Get well!
Yesterday morning I withdrew my candidacy for City Council, District 5. For those of you who may not know I found out just a couple weeks ago that my cancer has come out of remission and is now in my lymph nodes. My intention was to stay in the race despite this. However, due to the side effects of the medication and my inability to function more then a couple hours daily (and it is anyone's guess which) I have decided it is unfair to the citizens within the 5th District to run for something that I can not dedicate my entirety to.
While I know this news may anger, hurt, or otherwise negatively impact some people it is the right one for me and for the 5th District. I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure the voices of those who I spoke with and those who voted for me are heard. While this is the end for my candidacy it is not the end of the campaign to make New Albany and the 5th District better.
Please keep me and my family in your prayers during this challenging time.
The Democratic Party has thirty days to call a meeting to replace Collins on the ballot. If I understand this correctly, Diane Benedetti is eligible to be named the candidate. Whether this will happen in the aftermath of a concerted effort on the part of Mayor Gahan's team to defeat her in the primary is yet to be seen.
Looks like Adam has some fences to mend, which should be wildly entertaining.
9 comments:
To say that Dustin won because of something that Gahan or his people did really diminishes the hard work that he put in to his campaign. He had specific reasons for getting in to the race that transcend local politics and he believed that the fifth district was being underrepresented. His hard work is why Diane lost the race.
I wish a speedy recovery for him and I know that the fifth district is stronger because of people like him.
You are quite correct. I was hoping that my first paragraph would convey my genuine esteem for Dustin v.v. his obvious natural skill in campaigning. It's a situation where both cases are true: He worked his ass off, AND the party snidely targeted Diane. Simple as that.
I will agree about Dustin being a hard worker, engaging, intelligent and all that. Still, to say that Gahan had nothing to do with Diane's loss is missing a big point. IF the 5th district was underrepresented it was largely because of the administration not liking Diane and basically ignoring the 5th. It was about discipline and not about doing the right things. We've seen way too many instances of this from the Gahan administration. I anxiously look forward to Dustin's return to the civic battleground.
Diane has had issues with her constituents ever since she voted for her brother's development instead of listening to the residents of Lafayette Drive. Randy only lost to her by a handful of votes four years ago and she only won the General election by 21 votes.
To say that the administration has been ignoring the 5th is inaccurate Charlestown Road was redone a couple of years ago from Genung to Klerner Lane and let's not forget the hugely popular Silver Street Park.
Slate Run road? This has been planned for a long time and this administration has done nothing about it. Part of the problem is, they have spent so much on other things they don't have the money. They've admitted as much although not in quite those words.
I haven't always agreed with Diane and still don't on many issues but she has grown since being on the council. More than I can say for most of them. Again, this is not slight Dustin is any way.
Diane didn't like the plan for Slate Run Road herself because it included bike lanes. I heard her say the oft quoted remark "that street is too busy for bike lanes."
Isn't Silver Street Park in the 4th District? And weren't Charlestown Road improvements planned and already underway during the England administration, if not before?
Not trying to pick on Matt here, but I've been seeing a lot of "look what we did" from the Gahan camp, often pointing to projects not their own. The party recently tried to brag about sewer debt reductions on Gahan's behalf but the mechanisms for a majority of that were put in place during the England administration, with the state demanding them and then Councilman Gahan often arguing against them. Owing to rate increases and EPA mandated projects being completed, sewer debt reduction was already well under way before Gahan took office. Gahan is now backing sewer giveaways.
But that's party politics for you. First they tell us England would be/is a great mayor. Then Gahan argues against most of Mayor England's sewer maneuvers. And now the party says Gahan would be/is a great mayor because the policies to which he so often objected seem to be working in their estimation.
Re: Dustin v. Diane: I don't doubt that Dustin worked hard and I wish him well with his health issues. But, given that current members of the administration team campaigned for him, I think we can safely say they took sides, even outside the usual "lock out" chicanery that has been widely and consistently reported by party insiders and outsiders alike since Gahan took office.
If nothing else, nice to have some back and forth on the blog, again. Why I remember when...
I would say this race belongs to The Republicans.
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