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11-30-2007-04

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11-30-2007-03

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11-30-2007-02

I have consulted with a seasoned attorney who confirmed that Native Americans can not just buy land and call it "Indian Land" to build a casino.  
 
So these rumors aren't to be taken seriously.
 
Re: 11-30-2007-01
 
This site is called ironmountainissues, this is why this discussion was brought up.  Rename it "witch hunt the current city council" if that is all that you would like to focus on (?) laugh

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11-30-2007-01

I wonder why people are talking so much about a rumored casino.  What about real city business, of the type that gutted the power base of the city council? For instance, who ever heard of a valid reason to hold an "emergency" TIFA meeting to buy a piece of property? Was this property going to disappear if they didn’t act? What’s going on with a council member’s mother getting paid by the city for work?  How can they even attempt to say that doesn't go against the intent of the City Charter? Didn’t Marquart say in the October 1 council meeting that we would have some kind of news in two weeks (from then) on the MIOSHA fines?  Well, why haven't we heard anything?  What about the ISO? He said something about that in the same meeting. What’s going on with the DEQ? How can a small-town prosecutor drop criminal charges brought by a state governmental agency? I can see excusing himself from the case, but, dropping charges?  What about our water quality?  I'm fairly certain I smelled a dose of chlorine in my water very recently.  Why do we have a new cop on the road who took a civil service test, but came in fourth place.  Why was he working as a cop BEFORE the civil service test?  What is this new crap about expanding the DDA?  This is just a partial list of issues with questions that need answers. Why aren’t we hearing anything about real city issues anymore?

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11-28-2007-01

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11-27-2007-03

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11-27-2007-02

I've been told that mention of a possible casino has been floating around city hall for some time.  It all adds up when you consider that Bacco interests are interested in acquiring land that would be an extension of the Lehman Rd.  They are using inside information. 
 
Worse than that, mention has already been made of water and sewer lines right through that property on the city tab.  The lies and subterfuge Tousignant and Rigoni have used for personal gain while serving on the council is beyond anything ever seen around here.  Marquart is their willing accomplice.
 
What was the big rush and a Special Meeting of the TIFA Board to acquire the Khoury property A hefty commission for the mayor's mother, that's what. I sure hope the newly elected members look into all of this.  Iron Mountain politics stinks, stinks, stinks.

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11-27-2007-01

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11-26-2007-01

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11-25-2007-04

To 11-23-2007-03 regarding our earlier posting (11-19-2007-04):

We should clarify that in Point Two, we were not referring to all of the traditional administrative staff (e.g., the clerk).  We agree with you if you are including them in your reckoning.  We were referring to the city manager and the four bureaucratic positions (e.g., the DPW director) he created (and for which he duped the City Council into rubber-stamping its approval) to do the bulk of his work for him -- in most cases expensively and poorly, as it turns out.  In addition to replacing the current city manager, the job descriptions and responsibilities of all five of these positions (including city manager) should be reviewed and redistributed among three, the other two eliminated.  The only administrative position we strongly encourage the creation of is that of a strong and effective economic development director.  In fact, we believe today's economic realities make this office essential.

MMA et al.

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11-25-2007-03

Reference post 11-24-2007-03

I have reposted this post.  Only a partial segment came over from the paste.  The post is in its entirety.

Webmaster

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11-25-2007-02

I first heard of Asset Holding LLC on this website and also received a few low ball offers on various lots and acreage I own in Dickinson County.  Amazing how fast it all tied together with various UP
counties.
 
Now we hear from Kathleen Beattie, Houghton County Treasurer directly from Arizona no less.  Maybe she can send the picture she took of the "mailbox" to this site for laughs. This scam could be far larger than the UP.  It may very well get national coverage in due time via the internet. Looks like Houghton County officials are aware of this site and find it interesting enough to check it out with some regularity. I wonder how many other officials around the UP and the state are checking it out.  Quite a few, I'll bet. 
 
The DEQ, MIOSHA, officials connected with the governor's office and the Attorney-General's office, for sure. It will get even more interesting come January when three newly elected members are seated on the city council. 
 
The Iron Mountain City Council, in January, should propose a charter amendment that would install the new members at the very next meeting after the election.  Kingsford, Norway and I presume many other UP communities already do this. There is no good reason to give any lame duck city council two months to conjure up additional mischief. The current gang is certain to try. They still don't understand how closely they are being watched, or simply don't care.  The remaining four will have much to answer for.  Squirm time is fast approaching, barely six weeks ahead.

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11-25-2007-01

I doubt that Marquart can negotiate with the DEQ with the ease he manipulates the city council.
 
The article hinted that the prosecuting attorney had a conflict of interest and excused himself from acting in his usual role as prosecutor.
 
The conflict of interest could be that he knows Marquart and therefore does not feel he can legally prosecute the case.
 
In Marquart's twisted world, this would constitute negotiating, even if he was not a party to the negotiations.  It's not a stretch for him to make such a statement.
 
As I read the article, all that has happened so far is that the prosecutor excused himself from the case.

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11-24-2007-03

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11-24-2007-02

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11-24-2007-01

Am I correct in presuming that when Marquart says "negotiating" with the DEQ, in habitual Marquart fashion he actually means "plea bargaining" with the DEQ?

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11-23-2007-03

Post 11-19-2007-04 titled Come on. Let's go injects some interesting ideas. I'm not sure you can cut the staff quite as much as that poster suggests, but I agree there is room for cuts.
 
More to the point, the attitude of the four remaining members will go a long way in determining if cooperation or conflict will be the order of things to come.  The remaining four have been part and parcel of the bad decisions that have been made.  If they think it will be business as usual, they will continue to be part of the problem going forward.
 
Right of the bat, they must be made to understand that a great many of the problems have been created by the city manager.  John Marquart has no credibility left.  None.  If they insist on keeping him, their voting record and acquiescence to him will come under severe and unrelenting scrutiny.
 
They will find out that three determined watchdogs who have done their homework can raise a long series of questions that will embarrass them beyond belief.  The remaining four will find out that the public will be made acutely aware of how their actions have caused a great deal of harm, item by item, point by point.  If this is the path they choose, they will get exactly what they deserve.
 
In a perverse sense, I almost hope they take that course.  It will show openly and beyond questions what a lousy job they've done.  The information the newly-elected members have gathered is overwhelming. 
 
Iron Mountain cannot stand having John Marquart continue as city manger.  He has no idea how to run a city.  His horrible record in his previous city manger positions continued with his arrival here.
He didn't learn anything from his earlier firings.  He never will. Once a confirmed liar, always a confirmed liar.  The worst thing that has ever happened to Iron Mountain is John Marquart.

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11-23-2007-02

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11-23-2007-01

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11-22-2007-01

Regarding the Casino  issue and "fitting" in Breitung better... we have seen by experience those that WANT their property to be in the City will HAVE their property in the city..What do you need for a large scale investment? Sewer? Water?....Hmmm sound familiar. How better to expand Pine Mtn and Timberstone development then to have city water and sewer. Throw in Casino dollars for the infrastructure and then you have "room"  for a casino and infrastrucutre for development. What a resort complex that would be Golf, Skiing gambling....I see dollar signs already. Remember a lot of Timberstone is ALREADY in the City of Iron Mountain. To say the coming of a casino would only be the jurisdictions concerns is niaive (or however you spell it) because with a casino comes the trouble it brings to ALL surrounding communities, and along with it, usually, ALOT of casino dollars for those communities.   But the question is, are all the troubles a casino brings worth the dollars it gives to the communities? Also remember this, Casinos have LOTS of money and money usually talks in one way or another to acheive goals.

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11-21-2007-03

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11-21-2007-02

Have we become paranoid? You bet we have!  We've been lied to and deceived so many times, why should we trust anyone who has been connected with City Hall.

I've been searching this Asset Holding LLC of Scottsdale, Arizona.  They've contacted people throughout Michigan (as well as other states).

We still don't know what kind of info Rich Brook (and relatives) have had access to.  Now Mr. Brook is gone, and not on good terms. Also remember, Mr. Brook's wife, Colleen, is with BS&A Software, the software company that provides the tax programs to municipalities throughout Michigan.  We already know what a con-man that their brother/brother-in-law, David Legge, can be.

Now, I'm not accusing anyone of anything here. I realize this Asset Holding group is also contacting people in other states. I'm just saying that we have good reason to be suspicious after everything that has happened in this city.

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11-21-2007-01

For several months I've been hearing a little here and a little there about the possibility of a casino coming to the area, probably at or near Pine Mountain.  Actually, does anyone have even a scintilla of evidence about this rumor?
 
Thwack!!!  I think Marion and her study group are right on target with their three-point plan.  What better place to start than to conserve money, manage it wisely, start to gather more of it by getting new and contemporary businesses into Iron Mountain, and hire accomplished people to do it properly and successfully.  This is a sensible, economical, and professional way to both save and to start infusing outside cash into and throughout this town.  Let's stop thinking peanuts and chasing peanuts for the few special-interest businesses already here and start going after as much money as we can for the benefit of everyone.  It'll be amazing how much easier some of the other issues will be to tackle and solve if we have more money to do that with.  I join her and sympathetic others in encouraging the new city council to promptly move in that direction.
 
Gobble gobble.  Happy Thanksgiving, Iron Mountain!

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11-20-2007-01

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11-19-2007-04

Come on.  Let's go.

Dear Iron Mountain:

For months, even years, we've been talking about "taking back our city" and causing positive change in Iron Mountain.  With the recent election, we've only just begun.  I hope we can rise above the petty bickering and vindictiveness afflicting so many around town since November 6.  We should roll up our sleeves now and get down to business, directly addressing substantive issues that face the city and promptly acting upon them.  I encourage all of you to encourage your new City Council in January to start the new year and new government with important and necessary administrative changes, specifically in the city's management.

One:

The Council must replace John Marquart.  Forget, if you can, that's he's consistently proven to be a liar, bully, and creep.  The Council must replace him because he is incompetent and harmful to the city.  Not only has his behavior and advice cost Iron Mountain millions in fines, court fees, lost business, salaries, benefits, travel expenses, personal professional fees, and other countless unnecessary expenditures, and not only has he torn this city to shreds by pitting citizen against citizen to serve only his and his supporters' ends, but he does not have a single positive accomplishment to his name for this city since he has come here -- nor had he one elsewhere before he came.  All he can do is talk a good game, and that only until he is uncovered.  Once hired, he worked solely for the special interests of himself and those on the Council who hired him.  He is the type of civil servant that gives bureaucrats, including the good ones, a bad name.  He's interested only in getting his job, protecting his job, and not doing his job.  Like far too many public-service managers, superintendents, and professional administrators, the name of the game for Marquart is control, and that ultimately to serve his own best interests.

Getting rid of him is not enough, however.  The Council must then hire an effective, accomplished city manager to replace Marquart.  It must search carefully, vet the candidates closely, and hire someone with a background of success at managing a city like Iron Mountain.  If an experienced and successful someone like this costs a few more bucks than we're used to paying, we should pay it happily.  We need a winner, folks.  In the long run we're much further ahead financially to pay for such a person rather than a little less for someone like Marquart who causes the city to hemorrhage money heavily and continuously while accomplishing nothing.  And when hiring we should focus on someone who, rather than manipulating the city divisively, can actually manage it, avoiding, limiting, handling, and/or solving the water, fire, police, financial, and other major problems, thus making the city as a whole work effectively and attractively for its current residents and businesses and, importantly, for prospective residents and businesses.

Two:

The Council must review and then consolidate the duties, jobs, and responsibilities of the remaining administrative staff members, assigning them to perhaps only as many as two of them in addition to the city manager.  The remaining positions should be eliminated.

Three:

The City of Iron Mountain cannot compete if it's not in the game.  Businesses will not come to Iron Mountain if they do not know Iron Mountain exists.  Our recent city governments, particularly the current one, despite its claims, have been very small-minded, small-town, and parochial about this.  Yes, it should pursue grants, absolutely, and even more than it does.  But it should pursue much, much more than grants, and it has entirely lacked the imagination, innovation, and effort to do so.  Remember all the idioms you've ever heard about being penny-wise and pound-foolish?  Bent over, this most recent city government focuses on picking pennies from the pavement while hundred-dollar bills blow unnoticed over its head in the breeze.  The new government has to stand upright, grab a net, and pay attention!  The Council and management continue to think and talk and pursue hundreds of thousands of dollars when they must think and talk and pursue hundreds of millions of dollars if Iron Mountain is to thrive today and in the future.  That's realism.  It's a different world, a different economy, and though the current Council talks progressiveness, its behavior actually follows the same old paradigm of 50 to 60 years ago.  It's time to change.  And not because we want to, but because we must.

The city must hire an accomplished, effective Economic Development Director.  This person's primary responsibility, in collaboration with the other administrative staff and the Council, would be to work the business clearinghouses, exchanges, and businesses themselves throughout the world, asking desirable businesses, 21st-century businesses that we want in town, "How can we get you to settle in Iron Mountain?"  There are great fits out there between Iron Mountain and businesses looking for a place to set up shop.  But those businesses don't know what a good fit Iron Mountain can be if they don't know that there is an Iron Mountain.  Let's introduce them to us.  Let's get a jump on the other places of the world.  Let's get them here instead of Bald Knob, Arkansas; Galway, Ireland; or Nelson, New Zealand.

This is where we should start, Iron Mountain.  Something tangible, practical, positive, doable, and profitable.  These three steps, right now, today.  Start encouraging your new Iron Mountain city government right now to start moving toward the achievement of these three items early in 2008.  We can all blow hot air like the Mayor, Council, and management of the last four years or, as I propose and request with this letter, we can get down to business and actually, positively start turning Iron Mountain into a major 21st-century winner.

Marion M. Anderson et al.

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11-19-2007-03

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11-19-2007-02

I too received a letter from Asset Holding in Arizona as apparently so many others have.   This one shouldn't be too hard to figure out.   Are Iron Mountain residents the only ones receiving these letters or are others in Dickinson County and the surrounding area  receiving them also?   It would be interesting to find out.

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11-19-2007-01

Everyone calm down.  The asset scam is happening elsewhere:

http://www.sooeveningnews.com/articles/2007/11/19/news/news654.txt

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11-18-2007-03

Here is the web site for the Asset Holding company in Arizona.

 http://www.assetholdingllc.com/htm/about.html

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11-18-2007-02

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11-18-2007-01

I am one of the people who received a letter from Asset Holding LLC of Scottsdale, Arizona.  Right now I am angry with myself because I tore up the letter and threw it in the garbage. I should have saved it for proof that this letter is being sent to homes in the area. I was sick to my stomach when I read the posting that Rich Brook may have gone to Arizona.  If someone finds out that he is involved with this scam, please let us all know!!

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11-17-2007-02

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11-17-2007-01

I was wondering if anyone knows why the orange traffic barrels were placed across the parking lot at Lake Antoine's west boat launch? Does the city still want to close the launch site?

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11-16-2007-02

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11-16-2007-01

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11-14-2007-03

Please, Iron Mountain, stay in touch!

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11-14-2007-02

Hello All:

Thanks for all the support of this web site.  This site will continue to be available to the citizens of Iron Mountain.

In the near future though I will be at Deer Camp through the 18th, so the posts will be a little late.

Webmaster

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11-14-2007-01

For my own curiosity, I began keeping track of the hits on the Public Forum of this website begining this past June.  I did it on a weekly basis.  Here's what I came up with, with the highest week of hits for each month.
 
Week ending:    Hits:             
 
June 24          1,650
July  15          2,000
Aug  12          2,990
Sept 2           2,400
Oct  21          3,800
Nov  11          5,290
 
I suspect the hit count will drop now that the election is over, but what a dramatic increase from June until the August primary and and another big jump in the weeks leading up to the General Election. 
 
The hits dropped in September but surged again in October and November as the General Election heated up.  There is no doubt this website was a vital source of important information that would otherwise have been unavailable to the vast majority of voters. It certainly had a major impact on the outcome.  My sincere thanks to the webmaster and all others who contributed to this website.
 
I hope it continues indefinitely going forward.  A good number of stories broke first on this website and were subsequently carried by The Daily News, TV 6 and Frog Country radio. It seems there are a lot of well informed people chipping in on all aspects of city government, keeping the rest of us tuned in.  I think its safe to say the city council and city manager would have given anything to have this website go away.  Webmaster, please keep it going.  You have created an invaluable online watchdog community.  Thank you.

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11-12-2007-03

I remember when the sewage dumping story first broke, the city manager said something about having a walking trail system going through the dumping area. I can close my eyes and see the brand new sign in front of that brand new trail. My apologies to Roy Rogers, but, in my vision the sign says, Crappy Trails To You.

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11-12-2007-02

Can the remaining council members work with the newly elected members beginning in January?
 
I think there is some chance they can.   
 
This can happen under only ONE condition:  John Marquart has got to go. 
 
If the remaining council members insist on keeping Marquart, there is no hope. If an up or down election by the citizens was possible on keeping or getting rid of John Marquart, there is no doubt whatsoever of the outcome.  Even the remaining members have to  know this.
 
So, the question narrows down to this:  What is more important - cooperation and working through the many problems Iron Mountain faces or Marquart keeping his job? 
 
Let's not forget that many of the problems were created by Marquart himself.  The man is a compulsive and documented liar. He will not change. If the remaining council members can't see what the citizens of Iron Mountain see, they don't deserve to be sitting on the council. 
 
Marquart's three largest boosters, Rigoni, Jacobs and especially Tousignant all got trounced in the General Election. 
 
Marquart will be fired, one way or another.  If the remaining members vote to keep him, is there any doubt a recall petition to get rid of them would not gather enough signatures?  Does anyone think any council member who is  pro-Marquart can survive a recall election?
 
All of this can be avoided.  It is up to one or more of the remaining members. If they stand behind Marquart, as sure as day follows night, a recall campaign is sure to follow.  It will succeed and the remaining members will be as embarrassed as the recently defeated ones.
 
No amount of money could save them.  This was proved on November 6.  There are some things no amount of money can't salvage, and Marquart's disastrous record is one of them.

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11-12-2007-01

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11-11-2007-02

To clarify a few things; first, I did not mean to disparage Mr. Toedter in any way.  I merely suggested him because he was the lowest vote getter in the primary.  Second, other posters are correct in that no one knows for sure how things would have played out had there been only four challengers.  My own belief, based on my own observations of the numbers and probabilities, is that four would have been elected if only four had run.

But that's all water under the bridge now.

The New Three are going into office under difficult circumstances.  The pending criminal charges against the City are a very serious matter.  A vactor truck was used to clean out this line and a vactor truck is contaminated from the start because it is also used to clean out sanitary sewers.  Therefore, even if it was being used on a storm sewer in this instance, it is still contaminated.  End of story.  At minimum, expect a large fine.  Your DPW Director will also likely lose his PE license.  One thing I expect is that you new members may be told by staff that the contractor dumped this on his own steam.  Don't believe it, because I know for a fact that he has stated that he was directed to do it by City staff.

Have a safe and successful deer season!

Oskar

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11-11-2007-01

A plea from Dave Farragh .

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11-10-2007-08

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11-10-2007-07

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11-10-2007-06

I wonder if John Marquart needs the help and testimony of Jeff Van Laanen in his court appearance re: DEQ Sewage violation. 
 
Van Laanen, in front of a number of witnesses in the alley outside city hall after the October 15 non-quorum meeting, said "we can dump wherever we want, and besides it's a dead issue" 
 
Marquart can say he has relied on the exceptionally profound opinions of Van Laanen in many matters in the past and checked with him before dumping the sewage. 
 
The judge is almost certain to declare all sewage dumping laws on the state and federal level unconstitutional and side with the Marquart/Van Laanen position, don't you think?

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11-10-2007-05

The writer of post 11-9-2007-13 makes one very serious error in his assumptions of the vote distribution.  He states that if Tousignant had not run, his votes most assuredly would have gone to the incumbents.
 
It is hard to believe that those people who voted for Tousignant did not also vote for the three incumbents as well.  Those folks had four people to vote for.  They couldn't cast two votes for one incumbent.  
 
Tousignant's votes were not available to the other incumbents because almost all of the people who voted for him also cast their other three votes for the incumbents.  Get it?

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11-10-2007-04

The turmoil this city has endured under John Marquart simply cannot go on for two more years until the next election.  If none of the four remaining members nudges or quietly talks Marquart into moving on, this city will see far more turmoil than it has seen the past four years.
 
Some of you may remember a long ago post where it was disclosed that a group of citizens with deep enough pockets was waiting in the wings to sue the city on a wide variety of issues.  That group did not disappear.  It has been working quietly behind the scenes amassing voluminous amounts of evidence. 
 
How events play out between now and January 7 when the new council is sworn in and how cooperative the incumbents are in quietly or noisily removing Marquart will determine the course this group will take. 
 
If the remaining council members take the position that they have a 4-3 majority against the new members and can do anything they want, they are in for the surprise of their lives.
 
Lawsuit after lawsuit, injunction after injunction will rain down on the city. The remaining council members, John Marquart, and, very likely, even the ousted council members will all be sued individually and outside of the errors and omissions policy the city carries on their behalf.  Malfeasance and misfeasance of fiduciary duties of office holders and of the City Manager are very serious offenses. So egregious are many council and city manager actions of the last four years that criminal indictments are very possible in many instances.  The remaining council members, ousted council members and John Marquart should, by this stage of their lives, be well aware of a legal principle that goes back to British common law, and was established there by the Roman conquests: Ignorance of the law is no excuse. 
   
Not only will the city incur its own legal costs, the group will also seek recouping their out of pocket costs, further impacting the city budget because of the stubbornness of the remaining members.  They will be directly responsible and answerable to the taxpayers. 
 
If the remaining council members, ousted council members and John Marquart think this is all a bluff, just wait until February 2008.  Your lives will change forever.

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11-10-2007-03

I was reading the news from the Frog Country website. I just cannot believe the quotes from Mr. Marquart when this sewage issue first broke.

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11-10-2007-02

If the City is being sued, then WE are being sued.
I'm getting tired of our tax dollars being spent on legal fees and fines for things that we had no voice about.  Our council refuses to hear us and represent us. Instead they go along with everything that Marquart wants.  Look where it's getting us.  We need
to get this manager out of here.  It is he and this council that should be paying fines and legal fees.
They took us out of the process of making decisions.

The last time we demanded him gone, we was given a bonus instead.  These council-people and Marquart need to be sued as individuals to get our tax-dollars returned for use on things that benefit this city.

Personally, I am not paying my next tax bill.  I will bank the money to collect interest (to recoup and least a portion of what I'll eventually pay in late fees); but I'm not giving my money to this city as long as Mr. Marquart is allowed to squander it.

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11-10-2007-01

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11-9-2007-13

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11-9-2007-12

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11-9-2007-11

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11-9-2007-10

Bruce Rosen:  "Thank you. "

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11-9-2007-09

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11-9-2007-08

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11-9-2007-07

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11-9-2007-06

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11-9-2007-05

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11-9-2007-04

Jeff Van Laanen, the self-proclaimed future mayor, is showing his disconnect with reality by his comments:
 
"I don't see things changing a lot."
"The new members have a lot learn."
"I believe they'll find out what we've been doing is the right course of action."
 
Of course, all three statements all totally wrong.
 
Things will change, and change a lot, Jeffie.  Don't misinterpret your vote count.  You didn't say a thing in the whole campaign, so you stayed out of the line of fire.  That won't be possible after January.  All of your off-the-cuff far out ramblings, far-fetched and totally impractical ideas and intractable stubbornness will be there for all to see.
 
The new members, you may be surprised to find out, know a lot.  A lot more than you realize, including much that they haven't yet revealed.  If you think you and/or Marquart have the slightest chance of ever turning these people into the rubber stamps you are accustomed to working with, you are both even more delusional than suspected.
 
They'll find out what we've been doing is the right course of action.  Oh, now you believe that you will persuade them that all they have discovered, studied, and learned over the past four years was wrong and you will show them the light. Sure you will. 
 
You uttered three short statements and instantly exposed fatal flaws in your managerial knowledge.  You have basically zero skills in managing anything.  Now, you, a man of no life accomplishments, the same as Tousignant and Marquart, are showing the same arrogant attitude that sent Tousignant to last place in two elections.                                                        
 
You will need all the luck in the world going forward because your people skills and basic knowledge of real-world experiences sure as hell aren't going to cut it for you.

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11-9-2007-03

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11-9-2007-02

Re: 11-8-2007-10

The evidence for Oskar's belief that one of the challengers should have dropped out has admittedly become stronger but not, I think, conclusive. Consider an alternate set of numbers--namely the number of votes that each candidate gained between the primary and the general election because of higher turnout:

Van Laanen: +572
Rigoni: +488
Jacobs: +472
Rosen: +262
Tousignant: +254 (assuming all write-ins are for him)
Farragh: +228
Peterson: +215
Alessandrini: +131
Toedter: +113

These numbers would seem to establish two points:

1) The incumbents were relatively unprepared for the primary and relatively well prepared for the general election. The time for one of the challengers to have dropped out was in May, before the withdrawal deadline for the primary, so that the incumbents would have been caught unawares in November rather than in August. A dropout in October would have come too late.

2) The incumbents' campaign against Alessandrini on the bankruptcy and old hospital issues worked. Van Laanen's August-November gain was 84 more than Rigoni's. Peterson's was 84 more than Alessandrini's. This is not a coincidence. There were 84 incremental voters who voted for the three winning challengers and Van Laanen because they were unwilling to vote for Alessandrini or Toedter. A dropout by Toedter would not have kept those votes away from Van Laanen.

Now let's consider the 781 votes that Toedter received. Let's assume that all of those ballots contained votes for four candidates and that all of them were for challengers. Let's further assume that everyone who voted for Toedter would have cast a ballot even if he wasn't on it. Let's further assume that all Toedter ballots also contained votes for Rosen since the latter is also a landlord. Let's further assume that the remaining two votes on each Toedter ballot were distributed among the other three challengers in the same proportion as their overall total. I list all these assumptions to make the point that it isn't correct or realistic simply to divide Toedter's total by 4 and add the quotient to the other challengers' totals. Under the assumptions listed above, 498 Toedter ballots would have contained a vote for Alessandrini anyway. That leaves 283 potentially to be gained by Alessandrini. One must assume, however, that the defection rate away from Alessandrini to Van Laanen because of the incumbents' campaign discussed above would have been roughly the same on the Toedter ballots as it was in the incremental turnout for the challengers generally. In that case, a dropout by Toedter would have generated an additional 107 votes for Van Laanen and 176 votes for Alessandrini. Meanwhile, the aforementioned 498 ballots would have generated 249 votes each for Peterson and Farragh, leading to the following hypothetical totals:

Peterson: 1269
Farragh: 1267
Rosen: 1171
Van Laanen: 1138
Alessandrini: 1130

I am not asserting dogmatically that it would have turned out this way. The assumptions are certainly subject to challenge. I am merely making the point that it is far from certain that a dropout would have gained the challengers a fourth seat, and therefore Bill Toedter should be proud that he carried the race honorably to the end.

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11-9-2007-01

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11-8-2007-17

This will not make a difference on anything, but I am very curious to see a breakdown of the write-in votes.  How long do we have to wait for that?

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11-8-2007-16

Aside from the stupidity of the TIFA Board in buying the Khoury property without any commitment from the Mariucci group, it is an ILLEGAL TRANSACTION IN VIOLATION OF THE TIFA PLAN.
 
The TIFA Plan specifies what the Board can do.  If it is not specified in the plan, it can't be done.
 
There is nothing in the Iron Mountain TIFA Plan that authorizes the purchase of the Khoury property.  The law allows purchases by TIFA Boards, but only if such purchases are spelled out in the TIFA Plan. The Iron Mountain TIFA plan had one possible purchase described in it, but that one was never done and never will be.
 
If the purchase of the Khoury property goes through, the County and all other entities who get some of their money captured by TIFA have every right to sue, and should sue TIFA because the TIFA  plan was violated by the TIFA Board.  
 
The County, Voc Ed, Special Ed, Library, etc. have all approved the TIFA plan and have every right to expect it to be executed as written.  They should not let their capture be spent in ways that are not written into the plan to the detriment of their own budgets.   
 
In reviewing the TIFA plan, I find a number of other questionable items in their budget.  For example, there is money budgeted for design work on properties TIFA doesn't own.  TIFA has been approached on the possibility of buying land for the purpose of building roads.  Both design fees and purchases from private parties to create rights-of-way would be illegal and outside the TIFA plan.
 
Based on the research I have done, I believe the County should sue the TIFA board if the Khoury sale is completed. They could have a substantial sum of money due.  It would also put the TIFA board on notice to stay strictly within the TIFA plan or suffer the consequences.  
 
Legal Beagle

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11-8-2007-15

I am gay and I am a Democrat.  How Ken Tousignant and his clique behave is very uncaring of and destructive toward the gay community and the Democratic Party.  It is becoming clearer and clearer that he does not care about this.  He cares far more about himself than any causes he espouses -- causes he uses largely to build a platform on which to promote himself, not the causes.  He reflects badly on, and does a huge disservice to, all gays and Democrats.  Although it is easy for the community at large to associate all of us with him because of common stereotypes and labels, I want to assure the entire community that he and his little band do not represent me and my beliefs, nor do they represent most gays and Democrats and their beliefs in this community and beyond.  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  Kenny and those he runs with are the aberration, not the norm.  I, and those like me, in no way want to be associated with any of the foulness he has been uttering since the November 6th election.  Nor with any vileness he produced before it.  With luck, perhaps he will no longer be able to fool and damage the public.  Be assured, please, that the bulk of us in Iron Mountain and adjacent areas wishes he would just back off and shut up.  Thank you.

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11-8-2007-14

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11-8-2007-13

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11-8-2007-12

Re: 11-7-2007-20 & 11-8-2007-6

As much as I want John Marquart out of town and out of a job, I think we should save our petition-gathering efforts for legally binding initiatives. We may need them. Recalls can legally be mounted only against elected officials. There are only three ways to get rid of Marquart:

1) persuade the City Council to fire him (clearly the preferable option);

2) recall one or more of the ward representatives and replace them with Marquart opponents (a difficult process that has never succeeded in this town); or

3) amend the City Charter to repeal the city manager form of government and return to the mayor-council form that prevailed prior to 1987.

This would be a draconian and inadvisable step. (Imagine Tousignant with real executive power.) I believe that getting a fourth vote against Marquart will prove easier than getting a fourth vote for any of the Members-Elect's policy positions. Iron Mountain may still have a cable fee two years from now, but I doubt that it will still have John Marquart.

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11-8-2007-11

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11-8-2007-10

Well, let's examine the numbers.  As you may or may not recall, I recommended that one of the challengers drop out.  Someone posted a well-reasoned response arguing that for reasons relating to principles, all five should stay in the race.  Unfortunately, principles often don't mix well with numbers.  If we look at the numbers below, it is apparent to me, as I stated in a previous post, that had Mr. Toedter dropped out, as I recommended, his votes would likely have pushed Peterson, Farragh, and Alessandrini above Van Lannen.  Tina stated how sorry she was that all four challengers didn't win, and she's right.  That fourth seat was huge in terms of dispensing with the current problems.  You now are a minority instead of equal (4-4) and will be unable to do anything if the incumbents get stubborn.  Hopefully the remaining members will look at the results and decide to work with you, but based on what I read yesterday, I ain't holding my breath.

Oskar


Rosen (1171)

Van Lannen (1031)

Peterson (1020)

Farragh (1018)

Alessandrini (954)

Rigoni (938)

Jacobs (917)

Bill Toedter (781)

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11-8-2007-09

Addressing the Old Hospital Site.  By Dale Alessandrini.

Dale Alessandrini:  Thanks, good luck, and more ...

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11-8-2007-08

I must take a moment to say congratulations to the newly elected council members and the single incumbent, Mr. Van Lannen. 
 
It is real treachery that four of the challengers could not have been elected. But really you can thank Mr. Toedter for that. He should have dropped from the race after the August primary as I do believe he received the least amount of votes of the "challengers". It would have only made sense. Simply poor campaign management there or lack of trust on Mr. Toedter's part or maybe Mr. Toedter had a financial interest in the outcome. I know whatever the reason or decision made, it cost Mr. Alessandrini a council seat. But hey I can't blame Mr. Toedter, it is his wallet and his greed. Makes me wonder if in fact he really cared about any of the other issues at all. Might just make me question all of the council, incumbent or otherwise, on what really motivates them. Seems we have a lot of special interests at hand and that to me is sad.
 
So we are left with a council that is by way of numbers still the same for voting purposes. Nicely done. Just stay the course and continue as we have been going. It is the right way to fly. A word of caution to the newly elected councilmen. You will be watched, scrutinized, questioned and you will make mistakes. Just as some have done before you and some will do after you. Good luck. 
 
Oh and a recall on the city manager? What an absolutely silly idea. Council vote would decide that and we have seen how much the council listens to it constituents. That would be at best a 4-3 vote in favor of the man to continue his employment...not unless the City were to get another MIOSHA fine. But we can leave that up to those firemen. They seem to have the ability to manipulate and deceive just like Marquart. They will get the MIOSHA fine for us all and then there will be no choice for the council but to fire him.

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11-8-2007-07

Am I correct in thinking that the city manager cannot be recalled, but has to be fired, as he was not elected, but hired? I am afraid of all the harm that the council can do between now and Jan. We need to keep an eagle eye on them!! A note to Dale, PLEASE consider running again!!! How about a recall for some of the other council members???

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11-8-2007-06

I agree with the person who suggested starting a City Manager Recall Petition.  This website is the perfect place to start this process and provide the new city council members with the petition this January.

It all starts here.

Maybe the webmaster of this site could add a page devoted to this process.

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11-8-2007-05

Am I understanding this correctly? Are you telling me that TIFA agreed to a hurry-up purchase of property without so much as an environmental study? Do they realize what costs could be involved in clean-up if anything is found there? And all of this without any solid commitment from Mariucci? 

 

It must be fun to play with other people’s money. I’m getting so fed up with what’s been going on. Progress, yes. I’m all for it; but with common sense and reasonable planning. This city is running around half-cocked with our money and not giving a damn whether we agree or not. Who’s going to care how pretty the main corridor is when the rest of the city is falling apart and the citizens are suffering. The city manager is supposed to work for the council. Yet, time after time I’ve seen the council surprised to find out what has occurred. It’s time this council start working like a council and not like a bunch of school-kids doing what their teacher tells them to do, with no questions asked. 

 

Where is our representation when a council person states that council meetings aren’t the place for citizens to address issues? I sincerely hope the newcomers will ask the questions, require proper procedures and documentation, and challenge what is questionable. This manager cannot be allowed to continue to run this city as he pleases. 

 

You came in, as did Marquart, on the backs of the previous council and administration; taking credit for the many projects already in the works. You’ve taken credit for businesses that would have come in no matter who was on the council. Those businesses approached the city. The city didn’t go out and drag them here. 

 

Those of you who are business owners: Would you want a business manager to take over your business and ignore your wishes? Would you allow them free reign with your money? Would you let them take over and shut you out because you gave them that position in the first place? Well, that’s what you have done to us. You’ve taken control of our city and spent our money without consulting us. When we tried to intervene, you shut us out. You are just short-term custodians of our city. You do not have the right to take total control away from us. Just as you would fire such a business manager, we will fire you if you continue as you have. 

 

The time has come to re-examine what your job is. Remember why you were voted in, and why your fellow members were voted out. You were elected to be our representatives. You were not put in those seats to take over the city and do as you please. Ms. Caudell said that 75 people were not representative of the city. Well neither are you seven! That’s obvious by the recent election results. We will have our say and we’ll do it by whatever legal means we can. Council meetings are public for a reason. We have the right to confront and demand answers. We have the right to disagree. We have the right to expect to be represented. Please, don’t make us have to wait another two years to vote the rest of you out. 

 

Are you willing to see it? Are you now willing to let the citizens have a say in how our city is controlled and how OUR money is spent? You have far over-stepped you bounds and taken our city away from us. Well, we want it back. We want a council that listens and hears what we want. We want representation. You will now have a choice to work with the new council members (and they with you) or continue to be Marquart’s puppets. Let’s have progress that benefits all of Iron Mountain. Let’s move in a direction that fairly uses our tax dollars. Of course we all want progress. We live here. We’d prefer to stay here and shop here. We’d prefer to say we live in a city that cares about and respects its citizens. When outsiders see a happy community, then they will want to come here. 

 

I am willing to be optimistic about the coming years. I can let go of everything that is past; but that can only happen if you do the same and become the representatives that you were elected to be.

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11-8-2007-04

This non-issue over who eats and drinks where in and out of town is about the silliest, pettiest, most childish debate I've ever heard.  Really, who cares?  Ladies and gentlemen -- please!  I thought this was an issues site.

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11-8-2007-03

Please get off your high horse, Mr. 11-7-2007-17.

You know darn well Ted Corombos is still enthusiastically for that Mariucci deal, not against it.  But he is for the Mariucci deal, and a direct purchase by Mariucci or at least a guarantee to purchase.

What Corombos is against, as well as many others who see your chicanery, is the additional and unnecessary deal that was manufactured by City Hall and occurred in a flash.  He is against the city purchasing the land.

Why would the city make that purchase?

The only party to benefit would be the realtor, Stephens, for whom Mayor Tousignant works.  His mother is a principal owner of Stephens.  That realtor would likely get a minimum of about $53,000 and perhaps as high as $88,000 in commission from the sale to the city.  Then, when the city sells the property again, to Mariucci or anyone else, that same realtor that Mayor Tousignant's mother owns and for which the mayor works would again get roughly the same tens of thousands of dollars in commissions, presuming the price remains about the same.

I'm seeing a brand new Cadillac in someone's future!

Nice double dip, sweeties.  And entirely unnecessary.  What an abusive manipulation of the system.  The execution of this thing has Manager John Marquart's fingerprints all over it.  Whether it's actually illegal or not, this event looks more crooked than a comic-book bolt of lightning.  And it's the very definition of unethical.  No wonder Corombos is for Mariucci's purchase but against the city's.

This entire episode is a perfect example of how the city management and council of the last four years has operated and continues to operate.  Turn a buck for themselves however they can and try to deflect the public's attention from their mischief by pointing meanly at someone else -- in this case, at Corombos.

Your posting is disingenuous and transparent, 11-7-2007-17.  Honestly, how stupid do you think all of us are?  Instead of concentrating on your perpetual and ultimately unrewarding efforts to turn a buck and stroke your egos, why don't you and yours start focusing on something unarguably legitimate, less petty, more constructive, and genuinely rewarding than your distorted, tabloid, pseudo-bigshot approach to local politics?  Charlatans, quacks, pretenders -- you are children.  Mean and pompous little bullies, to boot!  Please.  Grow up.  If any of you want to be a big man in town, then, for goodness' sake, actually be a big man in town and stop wasting our time, patience, money, and other resources by playing at it.

Marion M. Anderson

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11-8-2007-02

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11-8-2007-01

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11-7-2007-32

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11-7-2007-31

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11-7-2007-30

I'm assuming the writer of post #11-17-2007-17 was at the TIFA meeting when Mr. Corombos praised Steve Mariucci for his interest in doing development work in Iron Mountain.  So was I.
 
At that meeting, there was no direct mention of TIFA buying the land without any agreement or commitment from Mariucci.  He was giving a general outline of possibilities and did, in fact, make a good presentation.
 
Now that's a far cry from what the TIFA Board actually did at its Special Meeting.  On pure faith, they agreed to issue a check for $875,000 in advance of a closing to Khoury, Inc. on the premise that the land is environmentally cleared, that they can indeed get clear title to the many parcels Khoury bought over the years in assembling that property and that some kind of a satisfactory arrangement would subsequently be made with Mariucci. None of this is guaranteed.
 
The TIFA Board never explained what the hurry was to issue the check, except maybe to make sure the mayor's mother got a commission as the listing agent.
 
So, writer of the post mentioned above, would you have entered into this kind of agreement if it was your money?  I doubt it, unless you are very naive or very stupid. I have learned from years of observing Mr. Corombos that he tries his best to get an explanation of the details.  He certainly had it right in questioning the actions of the TIFA Board.  If he were still on the TIFA Board, I am certain the questions he asked at the council meeting would have been asked at the TIFA meeting and the very strange deal that transpired would almost certainly never have occurred. 
 
I'm not here to disparage the writer of the post.  But his failure to get the right reading on the facts of the matter leads me once again to the fact that Mr. Corombos, as is the case in almost every position he takes, knew what he was talking about.

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11-7-2007-29

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11-7-2007-28

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11-7-2007-27

You need to check out the meaning of slander in the dictionary. It's not slander if it's the truth. When you live in the house on the hill and you didn't pay your bills and someone states that fact, it's not slander. Get over yourself.

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11-7-2007-26

Dave Farragh:  "Thank you" and other post-election remarks .

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11-7-2007-25

Tina Peterson:  "Thank you.  Please stay in touch. "

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11-7-2007-24

I have to agree about Marquart being sent packing. I just hope the remaining council members have their eyes open. The people have made it clear how they feel. If the remaining council members don’t wake up, they will be replaced in two years.

 

It’s time to listen to the people and represent them. I, too, think that this new council can work if they just think for themselves and not allow themselves to be led by Kenny and Marquart.

 

Show us that you represent us. All of the discord started with the hiring of this guy, and grew as the council agreed with everything he did. This is not Marquart City. It is Iron Mountain, and belongs to all of its citizens. If you want this city to run without all of the turmoil, you must represent the majority of the people. You can’t keep spending our money on your vision unless it is also our vision.

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11-7-2007-23

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11-7-2007-22

Gimme a break.  When did anyone ever pick apart the current council members for going to businesses out of the city?  For heaven's sake! A person wouldn't have been able to go to Home Depot or Arby's.  If I remember correctly, the only times the subject came into play was when it involved tax money, or city related business that could/should have been done in Iron Mountain.   If you get that picky, then I guess council people from surrounding areas shouldn't patronize Iron Mountain businesses either.  What council people do on their own time with their own money is their own business.

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11-7-2007-21

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11-7-2007-20

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11-7-2007-19

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11-7-2007-18

To 11-7-2007-14:

Let’s not get THAT nit-picking! The newbies aren’t even seated yet. And what’s wrong with going to establishments that are not in Iron Mountain? It’s on their dime, not the tax-payers. When it’s tax dollars being used, then yes, spend it in the city whenever possible.

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11-7-2007-17

Wow - how does the secret driver of the dream machine, Mr. Ted Corombos justify coming out against the TIFA purchase of property for Steve Mariucci when he practically kissed his boots at the TIFA meeting. Quote - Mr. Mariucci, I just want to say in all my years on the TIFA board, that was the most professional presentation I have ever seen. I commend your commitment to this community. Money talks, alright. Now at the council meeting he's all up in arms about the deal - quick change, I guess.

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11-7-2007-16

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11-7-2007-15

Regarding the post for contacting the higher chain of command for the Daily News, here is the info.. Contact person would be Bart Leeth

Ogden Newspapers Inc
www.oweb.com

1500 Main St
Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 233-0100

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11-7-2007-14

I read in today's paper that the new council members had a victory party at The Junction.  This bar is in Kingsford.  Is taking your business out of the City of Iron Mountain "in the best interest" of Iron Mountain.  There are quite a few bars in Iron Mountain that pay Iron Mountain taxes. 
 
c'mon Newbs - USE YOUR HEAD.
 
Now it's your turn to be nitpicked, watched, harangued, etc.
 
The shoe is on the other foot now.
 
I'm watching...

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11-7-2007-13

There we have it! The people have spoken. I can live with that. What I cannot live with is John Marquart as the City Manager for another two years or more. I think that most (if not all) of the people on the council are at least somewhat reasonable people. Mr. Unreasonable Mayor is gone. Now we need to get that conniving manager out of here. He should NEVER have been hired in the first place. There's good reason he never held any other job for very long. He has treated citizen badly, spent money without constraint , has taken credit for things that he did not originate…. Well, it's all been said before.

I can only say this: Though Iron Mountain is my home, I WILL NOT remain here if Marquart continues as manager. My house will go up for sale (and hopefully will sell in this current market) and I'm moving elsewhere in the county (perhaps Kingsford, Norway, or the surrounding township). I love it here; but will not sit back and watch this man destroy my city. I'm counting on our new council-members (and hopefully at least one other voice of reason) to take this one vital step in putting things right. With Marquart and Tousignant gone, I really think this council has a chance of working.

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11-7-2007-12

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11-7-2007-11

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11-7-2007-10

It really sickens me that the so-called mayor was a write in and got nearly 700 votes...GIVE ME A BREAK  he has done NOTHING to help us but to destroy our small community and those 681 people actually would have liked to see him back in office OMG you people need your heads examined.. Also I agree with the people that want to boycott the daily news, they should have NEVER left that slandering of Dale Alessandrini go in their paper and Markell, she has showed that she is as low as low is..what does he personnel life have to do with the city council. grow up and smell the coffee he wanted to do good for this community and all you did was throw digs, and TRY and make him look bad....In my eyes  YOU are the bad one and you best hope no one finds any skeletons in your closets and if they do I HOPE they are published so everyone in town can look at you.

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11-7-2007-09

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11-7-2007-08

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11-7-2007-07

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11-7-2007-06

To Dale Alessandrini and Bill Toedter:  Great campaign!  Thanks for boldly standing up for your convictions and running!

To Jeff VanLaanen:  Congratulations on your reelection.

To Bruce Rosen, Tina Peterson, and Dave Farragh:  Congratulations on your victories!  Well done.


Iron Mountain Democracy and Friends

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11-7-2007-05

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11-7-2007-04

Well, now what do you have to say? - Bob Johnson, Blaine Hyska, Bill Verrette, David Brule.
 
Five dedicated, non-professional,  honest group of citizens stepped up to the plate, put their names in front of the voters and kicked your butt.
 
All of your money, all of your distortions, the blant lies that were allowed to be printed by the incumbents in the Daily Rag while the challengers had to prove every sentence, all of this came crashing down on you on Tuesday, November 6, 2007.
 
No more rubber stamping everything Marquart says. The grilling that will come under the glaring lights of the council chambers will be something to behold. 
 
No more evasive answers without follow up questions.  No more Marquart BS.  Marquart will be on the stand every minute of every council meeting, feet to the fire.  The legendary ego will wilt, the mustache will twitch, the face will get red and the eye contact will disappear under the massive weight  of documentation that will pour out IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS FOR ALL TO SEE.
 
The remaining council members will not fair much better.  Everything that has happened the past few years happened on their watch. Let Eden Caudell explain how her mother showed up on the Vendor's Report and received city funds for attending some  Regional Conference without ever getting appointed by the city council.
 
Let Marquart explain, in public, how the MIOSHA fine of $23,000 was withheld from the public for almost two months in hope the election would take place first.
 
It will go on and on and on.  Dozens and dozens of small and large cover-ups will be exposed.
 
The worst mayor in the history of Iron Mountain will be gone.  His Machavellian tactics - win at any cost, ruin lives if necessary - in the end did him no good.  He came is DEAD LAST in two consecutive elections. And ruined himself in the eyes of Iron Mountain voters in the process.
 
A NEW HAS DAWNED ON IRON MOUNTAIN.  NOW WE WILL FIND OUT IN EXCRUCIATING DETAIL THE TRUTH OF THE PAST FOUR YEARS.  STAND BY.

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11-7-2007-03

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11-7-2007-02

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11-7-2007-01

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11-6-2007-13

Top Vote getters are as follows:

Rosen (1171)

Van Lannen (1031)

Peterson (1020)

Farragh (1018)

Alessandrini (954)

Rigoni (938)

Jacobs (917)

Bill Toedter (781)

Wite-Ins (619)

This is preliminary information only.

Webmaster

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11-6-2007-12

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11-6-2007-11

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11-6-2007-10

Bill Toedter:  "Thank you. "

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11-6-2007-09

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11-6-2007-08

TO:  Bob Johnson, Publisher and Blaine Hyska, Editor of The Daily News
         WHAT PLANET ARE YOU GUYS FROM?
 
I just did a little breakdown of all the wonderful things The Daily News attributed to this city council to see who really was helped by them and who wasn't.
 
1 - By entrepreneurs and businesses with NO  HELP  and in many cases made difficult by the city planning commission and Economic Planner:
 
Holiday Express
McDonald's
Walgreen's
Simone Insurance
Moon Lake project, near the Subway shop.
Begres Chiropractic Clinic 
 
2 - Vision 2020 projects on the north side:
 
Ball field - almost entirely volunteer work with little or no city help.
A little sidewalk work outside the TIFA district- no city involvment - much volunteer work.
 
3 - New Employment
 
Issues & Answers Call Center - Strictly without any city involvment.  Cable Constructors had some available space, found and negotiated for this new business to start there.
 
4 - Strictly long-range TIFA funded projects:
 
All the sidewalks on the north side.  Cedar and River Avenue, D Street and others streets in that area, including the front of the VA Hospital.  City council involvement: None   All this work was part of TIFA's long range plan, no matter who was sitting on the city council.
 
Trader's Mine Road rebuild, water and sewer work, Northern Star Industries parking lot were all grant programs with TIFA matching funds, and in some cases strictly TIFA Funds.  No city council involvement.  TIFA administered these projects.
 
5 - Railroad crossing repairs
 
All costs associated with these repairs were borne by the railroad itself, and if there were any grants involved, the city had nothing to do with them. 
 
6 - Razing the last building on the old hospital property
 
       Paid for privately
 
7- The Water Bond
 
     This process was so far along with the previous council that about all this council
    did was approve it after adding about $1,300,000 unnecessarily to it.
 
So we're down to the City Park Pavilion, the Blomquist project and the proposed Mariucci project, neither of which is yet off the ground. These, then, are the major accomplishments after four years with this council.
 
Sure looks a HELLUVA lot different than your presentation, eh!!  The guy who wrote about Following the Money sure had you guys pegged right on the money.

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11-6-2007-07

It's frightening to think what kind of damage this council and Marquart can do in the time remaining before the new council members are seated.... They are going to be very vengeful toward the citizens if they lose the election.

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11-6-2007-06

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11-6-2007-05

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11-6-2007-04

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11-6-2007-03

Today I canceled my subscription to our daily rag newspaper after reading the unsigned editorial in yesterdays paper which endorsed the incumbents. This paper did the same thing several years ago during the race for prosecutor involving Jay Finch and Jeff Poupore. I encourage other subscribers to do the same and cancel their subscription.

Robert A. Jayne

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11-6-2007-02

One last scam was pulled of yesterday.  The TIFA Board bought the Khoury property for $875,000 with no guarantee that Mariucci will take it off their hands.  TIFA could be stuck with that piece of property for a long time.
 
All this was discussed last night at the city council meeting when former chairman of TIFA Ted Corombos asked some very pointed questions about this deal.  In his reply, Marquart admitted there was no sealed deal with Steve Mariucci and also admitted that "on a worst case basis, the city would own the land".
 
Guess who got the commission on this deal?  Yep, the mayor's mother.  Does she or the mayor or any of the council or the TIFA Board give a damn if they are stuck with this property for years?
 
Hell, no.

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11-6-2007-01

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11-5-2007-18

Post # 11-4-2007-07 - the Follow the Money post - now applies to the Daily News as well.
 
Their editorial, the first of its kind I can remember that chose sides in a local election, is not about the incumbents and the challengers.  It's about money.
 
Tina Peterson, Dave Farragh and Dale Alessandrini are not in business for themselves and would never have a reason to advertise in The Daily News.  Bruce Rosen (The Form House) and Bill Toedter (U P Security) have businesses that, because of the nature of their businesses, have no need to do newspaper advertising.
 
The Boss Snow Plow division of Northern Star Industries does quite a bit of advertising during the course of the year. (David Brule's company).  Champion-Gunlach advertises periodically. (Bill Verrette's company). Stephens Realty, by the nature of that business, spends many thousands of dollars a year with the Daily News (Ken Tousignant's mother is co-owner). 
 
The incumbents have outspent the challengers at the Daily News by probably four or five to one.
The wife of the president of Champion-Gunlach, Dee Benjamin, had her own ad (surely she didn't pay for it out of her hairdresser allowance).  Bill Verrette and David Brule, the biggest beneficiaries have spent good chunks of money on ads in support of the incumbents. Don't believe for a minute that Bob Furno spent a penny of his money on the ads where he is listed.  Bill Verrette took care of that. Furno is a retired finance official of Champion.
 
The ad by Savage Mane was by Liz Douglas, sister of Dee Benjamin. 
 
In the face of all the money spent by the incumbents, there is no way The Daily News could have supported the challengers.  The best they could have done is remain neutral. It would have been the decent thing to do.  Of all of the item listed and attributed to the incumbents, in the editorial, not a single one, not one, can deservedly be attributed them. The Daily News knows or should know that. 
 
Nobody ever thought either Editor Blaine Hyska or Publisher Bob Johnson were over-endowed with courage. Now they have displayed themselves publicly and forever for one and all to see.  Gutless, cowardly  chasers of the buck.
 
The Daily News is on the take to the highest bidder.  The free press is for sale in Iron Mountain. Their credibility has been lost entirely.  They, like Rigoni, Brule, Verrette, Carey and others have indelibly become part of the crowd where Follow the Money certainly applies. 
 
No different than the crooked sheriffs of the old west.  On the take all they way.

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11-5-2007-17

A final note from Dave Farragh before the election.

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11-5-2007-16

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11-5-2007-15

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11-5-2007-14

What's up with the Truth Website??

It hasn't been updated in weeks.  I clicked on the candidates link and there is not one word from any of the incumbents.  I guess they have nothing TRUE to say.  I guess they have posted all the TRUTH they can.  What a joke!!

The challengers in this election have been open and have discussed the issues using all media types.  The incumbents only speak as a group and only when directed by Mr. Tousignant.  And they only say what he wants them to say.  The fact is that this current city council almost always votes unanimously on all matters.  They think and act as one.  I need a change.  I need someone to sit on this council and question everything this City Manager is doing.

I guess it boils down to this.  I don't have a problem with the incumbents, I have a problem with the City Manager.  The incumbents had their chance at watching him and his conduct and have failed miserably.  To many incidents to list.

I feel very confident that anyone of the 5 challengers will do a better job of babysitting our problem child, the City Manager, than the current Council.

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11-5-2007-13

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11-5-2007-12

Bruce J. Rosen:  Final thoughts before the election .

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11-5-2007-11

Some final pre-election thoughts from Dale Alessandrini .

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11-5-2007-10

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11-5-2007-09

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11-5-2007-08

Final thoughts before the election.

The number of people in this community, who have worked, donated money, attended the forum, and offered information and encouragement is unbelievable. I do want to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to all those who have helped us!

We have some very talented and dedicated people who must be utilized when specific issues are considered. We must draw upon their knowledge and experience to enable us to make better, more informed decisions. If we can change the council with this election, this will be done.

It seems as though I have gone through the emotional gauntlet. Tomorrow is a turning point for Iron Mountain with   every vote that is cast. There is so much that needs to be changed to bring our city back together. I feel that we the challengers have provided valuable information to many citizens and the incumbents.

Please, regardless of whom you vote for, take the time to vote. Our system of democracy works when the majority of voters dictate the results of elections. It is your right and responsibility to vote, so make sure your vote is counted.

Again, thanks to everyone for all your support and encouragement

I would sincerely appreciate your vote on November 6^th.

Bruce J. Rosen

Candidate for Iron Mountain City Council

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11-5-2007-07

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11-5-2007-06

On the reassessment issue:
 
Contrary to the literature the incumbent liars are passing around:  There was absolutely, positively NO STATE MANDATE ordering a reassessment of the City of Iron Mountain.
 
This was a deal cooked up between City Manager John Marquart and Assessor Rich Brook. 
This story is far from over. 
 
Based on the huge payments of $35,000 and $40,000 paid to Brook in the first two months of the reassessment process when he couldn't possibly have earned it. 
 
Why did Marquart, his supervisor, sign off on these large amounts Brooks presented to him scribbled on a loose leaf sheet of paper? 
 
The Iron Mountain version of a WATERGATE-style investigation is sure to follow if the challengers win the election. It has all the earmarks of shenanigans unprecedented in the history of the city.
 
If Marquart and Brook read this and are shaking in their boots, they should be.

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11-5-2007-05

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11-5-2007-04

Bruce Rosen addresses fast-tracking business development in Iron Mountain .

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11-5-2007-03

Ghostwriter.

Remember when Marcus Blomquist and Scott Nauertz would serve as mouthpieces for Mayor Ken Tousignant?  In the paper and the Issues site and other places?  They'd open their mouths, so to speak, and Tousignant would talk?

I've been reviewing everything from the last year or so and I found something else in this same vein that's interesting.  You remember Phil Dougie and "Dougie's Blog" last summer, before the primary?  Now the mayor may not be Dougie's ghostwriter, but the similarities between these two are incredible.  Based on what the mayor says and how he behaves and what Dougie wrote in that blog, the two could be identical.  Both are amoral and anti-traditional-values.  Both are political and cultural fascists.  Both are militant activists.  Both are faithless.  Both are arrogant and condescending.  Both unapologetically hold the general public in high contempt, and both are scornful and intolerant of any disagreement or dissent.  Both lie as often and as naturally as they breathe, and both publicly state that one has to do whatever is necessary, "whatever it takes," to attain their goals, "to win."  What Tousignant says and writes and how he says and writes it is identical to what Dougie said and wrote when he said and wrote it.

I know that someone who supposedly works for the registrar and Web host assured all of us that the person behind Phil Dougie and that blog site was not one of the candidates on the November ballot.  But you know, Ken Tousignant is not one of the eight candidates on the ballot.  Do you think Ken Tousignant could have been Dougie's ghostwriter, as he has been for Nauertz and Blomquist?  Do you think that what's important is not what that employee said, but what he didn't say?

Of course, it may be just a coincidence and a long shot, and I have no idea if there's any way to prove it, or if it's illegal, but if you look at the behavior and subject matter of Ken Tousignant and how he expresses himself, then look back at the behavior and subject matter of Phil Dougie and how he expressed himself, the likeness is uncanny.  Uncanny.  I invite you to review the material yourself.

Webmaster, although everything I refer to about both men is on the public record, this may be irrelevant or unnecessarily inflammatory, so you may not want to publish it.  And since it's already the day before the election, it probably doesn't matter anyway.  I'm sure it's too late to pursue and investigate.  I leave it to your discretion.  It sure is interesting, in any event.  That's why I felt compelled to send it.

Be sure to bundle up and get to polls on Tuesday, everyone!  It's important to vote.  Let's get these rogues and scoundrels out of office and get some new ones in there to start picking on.  Vote for FOUR (4) of these five: Alessandrini, Farragh, Peterson, Rosen, Toedter.  Take a list with you so you don't forget.  But vote for only four.  That's important.  They say if you vote for more than four it will void your ballot.

And bring official photo identification with you, like your driver's license, state I.D., or passport.  Call County Clerk Dolly Cook at 774-0988 if you you have any questions.

God bless America!

Marion M. Anderson

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11-5-2007-02

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11-5-2007-01

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11-4-2007-11

The mayor has to lie.

I'm sitting here tonight reviewing all the campaign literature, media coverage, stuff gathered from the web, last week's forum, etc.  This river of continual lying, including a series of coverups, by the mayor, city manager, and council members must be unprecedented.  It's phenomenal.  You can't say it's unbelievable because there it is, on the record beside the evidence of what they're lying about.  You have to marvel over it.  The dishonesty is unrelenting.  It makes my mind reel.

One item has driven me to at least one conclusion about this lying.  I'm sifting through and mulling over all the available paperwork and time/date-stamped digital material I was able to get that IME sent to the city or kept as records back in 2005, when it was trying to set up a meeting.  I recall the buzz about it then and seeing some hardcopy.  Despite all the evidence, the mayor claimed last week that the company never made an approach to the city.  Clearly it made several.  Clearly the mayor lied.  But after seeing all of the tech consortium's documentation, I understand why he lied.  He had to.  Though I don't condone it, I can't blame him.  If he admits publicly to blowing this opportunity by not even setting up a meeting, he would get one vote on Election Day -- his own.  Maybe John Marquart's too.  Furthermore, if the city didn't lynch him, it would tar and feather him and run him out of town on a rail.  There would be absolutely no chance of him winning re-election.  But if he lies, there's at least the chance that he can get away with the lie until the polls close Tuesday.  I don't know though.  The repercussions of him, Marquart, and the others murdering this opportunity may be far-reaching.  Once people know how they botched this, the city may eventually hammer the mayor and the others no matter what happens Election Day.  Bad enough that they blew it, but then to try to cover it up?

That's pretty sad.  When you have to rely on lies.  And it seems to apply to most of the issues.  The conduct of the mayor and other incumbent candidates illustrates everything that's become abysmal and disgusting about American politics over the past generation.  We've never had perfect government locally, granted, but I hate seeing this dirt and deceit of the last four years come to town.  I just hate it.

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11-4-2007-10

Dave Farragh responds to the incumbent candidates' brochure .

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11-4-2007-09

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11-4-2007-08

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11-4-2007-07

The old expression - Follow the Money - seems more than appropriate as we close in on the election.
 
Out of nowhere come two large contributors to the incumbents, Mr. Verette and Mr. Brule.  How many meeting of the city council have they attended the last four years.  Mr. Verette attended one when he made a presentation about his plans with land he owns. Mr. Brule, none that anyone can remember. They have received well over two million dollars worth of benefits at taxpayers expense - whether through grants, city matching contributions or other means.  This is called "corporate welfare" for people who don't need it and shouldn't get it.
 
Mr. Rigoni, and land owned by him and/or Bacco adjacent to the Hydraulic Falls Road, is scheduled to received water and sewer lines to it at a price estimated around $500,000.  Do you wonder why Mr. Rigoni wants to stay on the council and nurture this project through. It will cause their land to skyrocket in value and they would be the only ones to be helped. More "corporate welfare."
 
Do you wonder why Bacco is trying to assemble land in the area around Mountain Motors on the north side of town with such determination? There is talk of extending the Lehman Road right through that general area to US - 2.  If Bacco could successfully assemble it, they would give the city a right of way right through it and get free water and sewer lines through it.  Is that why Doug Rigoni is so against slowing down or shutting down TIFA? No doubt about it.
 
Has the city approached the current owners of the land?  No.  Is Doug Rigoni is trying to get this land based on inside information and pay a far lower price than it would be worth if such a project comes to pass. Absolutely.
 
Did Doug Rigoni approach the TIFA Board to buy the Khoury property for $1,400,000 with the buildings cleared.  Yes.  Who was sitting right next to him?  The mayor.  Who had the listing on the property?  The mayor's mother. How much would the commission come to?  Up to 10% or $140,000.
 
Do the Bacco/Doug Rigoni interests have other dealings with Stephens GMAC Realty, the firm the mayor's mother co-owns.  Yes.  Stephens has the listing for the former New York Sod Farm property where a good chuck of water front property is involved. 
 
                      Follow the money - Follow the money - Follow the money
 
The picture becomes much clearer.  Now you know why the mayor and Doug Rigoni are so desperate to remain on the city council.  Self-dealing, inside information, taking care of certain interests, including and primarily their own, can indeed be very profitable.

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11-4-2007-06

The election Tuesday will give me much information about the future of Iron Mountain.
 
1.  From a campaign standpoint, can lie after lie after lie work and convince enough
      voters that the current administration credible?  If so, then lying is the only way
      to run elections from now on because it works!!
 
2.   Are the challengers naive in believing clearly stated positions will work in a
       campaign, or is the risk that they will be nitpicked by lies too great. 
 
3.   When the largest beneficiaries the last four years have been two of the wealthiest
       people in Iron Mountain, will the voters recognize their ads in support of the 
       current administration as self-serving or not? (Bill Verette and David Brule Sr.)
 
4.    Will the voters recognize that their interests have not been well-served for the 
        last four years, or not served at all?  Will their memory be so short that they 
        will forget the dozens of issues that have come before the city council the 
        past four years  that prove the incompetence, neglect and lack of interest in
        the typical citizen, or will they remember?  
 
5.    Will a last minute flurry of blitz advertising negate the council actions of the last
        four years?
 
6.     Will the trashing ads of the past few days work for the incumbents, or will they
         be viewed as very low blows and work against them?
 
7.      Will the politics of personal destruction and character assassination against
          good and decent people succeed?  If they do, it would seem this is the way
          future elections should be run. 
 
The mayor has stated to a challenger that "whatever it takes to win" is fine with him.
If people with no moral compass succeed, what does it tell us about the future of this country, much less Iron Mountain. 
 
That is what I will find out after the polls close on Tuesday.

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11-4-2007-05

Defending herself and others from ugly false accusations, Tina Peterson gets her licks in .

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11-4-2007-04

Dave Farragh recaps the Forum and clarifies some issues.

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11-4-2007-03

"Why me?"

Is this any way for the incumbents to run a campaign?  What have they got to hide?  Why do they continually lie and slander in the face of proof?

Dale Alessandrini counters the incumbent candidates' latest campaign lies and misinformation.

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11-4-2007-02

Learn from a recent election.

Remember the election of 2004?  At the last minute, people decided against their better judgment to vote for the Bush-Cheney ticket again, returning that administration to office.  Those voters and 70% of the entire U.S. population have bitterly regretted that decision every minute since.

In 2007, don't make the same mistake in Iron Mountain.  Out with the old, in with the new.

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11-4-2007-01

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11-3-2007-16

William Verette and David Brule Sr. are arrogant enough to put out ads for the incumbents for all the benefits they have received from the city.  Arrogant or dumb?
 
Do they think the voters don't realize they have reaped huge sums and are now in a payback
mode.  That parking lot for Brule is three times larger than needed.  His son is a new member of the TIFA Board and went along with Marquart and Tousignant's pitch to spend $750,000 behind City Hall.  Good thing the rest of the board thought it was crazy.  David Brule Jr. was the only one to vote for it, so he did his duty to the lying pair, no doubt more payback for what his dad's company got from the city.
 
Verette is seeking more gifts, and unless the voters of this city wake up, he'll get them.  Meanwhile, as the multi-millionaires get a free ride, we can't get a pothole fixed, have to go to court to get a settlement for raw sewage back-up cause by the city, have to pitch in our taxes for fines the city manager caused (MIOSHA). We have to listen to our banter rooster mayor and city manager lie and lie and lie.  Yet there's plenty of money for the well-heeled.  They toss a few buck into the election campaign.  You can bet they received well over a 500 times return on that investment.
 
IF YOU WANT MORE OF THE SAME, ELECT THE INCUMBENTS.  IF NOT, THROW THEM OUT.

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11-3-2007-15

WHEN YOU FEEL YOUR BACK IS UP AGAINST IT...
 
Please remember the words below.. No matter who you are. No Matter what the situation. When your under attack, just take a moment and think about these words... These words have come to my aid on more that one occasion and I carry them with me literally every day for that very reason.. to remind me....Just to remind me...
 
 
IT IS NOT THE CRITIC WHO COUNTS;
NOT THE MAN WHO POINTS OUT HOW THE STRONG MAN STUMBLES,
OR WHERE THE DOER OF DEEDS COULD HAVE DONE THEM BETTER........
THERE IS LITTLE USE FOR THE BEING WHOSE SOUL KNOWS NOTHING OF THE GREAT PRIDE
OR THE STERN BELIEF OF THE MEN WHO QUELL THE STORM OR RIDE THE THUNDER.
                                                                                       (Author unknown to me)
 
PERSEVERE....PERSEVERE...PERSEVERE.

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11-3-2007-14

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11-3-2007-13

"They just plain lied."

Bruce Rosen counters the lies and other creative forms of truth in the incumbent candidates' brochure.

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11-3-2007-12

Regarding the city-council election Candidates' Forum of November 1 at IMHS:

Bruce Rosen warmly disputes and discredits a tech-business claim by Mayor Tousignant.

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11-3-2007-11

I'm a citizen too, darn it!

I'm really quite angry.  More than I ever imagined I might be.  The expensive advertising support and big bucks from the likes of Dave Brule and Bill Verrette has set me off.  Dog gone it!  I'm a citizen in this town too.  The city can give expensive parking lots and curbs and streets to already rich guys but can't patch the street at the end of the driveway for working stiffs and ordinary folks like me?  Nuts to that!  It ain't bloody right.

Practically everything in this city is falling apart.  Our very health and safety are threatened by the water, sewage, pollution, fire, police, and drug issues, not to mention how many more obscure issues that threaten us or our purses, and we've got the entrenched old-family rich people in this town buying ads for those intolerable jerks in city hall and as much as shouting to their bought-and-paid-for stooges and social buddies, "Hey, send a few million more of that corporate welfare up here for us!"

Well, I'm sure this is meant to discourage us.  But I ain't quittin'.  You and I may not have dollars, but each us has an equal vote.  Together they can trump dollars.  And we still have a couple days.  Let's get those votes to the polls and cast!  I challenge all of you out there who feel the way I do to take it up a notch.  Give it everything you've got to get the rest of the folks in this town either like us or who feel like us to get out and vote for Alessandrini and Farragh and Peterson and Rosen and Toedter and not let the rich buy this election for the likes of those uncaring, selfish, and incompetent bullies presently in power who are unjustifiably smearing their opponents and treating the rest of us like dirt.  I'm not against wealth.  I'd love some myself.  But I am against the use -- the abuse! -- of it for buying an election and subsequently victimizing the bulk of the city's population.  And it's our kids who suffer any way you look it -- money-wise, example-wise, safety-wise, health-wise, etc.  Let's get out there and resoundingly take this town back with our votes, folks, and not let big dollars thrown at the Daily News dictate how Iron Mountain is going to turn out.

Get the voters, get 'em to the polls, then throw the bums out!

Cheri Ann K.

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11-3-2007-10

In response to 11-2-2007-22

Maybe the challengers lost the 'coin toss' when it came time to put a picture in the paper. Ha, Ha, Ha. We all know now what side the paper is on as if it was a secret in the past. I was trying to give the Daily News the benefit of the doubt that they were unbiased; but this clinched it for me. I don’t feel I can trust their motives. What are they up to? Is there something personal or financial to be gained by spotlighting the incumbents?

GO CHALLENGERS -- You were wonderful at the forum. I can only imagine how difficult it was to be up on stage that night. On the other hand, it was clear that you had done your homework and you had nothing to fear. You should fair well at the election due to your dedication to the concerns of the citizens. Thank you.

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11-3-2007-09

Dear Iron Mountain Citizen,

Not to worry!  We won't clutter your inbox.  This is the last unsolicited email you'll get from us.  But we hope you'll give it a minute.

We humbly request that between now and Monday evening you visit our website and learn directly from us in a positive way exactly where we stand on the issues.  There is a collective "Issues" section, a gray box, near the top right of each main page at the site.  Each of us also has a separate website.  Just click on our photos or names.  At each site we also have a blog (weblog) with additional issues on which we have individual opinions and current remarks -- this is titled "What I'm thinking.  My campaign blog."  Just click on those words.  If you have questions or remarks, please email or phone us and we'll be happy to talk with you about any of the issues.  Our numbers and addresses are at the websites and below.  Care to know what we think?  Ask us directly.  We're all straight shooters.

To quickly stop the bleeding and start the healing, a majority is important.  For prompt positive change in Iron Mountain, we again humbly request that you vote for four of the five of us to fill the opening City Council seats.  We would appreciate the opportunity to represent you openly, honestly, economically, and effectively over the next four years.  We expect you to hold us strictly accountable.  If you have a gripe, take us to task.  The reason we'd be in office, after all, is to serve you.

There is a lot of misinformation circulating around the city.  We encourage you to please consider passing this message to your family members and friends in Iron Mountain, so that before they vote they can get accurate information about us directly from us rather than from other candidates and the grapevine.

Thanks for taking the time to read this note.  Please vote on Tuesday, November 6.  Your vote is your voice.  It matters terribly.  It's as important as you are.  We hope to see you at the polls Tuesday, illustrating your importance by exercising your power.

Bill Toedter ... 906.779.1347  |  Email

Bruce J. Rosen ... 906.779.9089  |  Email

Tina Peterson ... 906.776.1150  |  Email

Dave Farragh ... 906.774.8575  |  Email

Dale Alessandrini ... 906.774.6821  |  Email

Iron Mountain Democracy

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11-3-2007-08

One more thing.

I think it's wonderful that the challengers are supporting a recently defamed voter who is supporting them.  Granted, it's in their interest since they have proof on the matter at hand and onsite (I like the snapshot from the Michigan Web site, and the instructions to the general public to use the Freedom of Information Act for confirmation), but still, most candidates wouldn't bother.  Click on "Voters' Reasons" atop the page of their Web site, Iron Mountain Democracy.  Besides, I was wondering when they would feature "Unresponsiveness" as one of the voters' reasons.  Great example, although there are dozens of small, everyday-type of examples from citizens all over town throughout the past four years.  Small, but not unimportant.

Marion M. Anderson

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11-3-2007-07

Citizens of Iron Mountain

 

Have any of you noticed how low some people in this city have stooped? We now have some of the wealthy individuals and companies in Iron Mountain trying to use their wealth to buy votes for the incumbents?

 

It’s quite obvious that pay back time has arrived for those who received special favors from this council.

 

Perhaps these people have lost sight of the past and forgot how their companies became wealthy and prosperous! It was through the support and patronage of the common citizens of this community, not the city council.

 

Some of these people are personal friends and I am appalled that they are using their money to buy votes!

 

Citizens please listen ---if you think your vote never counted before, I assure you, it is a very critical vote in this election. We cannot allow this election to be bought!

 

Four more years of this present council will destroy this community.

 

Another concerned and disgusted citizen

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11-3-2007-06

I protest!
 
Like Ken Tousignant (and a few others), I am also a native of Iron Mountain and a write-in candidate for an open seat on the city council this fall.
 
I would like to protest that I was not informed of or invited to participate in the Candidates Forum at Iron Mountain High School on November 1st.
 
Prior to the forum, the Daily News announced that the forum was for the candidates on the ballot.  I am rather certain that the radio announcements said the same.  Tousignant is not on the ballot.  If I had known that write-in candidates were also to have been allowed, I would have approached the American Association of University Women, the event's host.
 
As it happened, it seems very unfair to me.  Contrary to what Julie LaCost said, this does not seem like the American Way .... unless the American way is rigged to include some and exclude others.  The forum clearly exercised a double standard.
 
If one write-in candidate was to be allowed, as was the case with Tousignant, then all write-in candidates should have been allowed.  All or none.  That he is not even on the official ballot but was the one single "privileged" person to get on that high school stage and participate offends me deeply.  Attending an actual event in which the rules apply to some but not to everyone really stings.  If Tousignant should be re-elected because he alone bent the rules (and was allowed to by everyone involved), it makes a mockery of the whole democratic process.
 
Kathy Olson

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11-3-2007-05

See the ad in Saturday's paper where Bill Verette and David Brule Sr. are signatories. 
 
These two guys GAMED the system for over  to TWO MILLION dollars that should have come out of their corporate coffers.  I guess there is no limit to GREED among the wealthy in this community.
 
Marquart, Rigoni and Tousignant saw to it that they were well taken care of.
 
I have lost all respect for Bill Verette and David Brule Sr.

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11-3-2007-04

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11-3-2007-03

Dear Mayor Ken Tousignant:

You are a liar.

I sat at the candidates' forum on Thursday with a sheaf of official documentation in my big binder about every issue under the sun regarding this city, and I could hardly contain myself as from the first question I watched you not only evilly defame an innocent man in a setting in which he could not defend himself, but lie about every issue that you addressed.  Shame on you, sir!  You are a perfect example that the devil still lives and walks among us.

I cannot abide a man who makes an error and then, in the teeth of proof, will go to any extent to escape responsibility and see that the blame will go elsewhere.  Specially if it involves victimizing others to do it.  Normally I vote FOR a candidate.  With all due respect to the five challengers, this election I will vote for four of them as a vote AGAINST you and the candidates associated with you.  You are not a good man, Mr. Tousignant, and I can imagine few things as bad for this city as to have you continue to represent it as mayor.

Sincerely,

Marion M. Anderson

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11-3-2007-02

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11-3-2007-01

What's with this attack ad against Ted Corombos.  He's not running for anything.  The ad a talks about infrastructure deficiencies. More infrastructure has taken place in the last 20 years under the watchful eye of Ted Corombos than ever in ANY 20 year time frame. Have the incumbents gone completely bonkers?
 
Do they really believe they are going to gain votes by attacking an Iron Mountain icon?
 
The incumbents, in my opinion, should get slaughtered next Tuesday.  I would bet my last dollar that if Mr. Corombos' name was on the ballot he would be the top vote-getter, and deservedly so.
 
Boy, these slime balls know no limits to depths they will go. Measure Mr. Corombos against Ken Tousignat, Jeff Van Laanen, Doug Rigoni and Sally Jacobs. You find ONE GIANT and four MIDGETS. Slimy midgets, at that.

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11-2-2007-22

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11-2-2007-21

In response to the post 11-2-2007-11 I would like to clarify a few details. Yes, the fireman in Kingsford did not want to become police officers, similar to the IM fireman, the question should be why? They all know they could make more money and police work in a small town really is not that hard to do. Could it be they are more concerned about the ability to respond to fires that they put their personal gain aside? Escanaba is full Public Safety and now they have a 3.2 million dollar budget, the same as IM and Kingsford combined, but yet, their staffing is so low they have to drive the squad care back to the station to get the Fire Truck when a fire occurs. It is not impossible for public safety to work; it just cannot save money when it is done right.

As far as Iron Mountain should have gone PSO back then I would say you are wrong, the two cities should have combined the Fire Departments into 1 single department that would serve both cities, and the same could have been done with the Police. That would have saved both cities money and maintained the best service in both Police and Fire.

The insurance rating is something we should be concerned with and I assume your comments about 2 PSO’s are worth 1 fire fighter are referencing this. This is accurate as far as the rating schedule for ISO, this can be viewed at www.imfd.org click on ISO than scroll down about 6 pages and you will find the notice from ISO to Marquart informing him of this. All of the ISO letters have been obtained by FOIA’s directly from the city of IM. An on duty part-time firefighter is also equal to 2 public safety officers and also be aware when the PSO cannot get to the scene in a timely manner they are not counted at all.

ISO is a complicated system and everyone is tired of hearing about it, the fact that IM is preventing them from coming in and doing their independent risk analysis is reason enough to understand the current system will not stand up to the test!

The idea of a PSO being able to get to a fire faster then the fire truck is not hard to understand, a squad car is faster than a 30,000lb fire truck, but what good is it at the fire? Do you shine a spotlight on the fire and it goes out? Traditional police do carry fire extinguishers and are expected to use them if the situation is suitable and safe.

There are more than a 1,000 fire departments in Michigan and about 25 Public Safety Departments that use cross trained police, hardly a shinning example of everyone doing this. Just because a few cities in the UP have done it does not make it a good decision.

The idea that the IM firefighters are not accepting of change is not accurate either, look at the challenger’s proposal, the use of part-time firefighters to save money and provide a greater service is a change, change for the better!

Kevin Pirlot

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11-2-2007-20

In Oct. 31 newspaper the Mayor’s Ad calls for the Full integration to a Public Safety Department. This again is another attempt at misdirection to confuse the voters Nov. 6^th.

Let’s look at what full integration really means.

1. Creation of a director position to oversee the police Chief and Fire Chief

2. Elimination of all existing fire fighter positions, all police officer positions and replace with public safety officers. All of these positions would have to be trained in both jobs.

This would be similar to Kingsford in structure, now let’s look at how effective they are in saving money. In the early 70’s Kingsford employed 9 fulltime fire fighters that worked the typical 24 hr shifts. Those FF’s just like Iron Mountain FF’s worked an average of 56 hours a week, with this schedule they maintained 3 FF’s on duty 24hrs a 365 days a year. Note that fire fighters are exempt from the 40 hour work week and do not receive overtime until 53 hours each week.

Move to all public Safety positions and the overtime exemption no longer applies, public safety officers (PSO) work the standard 40 hr work week, generally a 12 hr shift. Now look at what it takes to staff those same 3 positions in the fire station, 3 pso’s per shift and 4 shifts to maintain coverage all year, Yes this means it takes 12 public safety officers to provide the same coverage previously covered with 9 fulltime firefighters.

Public Safety Officers are also paid a higher wage than a standard police officer; typically this would be about $9,000 per year more than the fire fighter positions that have been replaced. Add it all up, and see if the taxpayer is going to save money.

These examples are only covering fire station staffing.

Fire fighter staffing

3 per shift with 3 shifts total = 9 personnel at average wage of 38,000 = $342,000 yearly wages

Public Safety Officer staffing

3 per shift with 4 shifts total = 12 personnel at average wage of 47,000 = $564,000 yearly wages

Plus all of officers covering police duties are paid more

How will the Mayor and the incumbents pave more roads when they are going to spend an additional $222,000 per year in wages just to cover the same duties now??? This answer is simple drop the fire department staffing to 2 public safety officers; surely he thinks that will save money, right? Wrong again

2 PSO per shift with 4 shifts = 8 personnel at average wage of 47,000 = $376,000 yearly wages

This is still $34,000 more than keeping the 3 fulltime fire fighters and in Iron Mountain’s case the 13 other police officers would be making the $9,000 per year in extra pay totaling $117,000 in additional costs.

Grand total $151,000 per year more in costs for less coverage than we have now.

The Challengers plan of using part-time fire fighters will save nearly $80,000 per year and provide more service to the taxpayer’s. Who will be able to pave roads???

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11-2-2007-19

 

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11-2-2007-18

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11-2-2007-17

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11-2-2007-16

I just read an ad in the paper by the incumbents titled "Why is Ted Corombos So Angry"
 
Big, big mistake that will backfire big time.  Ted Corombos has done more for the City of  Iron Mountain as an elected council member, elected mayor and member of the TIFA Board than any other human being in the history of Iron Mountain.
 
AND THE PEOPLE OF IRON MOUNTAIN KNOW IT!!
 
Did they think that advertisement would help them?  If Ted Corombos ever again decided to run for the city council, he would get 85% of the vote no matter who was running against him.
 
I'm kinda glad they ran that ad.  It sealed their fate.

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11-2-2007-15

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11-2-2007-14

Any parents out there find any similarities between dealing with kids and dealing with the incumbents?
Think about it!

How often have you approached your children after they've done something wrong and wanted nothing more than for them to admit their indiscretion? You already knew the answer to what you were asking. You just wanted them to own up to it.  Your kids think they're smarter than you are and that you can't possibly be smart enough to figure them out. 

This is exactly what I see as people ask for answers from these incumbents.  We already know the answers.
We've seen the documented proof.  We just want them to admit it, instead of talking around it.  But, like most children, they still don't get it.  They still think (and act) as though they have something over on us and can talk their way out of it.  They continue to deny things even after documentation in put before them.

I'm no idiot; and I'm tired of being treated, by these incumbents, as though I am.  They have completely forgotten that they were voted into their positions to represent US!  They have just gone on with their own agendas as though we are some peons that they rule over.  I'm done with them.  It's time they find out that they do not rule this City.  We want our city back and want people who will represent the citizens as a whole.

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11-2-2007-13

Have you seen the brochure that the incumbents are peddling around town?  These is our "innovative" and "visionary" incumbents, you understand.
 
It copies the exact format the challengers used in their first brochure for the primary, including pictures on the page one and signatures on page four.  It even copies the categories the challengers used.  However, it's black and white instead of four color and it's four pages with liberal sprinkling of outrageous lies.
 
Bear in mind, these same "visionaries and innovators" created the truth.com site after the challengers created democracy.com.  The only problem in both examples is the poor quality of both the brochure and website of the incumbents.  It doesn't come close to the class work of the challengers.
 
Today I also received an exceptionally well-done eight-page two color brochure from the challengers.  Again, it is miles ahead in quality, layout and information. 
 
The truth.com site is a piece of garbage that you can view once a week and not see anything new.
 
Compare that with the democracy.com site of the incumbents, where there are postings by the candidates every day.  They are well-written and informative.
 
Just the superior quality differences between the work of the challengers and the incumbents should be enough to show who REALLY is innovative and visionary and who are the stumps.

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11-2-2007-12

The Necessity of Voting.  By Bill Toedter.

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11-2-2007-11

I was one of the first Public Safety Officers with Kingsford. We were not exactly in favor of the concept when brought to our (police officers) attention and most surly was not on the fire dept side. Research was done, Escanaba was consulted and the concept was adopted. It works. It might be water over the dam so to speak, but that's the time IM should have adopted it also. In fact the fire dept in Iron Mt. still lets it out once in a while that two public safety officers are worth one firefighter. What a crock of horse dung! The public safety officers can get on a scene much faster that a conventional fire dept can. They can, in some cases put out small fires before the main trucks even arrive  Some of these senior firemen should read Toffler's Future Shock and learn how to deal with change....a change for the better for all concerned.

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11-2-2007-10

Advancing in the right direction, together.  By Bill Toedter.

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11-2-2007-09

You know something that really troubles me about the incumbents at that city council forum Nov.1? Except for the mayor who acts like some city slicker know-it-all political blowhard, the incumbents have this aw-shucks-be-my-friend-and-everything-will-be-fine-attitude and play with the facts kind of loose and easy. But they're inaccurate and they try to just slip them past you to look like they know what they are talking about, or steamroll you quickly with false facts, just figuring most people aren't gonna bother to check them.

Like the grant money we get. They said 4.2 million dollars during their term when the city's books show 3.5 million. (4.2 was the previous 4 years, before they were in office.) They said the state had waived the city employee residency requirement, but it didn't, it gave the city the option, and Iron Mountain kept its requirement and it remains in the city's Code of Ordinances for anyone who chooses to look it up. They tell you it's legal to charge the cable-TV franchise fee, but don't tell you that it's illegal to apply it to the School Liaison Officer Program -- and that the city attorney advised them of that, though they broke the law anyway. Again look to the Code of Ordinances. How can they claim the fire/police fiasco is a grand success? Maybe you noticed last night how they slipped in there how the water and sewer rates went down under them, but they didn't go down, they went up. They brag and cheer about how they lowered our taxes in 2007, but our taxes are up 2% in 2007.  And they always changed the subject when asked to account for money that was missing or about an expensive program that's gone bad like the city's re-assessment. They talk about the need for fancy-pants programs like Cool Cities and Main Street and similar ones that are all created by state and local officials in power to look good but in the 62 years since World War II have had virtually no success turning around our cities. For every Madison or Ann Arbor that have a degree of success there are 2,000 cities that have none at all. It's easy to point to the one that has some success, but you never see them pointing to the thousands in each state that are wasteful disasters. And the one in a 2,000 like Ann Arbor is all fine and dandy, but comparing it to Iron Mountain is like comparing pumpkins and grapes. They never point to a city just like Iron Mountain and show these political look-good programs working.  And lately this IME tech thing.  Doesn't the mayor understand that people all over town were following that when it was going on and saw all the evidence already back then, when it was happening?  That it wasn't done secretly, in a vacuum, that they already know it happened and that he's lying about it now?  At the Nov. 1 forum the question wasn't DID it happen, it was WHY did it happen. He chose to answer the first, unasked question.

Stuff like that. It troubles me. Why do they hedge and lie and twist stuff and try to make it look like they're up there on stage because they really really care about us while they're shucking and jiving us? Why don't they just tell us the truth and let us decide? They just look worse to everybody when they go through the stupid political song and dance with half-truths and distortions and misrepresentations and outright lies. Don't they understand that we can see reality too and are aware of the truth, that we can see they're either lying or ignorant? I don't like that in either case. I don't want people like that governing me anymore.

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11-2-2007-08

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11-2-2007-07

Last night I went to the election forum at the high school and you know what really fried me?  To see that cocksure little bantam liar mayor with the really high opinion of himself up on stage with the 8 real candidates and stealing the show with those pointless highfalutin vision vision vision talking points!!!  What the heck is he even doing up there?  Is that legal?  If him why not anybody else who can be a write-in?  Why couldn't anybody in the audience answer a question?  Why not me?  I'm as much a write-in candidate as that spoiled and pompous little strutter!  I'm telling you that's not right!  It may be legal but it ain't right.  He got voted out but good at the primary and he shouldn't get any special treatment and privileges.  Fine if he wants to be a write-in, but not with the candidates on the ballot.  What the heck did we have the primary for, for crying out loud?!  Doesn't that tick off anybody else?!  Who does he think he is?!  Darn near takes the city apart, gets booted with like only 4 votes, and has the nerve to come back and tell us his vision is the only thing that can save Iron Mountain.  God help us!  And I mean that sincerely.

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11-2-2007-06

But, Mayor Tousignant, what about the Web site that never happened that's still happening?

Interesting.  The Mayor says the IME thing never happened.  Well, that's true enough, tho in a way he certainly doesn't mean.  But I see that the domain name and Web site that IME claimed to reserve and publish as a sample Web site for the city's review, ironmountainmichigan.org, not only is online (tho not the same sample site as when I first saw it in 2005), but, as Mr. Hogan claimed in his December 6, 2005, letter, was picked up by the State of Michigan as the city's official site almost two years ago and still remains listed as such at Michigan's Web site.  That's an awful big and real and evident thing that "never happened," Mr. Mayor, and at a site over which neither IME nor Hogan have the least bit of influence or control.  See it for yourself.  I emailed Mr. Marquart about it a year ago last summer (2006), but I never heard back from him and the link never changed.  Must have been a smoking gun he figured no one up here would ever stumble across.  Or he just didn't pay attention.  I bet he'll be hoppin' now.  Better get there and take a look, folks, before he can trash the evidence.

http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192-29701_31713_31714-97062--,00.html

Scroll down to Dickinson County and find at Iron Mountain the link that, according to the mayor, "never happened."

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11-2-2007-05

Thanks for what all of you incumbents said last night! You helped me make my final decision about how I will vote Tuesday!

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11-2-2007-04

Master of the straight-faced, matter-of-fact distortion.

 

Were any of you at the Candidates Forum at IMHS Thursday night?  Did you hear the mayor's reply to a question about IME trying to set up a meeting with the city a couple of years ago?

 

If I were a mayor or city manager and a young and growing tech business wrote a letter requesting to set up a meeting about free wireless Internet, a free city Web site with all the bells and whistles, and wanting to discuss the possibility of relocating its headquarters in town, I don't think it would be unreasonable to vet that business, respond to it as fast as possible, set up that meeting, and at least learn what's involved.  Especially if that's what Im always preaching I would do, without exception.  Then in good conscience I could say either "Not interested" or "Let's talk some more."

 

What I do think would be unreasonable, and personally embarrassing, would be not to respond to repeated overtures, then years later stand in front of an audience from whom I am seeking votes, trying to cover my tail by saying that that business wasn't forceful enough and should have been beating down our door at City Hall.  You know -- I would find it unreasonable, and unjustifiable, if I found myself in effect saying that my town had been playing hard to get.  Or saying that I'll do whatever it takes to get new business in town as long as that new business gets down on its hands and knees at city hall and pleads with me at the top of its voice.  I would find it especially unreasonable if the business didn't need the city but the city needed the business.  And that the business was, figuratively at least, beating down the door for more than 12 weeks anyway in a rational, civilized, and commonly accepted manner.

Wow.  There's chutzpah and then there's chutzpah, hey?  That mayor.  You will seldom see a guy shovel bull with so much panache and so little conscience.

Besides, I don't think that mayor and his manager and council really want to attract any sizable new outside businesses.  Small ones like Walgreen's and already connected ones like Mariucci's, fine, but they're more interested in protecting their control, which might be otherwise threatened, and padding the treasuries of those corporate players already in town.  I don't think anyone needs more evidence than the last four years to see that.

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11-2-2007-03

I went to the candidates forum tonight.  It was really kind of drag actually.  A setting like that seems so unnatural for all of them.  Each seemed unimpressive in his or her own way.  Tina Peterson was above expectations.  And Alessandrini did better than I thought he would.  I still think I'm gonna vote for 4 challengers though, just to try something new.  The problem with the incumbents when they didn't sound just plain empty is that when they said anything interesting, the words contradicted the reality of the facts and of most everything they've dome so far.  The mayor's best at that.  He's a real bag of smooth hot wind but what's he got to show for it all but a bunch of impressive sounding words?  I just don't like that guy.  Sort of an unpleasant man with a tight little taped-on smile.  Don't trust him either.  That's my problem with all the incumbents still.  No matter how fancy and optimistic they talk, the city just keeps getting worse.  And what they're doing scares the heck outta me.  Whatever they say will happen, the opposite happens.  We just keep going farther down the tubes.  When all is said and done, no matter what they say, we're way worse off than we were 4 years ago.  Throw the bums out, I say, and give the new bums a chance.  They can't do any worse, and if they do, we'll throw them out and keep electing new ones till somebody gets it right!!!

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11-2-2007-02

You know, the live Candidates' Forum Thursday night is all fine and dandy in principle I suppose, but I really don't know a damn thing more or anything different than I did before it.  Except what the candidates all like all dressed up on a stage, and which ones are better public speakers than others -- which really doesn't mean squat.  Turns out Mayor Tousignant is the best speaker, but he doesn't have anything to say.  Says nothing well though.

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11-2-2007-01

To Jane Kamper and the American Association of University Women, terrific job hosting the Candidates' Forum Thursday evening.  Thank you.  To Julie LaCost, thanks for moderating and doing such a wonderful job.  To all of the candidates, well done and thank you.

For the record, Mr. Mayor, contrary to your statement about IME on Thursday evening, I did go to City Hall personally and repeatedly in the fall of 2005 and dutifully left my phone numbers with the women at the desk because, they informed me, the city manager was either unavailable or out of the office each time.  So, at separate times, did two other, financial representatives of our project.  Like our postal, electronic, and telephonic attempts, our efforts at personal appearance also resulted in no response.  Fortunately for you last night, you were again speaking in a format where you could make a false accusation and not be cross-examined by the victim immediately and on the spot.  Had I protested aloud with the exclamation I bottled, I presume I would have been escorted from the auditorium.

Does the city not answer mail?  Even repeated mailings used as formal introductions and requests to meet?  Since when?  Does it respond only to personal appearances under your administration, and then only when the appropriate personnel is available?  For a time I thought that perhaps it involved only me and my mailings, but Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) and the municipal insurance-rating organization ISO, not to mention groups and individuals around town, indicate that their mail to you also goes unanswered.  Is that correct?

IME has no political agenda, and it doesn't stand to gain so much as a dime financially in or from Iron Mountain now or from any future administration, even one that may look on it favorably, which IME wouldn't consider approaching simply out of deference to a virtue called propriety.

I have no political agenda, either, your remarks notwithstanding, other than to do what I can to promote and support an open, responsive, and effective city government.  If I were the politico you imply, I would be a candidate.  But I am wildly curious about how your mind works.  Using the exact same argument you used, using the exact same philosophy, based on your vital vision of economic growth and prosperity, based in fact on the formula you repeatedly rhapsodized over at Thursday evening's forum, and particularly considering your lustful enthusiasm to go wherever you must, do whatever it takes, pay whatever the price to nail down new business, to increase the number of monied 20s and 30s in town, and to increase the tax base, I would have imagined that you, the city manager, and the other members of the city council would have burned grooves in the streets between City Hall and our River Avenue office before each of you had even finished reading the first letter I sent you.  If I'm to believe that you believe what you say about securing economic development for Iron Mountain, then I can not believe you'd wait weeks, dawdling silently over each letter from me, failing to respond until finally I rush breathless down to City Hall and pound on the desk with my shoe until the city manager, the city council, and you finally show up and acknowledge me begging to set up shop in Iron Mountain.  Please.  If you're in a hurry and will jump to explore any opportunity, then why didn't you?

I initiated attempts to communicate with the city.  As you say I should have.  I attempted repeatedly to set up meetings with the city.  As you say I should have.  I followed every traditional protocol in the book, making informal overtures in between, yet every single city official I attempted to contact failed to respond over three months -- except those city employees at the front desk of City Hall who told us that our efforts were fraudulent, and they didn't know it was us they were referring to.  How's that for a poignant irony?

Mr. Mayor, there is not a single way I stand to profit materially from this rigmarole of writing about what happened two years ago.  In fact, this is becoming a real pain in the neck.  But in the end I'd like to think that I stood for principle rather than buckling under expedience.  For no other reason than to set the record straight, despite your stern and eloquent lecture Thursday evening, I stand by my letters to the editor.

Jim Hogan
10-25-07

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11-1-2007-04

Interesting Link         10-25-07

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11-1-2007-03

"Do to others as you would have them do to you."  Luke 6:31

Should candidates simply suspend the Golden Rule, and any other manner of ethics and morality, while they're campaigning?  Interesting blog entry by Dave Farragh.

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11-1-2007-02

Re: posts 10-31-2007-02 and 10-30-2007-02 , these are 2 companies that Iron Mt. has lost because of unprofessionalism by the management of city hall. Yes, new companies have come to town, but offer minimum wage, part time and no benefits. We built a Jr. college that we now will have to have a tax raise to pay for, and the graduates will have to look elsewhere for meaningful employment. This is progress?????

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11-1-2007-01

Dear readers:

Thanks for writing.  The challenger-candidates' website of IronMountainDemocracy.com is receiving inquiries about James M. Hogan of Iron Mountain, Tom Feiereisen of Milwaukee, and Laurie Badini-Larson of Austin, all people who have written to the "Public Forum" of IronMountainIssues.org in recent days. 

Because this election campaign has involved attempts at trickery, chicanery, and other mischief, Iron Mountain Democracy wants to clarify that its candidates know Jim Hogan.  Although the other two persons may exist and be perfectly legitimate, this website does not know those two persons and the site's candidates have not been endorsed by them.

Some of the candidates' well-intentioned friends and supporters around town often ask legitimate letter-writers to pitch in and help, but don't inform the candidates themselves, creating situations like this.  We're making attempts to contact Mr. Feiereisen and Ms. Badini-Larson and hope we can provide complete information before next Tuesday.  If we cannot, please understand why we remain at arm's length from them.  We beg the same understanding and forgiveness of them.  The candidates are particularly leery of persons they don't know in light of the sensationalist incident days before the August primary involving Phil Dougie, the person who hired him, and "Dougie's Blog,"  which was almost certainly a last-minute political prank gone awry, and from which countless false accusations and hard feelings came flying.

In the meantime, Iron Mountain Democracy repeats and emphasizes that it does not know, know of, and has no association with Mr. Feiereisen and Ms. Badini-Larson.

Thanks for your attention.  Please brave the weather to get out and do something remarkable on Tuesday, November 6: vote.  Your vote is your voice -- and it matters.  As much as you do.  See you at the polls!

Webmaster, Iron Mountain Democracy

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