Lucas County Commissioner and Toledo Mayoral Candidate Reneges on Pledge (contractors, minimum wage)

[Hey_Hey]

"Young Ben Konop" pledged during his campaign for Lucas County Commissioner to fulfill his entire term in an attempt to put his opponent, George Sarantou, on the defensive since it was widely anticipated that Sarantou would run for Toledo Mayor in 2009. It's ironic that the individual so vocal about completing terms is now the one who reneged on his pledge.

Either Young Ben Konop has short-term memory problems that led to his forgetting about his pledge, or he is morphing into a typical politician who speaks one thing and does another. Hopefully this will be the beginning of the end of his political career. Unfortunately he appears be on course to become a lifelong politician.

[grmasterb]

Carty fan?

[Hey_Hey]

Me? Absolutely not. I'd rather have Ben Konop in office than Carty.

[nickw252]

I like Konop - he's young and brings in fresh new ideas. I've met him multiple times and he's a very smart person, loves the city and cares for its people.

As far as reneging on a promise to complete a term as a commissioner, I find that to be an ancillary issue and don't know what it has to do with his mayoral campaign. The city has taken a drastic turn for the worse since he started his term, how would he be making things better by adhering to a meaningless statement he made a few years ago?

[grmasterb]

Originally Posted by Hey_Hey

Me? Absolutely not. I'd rather have Ben Konop in office than Carty.

Good, then don't hold some pledge made in the middle of a political campaign against him. He's far from the first politician to back away from such a pledge. Besides, things change, and Toledo desperately needs fresh leadership.

[canudigit]

Ben Konop? Native born, father is a public defender, aunt was the queen of all female politicians in Toledo for years and years, and he's a Democrat. Yep, he's on track to become a lifelong politician in Toledo. He meets all of the basic requirements. Why should the breaking of a little campaign promise stand in his way when nothing else ever will? Fresh blood? Ummm...remains to be seen. Personally, I think that Michael Bell will bring the best fresh leadership to Toledo, but since we are leaving the area for Arizona in a few months, I guess I won't be around to find out. If I were going to still be around, my personal mantra would be "Anyone but Carty!!!!"

[Hey_Hey]

Originally Posted by grmasterb

Good, then don't hold some pledge made in the middle of a political campaign against him. He's far from the first politician to back away from such a pledge. Besides, things change, and Toledo desperately needs fresh leadership.

If we don't hold politicians accountable for what they say they will do then what recourse do the voters have? With that attitude what's the purpose of campaigning and making promises if they don't mean anything when they enter office? If you remember, Konop used this pledge as a major wedge issue between he and Sarantou because it was widely believed that Sarantou would seek to be mayor. Konop essentially said that someone not willing to committ to serving a full term is not qualified to be elected. This is the height of arrogance and entitlement from someone.

Fortunately, I think the odds of Konop being elected are pretty low. I would bet quite a bit of money that Mike Bell walks into office by a pretty strong margin.

[nickw252]

I agree with you that we need to hold politicians accountable but this promise is of such little consequence that I'm not concerned with it. It would be different if the promise was about his policy or what he stands for rather than just a temporal promise. For example if someone ran on the promise not to raise taxes and then immediately raised taxes, that would be a problem.

[nickw252]

Also, you seem to be a Mike Bell supporter. I don't know much about him, I've only lived in Toledo for three years - do you want to elaborate on why you support him or what his policies are? As of right now I am undecided but leaning towards Konop.

[Hey_Hey]

I've actually only lived in Toledo for three years as well. I don't think of myself as a Mike Bell supporter. I just think he is the favorite at this point in the game. I do think Bell is a very good man and performed his duties as Fire Chief well. I do admire his willingness to enter the fray as an independent. But I don't know enough about his policies to support him at this point.

The principle reason that I don't like Konop is that he's a big government liberal from everything I've seen. He inserts the county government into almost every proposal he makes. This is the guy that wanted a living wage for county contractors even though it will make county projects much more expensive for its taxpayers. When the county received a few hundred thousand dollars unexpectedly he wanted to spend it to hire a few people at just above minimum wage for a few months doing various nonessential jobs. That money should have been used to improve infrastructure, given back to the taxpayers, or put in a rainy day fund.