#Morgantown City Council

[hieronymus-montgomery]

➵  BASICS

NAME: Hieronymus Bertram Montgomery NICKNAME: Harry AGE / D.O.B. April 11, 1983; 40. FACECLAIM: Kieran Culkin GENDER & SEXUALITY: Cis-Male, homosexual. closeted. HOMETOWN: Greystone, Morgantown, West Virginia. CURRENTLY:  Manhattan, NYC, New York State. Same building as his employer. AFFILIATION: Government.  JOB POSITION: Personal assistant to The Hon. Emma Kennedy EDUCATION: BA in political sciences from Harvard, Post-grad in Public Relations RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single. CHILDREN: None. SIBLINGS: One. ➵ Augustus Montgomery, brother; thirty-eight. ➵ Rosalie Montgomery, sister ; thirty-five.

➵  TRAITS

POSITIVE: Knowledgeable, attentive, organized, thoughtful, discreet NEGATIVE: Reserved, melancholic, over zealous, obsessive, blunt, tenacious

➵  BIOGRAPHY

With a name like his, Hieronymus did not get to live a day of his early life without being reminded that his parents were rich, obnoxious, white, Anglo Saxon snobs. It didn't help that the school library had his grand father's name on it, or that his mother sat on the city council board and doubled as head of the PTA while his father increased the number of properties owned in town each year that went by.

To be frank, all that meant for young Hieronymus was that he never got to really be a child doing childish things. His parents wouldn't have allowed any of that to tarnish their picture perfect family. As such, their house was always pristine, not one toy in sight, not even when his brother and sister joined the family. Not that they had a lot of time to play anyways. Hieronymus, who was not made for sports was taught the piano, his younger brother grew up with a tennis racket attached to his hand, and his sister soon found herself with a pair of ballet shoes to complete the perfect image the Montgomerys crafted for themselves.

In town, people were very kind to them although they most likely envied the family more than they appreciated it. He hated the attention they got, but he had to admit that being the eldest Montgomery made his life easier. Because otherwise, what would have happened to him ? He'd always been a head shorter than most people his age, scrawnier, and it didn't help that he spent most of his free time rehearsing his piano partitions and drawing in the margin of his copybooks. Their mother often had other women over in the afternoon for tea and to update her database of local gossip, and they made sure their little boys were friends with him and his brother. It was a shame that children were a lot more talkative and honest than adults, and that Harry's mother understood that all too well. One might say this was his first experience with communication, politics and espionage, or one of the only times when he felt some sort of connection with his mother. She seemed to really appreciate it when he repeated everything that had been said to him and Harry liked the attention she gave her then.

She was oh-so-proud of him for being academically gifted, and there wasn't a single soul in Morgantown that didn't know of him getting into Harvard or later on, about his brother getting a scholarship for tennis and his sister getting into MIT (even though they'd have rather had her get into Julliard). After that, things were rather simple for him. He made more connections in the Ivy League and graduated with grades that would both make it impossible for him to ever be unemployed. He starts off assisting a NYC editor-in-chief for a worldwide publication . His parents think he can do better, and he does. He finds a job with a tech company CEO. The guy is a douchebag, but it's not until he meets Emma Kennedy and she offers him a job that he dares to quit working for the guy. She pays for rent, and she's kinder too. It puts him one foot closer to politics. He supposes he's gotten really good at the job, so good that sometimes, he wonders if he couldn't do more than that.

➵  WANTED CONNECTIONS

PAST RELATIONSHIPS | Hieronymus has dated a few women in the past although each of his relationships failed because they were too platonic / he made them feel unwanted/undesirable. Girls, it's not you, it's him. Maybe they remained friends. COLLEGUES | People who work at the court house. Judges, lawyers, prosecutors, etc. FRIENDS | He connects easily with others, and his attention to details is always used in a positive way. If you mention once that you adore a specific dog breed or a color, he'll remember, which makes for quite thoughtful presents and birthday cards. HARVARD ALUMNI | Ivy league connections go a long way in this cruel world. Maybe they haven't spoken ever since graduation, maybe a friend of a friend told you about Harry/Harry about you, maybe it's Maybelline. CAT SITTER | What the title says. Come look after his precious baby : Bartholomew.

➵  HEADCANONS

Voted most likely to show up at any given place without an hair out of place., whether it rains or there's a wind storm hitting the city. He refuses to wear something that hasn't been ironed and can't stand most synthetic fabrics either.

His extensive collection of suits takes up a great part of his dressing. He would never be able to pay for these should he be paying rent for his apartment and is very grateful for the way Emma treats him.

This being said, living so close to her means he rarely gets a proper day off. He's fine with that, for now. It's not like he's got too much going on in his life anyway.

[cityofmorgantown]

Morgantown’s City Council Elections Were A Blowout

Tonight's Morgantown City Council election is in the books, and after all of the rage, all of the fury, and all of the criticism, it turns out that the city's participating voters really seem to like the representatives that they have.

Ron Dulaney and Jenny Selin each run unopposed and won easily. Barry Wendell ran against Todd Stainbrook, a write-in candidate, and won easily. Bill Kawecki ran against Barbara Parsons and won 878-702, the night's closest election. Rachel Fetty ran against former councilor Ron Bane and won very easily, 1000-583.

Newcomer Dave Harshbarger ran against former councilor Jay Redmond - a candidate whose campaign was controversial from its outset, what with him being caught knowingly submitting forged signatures on his candidate petition - and won very easily 1034-536.

In the night's weirdest election, write-in candidate Zack Cruze - a local political newcomer - beat the combined vote totals of Ryan Wallace (the Ward's current representative, who announced he was running for re-election and then announced he was moving to Canada instead), former councilor Wes Nugent, and Richard Dumas. Cruze, Nugent, and Dumas were running as write-in candidates. Cruze got 734 votes to Nugent's 372, Wallace's 199, and Dumas's 131. That is an astonishingly good performance for a write-in candidate, particularly an unknown one.

The seven winning candidates had huge leads after early voting that expanded further after the day-of totals started being calculated.

Two years after one of the city's most shock elections - very few people predicted 2017's absolute blowout of sitting incumbents - this year's campaign was quieter by comparison. Part of this had to do with who was running where. Only five the council's seven seats were competitive and only three of those featured straight-up head-to-head matchups. That was an oddity given how angry 2017's losing side was about having its candidates turfed. They tried to turn every imaginable thing into a full-blown controversy, a strategy that they apparently believed would pay huge dividends for them during this year's election.

But the other part of this year's (relative) calm was a bizarre strategy undertaken by the election's competitors. Whereas the incumbents routinely appeared at community events, including neighborhood meetings, their competition appeared to do very little of anything at all. Jay Redmond, of all people, smugly claimed he would be doing no campaigning at all, apparently believing that simply finagling his way onto the ballot (despite having blatantly violated the city's charter to do so) would be sufficient to earn him a victory. Ron Bane and Barbara Parsons did not appear to do much more. Each of them had campaign signs that appeared mostly on the rental properties of the landlords who (allegedly) stayed out of this year's campaign but neither seemed to do much more beyond that. Wes Nugent stood on his lawn all day today, imploring people to vote - at least that's something - but he was down by hundreds of votes in the early going, and having his name plastered all over Biafora properties apparently was not enough for voters to be interested at all in his last-second campaign. And Stainbrook and Dumas? Well...uhh...they were there too.

In the end, the same old things worked. The winners went to meetings, knocked on doors, reached out to voters, and did the fundamental work of winning an election. The losers...well, they did not. They believed that their echo chamber represented the city's mood. But it did nothing of the sort, and only goes to show how unbelievably out of touch they remain with a changing city. If tonight's absolute shellacking does not prove to be sufficient motivation to significantly re-evaluate their thinking, nothing is ever going to be.

[mainstodo]

Playwords cdc email address morgantown wv

The Communications Department is an Integrated Marketing and Communications-based department responsible for ensuring that city council, public meeting, and event information is efficiently conveyed to Morgantown residents and visitors and the Greater Morgantown area. Get reviews, hours, directions, coupons and more for Playworks Child Development Center at 5000 Greenbag Rd, Morgantown, WV 26501. The mailing address for Playworks Child Development Center is 6 Edwin St,, Morgantown, West Virginia - 26501-8505 (mailing address contact number - 30). The current location address for Playworks Child Development Center is 6 Edwin St,, Morgantown, West Virginia and the contact number is 30 and fax number is 30. Search for other Physical Therapy Clinics on The Real Yellow Pages. The NPI Number for Playworks Child Development Center is 1063439578. Playworks Therapy Mountaineer Mall Clinic 5000 Greenbag Road Morgantown, WV 26501. Get reviews, hours, directions, coupons and more for Playworks Child Development Center. The mission of the Communications Department is to ensure accountability to the public and transparency of government to encourage citizen involvement and participation in government and community activities establish and maintain an accurate perception of the city among the public inform citizens of municipal programs and services and promote the city's achievements. 6 Edwin Street Morgantown, WV 26501 304.292.0173.

[lifeofkj]

Semi-regular political linkspam: So that happened

I'm sure no one really wants to think or talk about anything other than the House's narrow passage of the AHCA today, the bill that's intended to replace Obamacare and dismantle our entire healthcare system in the process. It's terrible, awful, and terrifying for a lot of people; I don't expect to be affected in the short term myself, but the ripple effects could be tremendous if this bill becomes law. It's hard to know what the odds of that happening are. The GOP got away with this in part by rushing the AHCA through before the CBO could prepare its report on how much the updated bill will cost, and how many people it will affect, and that report is expected to be ready before the Senate can vote. It's also commonly thought that the House bill is too draconian to pass the Senate as-is, but if the Senate softens it up too much, it might not survive another House vote. (Never forget: the GOP got this bill through the House by insuring fewer people. I think about that, and compare it to Obama's fruitless efforts in 2009 to win even one Republican vote for the ACA, and it makes me want to cry.) But never underestimate what this group of thugs, bullies, and fascists is willing to do. That said, if you are feeling defeated today, I recommend you to this Twitter thread, which I found a small beacon of hope on a dark day. Friends, we were dealt a setback today, maybe the worst one since January 20th; it's okay if you need a little time to rest and regroup. But I hope you come back refreshed and ready to fight another day. The marathon continues. Some other stuff that happened:

Lest we think the Democrats are perfect, in the last couple of weeks I feel like they've been ramping up their chase of the Great White Male vote, with everyone from Bernie Sanders (of course) to Nancy Pelosi (oh hell no) stating that lack of support for abortion rights ought not to be a disqualifying factor for Democrats to support a candidate for office. *rubs forehead* Look, I get that being loud and proud pro-choice isn't going to fly in every single district or community, and people can have whatever personal beliefs they want. But when it comes down to votes and proposing legislation, Democrats had better not get all wishy-washy. Single-issue anti-abortion voters left the Democratic party a generation ago; trying to lure them back is only going to alienate the current party base, which is women and people of color, particularly women of color. As I suggested above, I don't really expect anything better from Bernie right now, but from Nancy Pelosi it's like a knife in the heart. At least Tom Perez got with the program, recently stating that reproductive rights are a non-negotiable issue for the DNC (note, annoying auto-play Bernie video at that link) -- but only after a lot of pressure, mostly from women.

Speaking of annoying auto-play Bernie, he has been everywhere lately, and I am tired of it. This article does a good job of summing up why.

It took awhile, but United Airlines finally made what feels to me like an adequate response to the incident in April when a passenger was forcibly removed from an airplane. New policies announced include changes to their rules for when flights can be overbooked, and last-minute changes to move crew, greater employee discretion in offering incentives, and an absolute ban on removing someone who has been seated on a plane unless there's a clear security issue. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better, as long as they follow through. (I still hope the guy sues for all he can get, though.)

Another day, another Trump appointee who wants to destroy the agency they've been tapped to run: Teresa Manning, who has been nominated to run the Department of Health and Human Services office that manages family planning, believes that contraception doesn't work. Perfect.

The House Oversight Committee finally started doing its job and is investigating Michael Flynn for real. In a statement released on April 25th, Jason Chaffetz said, "I see no data to support the notion that Gen. Flynn complied with the law." So-- that means he broke the law, then? As in, committed a crime? How about that.

Probably the stupidest "controversy" of the past few weeks is the handwringing over Barack and Michelle Obama getting paid to make speeches now that they are private citizens. Let me repeat that: as influential as they might be, they are PRIVATE CITIZENS. They don't hold public office, and Barack never will again (and I'd be surprised if Michelle went that route), so why the fuss? Oh right, because money is dirty, unless it's going to white dudes, in which case it's fine.

One recent bright spot was Bill O'Reilly losing his Fox News gig, due to advertiser pressure over the sexual harassment allegations that have dogged him for years. But I'd be surprised if that were be the end of it, and in fact Sean Hannity is facing new allegations already. Vox has a good video on Fox's culture of sexism that goes way beyond just O'Reilly and Roger Ailes.

Also good news: Morgantown, WV, recently swept a progressive city council into office. I also recommend this follow-up article on how they did it.

Here's a report on automatic voter registration in Oregon and how it dramatically increased turnout. A model for more states to follow.

The media has often tried to paint Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, as a moderating influence on the president, and this urge has only ramped up with the recent release of Ivanka's new book. Don't fall for it.

Today's fun link: The Sandwich Alignment Chart. "What is a Sandwich" is possibly my favorite low-stakes debate topic, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if we come back to this one.

x-posted from My Dreamwidth Journal | Feel free to reply here or comment there

[ericfruits]

Ohio Considers Two Bar Discipline Matters

Two bar discipline matters will be argued tomorrow before the Ohio Supreme Court

Trumbull County Bar Association v. John H. Large, Case no. 2018-0250 Trumbull County

A Trumbull County lawyer who has been suspended from practicing law twice since 2009 is contesting a Board of Professional Conduct recommendation for his permanent disbarment.

A three-member board hearing panel concluded that John H. Large violated several of the rules governing Ohio lawyers during his representation of two clients. The panel recommended that Large be indefinitely suspended. However, the full board is recommending the Ohio Supreme Court permanently disbar Large.

Federal Tax Conviction Led to First Suspension The Trumbull County Bar Association brought the complaint against Large to the board and has maintained that Large has learned little from his prior sanctions by the Supreme Court. In 2009, Large was suspended for one year based on his federal conviction for failing to file personal income tax returns or report his employees’ wages to the IRS. The Court noted in its opinion that Large “demonstrated a pattern of misconduct motivated by his selfish desire to delay payment of his tax obligation,” and caused his employees harm by failing to report their wages to the IRS.

In 2012, Large was suspended for two years, with six months stayed, for violating rules related to the representation of clients, which included not keeping them informed of their cases, not acting diligently in his representation, and acting with dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. The board reported that in less than two years after his reinstatement to practice law, two clients filed grievances against him with the Trumbull County Bar Association for allegations of misconduct similar to those of his past clients.

Lawyer Fails to Appear at Trial Susan Seargeant of Morgantown, West Virginia, contacted Large by phone in December 2015, asking him to represent her in a judgment collection effort and in a second collection case in Warren Municipal Court. Large appeared at the initial 2015 hearing and requested a continuance. At that point, Seargeant sent Large all her documents supporting her claims. She didn’t retain copies.

The day before the trial, Large asked the court to move the case because of a scheduling conflict, but he didn’t tell Seargeant the case was moved to later in the month. She called Large on the day before the original trial date for confirmation, but he didn’t respond. She drove from Morgantown to Warren only to discover the case wasn’t being heard.

Later that month, she appeared at the trial, but Large didn’t, and the magistrate required that she represent herself. Because Large had her only copy of the documents, Seargeant defended herself without the benefit of the documents. Two weeks later, the magistrate ruled in Seargeant’s favor, but for a lesser sum than Seargeant argued she had been owed.

Seargeant and Large objected to the magistrate’s decision. The trial court let the decision stand. At the board panel hearing, Large was asked if he accepted responsibility for what happened in Seargeant’s case. Large “bluntly stated he would not,” the board states in its report to the Court.

Attorney Urges Client Filed Lawsuit, then Doesn’t Pursue Case Large represented John Baryak in legal proceedings surrounding Baryak’s candidacy for Newton Falls City Council. Large advised Baryak that he had grounds to sue two men challenging his candidacy, and Baryak hired Large and paid him a $2,500 retainer. The panel found Large gathered no evidence to make his case, and failed to respond to discovery requests from his opponent. He didn’t inform Baryak about the information requests or the opponent’s motion to have the case dismissed.

In November, 2015, Large dismissed the case and refiled it without Baryak’s knowledge. The opponents resubmitted generally the same informational requests, which Large largely ignored and didn’t report to his client. In 2017, the trial court sanctioned Baryak for more than $10,000 to pay the fees and expenses of his opponents in the first case and jointly sanctioned Baryak and Large for $15,000 for expenses in the second lawsuit.

At the disciplinary hearing, Large acknowledged he violated several professional conduct rules. The panel recommended an indefinite suspension. The full board noted the Court recently, in Toledo v. Harvey (2017), disbarred an attorney who had two prior suspensions in a five-year period, and found it similar to Large’s situation. It recommended the Court disbar Large.

Sanction Too Harsh, Lawyer Responds Large acknowledges he should be sanctioned for his actions, but states his brief that permanent disbarment is “extreme and does not align with the allegations against” him. Large argues that his clients were left in no worse position than had he not been retained and that there were no allegations of mishandling client funds, committing an illegal act, or acting with a selfish or dishonest motive.

He argues the Court has reserved disbarment for the most egregious misconduct, and while his work was not stellar, he deserves a lesser sanction.

Bar Association Supports Disbarment The Trumbull County Bar Association’s brief states that Large acted with a selfish and dishonest motive that negatively impacted the cases of his clients and did them harm. The association notes that it was originally in agreement with a lesser sanction until Large expressed no remorse and took no responsibility for his actions at the panel hearing.

The bar association argues that Large learned nothing from his prior suspensions and is before the Court again for even more serious disciplinary violations. The association concludes that Large’s history “demonstrates that compliance with court orders and professional standards are not priorities in his practice of law.”

- Dan Trevas

Docket entries, memoranda, briefs (including amicus briefs), and other information about this case may be accessed through the case docket.

Contacts Representing Trumbull County Bar Association: Randil Rudlof, 330.393.1584

Representing John H. Large: Thomas Wilson, 330.746.5643

Attorney Discipline

Disciplinary Counsel v. Harlan D. Karp, Case no. 2018-0254 Cuyahoga County

The Ohio Board of Professional Conduct recommends a two-year suspension with 18 months stayed for Cleveland attorney Harlan D. Karp. The board found that the attorney neglected an immigration case and lied to his client about its status.

The attorney and the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which submitted the complaint to the board, had agreed to a fully stayed two-year suspension. In recommending the six-month actual suspension, the panel of the board that reviewed the matter expressed concern about Karp’s repeated misrepresentations about filing important immigration paperwork, which could have serious consequences for his client. The board adopted the proposal to recommend to the Court a two-year suspension, with 18 months stayed.

Dancer Needs to Update Visa to Change Employers Veronika Gadzheva, a Bulgarian ballroom dancer, entered the United States in May 2015 on an O-1B visa to work for the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Morristown, New Jersey. The visa was valid until Feb. 27, 2018. Unhappy with her job, Gadzheva looked elsewhere for work, and Londance III Studio in Laguna Niguel, California, offered her a position in July 2015.

A friend referred Gadzheva to Karp, who has a solo practice in Cleveland focused on immigration law. The dancer contacted Karp in July for assistance in having her visa transferred to her new employer. Karp agreed to represent the dancer to file an I-129 petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS). He communicated that his fee was $750 and that she also would need to pay the $325 filing charge. Gadzheva shared that she hoped to leave the New Jersey dance studio as soon as possible, and Karp told her she could move once the I-129 was filed.

During August and early September, Gadzheva asked Karp several times about the status of the I-129 filing. On Sept. 11, 2015, Karp told Gadzheva that he had filed the paperwork with CIS. In early October, Gadzheva notified Karp that she was heading to California.

Attorney Says He Filed Paperwork When He Hadn’t The attorney continued during the next several months to tell the dancer and Patricia West, owner of Londance III Studio, that he had filed the paperwork. West and Karp had a “heated conversation” on April 14, 2016, about the time it was taking to secure the appropriate paperwork. The next day, Gadzheva contacted a Maryland law firm for help handling her immigration paperwork. Karp submitted the I-129 petition the same day. 

When preparing the petition, Karp didn’t send the paperwork to West for her signature, but signed for her. The parties agreed that West never gave the attorney authority to sign her name.

Immigration Consequences Uncertain After Gadzheva left her job at the New Jersey dance studio in October 2015, the studio requested a revocation of the I-129 petition it had filed for the dancer. According to the board’s report, it’s possible but not clear that Gadzheva may have started accruing days of “unlawful presence” in the United States once her prior paperwork was revoked because Karp hadn’t filed a new petition. Unlawful presence in the U.S. can lead to a ban from the country for years.

Based on a new petition filed by the Maryland law firm in July 2016, Gadzheva was granted a new visa. However, because of the gap in her immigration status, she must leave the country to activate the visa, which she is afraid to do because she doesn’t know whether she accrued days of unlawful presence during the time Karp lied about her immigration paperwork.

Disciplinary Counsel Investigates Gadzheva filed a grievance against Karp with the disciplinary counsel. During the investigation, Karp altered a copy of the I-129 petition to conceal his lack of authority to sign for West, and the disciplinary counsel also found that he improperly used his client trust account (IOLTA) as both a personal and a business account.

The board’s report notes that Karp was diagnosed in 2017 with hypothyroidism and depression. He is taking medication for the conditions and receiving therapy.

Because Karp’s repeated misrepresentations may have grave consequences for Gadzheva, the board recommends to the Ohio Supreme Court that Karp receive a two-year suspension with 18 months rather than all of the suspension stayed, conditioned on treatment and other requirements.

Attorney Highlights Circumstances Supporting Lesser Penalty  Karp maintains that “abundant” mitigating factors in his case support a fully stayed suspension. He notes in his objections to the proposed sanction that he has had no prior discipline before this incident in 28 years of practicing law. In addition, at disciplinary counsel’s request, he refunded Gadzheva for his legal fees and the filing charge. His malpractice insurance company also paid the dancer $7,150, the legal fee she paid to the Maryland law firm that took over the case. Karp notes that he admitted his wrongdoing, cooperated with the investigation, entered into extensive stipulations during the disciplinary process, and has acknowledged his remorse and the potential consequences to Gadzheva from mishandling her case. He also demonstrated physical and mental disorders that contributed to his misconduct.

Disciplinary Counsel Favors Fully Stayed Suspension While not condoning Karp’s misconduct, the disciplinary counsel believes that this “blip” in Karp’s decades-long legal career resulted from his untreated depression and physical disorder. If Karp continues with his treatment and adheres to the recommended conditions for his suspension, the disciplinary counsel trusts that the public will be protected if Karp receives a fully stayed two-year suspension.

(Mike Frisch)

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2018/05/ohio-considers-two-bar-discipline-matters.html

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2018/05/ohio-considers-two-bar-discipline-matters.html

[shirlleycoyle]

Mothers Against Sinister Technology

Today's Terraform speculation is extra super-special: We've got a collaboration with Rose Eveleth, who brings us a story that takes place in the same world of the latest episode of her inimitable Flash Forward podcast—which, to the uninitiated, is a show all about investigating possible futures. This time, she imagines one way the internet as we know it might cease to be—not with a hack, or a crash, but a, well, you'll see. Enjoy. -the ed

Tuesday, September 8th, 2020 // 3:12pm // Morgantown, VA

The news was calling again. Knocking on the front door, interviewing neighbors. How couldn’t you know? Were there any signs? He was a quiet kid. The son of scientists. A nice quiet house. A good street. No warning? Really?

Cindy Williams was standing in the kitchen, holding a cup of coffee that was burning her hands but she didn’t notice. Perhaps if she stood still they will go away. Perhaps if she closed her eyes and stood perfectly motionless they would stop showing footage of her house on TV, stop cycling through the same two photos of her son. Stop knocking on her door. Stop asking her, really? She really didn’t know?

There were flowers on the table. They were at first a welcome surprise. Then she read the card. “For Mrs. Williams. Your son is a hero. All hail the Supreme Gentleman Parker Williams.” She had nothing in her stomach to puke up but coffee, and it burned in her throat.

Even her friends haven’t called. What could they say? What would she say to them. She knew what she wanted to say. It could have been your kid. It could have been yours. Nobody believed her when she said it. Nancy hung up on her when she said it. Nobody wanted to hear it.

The flowers had to go but she didn’t want to touch them. They felt radioactive, like a poison, like she could somehow catch whatever it was had curdled her son.

The walls were still swimming, but that idea was enough for her to open her eyes. To look at the clock. Poison. Her son was poisoned. He caught a sickness. An infection. A horrible disease. Those friends, vectors, and there is no immunization, no retrovirals. A virus. Why not? Things seemed clearer to her now with this thought. Cindy Williams was a scientist. This was a thing to do. Trace the victims to the original well. Find the source of the sickness.

Her cup of coffee was somehow now empty. She opened the side door. It was four steps to the garbage can. The news will replay the footage for weeks. Mother of mass shooter throwing away flowers. Clearly a sign of rot in their house. Perhaps this is where he got it from. Perhaps she did know.

*

Wednesday, September 8th, 2021 // 10:12am // Washington D.C.

"Every mother hopes to see their son’s name in the papers one day. Perhaps as a Nobel Prize winner, or a heroic doctor who cured cancer, or on stage at the opera singing his heart out. We mothers imagine taking the paper around to our neighbors, our sisters, fellow parents at PTA meetings, pointing, saying “look! It’s my boy!” Last week, my son’s name was in the paper. But instead of being my greatest triumph, it was my worst nightmare.

"You likely know my son by now. His face and manifesto have been plastered and dissected by nearly every outlet you can imagine. Last week, he killed thirty two people, barging into a mosque in San Diego, California wielding several semi-automatic weapons, before committing suicide. Like so many other young men these days, he was radicalized online — led down a hellish rabbit hole that warped his mind and slowly eroded his connections to the real world until nothing was left but a lava-like rage just waiting to erupt.

"It didn’t have to be this way. Parker was always a quiet kid, introspective and thoughtful. He had sandy brown hair, and glasses that always seemed too big for his face no matter how many times we got them refitted. He cared deeply about fairness. He stood up to bullies. He worked hard and was always looking out for others. He mowed our neighbor Mike’s lawn when he got too old to do it himself, and never asked for money.

"Like so many boys, Parker retreated from us as he became a teenager. He was a sensitive boy, and the injustices of the world wore at him, slowly eroding his faith in humanity. And who can blame him, really? I too have felt that familiar ache reading the news, that feeling like you’re slowly drowning in a sea of unjust decisions you can do nothing to stop. But Parker seemed to feel them all more deeply, more personally. We worried, of course, as parents, but what was there to do? He didn’t seem any more sullen than the neighbor’s boy, so we let his long hours locked in his room go by.

"It was in those long hours that eventually, Billy found a community. We thought that this was a good thing — he was suddenly talking about friends, making jokes, making eye contact with us even. He came to the dinner table energetic, full of ideas and provocations that he wanted to discuss and debate. We often disagreed with him, and wondered where these new opinions had come from, but at least he was speaking to us. We had no idea where these so-called friends might lead him, to gun shops and ammunition stores and ultimately to horrifying, premeditated murder."

*

Monday, November 16th, 2020 // 11:32 am // Morgantown, VA

It was the idea of sickness that got her going. Her son was a normal kid, infected by something sinister. Cindy Williams was a scientist. She started reading papers, gathering statistics. She guessed her way into her sons accounts. She started making maps of his network. She started sending emails.

The other parents were easy to find. Their names were always somewhere — on PDFs for local soccer tryouts, letters to the editor, public comments at town council meetings, or posted plainly on message boards celebrating their sons. Cindy Williams knew how to find them, and more importantly she knew how to reach them.

“I know you might not see this email. I know because I know what your inbox is like right now. I know because I’ve been there. My son and yours are probably in the same cubicle in hell right now. Parker killed eleven people at his high school two months ago. You can google my name to check.

Anyway, I’ll keep the email short. I’d like to talk. I think we can these horrible things into something good. We can stop this sickness. Call me. 722-398-9937.”

The phone calls came surprisingly quickly. Maria from Cincinnati. Samantha from Bend. Patricia from Boise. Their voices were somehow familiar immediately, that slight hesitation when their boys names come out of their mouth. Like they haven’t said it in a long time out loud.

There was always guarded smalltalk at first, but Cindy wasn’t one to beat around the bush. “It could have been anybody’s kid,” she’d say, abruptly. “Anybody’s.” There was always silence at this part — half relieved, half stunned. “Our kids were infected. It can happen to anybody. And it can be stopped. I think I know how. Do you want to help me?”

*

Wednesday, September 8th, 2021 // 10:12am // Washington D.C.

"It’s tempting to cast Parker as an outlier, and aberration, an extreme and rare case of Internet poisoning. But the evidence suggests otherwise. Just last week the New York Times published proof that the five mass shootings carried out in the last few months were all perpetrated by men who had connected with one another online at some point. Parker had texted with John Graham, the Tempeh shooter, about ammunition supplies. He had shared memes and talked politics with Brian Lewis, the Dallas gunman. He had emailed back and forth about a climate denial conference with Mark Adamson, the Memphis sniper. They were friends, palling around, recruiting new members and spreading their sickness to others online.

"And it’s not just extreme acts of violence that the Internet is spreading like a contagion. Racism, sexism, homophobia, abelism, transphobia, it’s all seeping out from our devices and into our brains. Experts estimate that today, over twenty percent of America is unvaccinated thanks to conspiracy theories pushed by anti-vaccine advocates online. The CDC considers drop in vaccine rates is a bonafide public health crisis, and just two months ago a measles outbreak killed thousands in Berkeley, California, where residents no longer have herd immunity. A full fifteen percent of Americans believe that the Earth is flat. Thirty percent reject the scientific consensus that climate change is real, and are blocking any real action on it — a move that will eventually lead to millions of deaths not just here but all around the world. Online bullying has become an epidemic. Just last week researchers at Northwestern University published work suggesting that the suicide rate among teens is ten times higher than it has ever been in human history. Fifty thousand teens every year take their own lives in the US, and the leading risk factor is Internet use — the number of hours spent on this network where they’re bullied, tracked, and fed unrealistic stories of what they should look like and achieve."

*

John’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly.

“I can’t believe you’re taking this meeting.”

Cindy stayed quiet. No use in having the fight again, for the fourth time. She smoothed her navy skirt in her lap and rehearsed her spiel in her head. It was a four hour drive to the capital. She had note cards. John turned on the radio.

When they finally wound their way into the city, it was nearly noon. The sky was clear and John had forgotten his sunglasses. He squinted and leaned forward, looking for road names. Cindy looked at her cards. John took several wrong turns. Cindy didn’t notice.

Sliding out of the car, Cindy didn’t look back. John managed a tight “good luck,” and watched her go. He had no idea how long she’d be. He was tempted to drive home, and leave her there. Why did she want to continue to relive this? To talk about their worst moment, to put their family in the spotlight again and again. Instead, he drove himself to the National Gallery of art, and wandered, half aware of his surroundings, avoiding every painting of a family.

The floors in the Senate building had just been waxed. Cindy rarely wore heels, but every television show about Congress suggested that she should. In the lobby there was an imposing black sculpture that could look like a bird or a fighter jet or a cloudy mountaintop. The hallway to the office was long and the fluorescent lights were slightly dimmer than she expected them to be. American flags dotted the way, casting weak shadows on the shiny floor. Half way down the long hallways she realized she had left her cards in the car. But by now she knew what to say.

The Senator was running behind, but when they got into the same room, it was easy. They were just as charismatic as everybody said. Cindy made her plea, and the Senator smiled, took notes. She had a son too. A son who liked to spend time online. A son who could be infected too. “It could have been anybody’s kid,” Cindy said, and the Senator didn’t stop her. Instead she nodded in agreement.

*

"We cannot stick our heads in the sand any longer. My quiet, strange, lonely boy is no longer an exception. There is a darkness spreading. A deep, fundamental sickness. The Internet is poisoning us all and it’s time we did something about it. It’s time to admit that it’s too dangerous, too toxic for public use. It’s time to walk away from the Internet.

"I am no Luddite, nor do I desire to go back to the stone age or drive a horse-drawn carriage to work. There are functions of the Internet that can stay: financial transactions, transportation systems, international shipping, power supplies, infrastructure. We need not cut the cables literally. But everyday people like you and me cannot risk being exposed to such a dangerous technology. We don’t let citizens handle nuclear waste, or certain kinds of military grade weapons. We already recognize that some technology is too dangerous for everyday civilian use. It’s time we realize that the Internet is one of those technologies."

*

Wednesday, September 8th, 2021 // 10:12am // Washington D.C.

Cindy asked John to lint roll her suit one more time. The third time. There's no lint on it. But she’s nervous. She gets one chance to testify. This is the big moment.

She practiced her hand gestures, the way she would transition from grieving mother to powerful change-maker as she went. The caveat just before the crescendo. She practiced balling her fist and punching it into her opposite hand. No, too much. She practiced putting her hands down flat on the desk and leaning forward. Yes, that one.

She walked into the chamber, and notices a piece of lint on her skirt.

No time now, just a proposal to make.

She bent the mic to her mouth, and began.

"There was, perhaps, a time when we could have done something less extreme than cut ourselves off completely, cold turkey. There was a time when we could have regulated the Internet in one way or another. Surely you remember the proposals, the laws, the anti-trust lawsuits. Perhaps you also remember that they never went anywhere — technology companies were already too big, too powerful to stop. Driven by greed, chasing engagement and clicks, they inadvertently created the perfect vector for this sickness. They say mosquitos are the deadliest thing on the planet — killing 725,000 people every year by infecting them with malaria, dengue, yellow fever, west nile. They’re no match for the Internet, infecting millions each year with hate, fear, rage and panic.

"But the Internet has given us so much good, you might be thinking. How can we turn our backs on it? It’s true. I met my husband through the Internet. I share cat memes and make dinner reservations and order groceries online, just like you. But this is bigger than us. Bigger than our convenience, our easy access to media or sex.

"Think of it this way: imagine there was a road in your town that snaked along an active volcano. Driving along the road offers some of the most beautiful views in the world. But it’s treacherous — about 25 percent of people who drive down that road are subsumed by lava. Another twenty percent come out the other side alive, but burned, their lungs permanently altered by the smoke and ash. If you were the mayor of your town, you would close that road, wouldn’t you? Even if the road happens to have some of the most scenic views of the city. Even if you had your first kiss at the roadside pull-off, you’d close it. It’s simply not worth the risk.

"We must close this road. If we don’t, we’re putting our children’s future at risk."

*

Thursday, May 10th, 2026 // 8:00 am // Faxed Statement from MAST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Pioneering Anti-Internet Advocate Cindy Williams Passes Away

Cindy Williams (1972-2026) – The charismatic founder of Mothers Against Sinister Technology (MAST), an organization dedicated to pushing for heavy regulation and even destruction of the Internet, died today surrounded by her friends and family. Sparked by her own son’s descent into what MAST later dubbed “Internet Madness,” Williams successfully lobbied Congress to pass several bills heavily restricting access to the Internet in the name of public safety. Reviled by Internet Freedom advocates, Williams held fast to her belief that the Internet was simply too dangerous for the average consumer to navigate.

Thanks to her tireless advocacy, the world is a safer place.

Mothers Against Sinister Technology syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[cityofmorgantown]

Redmond Acknowledges Having Committed Fraud, Metz Withdraws

Late last week, we started hearing rumors that several candidates had been caught with various types of forged signatures on their campaign petitions. Then yesterday, we found documentation showing that something was certainly amiss. Then today, the Dominion Post reported on the issue. One of the two candidates has already withdrawn his candidacy. But the other one has chosen a different route: he has acknowledged that his petition contains forged signatures but is claiming that he was right to do so.

That is par for the course for Jay Redmond.

Redmond has been caught submitting an election petition which features ten signatures but only five handwritings. Those signatures are below:

There is no denying what is plainly visible here, but Redmond decided that instead of acknowledging what he had done - which is plainly a violation of Morgantown’s Charter 7.02(a) - he went on the offensive in the Dominion Post article documenting the ongoing investigation into both petitions. 

As for the question of spouses signing for one another, Redmond said he’s personally collected every signature in each of the four council elections he’s been a part of and feels he’s done nothing wrong.

“Almost every signature I gathered was from a close neighbor or a long-time friend or acquaintance. With an exception or two, I know every single person who signed my petition,” Redmond said. “Everything I did in gathering signatures was within the spirit and intention of the process. Only those with ulterior motives would see it otherwise.”

It is worth noting here, without question, that Redmond is lying when he says that what he did was “within the spirit and the intention of the process.” The process states very clearly that signatures have to be unique.

Redmond gathered his own signatures. He seems to be claiming that he witnessed five spouses sign for their partners, then knowingly submitted a petition with signatures that were not genuine. The idea that this is within either the spirit or the intention of the process, given the charter’s very specific language, is absolutely bonkers.

But Redmond went further that excusing his own fraud and impugning those who objected to it. Redmond insisted that his fraud was tolerable because Morgantown has such difficulty in getting candidates to run for office.

“With so few residents willing to run for city council in the first place, why would anyone take a course of action that does nothing but discourage participation,” he said, later adding, “This is one of the most dangerous and troubling times in the history of city politics. I hope the voters put an end to it on April 30th.”

Redmond’s first claim - that Morgantown is struggling for candidates - is absolutely ludicrous nonsense for two reasons. 

The first is that Morgantown’s elections have featured plenty of candidates for office: 2017′s election featured 14 candidates, two in each ward; 2015′s election featured 12 candidates, with two uncontested wards; 2013′s election featured 12 candidates; 2011′s election featured 12 candidates. Yes, uncontested wards are, perhaps, not ideal, but the idea that there are “so few residents willing to run” withstands absolutely no historical scrutiny, at least for the last decade. 

But, the second reason is much starker. Let’s suppose that Redmond is right when he claims that “so few citizens are willing to run for city council” and then wonder why. There are all kinds of possible answers, but one of the most obvious is that elected officials come in for incredible levels of harassment from an entrenched old guard in the city represented by, among others, Jay Redmond. 

Redmond has long been a part of a group that has called itself, at times, Victory For Morgantown. It has routinely engaged in all manner of abuse of elected officials that it could not beat in elections. This included suing to remove four city councilors that it accused of...drumroll please...violating the charter. Jay Redmond was a signatory to the petition that began the lawsuit. That signature is below:

The upshot of this lawsuit - which was filed after the City Council refused to implement a gerrymandered Wards and Boundaries map designed by Guy Panrell, another longtime member of Victory For Morgantown - was that it got laughed out of the courtroom by the three-judge panel assigned to hear it. The State Supreme Court then refused to hear the group’s appeal of its earlier loss. 

That petition’s signatories never apologized for their nonsense lawsuit, nor have ever acknowledged that they were wrong. Redmond, meanwhile, has his own history of violating campaign rules, something he did in his 2017 election, as well as a long history of being an enormous hypocrite about coordinated campaigning. So, who knows, maybe it is those kinds of things that make candidates leery to run for office? (Although, once again, and just to verify: candidates are not leery to run for office.)

Which brings us neatly to Redmond’s final point:

“This is one of the most dangerous and troubling times in the history of city politics. I hope the voters put an end to it on April 30th.”

Redmond is correct about this and deserves credit for saying so. There is at least one candidate still running for office who has knowingly committed election fraud, and rather than acknowledge any regret for having done so, has instead belligerently derided those who caught him doing so. Hopefully, city voters put an end to his campaign on April 30th, assuming of course that his campaign makes it that far. If his five forged signatures get tossed from his petition, the document he submitted will be several signatures short of the 75 required to run for office. 

***

T. Aaron Metz has withdrawn as a candidate for Morgantown’s City Council, confirming earlier reports that he had, in fact, forged several signatures on his election petition.

[kansascityhappenings]

With an eye on past problems, Facebook expands local feature

NEW YORK — Facebook is cautiously expanding a feature that shows people local news and information, including missing-person alerts, road closures, crime reports and school announcements.

Called “Today In,” the service shows people information from their towns and cities from such sources as news outlets, government entities and community groups. Facebook launched the service in January with six cities and expanded that to 25, then more. On Wednesday, “Today In” is expanding to 400 cities in the U.S. — and a few others in Australia.

The move comes as Facebook tries to shake off its reputation as a hotbed for misinformation and elections-meddling and rather a place for communities and people to come together and stay informed.

Facebook isn’t paying anyone to include posts, nor can a business or group pay to be listed — at least for now. “Today In” is the brainchild of the Facebook Journalism project, a broad undertaking to boost the news industry, including local news. Of course, Facebook, along with other internet companies, is partly to blame for the decline of local print newspapers.

Here are some things to know about this effort, and why it matters:

THE BIG PICTURE

It’s something users have asked for, the company says. Think of it as an evolution of a “trending” feature the company dropped earlier this year . That feature, which showed news articles that were popular among users, was rife with such problems as fake news and accusations of bias.

Anthea Watson Strong, product manager for local news and community information, said her team learned from the problems with that feature.

“We feel deeply the mistakes of our foremothers and forefathers,” she said.

This time around, Facebook employees went to some of the cities they were launching in and met with users. They tried to predict problems by doing “pre-mortem” assessments, she said. That is, instead of a “post-mortem” where engineers dissect what went wrong after the fact, they tried to anticipate how people might misuse a feature — for financial gain, for example.

Facebook isn’t saying how long it has been taking this “pre-mortem” approach, though the practice isn’t unique to the company. Nonetheless, it’s a significant step given that many of Facebook’s current problems stem from its failure to foresee how bad actors might co-opt the service.

Facebook also hopes the feature’s slow rollout will prevent problems.

HOW IT WORKS

To find out if “Today In” is available in your city or town, tap the “menu” icon with the three horizontal lines. Then scroll down until you see it. You can choose to see the local updates directly in your news feed.

For now, the company is offering this only in small and mid-sized cities such as Conroe, Texas, Morgantown, West Virginia, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Large cities such as New York or Los Angeles have added challenges, such as an abundance of news and information, and may need to be broken up into smaller neighborhoods.

The posts in “Today In” are curated by artificial intelligence; there is no human involvement. The service aggregates posts from the Facebook pages for news organizations, government agencies and community groups like dog shelters. For this reason, a kid couldn’t declare a snow day, because “Today In” relies on the school’s official page. Discussion posts from local Facebook groups may also be included. Facebook will group posts by section, such as news, events and group discussions.

How Facebook’s algorithms decide what to include is an ongoing process. For someone in New Orleans, “Today In” posts could come from The Times-Picayune newspaper, the city council, the public library, the regional transit authority or the Facebook group “Where NOLA Eats,” with 42,570 members. The algorithm looks for something called “local affinity” — Facebook pages whose followers live near the entity that runs the page.

For now, “Today In” is tailored only by geography, but this might change. A person with no kids, for example, might not want to see updates from schools.

SAFEGUARDS?

Facebook uses software filters to weed out objectionable content, just as it does on people’s regular news feed. But the filters are turned up for “Today In.” If a good friend posts something a bit objectionable, you are still likely to see it because Facebook takes your friendship into account. But “Today In” posts aren’t coming from your friends, so Facebook is more likely to keep it out.

Still, as the feature expands, Facebook will have to guard against misuse, so that fake news and the other problems with the trending tool don’t crop up.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2018/11/28/with-an-eye-on-past-problems-facebook-expands-local-feature/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2018/11/29/with-an-eye-on-past-problems-facebook-expands-local-feature/

[welcometomy20s]

May 8, 2018

Article of The Day

Four states, Forty one districts... let’s get right down to it.

IN-01(NW - Gary, Michigan, Lowell): Incumbent - Peter Visclosky (Dem). Challenger - Probably Mark Leyva, who ran in 2014 and lost. PVI:D+8

IN-02(North - South Bend, Plymouth, Wabash): Incumbent - Jackie Walorski (Rep), baby parts and Voter IDs. Challenger - Mel Hall, election geek. PVI:R+11

IN-03(North - Waterloo, Fort Wayne, Decatur): Incumbent -Jim Banks (Rep). Challenger - Courtney Tritch, former marketing exec. PVI:R+18

IN-04(Central - Bloomsburg, West Lafayette, Delphi): Incumbent - Todd Rokita (Rep) NOT RUNNING Replacement - Jim Baird, has no left arm. Challenger - Tobi Beck, Vet and tech security person. PVI:R+17

IN-05(Nine County - Carmel, Elwood, Gas City): Incumbent - Susan Brooks (Rep). Challenger - Dee Thornton, exec and basketball player PVI:R+9

IN-06(Cent/South - Munie, Greenfield, Osgood): Incumbent - Luke Messer (Rep) NOT RUNNING Replacement - Greg Pence, it’s Mike Pence’s big brother! Challenger - Jeannine Lake, someone from Muncie. PVI:R+18

IN-07(Nine County - Indianapolis, Speedway, Cumberland): Incumbent - Andre Carson (Dem), he’s cool. Challenger - Wayne Harmon. PVI:D+11

IN-08(SW - Terre Haute, Washington, Evansville): Incumbent - Larry Bucshon (Rep), a heart surgeon. Challenger - William Tanoos. PVI:R+15

IN-09(South - Bloomington, Salem, Croydon): Incumbent - Trey Hollingsworth, who’s from out of state. Challenger - Liz Watson, who worked in House Committee for Education and Workforce, apparently PVI:R+13

NC-01(Coast - Durham, Roanoke Rapids, Greenville): Incumbent - G.K. Butterfield (Dem). Challenger - Roger Allison, some guy. PVI:D+17

NC-02(Piedmont - Wake Forest, Clayton, Fuquay-Varina): Incumbent - George Holding (Rep). Challenger - Linda Coleman. PVI:R+7

NC-03(Coast - Kitty Hawk, Columbia, New Bern): Incumbent - Walter Jones (Rep), renegade... held off primary challenge. NO CHALLENGERS PVI: R+12

NC-04(Piedmont - Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill): Incumbent - David Price (Dem), Iraq war opponent. Challenger - Steve Loor, PVI:D+17

NC-05(Mountain/Piedmont - Boone, Wilkesboro, Winston-Salem): Incumbent - Virginia Foxx (Rep), just bizarre. Challenger - DD Adams, who was in Winston-Salem city council and lobby in state capitol. PVI:R+10

NC-06(Piedmont - Yanceyville, Burlington, Sanford): Incumbent - Mark Walker (Rep), former pastor. Challenger - Ryan Watts. PVI:R+9

NC-07(Coast - Whiteville, Wilmington, Goldsboro): Incumbent - David Rouzer (Rep). Challenger - Kyle Horton, looks like a physician. PVI:R+9

NC-08(Piedmont - Fayetteville, Troy, Concord): Incumbent - Richard Hudson (Rep), birther. Challenger -Frank McNeill, from Indivisible... PVI:R+8

NC-09(Piedmont/Coast - Monroe, Laurinburg, Elizabethtown): Incumbent - Robert Pittenger (Rep). LOST PRIMARY! Replacement - Mark Harris, revenge from 2016... Challenger - Dan McCready, solar energy guy. PVI:R+8

NC-10(Mountains - Asheville, Forest City, Gastonia): Incumbent - Patrick McHenry (Rep). Challenger - David Brown, computer consultant. PVI:R+12

NC-11(Mountains - Sylva, Marshall, Morganton): Incumbent - Mark Meadows (Rep), quite far-right. Challenger - Phillip Price, business owner. PVI:R+14

NC-12(Piedmont - Charlotte, Huntersville, Cornelius): Incumbent - Alma Adams (Dem). Challenger - Paul Wright, former judge. PVI:D+18

NC-13(Piedmont - Greensboro, High Point, Salisbury): Incumbent - Ted Budd (Rep), gun range owner. Challenger - Kathy Manning, lawyer. PVI:R+6

OH-01(SW - Cincinnati, Sycamore, Lebanon): Incumbent - Steve Chabot (Rep). Challenger - Aftab Pureval, rising star immigrant lawyer. PVI:R+5

OH-02(SW -Batavia, Hillsboro, Piketon): Incumbent - Brad Wenstrup (Rep) , low key... Challenger - Jill Schiller, ex-White House staffer. PVI:R+9

OH-03(Mid - Columbus, Whitehall, Minerva Park): Incumbent - Joyce Beatty (Dem). Challenger - Jim Burgess, Tea party person. PVI:D+19

OH-04(NW - Lima, Marion, Norwalk): Incumbent - Jim Jordan (Rep), former wrestler? Challenger - Janet Garrett, retired Oberlin teacher. PVI:R+14

OH-05(NW - Bowling Green, Ottawa, Defiance): Incumbent - Bob Latta (Rep). Challenger - Michael Galbraith, investment manager. PVI:R+11

OH-06(SE - Salem, Steubenville, Marietta): Incumbent - Bill Johnson (Rep). Challenger - Shawna Roberts, why can’t I find good information... PVI:R+16

OH-07(NW/NE/Mid - Avon, Ashland, Canton): Incumbent - Bob Gibbs (Rep). Challenger - Ken Harbaugh, who is Navy vet.... figures. PVI:R+12

OH-08(SW - Hamilton, Greenville, Springfield): Incumbent - Warren Davidson (R), it was Boehner's old seat. Challenger - Vanessa Enoch. PVI:R+17

OH-09(NW/NE - Toledo, Sandusky, Avon Lake): Incumbent - Marcy Kaptur (Dem). Challenger - Steven Kraus, he was convicted of theft?! PVI:D+14

OH-10(SW - Dayton, Centerville, Washington Court House): Incumbent - Mike Turner (Rep). Challenger - Theresa Gasper, businesswoman. PVI:R+4

OH-11(NE - Cleveland, Richfield, Akron): Incumbent - Marcia Fudge (Dem), she’s pretty cool. Challenger - Probably Beverly Goldstein. PVI:D+32

OH-12(Mid - Mansfield, Delaware, Zanesville): Incumbent - Pat Tiberi (Rep) NOT RUNNING Replacement - Probably Troy Balderson. Challenger - Danny O’Connor, Franklin County recorder and very capable person. PVI:R+7

OH-13(NE - Cuyahoga Falls, Alliance, Youngstown): Incumbent - Tim Ryan (Dem), who ran for speaker, remember? Challenger - Chris DePizzo. PVI:D+7

OH-14(NE - Twinsburg, Mentor, Ashtabula): Incumbent - David Joyce (Rep). Challenger - Betsy Rader, civil rights lawyer and also capable. PVI:R+5

OH-15(SW/SE - Wilmington, Circleville, Athens): Incumbent - Steve Stivers (Rep), part of NRCC? Challenger - Rick Neal, also businessman. PVI:R+7

OH-16(NE - Strongsville, Wooster, Green): Incumbent - Jim Renacci (Rep) NOT RUNNING Replacement- Anthony Gonzalez, a football star? Challenger - Susan Moran Palmer, health care professional, presumably. PVI:R+8

WV-01(Parkersburg, Morgantown, Parsons): Incumbent - David McKinley (Rep), has a sweet mustache. Challenger - Kendra Fershee. PVI:R+19

WV-02(Charleston, Elkins, Romney): Incumbent - Alex Mooney (Rep), former legislator for... Maryland? Challenger - Talley Sergent. PVI:R+17

WV-03(Beckley, Craigsville, White Sulphur Springs): Incumbent - Evan Jenkins (Rep) NOT RUNNING Replacement - Carol Miller. Challenger - Richard Ojeda, an absolute maverick who’s making national headlines. PVI:R+23

That’s all the districts, pretty eventful and satisfying primary night.

[netmyname-blog]

Mcfadden Schemena WI

New Post has been published on https://nerret.com/netmyname/mcfadden-schemena/mcfadden-schemena-wi/

Mcfadden Schemena WI

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[collegenewsupdates-blog]

WVU College of Law student elected to Morgantown city council, hopes to bring new perspective

Stories | WVU Today | West Virginia University West Virginia University students make a difference in Morgantown in a variety of ways, but one College of Law student will make his mark as a decision-maker on City Council. Ryan Wallace, a rising third-year student, was elected in April and will begin his two-year term July…

WVU College of Law student elected to Morgantown city council, hopes to bring new perspective

[postelectionsara-blog]

Part II of the WV Trump Referendum: How'd they do that?

Part II of the WV Trump Referendum: How’d they do that?

I am thrilled at the attention the post about the recent city council election in Morgantown, WV has received. This whole story makes me think back to The Little Engine that Could. We pulled together and got a great, diverse group of candidates elected. We are a small but mighty group of progressive organizers who pulled together and did it. And people are playing attention. But how did we do it?…

[bikethevote]

Paul Koretz’ Response to Bike The Vote L.A.

Below is 2017 City Council District 5 Candidate Paul Koretz’ full questionnaire response to Bike The Vote L.A.:

1. What role do you see for walking, biking, and transit in improving the lives of Angelenos?

I took a trip with an LA transportation planner friend to China in 1998. We visited a number of cities, most notably Beijing. Their system was one that I would to see us emulate. Millions of people were using bicycles, transit, and walking to get around. People were using bicycles everywhere. It was incredible. Hardly any private ownership of cars.

We met with government leaders and spoke with them about how difficult it was to get the public to move toward bicycles and to create bicycle lanes and paths in a built-out city where streets were designed for cars, like Los Angeles. We explained that we were trying to figure out how to move in their direction transportation-wise, and strongly encouraged them not to copy Los Angeles as they become more affluent and people want private ownership of cars. As the world knows now, they didn’t listen to us. Beijing traffic is a parking lot, and air quality is worse than LA on its worst day ever. Gas masks abound, and one can always see the air.

BICYCLING We need to have a system of bike lanes that is connected enough that less skillful cyclists can get to their destinations without fear of being hit. Right now, most of our system is still bits and pieces. We need to move towards a connected system that would allow a much higher percentage of cyclists to get to their destinations by bicycle. (Personally, I did the 500 mile+ California AIDS Ride, but I don’t possess the skill to ride my bicycle safely to work at City Hall on a major commercial street like Beverly Boulevard without a bike lane). I have helped us to move in that direction. Working with the late Bill Rosendahl, we had the City commit to spending a percentage of our Measure R funds on bicycle and pedestrian improvements, which I believe was a first. I also helped get a substantial grant in the Mid-City West area for bike lane funding. Years ago, I cast the deciding vote to create the bike lanes on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood when I was on the City Council there. I have also been a supporter of bikesharing, and unsuccessfully objected to Los Angeles selecting a different vendor than other Westside Cities. We must make those systems work together for bikesharing to be as effective as possible.

PEDESTRIAN IMPROVEMENTS The logical thing to do to help people walk more (remember the song “Nobody Walks in LA”?) is to make crossings safer. As bureaucratic and costly as our process is, I have gotten new traffic signals added, with more in the process of being installed, like those on Pico Boulevard. There are more in the queue, including an important one on La Brea. I have also pushed our transportation bureaucracy to add a few seconds to crossings where senior citizens don’t have enough time. In addition, the City of Los Angeles, at my request, is about to put in a mid-block crossing on Westwood Blvd. between Kinross and Weyburn in the Village, to make one of the most dangerous, frequently jaywalked spots safer. Also, we have abandoned some underground street crossings near schools because of dangers of adults loitering in the crossing and causing trouble. I believe those issues can be overcome and those crossings re-opened.

TRANSIT Like bicycling, but even more so, connectivity is crucial. I believe many more people will use LYFT, Uber, taxis shuttles, bicycles and walking for the last mile, but 5, 10, even 20 mile gaps in our transit system make it almost impossible to rely on these transit options as an alternative to the automobile. Also, some flaws such as the atgrade crossing of EXPO at Overland and Westwood slow north-south traffic while reducing east-west traffic. I fought against that element of the EXPO line once I was elected to Council, but it was already a done deal, and the EXPO Board voted unanimously for the at-grade crossing. I was appointed to the Board after that.

I have helped to get the EXPO Line built while a member of the EXPO Board, and have supported the Purple Line connecting much of my district to transit.

I am pushing for adoption of a different mode of transportation, Personalized Rapid Transit, or PRT, to fill the gaps in our system. It is inexpensive (roughly 20 million dollars a mile!), quick to build, partly because it is largely prefabricated, cheap to maintain, bypasses stops until the destination is reached, and at top speed (with the newest technology being modeled in Tel Aviv) can travel 155 miles an hour. It is a system of above-ground automated vehicles that provide a personally safe environment because, the way in which its designed, you are only physically travelling with your those in your own party. Also, PRT exists in various places in the world, including an older system in Morgantown, West Virginia, which has a history of no fatalities.

A complete PRT system could be built that connects all the gaps in our system in as quickly as five years. This would be critical, not only to quickly address our worsening traffic, but because automobiles create much of our climate-changing air pollution. Climate scientists agree that without reducing our greenhouse gases dramatically within ten years, we may reach the point of no return for human survival. If we can build such a system and get other cities across the country and the world to do the same, we can contribute mightily toward reducing climate change. Also, Measure M does not fully fund the transit lines identified in the Measure, and some will not be built for 20 years or more even if we do get the funding. Using PRT, the entire plan could be funded with only the Measure M money, and the projects could be completed decades ahead of schedule.

A positive development to transit in LA is that millennials seem very willing to abandon automobile usage. If this trend continues, combined with the development of these modes, we may be able to dramatically reduce traffic and air pollution in the coming years.

2. In 2015, Los Angeles approved Mobility Plan 2035, the first update to the Transportation Element of its General Plan since 1999. Mobility Plan 2035 puts “safety first” in transportation decisions, and provides a vision for a transportation system composed of safe and quality transit, bicycle, pedestrian, and automotive options. Do you support the goals of this plan, and how would you like to see the plan implemented in CD5?

Yes, I support the goals of this plan, and have received some blowback from constituents for doing so. Many are angry because of the places where we have reduced a lane of traffic and replaced it with a bike lane, such as on a portion of Palms Blvd. Drivers are inconvenienced and they don’t see many bicycles on the bike lanes. I recognize that it may take some time for both a cultural mindset shift toward thinking more of bicycles as a viable mode of transportation, and greater connectivity of bike lanes to make them a more widely used alternative. It takes some vision.

My answer to question one also describes my vision for implementation of the Mobility Plan in CD5, as well as across the city.

3. Mobility Plan 2035 enacted a ‘Vision Zero’ for Los Angeles, with the goal of eliminating traffic-related deaths within 20 years. In order to meet this goal, LADOT identified a “High Injury Network” to prioritize safety improvements on L.A.’s most dangerous streets. However, after a year and a half, we still haven’t seen much action to reduce transportation-related deaths on City streets. What do you see as the hold-ups for improving safety on Los Angeles streets, and how would you work to address these impediments in reducing speeding to save lives?

The City of LA is using a data driven approach to prioritizing intersections and neighborhoods where a high percentage of traffic fatalities and severe injuries occur. Other government entities, especially LAUSD, employ a more haphazard approach. In many instances, LAUSD is listening to the loudest voices, especially those of LAUSD parents, to drive their priorities. A successful program will not work that way. These solutions must be data driven. We all need to get on the same page so we can coordinate and prioritize the right intersections. This is clearly one of the hold-ups. I will work with the County, School District and City to prioritize the areas of greatest need. Funding is limited (although we recently obtained additional grant funding) and must be spent in a very targeted way.

One of the impediments is simply that everything involving government takes time. Things are moving forward, but on a methodical timetable. Also, everything involving engineering and construction takes a lot of time, so the first and most expeditious area of focus is the public education and outreach component.

Some progress has already been made. LADOT has identified a network of streets as a High Injury Network (HIN), where strategic investments will have the most impact in reducing severe injuries and deaths. Despite making up only 6% of our city streets, almost 2/3rds of pedestrian deaths and serious injuries occur in the HIN. People walking and biking combined statistically make up for 15% of collisions, but account for 50% of all deaths. It has been decided that this is where the earliest focus will be. We are developing a citywide media campaign, implementing the vision zero education and outreach strategy. An RFQ process is concluding and contracts are soon to be awarded, after which a planning phase will occur, and then the outreach and education will commence.

We are also increasing enforcement in the HIN, but traffic enforcement has limited success. After heavy enforcement in an area, people return to their old habits in a month or two. We don’t have resources to constantly patrol every area that needs it. However, in many areas we can’t even use radar and ticket speeders because our speed surveys have expired. We must follow through on our Vision Zero goal of updating 100% of the expired speed surveys by 2017.

San Francisco’s Vision Zero effort utilizes an online tracking tool so people can see what is being done in real time and hold the city and their elected leaders accountable. This would also provide more awareness to the public of the areas in which progress is being made and the things that are being done. I am going to explore introducing a motion when Council returns to session, to suggest that we implement such a tool.

4. Angelenos recently approved Metro’s transportation funding plan, Measure M, with an impressive mandate of support from over 71% of voters. What opportunities do you see for Measure M to improve the options for how Angelenos get around? Given that Measure M will return millions of dollars directly to the City of Los Angeles each year, do you support increasing the funding the City allocates to making it easier and safer for Angelenos to walk and bike?

I proudly supported and campaigned for the passage of Measure M. It will make a tremendous difference in how Angelenos get around. I will continue to advocate for State and Federal funding to expedite the construction of Measure M projects.

I support prioritizing the projects that move around the most number of people, not just the most number of automobiles. This includes projects that improve pedestrian and bike infrastructure, improve sidewalks, and multi-modal projects that increase the vibrancy of local streets and neighborhoods. Working with Mayor Garcetti, I will continue to hold the Metro Board accountable and ensure that they follow through with their commitment to improving bicycle and pedestrian safety.

Of course, I support increasing funding to make it easier and safer for Angelenos to walk and bike. As previously mentioned, I pushed to spend money on biking and pedestrian infrastructure with Measure R local return funds as a member of the City Council’s Transportation Committee and budget committee, and supported the LA City Bicycle Plan in 2010. I will continue to lead the effort to prioritize such spending.

5. There is universal agreement that Westwood Boulevard is a dangerous street for people walking and bicycling. Westwood Boulevard is identified as a corridor on LADOT’s High Injury Network, bike lanes were considered a priority in the 2010 Bike Plan, and the project has wide community support, including from UCLA and the Westwood Village Improvement Association. However, implementation of continuous bicycle infrastructure on Westwood has stalled for years. Prioritization of safety improvements for the street was removed from the Mobility Plan 2035 by an amendment co-authored by Councilmember Koretz. Will you commit to implementing quality bicycle infrastructure on Westwood Boulevard during the next Council term? (If not, what specific alternative do you support to improve the safety of people walking and bicycling in the area, and to address the high rate of crashes related to speeding on Westwood Boulevard?)

I agree that Westwood Boulevard is a dangerous street for people walking and bicycling in Westwood Village. It is a corridor on LADOT’s High Injury Network. That is why I want to discourage cyclists from using this street. As the Councilmember representing Westwood Village, I consider any other approach to be totally irresponsible. I did not support the location that was proposed for the Mobility Plan 2035. This proposal would have squeezed bike lanes onto Westwood Boulevard, while not taking into consideration the dangers this presents to bike riders. There would have been too many spots for interaction between cyclists and buses, as well as cars making turns. Because I agree that there needs to be a North-South route into Westwood and UCLA, I support moving the bike lane ONE BLOCK over to much safer Gayley Avenue, which does not have 900 buses and tens of thousands of cars daily. Having to travel one extra block for safety purposes seems like a tiny sacrifice worth making. I would note that the Westwood Blvd. route has widespread community opposition, including every Westwood homeowners association, neighborhood council, and community council. It also has the opposition of the business organization that officially covers Westwood Village, the West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

I just want to highlight that while on the L.A. City Council, I have provided leadership on a number of bicycle related issues:

I helped secure very substantial funding for bike lanes in the Mid-City West area;

I helped implement a set of bike lanes that cross West Hollywood and Los Angeles boundaries on Fairfax Avenue;

As a member of the Council’s Transportation Committee, I worked with the late Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, then Chair of the Transportation Committee, to fund the installation of many bike lanes and pavement marking projects throughout the City;

I authored the motion adopted by the City Council to permit a person to secure their bicycle on a parking meter stand without violating city law; and

I authored a motion adopted by the City Council directing several city departments to report back quarterly on their progress of implementing the 2010 bike plan, which is part of the City’s commitment to transform L.A. to a multi-modal transportation system.

As for pedestrian safety, I am pushing for mid-block crosswalks where possible, to prevent mid-block jaywalking accidents. A key midblock crosswalk location is about to be installed in Westwood Village on Westwood Blvd. soon.

6. Bike share systems have started to be installed across Los Angeles, but as systems expand to different areas of Los Angeles and neighboring cities, experts foresee two major obstacles: stations that are discontinuous/too far apart and stations with unsafe walking conditions that limit access. How would you envision the growth of bike share in the City of Los Angeles and regionally?

One of the most valuable elements of bike share is to provide the first mile/last mile to transit. We need to expand to have bikeshare at every transit stop. Also, I believe bikeshare will initially draw in a high percentage of more casual riders—one would hope bikeshare would be placed near bike lanes and paths to provide greater safety for such riders. Studies have shown that bike share replaces some car trips and leads to greater levels of bike ownership, as more occasional riders become regular ones. As we expand bikeshare, we can keep stations more contiguous, which will help the program become more successful. We also should focus and spend some of our now-committed $25 million a year in sidewalk repair on the sidewalks near transit stations and bikeshare stations or in some cases both. I had to battle to get a sidewalk built leading to the Sepulveda EXPO station, and am still fighting to get passible sidewalks leading to a couple of the other EXPO stations in my district. These would be needed for bike share placements as well.

We also need to be sure that bikeshare vendors across city lines can work in cooperation with each other. I argued against LA selecting a different vendor from the vendor selected in other Westside cities because of the difficulties in coordination. Inability to coordinate will make bikeshare much less practical where LA shares boundaries with other cities such as Culver City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica. A mutual acceptance policy must be implemented by all these cities, including LA.

[cityofmorgantown]

(At Least) Two Council Candidates Actually Violate The City’s Charter

UPDATE: After additional research, the two petitions in question came from Jay Redmond (a former city councilor who has previously run afoul of slightly less serious election rules) and T. Aaron Metz.

Morgantown’s City Council elections are less than two months away, which means two delightfully fun months of campaigning between spirited people who care deeply about the city and the direction that it is headed and oh my god we already have a controversy? 

Cmon. 

Candidates for office are required to circulate petitions showing that they have the support of 75 voters from their home ward. Those petitions have to be turned in before the creation of the city’s ballots. Morgantown’s City Charter is very, very, very clear about candidate petitions and how they can be signed:

To sum up that legalese:

Each petition has to be signed by 75 different people. 

Petitions cannot share signatories. 

In cases where petitions do share signatories, only the first submitted petition’s signature will be counted. 

And that is where the problems begin. Two candidates challenging for office each submitted petitions that each, in their own unique ways, run afoul of these standards.

Here are ten questionable signatures from one of the two petitions:

These are examples of somebody signing for somebody else (in each case, one spouse signed for another). There is simply no other conclusion that can be drawn from any of these pictures, which clearly show the same handwriting being used for two separate names. Per the charter, it does not (or should not) matter that these are spouses who signed for one another. The charter clearly states the following:

Such nominations shall be by separate petition each signed by seventy-five (75) or more qualified voters residing in such ward

that each signature on it was affixed in his presence and that he believes each signature to be the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be.

These ten signatures plainly run afoul of those two rules, but especially the second rule, which makes it clear that the signature has to be “genuine”; these plainly are not that. 

The second petition has far more significant problems, although before getting into those, it too features a spouse signing for another spouse.

Spouses signing for other spouses is clearly a problem and is not allowable. Perhaps it is an honest mistake but it remains disqualifying. Candidates are expected to know the rules and to adhere to them. However, this second set of examples goes well beyond what might have been honest (although consequential) mistakes. 

Those are examples of petitions which share signatures. Although it is a bit difficult to tell, the photos block together same names, different signatures. That first one is from a Patrick Cyphert. The second one is from a Paul Zepp and a Frances Zepp. The third one is from a Bruce Brubaker. 

As a reminder, if those were the same signatures, the candidate who submitted his or her petition first would have the signature counted; the candidate who submitted second would that signature tossed. But those are not, to put it politely, the same signatures. They are not even close, quite frankly. Which means that there is a very real possibility - although it remains currently unconfirmed - that signatures were being manipulated to meet petition requirements, with the expectation being that the issue would not get caught. (The issue was caught by city resident Patrick Hathaway, who presented the issue to City Council earlier this week.)

Lest anybody doubt the seriousness of the issue, or the possibility of signature manipulation, the image above has one glaring error that cannot be ignored:

Look carefully at the spellings of Francis/Frances. They are not the same. One of the two signatures uses an “e”; the other uses an “i.” There is no way somebody spelled their own name wrong on a petition. 

The question remains as to what happens next. It seems obvious that these particular candidates, if they are found to be responsible, should be barred from running for office. There are rules in place - the Charter is a sacred document after all, one which should always be respected - which have plainly been violated. 

There is currently at least one investigation ongoing into the issue. 

(We will update this post as additional information becomes available.) 

[cityofmorgantown]

Nugent, Bane, Redmond Withheld Huge Donations From Public Scrutiny

Last month’s City Council elections saw local landlords invest heavily in seven candidates running for office: Kyle McAvoy, Bill Graham, Al Bonner, Eldon Callen, Wes Nugent, Ron Bane, and Jay Redmond. We aggressively reported about these donations after seeing the first round of mandatory financial reporting. We even made what we thought was a very snazzy graphic, fully capturing everything we knew about who had been donating what. You can see that graphic below. 

Look closely and you’ll see that the biggest money appeared to go to the Graham, McAvoy, Callen, and Bonner, four candidates who were contesting seats. The three candidates defending seats - Wes Nugent, Ron Bane, and Jay Redmond - appeared to enjoy far less financial support. Bane collected the most, getting $2100 from local landlording interests, but his haul was among the least of the six candidates listed above. Jay Redmond only claimed $250 in support. Wes Nugent, inexplicably, claimed none, having filed a report that seemed to show him self-financing his entire campaign. 

The takeaway then was that landlords were especially interested in propping up the newest candidates, with the least name recognition, and allowing the established candidates to run themselves. At the time, we noted the oddity of Nugent’s claims, and suggested we might learn more after the second round of disclosures, mostly because we found it unbelievable to imagine that this group’s three incumbents were getting little in the way of financial backing. 

We learned last week that we were entirely right to be suspicious. The city’s second round of financial disclosures showed that significant monies poured into Nugent’s, Bane’s, and Redmond’s campaigns, and that this support was hidden away from public view thanks to very careful gaming of financial disclosure regulations. 

Let’s start with where the money came from. Our newest graphic is below:

First things first: we were cautious in identifying landlord donations. Everything there in yellow is money that came in after the first mandatory reporting period. If you look closely into some of the additional donations that came in, you could pretty easily define those as coming from the same block of donors. In other words, $31,175 and 74 percent are lowball totals.  

If the game being played here isn’t obvious enough, please note that the first reports - the only ones that were going to be seen by voters before voting - were due on April 10, 2017, and went live on April 11, 2017. Those donations appear in orange. Their additional funding (in yellow) came in “after” April 10, 2017 as documented in the candidates’ second campaign reports, the ones that were only available to voters after the election itself had actually happened. If a candidate wanted to hide support from public scrutiny, documenting it on the second report was precisely the way to do that. 

Check out of some of these dates:

That’s Nugent, Bane, and Redmond, sequentially. These three told voters that they had received $2350 in landlord support. After the city’s voters had their say, they fessed up, revealing another $11,050 in additional funding. 

Nugent at least had the common sense space out his check-cashing over multiple days, making the scheme slightly harder to track. Bane did no such thing, cashing everything within two days, on April 12 and 13. And Redmond - who arguably ran the ugliest of the seven losing campaigns - couldn’t have been troubled to even go to the bank twice, instead cashing out everything on April 12, less than 48 hours after his first report was due. 

These guys aren’t dumb. They knew that greedily accepting the support of local landlords with less than stellar reputations was a potentially dangerous political liability. They also knew damned well that cashing their checks after the first mandatory reporting period meant that the support they were enjoying would be hidden from public view.

Nugent, Bane, and Redmond - already deeply invested in a thoroughly dishonest campaign to take control of Morgantown’s City Council - doubled down on this neverending attempt to mislead the city’s electorate. Rather than being forthcoming with who it was exactly that they planned to represent on the council if re-elected, they presumed that simply continuing the same campaign of hypocritically attacking their opponents for what they themselves had always been doing would be enough to win them the power they have spent the last four years manically craving.

To a hilarious degree, the city’s voters disagreed.   PS: Here is a quick prediction for the 2019 campaign - the candidates who end up running against this year’s winners will almost certainly file practically blank campaign reports before the election itself, shielding those candidates entirely from scrutiny into who exactly is backing them. If those candidates do show any donations, they will come from local individuals and will involve small dollar amounts, the same sorts of numbers that this year’s winners reported. The second reports, the ones that come due after election day, will be chock full of support from landlords and business interests. 

[cityofmorgantown]

Morgantown City Council Winners: Selin, Kawecki, Dulaney, Fetty, Brazaitis, Wallace, Wendell

Tonight’s election results were a stunning and entirely unexpected evisceration. What was hyped as a competitive race between fourteen candidates - seven loosely affiliated candidates on one side, and seven other candidates running as a unified group on the other side - turned into an electoral bloodbath within an hour of results starting to roll in. 

Three incumbents lost by more than 1900 total votes. Ron Bane lost to Rachel Fetty by more than 700 votes. Mark Brazaitis beat Jay Redmond by more than 600 votes. Ryan Wallace beat Wes Nugent by more than 600 votes. The city’s voters took the opportunity to declare that they were sick and tired of conspiratorial nonsense and what seemed to be nonstop litigiousness on the part of these three incumbents. 

The council’s two other incumbents won rather easily, although by not nearly as much. Jenny Selin beat Eldon Callen by more than 300 votes, and Bill Kawecki beat Al Bonner by more than 300 votes. 

Which leaves the city’s last races, both for open seats. In what turned out to be the worst of the defeats, Ron Dulaney Jr. beat Kyle McAvoy by more than 800 votes. Then, in the city’s closest race, Barry Wendell beat Bill Graham by more than 225 votes. 

This year’s turnout was thoroughly good, by the very low standards that Morgantown has. 2707 voters participated in these past few weeks, including almost 1200 voters who showed up early. This is a significant improvement on participation in both 2013 (2094 voters) and 2015 (1521 voters), but sadly comes nowhere near the city’s high-water mark from 2011 (3699 voters). Vote By Mail becomes more successful with each passing election, as it becomes clearer that competitive elections are simply not nearly enough to drive high numbers of voters to the polls. (Hopefully this election will be the end of that absurdly silly theory.)

There will be lots to sink our teeth into over these coming days, including the second round of campaign finance reports, as well as the electoral fallout from all of this - exactly how many lawsuits will George Papandreas be filing as a result of tonight’s results? - but for now, there is only looking at what appears to be a shockingly thorough thumping of the city’s good old boy network. 

Gracious.