disgrace to this area.

Mark USED to believe in term limits; but, now that he has served 12 years he no longer believes in them. Mark was a C.O. during Viet-Nam. When other men his age were nobly serving their country Mark was a Young Republican arguing with liberals on college campuses. Today Mark wants everyone to think he is a pro-military Hawk. Mark Souder is a “Chicken hawk” and a hypocrite. As a military veteran I am completely disgusted by Mark Souder.

Mark Souder believes that the Federal earkmark system is needed, enough said about Mark. He is a large government conservative and he is an outright liberal on fiscal policy…

I would not let Mark Souder balance my checkbook.

The only way Mark Souder can be considered a conservative is on social issues. On social issues, Mark Souder is a conservative.

And how about our results at the Statehouse? In a few days, leaders we re-elected in 2004, including David Long, Bob Alderman, Randy Borror, Jeff Espich, Phyllis Pond and Mike Ripley, will return to a General Assembly in which Republicans hold majorities in BOTH houses. For the first time since 1982, Republicans –– with Allen County leaders at the forefront –– will hold both houses of the Legislature and the Governor’s Office. Allen County’s delegation will enjoy unprecedented prominence in the years to come, with David Long serving as Senate Majority Leader,Jeff Espich chairing the House Ways and Means Committee and our other representatives leading other important committees and subcommittees. At long last, Indiana will get to see the quality of leaders that Allen County sends to the Statehouse.

As the General Assembly tackles a dizzying array of tough issues, including balancing a budget drowning in red ink, Allen County will show Hoosiers what leadership and fiscal discipline REALLY mean.

The victories we enjoyed on Election Night felt like wonderful gifts, but we know that they were not. Because we are in an unprecedented position of power as we enter the New Year, we must be more diligent, more responsible and more worthy then ever before. Our friends and neighbors throughout this community did not give us a gift –– they gave us yet another opportunity to prove ourselves.We are humbled by your support. No matter how large our margins of victory may be, we will never take success for granted, nor will we ever forget WHY you believe in the GOP.

We will always hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards. Our bedrock principle will always be that Allen County Republicans stand for public service as much as we stand for winning. If you look at the statistics, 2004 can be considered nothing but an absolute success. After the challenges of 2003, we gathered ourselves up and worked harder than ever before to elect great candidates across the board.How did we do it? By recommitting ourselves to the basics.
We redoubled our efforts to build Indiana’s strongest precinct organization. After all, our precinct committeemen and women are the grassroots of Republican success. Without them, the voters don’t know us. Without them, our polling places don’t open. They are the friendly, familiar face that our neighbors associate with the Republican Party. We worked harder than ever before to communicate with these essential foot soldiers in our organization, and to recognize how truly essential they are to our success. As you will hear in a few moments, we will empower precinct committeemen and women even more in the year to come.

Our organizational efforts paid off handsomely, with 100 percent of our precinct boards filled well before Election Day. We maintained a full-time headquarters and staff, an asset that also paid huge dividends in the weeks before November 4th. Hundreds of people, hoping to register, to vote absentee or just to find information, came through these doors and found the help they needed. In 2004, we also met with Republican elected officials, the public face of all that we do, to find out how the Allen County GOP could serve them more effectively –– both inside and outside our own organization. At the end of this meeting, we came away with a list of almost 100 ideas.This is important input, because, as an organization, the Allen County Republican Party can help our elected officials be even more successful, Republican officeholders need to know that we stand for more than getting them elected. This organization will be front and center to support their needs and to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them as they serve in office. When the results of 2004 are weighed, it is these efforts that will have made the difference. Historic levels of fundraising, an aggressive voter ID program, our best get-out-the-vote effort ever and an army of volunteers bigger than any While television commercials, e-mail and web we’ve ever been able to field sites have become the leading tools of today’s campaigns, we proved in 2004 that the grassroots –– one-on-one contact with the people whose support we ask for –– counts as much as ever. So many times before, I have said this to you - Allen County Republicans are about more than the sum of the elective offices they hold.We are about the sum of the contributions we make.

We are about the number of diverse opinions, perspectives and faces we contribute to the political process. Once again in 2004, we fulfilled that promise. In September, our GOP Action Team, led by Mike Foster, sold barbeque chicken dinners at Georgetown Square Shopping Center that raised several thousand dollars to benefit the Martin Luther King Montessori School. This is a school that fills a vital role in our community by giving an educational head start to underserved, at-risk children.Two years ago, we formed the GOP Action Team to find ways that we might contribute more to the Allen County community. Since then, the GOP Action Team organized school supply giveaways, a veterans’ fair and an elder law seminar. In 2003, the team held a “Support Our Troops” yard sign sale that raised $10,000 for the Allen County Council of Veterans. But this fundraiser for The Martin Luther King Montessori School was particularly special. The school provides preschool care to children age three to five. It is one of only two schools in the United States that offer top-tier, affordable Montessori education to low-income families.As citizens above all else, we felt it was important to help this school fulfill its mission of building minds and building futures. Congratulations, Mike, and to the rest of the GOP Action Team for making a meaningful contribution to our community. A job well done!

We showed our enthusiasm on many fronts in 2004, in ways both large and small. On October 18 nearly 1,500 people joined us for the Allen County GOP Bean Dinner. It was our biggest event ever, as Michael Reagan delighted and touched us with stories of his father, former President Ronald Reagan, who sadly passed away in June. What a wonderful way to remind ourselves and our community, just weeks before Election Day, of the REAL values that Republicans stand for. Ronald Reagan taught the world the value of strength through willpower, values and compassion.

In 2005 and beyond, we will continue to lead by doing what’s right and doing the things that inspire trust in our friends and neighbors. To begin this effort, I’m pleased today to announce two upcoming projects. In early 2005, Allen County Republicans will conduct a bi-partisan ethics seminar for elected officials countywide. Governor-elect Daniels has pledged that his administration will insist upon the highest standards for ethics and performance, and we will reinforce his commitment here at the local level.Improving the faith of citizens in government is a job for all of us, and the Allen County GOP will do its part.Allen County Republicans have led the way in recent years by training local officeholders and their employees in ethics and public records. As we do it again in 2005, I invite our friends in the Democrat Party to join us.

I notice he does not invite Libertarians. He is probably upset that several Republicans have switched to The Libertarian Party already this year…

Together, let us send a message to the people of Allen County. Let us send a message that adherence to the highest standards of ethical behavior shall be our hallmark. Citizens expect that they can trust the officeholders they elect. Our ethics seminar will reinforce that message and demonstrate clearly what is expected of those who are entrusted with the solemn duty of being stewards of the public’’s trust.A few minutes ago, I paid tribute to the work of our precinct committeemen and women. Without them, our organization simply does not function. During 2005, an off year for elections, we will be working on a new project to empower our precinct chairs like never before –– our first- ever Countywide Republican Convention, to be held on February 25, 2006 at the Memorial Coliseum. We will conduct this convention specifically to give our precinct chairs a more direct say in what our organization does. No longer can we only call on these dedicated Republicans to do just the hard work on Election Day.Our precinct chairs represent the real grassroots of this community. They are elected, almost at a neighbor level, by their friends and neighbors. They are the face of the Republican Party at church, at the grocery store and at the PTA. For the past 12 years, empowerment has been the hallmark of the Allen County GOP. The other 91 counties in this state envy the example we have set here. Our prosecutor is a woman, and the majority of our County Commissioners are women.Allen County Republicans elected the first African American to serve as President of County Council, and they elected the first Hispanic American to sit on the same body.We have led the way in empowerment, and in making sure that everyone with a stake in this party has the chance to put his or her hands on the wheel of power.Our 2006 County Convention will be another step in our growth as an organization dedicated to its stakeholders –– all of them. It will be another GIANT step toward truly revitalizing the grassroots of our party.The 2006 County Convention will be a first. The precinct chairs will have the chance to vote in a non-binding straw poll of our primary candidates.

For the first time there will be an event dedicated solely to making the precinct chairs an integral part of shaping, testing and –– perhaps ultimately –– choosing those who will represent us in the 2006 election.

The Allen County Republican Party does not believe in an open primary system, or so I have been told. One local Republican who ran against an incumbent was told that he could not even put his signs in the Republican Party headquarters. I know another Republican who wanted to run against Mark Souder and was told that running against Mark Souder would be disloyal… Wow.

I think open Primary’s make Party’s stronger…

This will be much more than a show. The County Convention will lay the groundwork for an important election year. In 2006, we will elect a Sheriff, a Prosecutor, two Commissioners, four County Council members and many, many more. We must keep burning the fires in 2006 that we lit in 2004. We have heard that the opposition can’t win... Allen County is just too Republican. But you need only look to the first floor of the City- County Building for proof that the opposite is true. In 2006, we will be running against a Democrat incumbent in a county race, the race for Allen County assessor. Under the right conditions, a Democrat CAN win in Allen County.You have my pledge that your Allen County Republican Party will redouble its efforts this year and next to assure our continuity of success. In closing, I hope that you look forward to the future as much as I do. This year, we won’t get the chance to meet on Election Night. But we will have many chances to talk along the way, and many reasons to celebrate being Allen County Republicans.Thank you again for all that you do. The demands on your time are immense, and I appreciate all that you give to the Allen County GOP. Our success belongs to you! Thank you for coming, and have a wonderful 2005.

Another school Board issue

There are a lot of things I want to change in the School system. With all of the challenges that face our public education system I do not understand how our elected officials come up with legislation like SB 125.

The text of SB 125 is below:

Sec. 21. (a) Beginning in 2007, each school corporation shall annually report to the state department of health the height, weight, ethnicity, age, and sex of the school corporation's students. (b) A school corporation shall report data required under subsection (a) according to rules adopted under this section. The rules must include the following: (1) Information regarding the importance of accurate measurements and the collection of measurements for improving children's health. (2) Procedures for the measurement of children in a respectful and dignified manner. (c) Data may not be reported under this section in a way that makes students personally identifiable. (d) The data collected under this section may not be recorded on:
(1) a child's report card; (2) a child's transcript; or (3) another document from which an individual other than the child's family or school personnel could determine the identity of the child. (e) The state department of health, in consultation with the department, shall publish and make available to the public an annual report summarizing data collected under this section. (f) The state department of health and the state board shall adopt joint rules under IC 4-22-2 to implement this section.

SB 125 is a terrible idea. Our public schools do not need more unfunded mandates to deal with. Unfunded mandates are one of the reasons why our property taxes are skyrocketing...

Guess which Party authored this bill? Yep, you guessed it, The Big Government Republican Party of Indiana...

What a joke...

I hate computers, at least some of the time

I have spent two hours so far reinstalling Windows XP and resintalling all of my software on one of our work computers.

This is one of those times I would like to have a quiet conversation with the people who design computers...

City Council and annexation

The Huguenard Road annexation was approved last year. The annexation affected 1600 people.

Many of our current City Councilmen have run on a platform that they oppose annexation; let's look at how they voted on this annexation:

The preliminary vote passed 8:0 with Talarico being absent.
The final vote passed 8:0 with Pape being absent.

The upcoming annexation's will be mindlessly approved as well; they always are.

Our City Council considers these annexations voluntary since at least 1 more property then 50% has a waiver stating that they will not oppose annexation signed by the developer. Consider the following:

1. That means as many as 49.9% of properties may not have a waiver.
2. Many people have a waiver that they had no idea was on their property.
3. In every annexation I have heard of a majority of the property owners OPPOSE annexation.

I think we need some new City Councilmen...

They finally picked up my 96 gallon trash can

Nationall Servall finally came and picked up their bins in my neighborhhood. It only took them 5 and a half weeks...

They are a little more efficient then government; but, not much.

Portgate

I am sure that most of you have heard of "Portgate." Apparently our government has decided to let The United Arab Emirates handle port security for six large American ports.

The Bush administration has come out and supported the idea.

What on Earth is our government thinking. How can we let an Arab Country handle port security when Bush is at the same time prosecuting the war on terror?

I do not get it.

Do any of you understand it?

There are a couple of good places where you can get this story!

<http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/gaffney/060213>

<http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/16/D8FQEAHO8.html>

Please vote in my newest Congressional poll

All six registered candidates for the 3rd Congressional District are listed and available for your vote. You may vote once per day. The poll will be removed on Feb 24th.

May the best man win.

Fort Wayne Annexation plans intensify

*Exclusive*

I attended the City of Fort Wayne's first informational briefing on the proposed annexation of "The Carroll Road" area with about 100 other people.

This annexation will cover 4,341 people according to the briefing.

I am glad that I attended this meeting and that I can report more about what The City of Fort Wayne is planning.

Most of the readers of this blog know a lot about Fort Wayne and its history of rampant annexation. I have actually been annexed twice in my life by The City (Empire) of Fort Wayne. I was most recently annexed in the "Pine Valley" annexation in 2003.

What is most interesting about annexation is the fact that several of our current Republican City Councilman ran on a platform opposing annexation...

I have requested a copy of the minutes from the recent City Council meeting where The City Council voted to annex Huguenard Road. The Huguenard Road annexation affected about 1600 people already.

Those of you who pay attention to the media know that there has been a large backlash against local Republicans over annexation. Many Republicans now will tell anyone who will listen how opposed to annexation they are... We will see if they back up their promises during upcoming votes... I imagine almost all of them voted to annex Huguenard Road...

I looked at the projected map the City brought with them to the meeting. It shows areas Fort Wayne is considering annexing, and it is HUGE. I would estimate that the area's the City is currently considering annexing will increase the geographical area of Fort Wayne by 15%!

Expect the City to announce a total of THREE annexations this year alone. These annexations will include:

1. The Carroll Road Annexation, this is 4311 people.
2. The Bass Road Annexation, this is another 4 thousand people.
3. The Hursh Road Annexation, I do not know how many people this is; but, it is a MASSIVE annexation as far as area goes. This annexation will be almost as large as the Aboite annexation as far as geographical area. I expect this will be another 8-12 thousand people in an area that is growing rapidly. This will cover about 10 square miles and go as far north as Hursh road and as far East as the St Joe River.

After counting the Huguenard Annexation (Which already passed City Council) I think the City will announce it is going to annex about 20,000 people this year.

Annexation is not over! It continues just like it always has!

Specific information on The Carroll Road annexation is below:

The City officials actually informed the residents that annexation will NOT benefit the residents. Annexation will benefit the community and Metro area as a whole. (WOW)

This area will go into Councilman Didier's third District. Didier is supposedly against annexation...

The City will add the following staff and infrastructure to the area:
1-2 new police officers and equipment
No new firemen or stations
1 additional street maintenance person
no new parks
We were told the City's goal is to light EVERY intersection in The City of Fort Wayne (wow).
The City will install nine new lights in the area to be annexed.
The City will hire one new neighborhood code "person" (I considered using another word here.)

The City plans on introducing the actual legislation to The City Council for the fiscal plan on Feb 28th. The City hopes to introduce the annexation resolution itself in late march or early April. The City hopes to annex Carroll Road by Dec 31st, 2007.

The City claimed that they perform residential snow removal and there was outright laughter in the crowd (Note I am the President of my Neighborhood Association and we had to hire a contractor because The City was so dismal.)

One City official PROUDLY explained that The City was aggressively trying to seize Aqua Indiana with Eminent Domain and that The City hoped to provide water to the area as well (Their was a lot of laughter in the crown on this one too.) This case is to be heard by The Indiana Supreme Court in March of this year. This same City official also informed us that The City of Fort Wayne has already ran the water mains to within five feet of Aqua Indiana's water lines to that they can hook City Water up as soon as the property is seized through the court system. This means the taxpayers have already paid for this project, at least in part.

The residents were told that if they pay a drainage fee to Allen County that they will have to pay BOTH Allen County and The City of Fort Wayne once they are annexed.

There was a lot of outrage concerning a recent condemnation of a septic/sewer system on Bethel Road. Apparently, The Board of Health condemned a system that was used by 31 property owners. Apparently some of the home owners were forced to "pump and carry" their sewage. I talked to one home owner who gave me the exact details as they affected him. He agreed that his system was in bad shape. So The Board of Health mandated that these home owners hook into The City of Fort Wayne's sewer system... This home owner paid $2500 up front AND he had to sign an agreement to pay $89 per month for the next twenty years... Now for the OUTRAGEOUS part.

He was forced to sign a waiver that waived his right to remonstrate against the City of Fort Wayne. Several other people in attendance verified this for me... Imagine that.

That is all for now. More will follow.

Shangri-La East find out how inept the government is

Kevin Leininger wrote an interesting piece for The News-Sentinel today.

Shangri-La is a five-level strip club that was slated to open around march 1st. The club will now not open on time due to a Federal law that requires businesses to be handicapped accessible.

It is no wonder why many businesses have moved their operations overseas. Our government spends all of their time creating stupid rules that business owners have to deal with.

We need some new politicians...

Soon...

Republicans in Congress completely inept

The Republicans in Congress are fiscally worse then the Democrats they replaced.

Consider the following information:

Party Number of members in the House Number of members in the Senate
Reps 231 55
Dems 201 44
Ind 1 1
Vacant 2

Mike Pence (Who I like from a fiscal standpoint) is blasting his party for its fiscal policy almost every day. Please check out this article about out of control spending:

<http://www.townhall.com/blogs/capitolreport/TimChapman/story/2006/02/14/186418.html>

The Reps are expanding government and wasting our money faster then The Democrats did. This is shameful and we need to throw most of these bums out of office.

Mark Souder is a great example of the problem. There are too many large government Republicans; this is why The Republican Party left me!

The Reps have a majority in both Houses of Congress and Bush is a Republican. They do not have any excuses. Runaway Federal spending is 100% attributable to the Republican majority...

The fate of Fort Wayne Observed has been made public

Nathan has decided to pursue other options and will not be blogging in Fort Wayne. He has decided to turn his blog over to Mitch Harper, the author of Indiana Parley.

I am very sorry to see Nathan go. Nathan is the reason I started my blog. As far as I am concerned, Nathan has been the author of the best blog in this area.

I think Mitch Harper will do a good job running this blog. Mitch knows a lot about local politics and knows a lot about local history. Mitch has some large shoes to fill... I will be interested to see if Mitch Harper takes local Republicans to task when they need to be taken to task!

I will miss Nathan in the local blogosphere.

The blog will be open to general access tonight at midnight. Please check it out.

The blog has changed its layout and I think you will like what you see!

<http://indiana.typepad.com/fwob/>

Guns

The White House press corps is incensed about not being informed about VP Cheney's hunting accident. The press never ceases to amaze me with its sheer arrogance AND incompetence.

The VP was involved in a hunting accident. It is not a big deal, it happens. There are plenty of things going on in this country that deserve press coverage; this is not one of them.

If the press needs some help here are some rather large issues they should cover:
1. The Federal debt is skyrocketing and our currency is slowly dropping in value.
2. The Presidents wiretapping program is certainly a program that deserves debate.
3. Incumbents in Congress and the Senate are virtually gauranteed of re-election.
4. The Federal government does NOT negotiate with the drug companies when it buys
medicine.
5. We have a HUGE trade imbalance that is growing and is an extreme threat to our children.
6. China.
7. Interest rates are going to keep rising for the foreseeable future.

I could go on and on...

I have listened to several anti-gun activists ranting about the dangers of firearms. Give me a break...

I have owned a firearm since I was 18 years old. I have a license to carry a concealed handgun. I own a handgun. I keep my handgun in my house for two reasons:

1. To kill anyone who decides to break into my house and rob me and my family.
2. I think Americans should keep guns in case they have to protect their rights from those who
would take them away.

I think that we need MORE guns in this country, not less. If everyone maintained a firearm in their house and learned how to use it properly you would see the number of break-ins decrease rapidly.

Did you know that at one time High School students used to take guns to school for shooting contests. Guess how many "incidents" there were due to bringing firearms to High School? None.

New blog in Fort Wayne

Fort Wayne Insight is a new blog in Fort Wayne. It is run by Jeff Fraser. Jeff is the Carroll High School student who was expelled for writing a "satire" about Carroll High School.

I have added Fort Wayne Insight to my blog roll. Please take a few minutes and check it out.

The empire of Fort Wayne expands again

I hope that the voters in this area have been listening to their REPUBLICAN City Councilmen recently. They keep talking about how the days of annexation are over...

They speak with forked tongues, to say the least...

The days of annexation are not over in Fort Wayne. In fact, The City of Fort Wayne has a detailed annexation plan they will proudly show you if you ask...

Fort Wayne's next land grab will be the "Carroll Road" annexation. This will forcibly bring another 4000 people into Fort Wayne...

A great example of how our politicians have completely screwed up our Federal tax system

As many of you know my wife is a CPA and she runs a local Public Accounting firm. I work for her...

It is obviously tax season and we are quite busy.

We have FOUR tax returns that we have completed; but, we cannot print them off and file them with the IRS and you will not believe why.

The IRS just released some of the rules to be used for these tax returns TODAY. Congress kept screwing around with the tax code well into December. The IRS is having to deal with this... So we have to deal with this. So our clients have to deal with this...

Note: Some of the IRS forms still have NOT been made final!

National Servall

I called National Servall this morning. After putting up with the normal irritating automated answering service I eventually got to talk to Sue.

I explained to Sue that my neighbors and I have had our trash cans out waiting for pickup for almost a month, and they still sit there.

Sue assured me that if they were out between Jan 16th and Feb 3rd they were definately picked up by National Servall.

I told her that she was wrong, my Bin has been at the end of my driveway since January 15th, and National Servall still has not picked it up. There are 5 homes on my street, 4 of us have the bins still in our driveway, the fifth person has given up and has put it back in his garage...

You would think National Servall could pick these bins up sometime, wouldn't you?

My Trash Can is still in my driveway

A few days ago I pointed out the complete incompetence of National Servall to collect their brown, 96 gallon trash cans. The saga continues...

The trash can is still in my driveway 5 days after they said they would come and get it. Most of my neighbors still have theirs out front as well...

I have now had my trash can sitting out waiting for National Servall for almost SIX WEEKS.

They still have not picked it up...

Wow...

Bush's Budget illustrates the LARGEST danger to our children and nation

The largest danger my children face is the growing Federal deficit and the out of control spending the Republicans have created in Washington.

The Federal Budget was 2.472 Trillion dollars last year. Bush's proposed Budget this year is 2.77 Trillion dollars. This is an increase of about 12%. Realize that some of the spending for 2005 and 2006 is not even included in The Federal budget numbers for this year or last year; notably some of the funding for our operations in Iraq and some of the bloated overspending The Federal government is doing in the Gulf Coast region.

Inflation is projected to be about 3%, yet Bush is proposing we grow government at FOUR TIMES that rate. The Republicans can no longer call themselves small government conservatives. They are social conservatives who believe in growing government faster then The Democrats they replaced...

What is equally disturbing is the election year squalling coming from both the Dems and Reps. Our elected officials will almost certainly spend MORE then Bush is proposing. That is shameful.

If you believe some of the liberal media outlets you would be led to believe that Bush's budget will kill poor people. That is just not true.

Tax rates are going to rise dramatically in the next few years. Taxes will have to rise so that we can pay for the mistakes our elected officials are making.

I hope that some of our local Republicans will post some comments on this issue!

They cannot be happy...

Fiscal Conservatives have to come to The Libertarian Party; the Republicans do not want you!

Comment Moderation

I have REMOVED comment moderation from this blog. I have now had two people contact me and say that their comments have not been published. In both cases I never received an email from Blogger that there was a comment that I needed to publish.

My intention was never to make it difficult for people to post comments to this blog.

Comment moderation a thing of the past here!

National Servall fails again

As I said in a previous post, this is the second time I have left my brown, 96 gallon Servall bin outside my house. Servall sent me a letter telling me I had to leave it out for THREE WEEKS. The three weeks are over and guess what, my bin still sits at the end of my driveway.

They cannot even arrange to pick up their brown bins in three full weeks.

My neighbors have of course left theirs out as well.

I wonder what the next letter from Servall will say?

I hope they try to charge me money! I expect they will and they will get an "earful" from me...

Boy am I glad I have my black 96 gallon bin from the City of Fort Wayne, what would I do without it?

They think we are really stupid...

The Indiana House has "symbolically" voted to abolish property taxes by 2009. They actually amended a bill that would end up abolishing property taxes.

I really hate property taxes. I think they are a poor way to tax. That being said, about five BILLION dollars are raised each year with property taxes. Where would this money come from?

They did not decide where the money would come from; in fact, after they passed this measure, many of those same politicians said the vote was symbolic and that property taxes would not be abolished.

What?

Basically, they passed this measure and do not mean it.

This measure passed unanimously. We need a lot of new politicians...

Below is a link to a newspaper article about this:
<http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060126/News01/60126023>

Fort Wayne and National Servall are incompetent

I live up in the area that was annexed by Republican Mayor Paul Helmke and The Republican City Council in 2003 near Pine Valley.

This year my garbage fees went up $1 per month. The City dropped off a black 96 gallon City trash can to replace my brown National Servall 96 gallon trash can back in November.

In December I got a letter from National Servall telling me they would come and pick up my brown trash can. All I had to do was leave it out in my driveway for two weeks. Sometime during that two weeks they would come and pick it up. I left it out for two weeks and no one ever picked it up. The same thing happened to all of my neighbors and our neighbors in the addition across the street.

Three weeks ago I got another letter from National Servall telling me that I needed to put my garbage can out for THREE MORE weeks during the second pickup time period or else I would have to pay a fee.

This irritated me. I called them and never did get to talk to a person. Then I called The City of Fort Wayne, that awesome City that provides me such awesome services and that raised my property taxes by 30% and guess what they said? It is not their problem...

So I have left my garbage can out for another 18 days so far. It is still sitting out there and they still have not picked it up. Many of my neighbors have left theirs out for another 18 days as well. Some of them are irritated and have put them back in their garages again...

I wonder if National Servall will ever come and get their trash cans?

I want to see them try to charge us for this can now that they have proved they are not capable of picking it up.

By the way, I have a friend that once got a neighborhood code violation for leaving their trash can down at the end of their driveway for several days. It would be AWESOME if The City of Fort Wayne would be dumb enough to come out here and write us all violations... It would not surprise me one bit...

I love being annexed into Fort Wayne. My addition is still paying a private contractor to plow our streets. We still mow our common areas...

I have the honor of paying more taxes so the City can expand The Grand Wayne Center and seize private businesses like Belmont Beverages... I love this City.

How dumb does he think we are?

I listened to The State of the Union Address. It went pretty much as I expected on the foreign policy segment. Bush is pretty consistent when it comes to foreign policy. I actually agree with a fair amount of Bush's foreign policy.

As many of you know I am a military veteran and I strongly believe in peace through superior firepower... I actually think Bush did a very good job in Afghanistan and I would give him an "A" for that conflict.

He certainly has not done as well in Iraq. I would most likely give him a "D" for that conflict. The conflict itself went well; however, reconstruction has been inept, corrupt, and we are going to have troops in that country for a minimum of 10 years from when they went it.

The parts of his speech that were insulting and inept were the portions on his domestic agenda. I am not sure what his domestic agenda is. I think his domestic agenda is to out-spend all of the liberals in this country and spend more money on everything. That is what he has done for five years.

Do not even get me started on No Child Left Behind or on the prescription drug program...

He talked about fiscal restraint; but, I will believe it when I see it.

He outright irritated me when he started talking about amnesty and guest worker programs... What a moron... Is this guy a Republican?

His rhetoric on our dependency on foreign oil was just that, empty rhetoric.

What was most disturbing was his education proposals. He wants to increase the size of government even more. You have got to be kidding me.

I thought this was his worst Address by far... Just another empty shirt making empty promises...

Dark economic news today

I love economics, I always have. I enjoy listening to The Democrats and Republicans lie about the economy.

According to the Republicans the economy is the best it has ever been. According to the Democrats it is the worst that it has been since the Great Depression. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

The economy is ok. Our economy is consistently growing by about 3.5%. Inflation is increasing by a little under 3% most years and unemployment hovers around 5%

We face two problems that neither Party discusses effectively nor will they fix: Debt and the Federal deficit and Trade and the Trade imbalance.

The Federal debt is over 8 trillion dollars and growing at an alarming pace. The Republicans are increasing every Federal program that exists and they absolutely refuse to kill ineffective programs. Indiana is in debt to the tune of about 1.5 Billion dollars; which is small in comparison to The Federal government. Almost every City, School District, County, and Municipality is in debt as well. The American consumer is heavily in debt. Foreign investors own more of our economy every year.

The frightening statistic put out by The Commerce Department today should be on the headline of EVERY newspaper, should be the main topic on every talk radio show, should be the main topic on television, and should cause concern through-out America.

Unfortunately, no one cares...

Last year, the overall savings rate in the United States was -.5%. The last time we had a negative national savings rate for an entire year was during 1933, during The Great Depression.

A negative national savings rate means that we spent more this year then we had. It means that as a whole the consumers in this country spent more then they made.

The baby boomers are getting ready to retire, the entire social security trust fund has been spent and this system is projecting a massive deficit, and the Medicare program is in even worse shape.

As a nation we buy more then we sell. We are no longer a nation that builds, we are a nation that buys other country's goods. Out high paying, low skill jobs are disappearing. China will become the second Super Power within the next twenty years.

No one cares about this either. Our government does not have a plan to minimize the trade deficit.

Mike Sylvester

The paperwork is filed

I went down to the Allen County election board and filed the paperwork to run for NWAC School Board...

I am looking forward to running for office.

This is the first office that I have ever ran for...

Daytime curfew in Indiana

Please go and visit IndianaJane's Journal and read her post about curfews; it is quite interesting and typical of our government...

<http://jace32.bravejournal.com/>

Great news for NAC School Board race

So far two candidates have filed for School Board. Mr. Felger filed (Incumbent) and Mary Wysong filed. Mary Wysong is the mother of the student that I listened to testify at the last public school board meeting in defense of his friend Jeff Fraser.

I will be filing on Monday.

I am extremely happy that Mary Wysong has filed to run. I certainly hope that we can both unseat the incumbents and make some changes to NACS...

Mike Sylvester

My Fraser poll is complete

The results of my Fraser poll:
Expulsion was right = 8 votes, 11%
Expulsion was wrong = 59 votes, 81%
Not sure = 6 votes, 8%

As I would expect from the people who enjoy my blog, we support Jeff Fraser and think Carroll High School and NACS over-reacted.

WOWO is running a poll as well that they advertised on their radio broadcast yesterday. As of this post 377 votes have been cast on WOWO's website. 60% feel that Jeff Fraser SHOULD NOT have been expelled. 40% feel he should.

I have a feeling this is most likely reflective of the way this community feels. I have talked to 23 people in NACS; many of these people contacted me. As a group they strongly support Fraser.

Since I am so public in my support of Jeff Fraser, I doubt that people who feel the expulsion is the right punishment would ever contact me...

This is going to be an interesting School Board race. I will file my paperwork early next week.

WOWO has posted a Fraser expulsion poll

Please head over and vote in this poll...

http://wowo.com/

Jeff Fraser "Closed door hearing" tonight

First things first. Jon Zimney at WOWO interviewed my for comments on the Jeff Fraser resolution tonight. Listen to WOWO tomorrow to hear the sound bites they play from it. This will be the recurring news segment that airs several times throughout the day.

I could not attend the "closed door" hearing. I asked Doug Horner to attend it and let me know how it went. Thanks for going Doug!

About 50 people were present and waited for the hearing to end... They waited 40 minutes and then got a sound bite, a press release (The press release is on Tracey Warner's Blog at <http://blogs.fortwayne.com/Tracy_Warner/>, and the meeting was dismissed. The crowd was NOT ALLOWED to comment. Shameful...

At the end of the "closed door" hearing Superintendent Yager issued a pre-written press release. The pre-written press release basically mirrors exactly what Nathan Gotsch has been reporting over at Fort Wayne Observed <http://www.fwmn.blogspot.com/>.

The most interesting thing in the press release is a statement that "No further legal action, criminal, or civil, will be pursued or initiated by the parties, and the Parties shall take all reasonable action to ensure any criminal charges shall be dismissed." This tells me that Carroll had charged Fraser with CRIMINAL charges in this event. I had heard rumors to this effect; but, this is confirmation... How shameful... Not only was he expelled, he had criminal charges pressed against him...

It is a disappointing ending to a violation of a Carroll High School student's freedom of speech rights. As I have said many times; the school SHOULD have punished the student for writing the "satire"; however, expelling him for the year and pressing criminal charges was completely unwarranted.

I do not know why Jeff Fraser, his parents, or his attorney (Steve Shine of all people) decided to agree to this resolution; but, they did. If this happened to one of my children you can rest assured that I would not have agreed to it.

There are two things that really bother me about this:

1. The secret meeting that Nathan Gotsch reported occurred before the announced "Closed school board meeting" tonight. I believe that the secret meeting may have been illegal; but, I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY. If it is legal, it is still not the way this situation should have been handled.

2. The original expulsion was approved by FOUR individuals involved with the Carroll High School Administration. This was upheld by our "independent" School Board. How on earth can this many people agree to a punishment that is so unfitting?

I plan on replacing one person on the School Board on May 2nd. I am looking forward to it.

I hope that other concerned parents in NACS decide to run for School Board as well. I think we need several new members...

Mike Sylvester

Cutting Edge reporting on the Fraser expulsion from Carroll High School from Nathan Gotsch over at Fort Wayne Media Notes

Please go and read Nathan's post entitled "My Conversation with the Attorney" at
<http://www.fwmn.blogspot.com/>

Then please read my comment to his post. I posted it to his blog and I am copying it below for your convenience. I will be avidly monitoring all local media outlets tomorrow. If you learn or read something about any new developments please shoot me an email at Mike.Sylvester@Verizon.net.

I have always found Nathan at Fort Wayne Observed (Media Notes) to be a very credible media source and I have to admit that I trust his reporting and his judgment. I would not have started this blog if it were not for Nathan's blog...

I will also be very interested to read what Mitch Harper posts on these developments at his blog over at <http://indianaparley.blogspot.com/> Mitch is a long time Republican and if Steve Shine is involved as Nathan is reporting, I am looking forward to hearing what Mitch thinks...

Mike Sylvester's comment is below:

I have been following this very closely since I am running for Northwest Allen County School Board this May.

I attended the last school board meeting, I have read everything in the media I can, I have written a lot about this expulsion, and I have talked with several people with ties to Carroll High School in the last week and a half.

I fully expect NACS to rescind this expulsion and to decide to reinstate Mr. Fraser unanimously when they meet at their closed door meeting tomorrow. I do not think they can legally vote on the resolution until the next actual School Board Meeting; you can be sure I will be present for that...

I believe that Mr. Fraser has already been punished far more then is warranted and if Steve Shine (Who I do not care for politically in the slightest; but, I have heard is a well respected lawyer locally) is representing The Fraser Family as Mr. Gotsch has reported, I have no doubt that he will prove his worth as a lawyer and Mr. Fraser will be returning to Carroll in the next couple of weeks.

I certainly hope that there are not "Secret Meetings" going on behind closed doors. NACS is a public school system that is funded by the taxpayers. There is no doubt that the specifics of the hearings should be behind closed doors to protect Mr. Fraser; however, any meetings should be announced to the public and should not be held in secret.

I have been very displeased with the expulsion itself and I am becoming even more disturbed by what Mr. Gotsch is currently reporting.

I hope the anonymous source that talked to Mr. Gotsch today and told him the following per Fort Wayne Observed (Media Notes):

"Indeed, a source said Shine was with Fraser today when they met with NACS representatives to discuss an agreement in advance of tomorrow's closed door school board meeting."

decides to contact me because I want to know more about this...

I hope this anonymous source picks up a telephone book, looks up my phone number and gives me a phone call!

Mike Sylvester
Candidate for Northwest Allen County School Board

More on Fraser Expulsion at Carroll

I have spent a fair amount of time researching the Fraser expulsion from Carroll High School and I still feel the same today as I did when I first posted a comment about it early last week; it is an over-reaction by NACS.

I think Jeff Fraser should have been punished for his actions; being expelled for the rest of the school year and being sent to an "alternative high school" for a first offense is clearly an terrible decision. I wonder if being expelled for the year could affect his chances of getting a college scholarship? I wonder if he now has a "record" since he was placed in the "alternative school system?"

It is now reported in today's Journal Gazette that The NACS Board will be meeting in a closed hearing tomorrow at 6 PM. There is no doubt in my mind that they will overturn the expulsion and I fully expect them to overturn the expulsion unanimously. The meeting will be closed (Which it has to be a closed meeting by law); however, the expulsion vote should occur during the next School Board meeting and I believe will have to be a public vote. I will definitely be attending the next School Board meeting and I will let you all know who votes for expulsion and who votes against expulsion.

I certainly hope Jeff Fraser will be reinstated at Carroll and that he will be able to finish his school year at Carroll.

I wrote a 600 word editorial that I posted on this blog last week and that Indiana Parley posted on his blog. That editorial has been published in several print publications:

Jan 25th News Sentinel http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/13708360.htm

Jan 25th Indianapolis Star http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060125/OPINION01/601250374/1031 (Note they cut it down into a letter to the editor.

The IPFW Communicator printed it today as well and Frost Illustrated will print it in their next edition.

This issue has gotten a lot of attention from two other local Blogs, Indiana Parley and Fort Wayne Media Notes.

Assuming The School Board overturns the expulsion it will be very interesting to see what their next step will be. I would think they would next need to determine why the NACS administration made the decision they did...

I had one of the first "bootleg" copies of "The Book." Many people (Including two from outside of Indiana) have contacted me and wanted me to provide them copies of "The Book." I decided that I would not publish it online and that I would not be a general distributor of "The Book."

Nathan Gotsch over at Fort Wayne Media Notes (Link on my sidebar) has decided to post "The Book" online. You will be able to see it over at his blog.

Mike Sylvester

Miracles never cease...

Sometimes I just cannot get over how our local government officials seem to think raising taxes and fees is the answer to everything...

Case in point, the Mayor's desire to raise our City property taxes by 3.9% this year.

The City Council and The Mayor agreed in September of 2005 to raise property taxes by 2.6%, which is bad enough. Consider that our garbage fees are going up $1/month, our water bills are going up 25% this year, and our stormwater fees went up 65% this year.

Now the Mayor wants to go back on the 2.6% increase he agreed to and raise them 3.9%. You absolutely will not believe what his reasoning is.

If they do not raise the levy by the full 3.9% allowed, then by Indiana law they are limited by how much they can increase it next year.

Another way to say this is that they must increase it the maximum this year so they can then turn around and increase it by the maximum again next year.

The miracle is that our "Republican" City Council actually defeated the mayor's plan. I truly expected them to pass it.

As far as I can tell, there is VERY LITTLE difference between our Mayor and City Council. They all want to increase both spending as well as fees and taxes.

I know if we had Libertarians on City Council this proposal would get voted down...

Mike

Interesting criticism of the fact that I enabled "Comment Moderation" on this blog a couple of weeks ago

Marie over at <http://hoosierdemocrats.blogspot.com/> is upset because I enabled "Comment Moderation" on my blog a couple of weeks ago to prevent spam and to make sure that I knew when someone posted a comment on my blog. She thinks I am not respecting poeple's freedom of speech.

As you all know I always publish your posts as soon as I read my email. Marie did not even try to submit a post, I think maybe she did not know how "Comment Moderation" works.

Marie has an interesting point of view that I should not allow comment moderation on my blog.
I have never refused anyone the right to post a comment on my blog. Not once!

I enabled comment moderation to prevent spam and profanity a couple of weeks ago.
All you have to do to put a comment on my blog is go and post it. I will publish it! I always do and I always have. I like it when people disagree. I enabled comment moderation for 2 reasons:
1. To prevent spam.
2. So that I would know when someone posted a comment on my blog, that way I can respond to them.

I had a complaint not too long ago from someone that I never responded to one of his comments. With comment moderation enabled I always know when there is a new post.
I fully expect people to disagree with some of my views and I have always encouraged people to post comments that are not in line with mine. A simple review of the past comments posted on my blog will show that to ANYONE...

Heck, at one time I asked Republicans to come on over and post comments on my blog and I asked them to disagree with me about the Contract with America.

Marie PLEASE come on over and post your dissenting opinion, that is what America is all about...

Rest assured that I will happily post any comments you wish on my blog!

I am curious as to what you all think. Would you rather I disabled comment moderation and went back to the way it was a couple of weeks ago?

I really do not care either way.

I enabled "Comment Moderation" to ensure that I did not miss people's posted comments due to a reader complaint.

Please let me know if you prefer the blog with or without "Comment Moderation."

Mike

I attended the Allen County Teenage Republicans meeting this morning and listened to Mark Souder's speech

I know I am not a Republican. I know I am not in my teens. I wanted to go and see if the local Republican Party would come out to support Jeff Fraser and I wanted to hear Mark Souder speak. I took a couple of aspirin before he spoke because I knew Mark Souder would give me a headache...

Mark spoke, and spoke, and spoke. In fact over 95% of the entire event was Mark speaking...

All of my regular readers need to sit down for a minute; I actually agreed with Mark Souder on two of the many things he said.

Mark said that he feels the the upcoming Republican Caucus is a critical moment for The Republican Party and he is right... It is important. The Republicans need to reform and become the Party they promised to become way back in 1994; unfortunately for The Republicans, it will not happen.

One interesting thing is that Mark kept referring to "establishment Republicans." After this term Mark will have been in Congress for 12 years, he is an "establishment Republican."

I feel that the ONLY hope the Republican Party has for meaningful change is to elect Shadegg; who is actually the Candidate Souder supports. Wonders keep happening, me agreeing with Mark Souder again...

Mark Souder made some very interesting comments about how Washington politics actually work, and that segment of his speech was actually quite interesting and insightful. Then he went into a bunch of other topics including:

1. He thinks America should be a two Party system, imagine that.
2. He thinks The Republican Party must change and in his words "Not be the angry white man's party." What this means is he wants to spend more money on minorities...
3. He actually accused the Mayor of Fort Wayne's office of accepting illegal contributions from contractors. It was somewhat slanderous. I hope someone in the press caught this and prints it. It was pretty bad... He was talking about how bad the campaign finance problems are in this country when he switched gears and said that we need to look into the Mayor's office and union contributions to various Democrats...
4. He tried to defend earmarks, and his defense was truly inept and shows how out of touch he is with small government conservatives. Let there be no doubt; he is a LARGE government Republican, as I have said all along. Basically Mark Souder said that earmarks have grown because the newly elected Republicans come from small rural areas and it is the only way they can bring money back to their Congressional Districts. Believe it or not, he said this with a straight face, I was appalled.
5. He ranted about The Clinton administration and how evil it was, pretty much the same old Mark Souder stuff.
6. He ranted a lot about money that Indian tribes are putting into the political process. He said that Indian casinos were the most profitable business in America and insisted that it needs scrutiny.
7. He also spent some time insulting The Journal Gazette.

Jeff Fraser did the welcome and the wind up. His comments were short and to the point (Mark Souder should learn something from Jeff).

"Free Fraser" shirts were available at the event. I picked on up.

I wonder if I should start wearing it to NACS Board meetings?

Mitch Harper from Indiana Parley was present at the event.

State Senator Tom Wyss was also present. As you can imagine we talked about seat belt laws...

The Libertarian Party of Indiana starts "Legislative page"

The Libertarian party of Indiana has started a page with comments about Bills that are pending in the legislature.

Please check it out.

I have a link in my blog roll for you!

Expulsion Poll

I have posted a poll on the expulsion at Carroll High School. Please take the time to vote in this poll. I will be interested to see the results of the poll.

Pat White discussed the situation on WOWO and I called in and took Jeff's side in the discussion. Pat White stayed fairly neutral in the topic. He took 5 callers. One was in favor of the expulsion and four of us were against it...

You may vote once per day in this poll.

This poll will remain on the site until next Friday, January 27th.

Mike

Expulsion of Carroll High School student for school year is outrageous

A Carroll High School student was recently expelled for writing a ten page “satire” that was extremely critical of the Carroll High School administration. The student in question has no record of disciplinary problems and was a strong student academically as well as being a member of the student council, band, the political club, future business leaders, and speech team. Outside of school, the student founded The Allen County Teenage Republicans.

There are many options that a school can use to discipline a student who has misbehaved in some fashion; the most extreme is expulsion for the school year. Students who are a threat to the safety of other students or who are continuous discipline problems should be removed from school; however, this student does not fit these criteria.

I find it impossible to understand how a student with no past disciplinary record can be expelled for the school year for writing a ten page “satire,” no matter how offensive it is to the administration.

There are a lot of methods the administration could have used to discipline the student for writing an offensive document on the school computer system. This is more than a free speech issue, because school rules do require considerate behavior from students. So, depending on how insulting or unfair the criticisms were, I suggest that the student be given a written warning, and the student’s parents be required to come to the school and be apprised of the entire situation. If warranted, the student should be required to apologize to those people who he offended. This would be more than sufficient punishment for a first offense.

Instead, the student can no longer attend Carroll High School and cannot be involved with the student activities that he participated in.

I attended the School Board Meeting on January 16th and listened to Carroll High School student Sam Wysong’s statement to The NACS Board. I wholeheartedly agree with his statement that “Expulsion seems like an overreaction to a first-time offender of this nature.” I hope that the school board listened to the statement as well.

I am extremely disturbed by a quote that was printed in a Journal Gazette article written by Kelly Soderlund entitled, “Carroll student expelled for satire” on January 17th. She quoted Superintendent Yager who told her that according to the NACS legal council, “First Amendment rights are not applicable when the violations are committed on school computers.”

I am not a lawyer; however, I have read the Constitution and I think that I have a pretty clear understanding of both what it specifically states and what our Founding Fathers intended. It states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Per NACS procedures, Superintendent Yager still has to approve this expulsion; hopefully, he will over-ride it and investigate why this expulsion occurred in the first place. If Superintendent Yager approves the expulsion, then the School Board will get the same opportunity to review the case.

One of the strengths of this great nation is the freedom of the press and speech. I am a proud military veteran extremely concerned about the constant erosion of our civil liberties. My children will be attending NACS and I will do everything I possibly can to ensure that they attend a strong school system that respects the Constitution.

Mike Sylvester
Candidate for Northwest Allen County School Board

Recent expulsion of Carroll student is outrageous...

I will be posting an editorial on the expulsion tomorrow. There are two places where you can read news stories about this abuse of The First Amendment (Freedom of Speech). Please take the time to check them out.

The first article was on the front page of The Journal Gazette.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/13644286.htm

The seond article is from the online Opinion Jounral of The Wall Street Journal.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110007826

I attended the last school board meeting and have been collecting information about this situation...

Mike Sylvester

Why I am running for School Board

I am running for the Northwest Allen County School Board and I would like to earn your vote this May 2nd, 2006!

A little about me:
My name is Mike Sylvester and I grew up on the northeast side of Fort Wayne. I spent six years as a Reactor Operator on a nuclear powered submarine in the United States Navy. After being honorably discharged I spent a couple of years as a mechanical equipment operator in a civilian nuclear power plant, almost three years as a journeyman electrician in a steel mill, a year as an automation technician in a food processing plant, four years as the Maintenance Manager at The Halex corporation, and the last 18 months as a Staff Accountant at a local Public Accounting firm. I have an Associates degree in Industrial Maintenance and I will graduate with a Bachelors Degree in Business with a specialty in Accounting from IPFW in May of 2006. I have spent most of my life troubleshooting and repairing problems in a variety of industries.
My wife (Karena Sylvester, a local CPA) and I moved into the Northwest Allen County School District because we wanted our children to attend an effective, safe, and affordable public school system. We plan on living in Perry Township at least until both of our children graduate from Carroll High School. Our daughter Kayla will attend Oak View Elementary School in the fall of 2006. Our son Graydon will follow his sister in the fall of 2008. Karena and I both attended public schools in Indiana.

Why I am running for School Board:
1. I believe that we need to let teacher’s spend their time teaching rather then complying with excessive regulations and rules; teachers need to be allowed to focus on instructing their students.
2. I believe that the School Board needs fresh ideas and a perspective that comes from outside the public school system.
3. I believe that the Northwest Allen County School system can be improved without continuous property tax increases. I believe that the latest tax rate increase will end up increasing our total property tax bill by 14% just for our school district’s portion. Taxpayers have been told to expect similar increases in the next couple of years.

What I will do if elected to the NACS Board on May 2nd, 2006:
1. I will talk to as many teachers, parents, administrators, employees and students as I can. I think the people currently involved in the system are the one’s who best know how to improve the system.
2. I will represent the taxpayers of this district by analyzing the school budget and identifying ways to save taxpayer money. I feel that raising property taxes is the last solution that should be considered, not the first.

How you can help me get elected to the Northwest Allen County School Board:
1. Vote on May 2nd, 2006. Tell your friends, family, and neighbors about my campaign.
2. Get involved with my campaign. There are many things that you can do to help me with just a couple of hours of your time. Please contact me at 260-338-0833 or by email at Mike.Sylvester@Verizon.net.

Indianapolis Eminent Domain

I received an email from Jim Hurst today. Jim Hurst is one of the owners of NK Hurst, the recently famous company that The Indianapolis Stadium Authority is trying to wrongly seize with eminent domain. Jim gave a powerful speech in support of HB 1010. He sent me an email thinking me for supporting his company.

I have to say it was very nice of him to thank me for speaking about eminent domain abuse... We can make a difference.

I have attached his email below. If you read this blog and want to make a difference in this world, be assured that you can!

Mike,

I have had the fortune to listen to all of your testimony before the Legislative Study Committee on Eminent Domain and again this past Monday in front of the House Judiciary Committee.

You are a compelling speaker and the fact you do so with no personal dog in this fight gives you even more credibility.

Congratulations on your successes.

Most Sincerely,

Jim Hurst
N.K. Hurst Company

Monday was a great day

I drove down to Indianapolis and met with Rebecca Sink-Burris and LPIN Executive Director Dan Drexler. I testified in front of The Indiana House of Representatives in favor of House Bill 1010, a bill that strengthens Indiana's Eminent Domain Laws. I spoke for about 8 minutes on Eminent Domain abuse in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Earlier this summer I went down to Indianapolis to testify in front of the sub-committee considering HB1010. Representative Wolkins (Committee Chair and bill author) invited me to come to Indianapolis a testify in front of The Indiana House while they were preparing to vote on HB 1010. I was the only private citizen invited to speak about Eminent Domain! Representative Wolkins liked my testimony and thought I should testify again right before the actual vote.

After I was done explaining Eminent Domain abuse in Fort Wayne I answered a couple of questions from Representatives. My Representative (Phyllis Pond) spoke up and acknowledged Fort Wayne's poor treatment of Belmont Liquors. The Chairman of The Indiana House of Representatives then thanked me for taking the time to come and testify. He commented that I was the only person who came on my own and was not paid to be present.

I then drove north and met with Kenn Gividen in Noblesville. We finished up most of our plans for the upcoming County Chair Convention that will be held on March 4th. Please follow this link to find out the details:
<http://countychairs.com/>

I then came back to Fort Wayne and attending the "Political Bootcamp" seminar put on by Leadership Fort Wayne and The Mike Downs Center.

It was a busy day; but, a satisfying day.

It goes to show you that 90% of success is just showing up!

More bad education bills

I have some ideas for our politicians in Indianapolis; stop adding more school regulations. Schools are supposed to be run by local organizations. We need to get both Indianapolis and Washington out of our School District.

There is a 3” thick rule book (1370 pages) of rules that Indianapolis has decided to make our local school corporations deal with. Below are some of the additional laws that our politicians are considering passing this session:

HB 1072, this bill will add teaching students about the Holocaust.

I overall think that this subject should be taught in the Schools; however, I am against a law that dictates this for every school corporation in the State. Many children graduate without being able to read, write, or do math. Why are we adding to our curriculum?

HB 1047, this bill will add personal financial literacy to the curriculum.

Once again, I am overall in favor of this; however, let each school corporation teach what the parents and staff of that school corporation feels is important for their students. I also have to question whether we want the State Board of Education creating the curriculum for personal finance in the first place. The State of Indiana is in terrible debt already and I keep hearing that we need to spend more money…

SB 0111, student nutrition and physical activity. Requires school boards to establish a coordinated school health advisory council to develop a local wellness policy that complies with certain federal requirements. Requires the department of education to provide information concerning health, nutrition, and physical activity. Establishes requirements applying to food and beverage items that are available for sale to students outside the federal school meal programs, including a requirement that a certain percentage of the food and beverage items qualify as better choices. Provides that the requirements do not apply after school hours or to fundraisers. Requires daily physical activity for elementary school students in public schools, with certain exceptions. Allows a school to continue a vending machine contract in existence before the passage of this bill. (The introduced version of this bill was prepared by the health finance commission.)

Needless to say this is another bill that will allow the State to create more bureaucracy and dictate terms to local schools, not a good idea. We need less bureaucracy and more teaching!

SB 0045, fetal development curriculum. Requires each school corporation to include instruction regarding human fetal development in the school corporation's high school health education curriculum.

Needless to say this is more of the same. They are adding more to the curriculum and not removing anything from the curriculum.

Indiana Law Book for School Corporations

The book that dictates Indiana's School regulations is 1370 pages long.

Apparently that is not enough regulations for our politicians in Indianapolis. They are trying to add more this session; unfortunately, they are not removing any.

I feel that our School Corporations would perform better if politicians would leave them alone and let "Teachers teach!"

I will post some of the silly laws they are trying to add in the next few days.

I am tired of continuous property tax increases. If we could abolish a bunch of these absurd rules, we could lower the cost of education...

Mike

Judiciary Committee Hearing on Eminent Domain next Monday

I have been invited to go down to Indianapolis and testify in front of The Judiciary Committee Hearing on HB 1010; which is a law they are considering to somewhat strengthen Indiana's Eminent Domain laws.

Needless to say I will attend and testify. I think this is a very important issue. I want to make sure that the Committee members hear about some of the abuses of Eminent Domain that The City of Fort Wayne has perpetrated...

I am looking forward to testifying...