Thank you Swanton for the warm welcome

We just got back from participating in the Swanton Corn Festival parade and I'm thrilled with the warm welcome we received.

Although the parade and festival are in Fulton County and out of District 46, there were plenty of Lucas County Swanton residents in attendance and we received encouragement for our effort and I spoke with quite a few folks who are ready for change in Ohio.

Afterwards, I was able to get over to the Fulton County Democratic Party Headquarters for their grand-opening and was able to speak briefly with Robin Weirauch who is waging a battle against Paul Gillmor in the 5th District Congressional race. Good luck Robin! I also spoke to a woman who thanked me for talking about some of the inadequacies in the Workers Compensation system as she related to me her own personal story of being hurt on the job and having her employer blame her injury on non-work-related activities.

These people who are legitimately hurt on the job need representatives who will stand with them to ensure they get the treatment they require and the compensation due them. Instead what they have gotten is an administration and legislature which passed Senate Bill 7, attempting to further squeeze the injured workers in Ohio.

Let's work together for an open and honest government which works for the people of Ohio and not the greedy special interests who now dominate our political landscape.

Thanks and have a great day.

Mark

State officials play "pass the buck"

I gleaned this information from "Glass City Jungle" this week and felt that a comment or two was necessary. Here is the story:

Earlier this month the Toledo Blade had an article that implies that had the information on MDL been leaked it could have had a difference in the outcome of the Presidential election that would have helped John Kerry.

In a motion filed last month requesting that the lawsuit be dismissed, attorneys representing Mark D. Lay of MDL Capital Management accused state officials of "covering up the bureau's investments and investment losses in 2004 just before a presidential election.""State officials have left little doubt that the timing and substance of their public disclosures, as well as their entire litigation strategy, have been manipulated and planned for political purposes," attorneys for Mr. Lay and MDL wrote in the motion. Eric Kuwana, a Washington attorney representing Mr. Lay, declined to elaborate on the allegation of a cover-up.Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said last week that if the MDL losses had been revealed in October, 2004, it "would have been national news" and would have had a significant impact in Ohio, where 120,000 votes separated President Bush and John Kerry, the Democratic nominee."This had to do with the election of a president and obviously the facts are that Conrad and the rest of his group were willing participants in a widespread conspiracy in the Bureau of Workers' Compensation," Mr. Redfern said.

Yet in today's Toledo Blade the information is presented differently:(Mark Weaver, a spokesman for state Auditor Betty Montgomery) Mr. Weaver said the news about the MDL losses should "have come out very quickly" and that the reports would have been harmful to Democrats in the 2004 election because of MDL chief Mark D. Lay's ties to Democrats.Mr.

Weaver declined to comment on the content of Mr. Conrad's e-mails."Why Mr. Conrad would do what he did, he'll have to answer for that," Mr. Weaver said.


I'm guessing that Mark Weaver will say whatever he thinks is necessary to keep his boss in power. After all, isn't that what spokespersons do for their employers?

Whatever happened to accepting responsibility in the fashion of Harry Truman? Certainly a lot of buck passing going on at the state level. Not to mention the passing of quite a few BWC bucks to quite a few folks (and then on to some of their favorite charities).

I think the citizens of Ohio are tired of all the excuses. Furthermore, isn't this the same Betty Montgomery who wanted to be governor in 2006 until she then decided she wanted to be Attorney General again after having been Auditor for awhile after having been Attorney General after having been a state senator. I hope you get the picture.

Call me crazy or mistaken, but isn't Ms. Montgomery part of the leadership? team which has failed Ohio for the last 12+ years? I'm going to go out on a pretty strong limb and suggest that we in Ohio will do just fine if Ms. Montgomery is returned to private life after a career of jumping from job to job and not doing any of them particularly well.

The government of Ohio is no longer for sale. It belongs to the people of Ohio and we're going to help take it back for you.

Have a nice Saturday.

Mark

On a personal note .... first day of kindergarten for Caitlin

After a fun-filled weekend with my family at the Maumee Summer Fair taking part in the Parade and the Taste of Maumee, along with some door to door on Sunday in Holland, it was back to reality on Monday. Part of that reality was experiencing my daughter Caitlin's first day of Kindergarten at Monclova Elementary in Monclova Township.

It hardly seems possible that our older daughter is 5 now, it seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital after she had been nameless for about 8 hours, until we decided to call her Caitlin Elisabeth.

Watching her board the bus this morning, Heather and I were filled with mixed feelings, proud and happy that our daughter has thrived in her 5 years, but probably somewhat reluctant to let her go off on her own to school. Well, the reports are in, and Caitlin did well with, thankfully, no major issues developing today.

My wife and I are both products of the public school system in Ohio and we have every confidence that Caitlin and Sophie (although we're not rushing her, she's only 2) will have every opportunity to get a first class education from the fine school system in the Anthony Wayne district.

Watching my older daughter today as she bravely passed the milestone of her first day of school helped me to recall my reasons for having taken on this race for the general assembly in Ohio. We can work for positive change in Ohio and leave a legacy that our children and grandchildren can be proud of, but only if we work for policies that benefit ordinary law abiding, tax paying citizens and move away from our recent past of taking care of special interests and favored alliances. The choice is ours. We can send the power brokers a message that we've had enough and return our state back to the people. If you are interested in helping our effort, please contact me at dansack4rep46@buckeye-express.com.

Thanks and god bless all of our children.

Mark

Governor Taft, ethics, and accountability in Ohio

On Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Commissioners on Greivances and Discipline agreed with the recommendation from a three member panel that Governor Taft should be publicly reprimanded for his conviction on misdemeanor ethics charges.

This relates to the governor's admission in August of 2005 that over 7 years he failed to report 45 golf outings provided to him as required by state ethics laws. This sorry saga which saw the governor fined $4000 as the first sitting governor convicted of a crime is indicative of the inherent problems with one party rule in which there are no checks and balances.

These revelations, involving a lifelong public servant who most certainly knew better, appear to be part of a broad pattern of what we have seen statewide with irregularities seen in the Bureau of Workers Compensation and also locally with illegal funneling of cash to President Bush's campaign in the 2004 election by several veteran political figures with the assistance of Tom Noe.

The silence has been deafening from members of the majority party in Ohio, as they have focused their efforts on keeping their stranglehold on the power they now possess, rather than working to clean up the corruption in our state.

We need leaders who will be accountable to the people of Ohio and not special interests and the politically connected. One way of achieving this is to work toward a plan for campaign finance reform, to take away the apparent influence peddling and purchasing that routinely occurs. One of my goals, if elected, is to pursue real campaign finance reform that will serve to return the government to the people and reduce the powerful influence of special interests.

Thank you and have a good evening,

Mark

Charter Schools Failing Ohio families and students

The 2005-2006 report cards are in and the results show that the Charter School experiment continues to be a dismal failure in Ohio as it has been since these schools first opened in Ohio in 1998.

Of the 295 charter schools statewide one of every two are either in academic watch or academic emergency compared with one of eleven for traditional public school buildings. According to the Akron Beacon Journal, nearly 32 percent of the 260 charter schools which received ratings this year met none of the state's 25 performance factors, which are based on state-mandated tests, along with attendance and graduation rates. That figure has actually increased from about 29 percent in the prior two school years.

Additionally, three of four traditional public schools are rated excellent or effective, while only one in six charter school perform in the top two categories. Also consider that of the 30 charter schools which rank as excellent, half are schools that were started by and answer to local boards of education.

We can no longer afford to stand by and allow the legislature in Ohio watch these charter schools fail Ohio's families and students on an ongoing basis. We must demand that our leaders in Columbus address this situation as Ohio's taxpayers deserve a better return on their investment than what we've been seeing since 1998.

Monclova Homecoming Festival and Parade

We had a great time today out at the Monclova Homecoming Festival and Parade. It was nice to see so many neighbors out on a beautiful day and I also met Lisa Renee Ward( in person after speaking with her on the phone and over the internet), the lady behind the NW Ohio political blog, "Glass City Jungle". She called over to me and her husband took a photo which she has graciously posted on her blog this afternoon. Lisa, thanks for your help in publicizing my campaign.

We received a warm reception from the crowd, and I heard from many citizens who expressed their dismay with the political environment in Columbus as I believe people are ready for change after 12-16 years of one party rule in Ohio.

I met a gentleman who referred to me as (and I'm paraphrasing) "the man who is going to clean up the mess in Columbus". I simply told him that we're going to try as the status quo is clearly unacceptable. He wished me well and we continued on with the parade route.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come, as our message of working towards an open and honest government, along with fighting for every day Ohioans rather than special interests takes hold.
Thanks to all who encouraged me to keep going and continue the fight for ordinary, tax paying, law abiding citizens who are sick of the corruption and misuse of their tax dollars we've all seen in the past few years.

We've fought to gain access to the ballot (and won), we are fighting to raise funds to compete with our well-funded opposition ( and are winning) and (with the help of our supporters) we'll continue the battle to return the government of our great state to the people.

Thanks again to my (unpaid) volunteers for their help and have a good evening.

Mark

More endorsements from working women and men in Ohio

I'm happy to report that our campaign has picked up two more endorsements.

First, I received a letter dated August 2, 2006 from the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE) announcing their support of my candidacy. The OAPSE represents over 38,000 working men and women who serve in schools, Head Starts, MRDD's and libraries in Ohio. I look forward to working with this group in the future for the betterment of Ohio.

Next, on August 6, I had the occasion to speak with Dave Sadowski, who is a Union Representative for the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local 911, and he informed me that the UFCW Local 911 had endorsed my candidacy. Local 911 represents over 8,000 working women and men in Northwest Ohio and I am proud and happy to accept their endorsement.

Again, I want to thank all the groups who are coming together to support our cause to send a message to the power brokers in Columbus that the status quo is no longer acceptable. We must demand change that will return the government to the people in Ohio and take it back from the special interests now in control. They have had their turn, now it is our turn to affect positive change that works for ordinary, law abiding citizens in our great state.

Thank you and good evening,

Mark

Ohio AFL-CIO, Maumee Democrats, and TPPA

On Monday, I was very pleased to receive a letter from Tim Burga, Director of Government Relations for the Ohio AFL-CIO announcing that our campaign had received the statewide endorsement from this leader among labor organizations for the 46th District House of Representatives. As a former member of the AFL-CIO for 18 years, I am honored to accept this endorsement reflective of the many hard working Ohioans the union represents.

Wednesday, we hit the road in the morning for a meeting with the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association as I met with their screening committee to talk about issues important to them in 2006 including pensions and benefits. The TPPA represents many hard working men and women who are charged with the difficult task of protecting and serving and I just want to thank these folks for a job well done, sometimes under very trying circumstances. I urge everyone to thank these men and women for the job they do to protect our citizenry.

In the evening, we were fortunate to meet with the Maumee (OH) Democratic Organization and I want to thank them for their hospitality in adding me and other candidates to their agenda for the evening. Guest speakers included our Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur who spoke about issues important to all of us including the war in Iraq. Dr. James Patrick gave an informational talk about the possible bird flu pandemic and steps that Lucas County is taking to be prepared.

I had not been back to Maumee's meeting since the May primary and I was able to express my appreciation for the support we had received to help our campaign gain a spot on the November ballot. I am thankful for the encouragement and well wishes I received and our campaign will be in Maumee for the Maumee Summer Fair the weekend of August 18-20 and we'll participate in the Parade on August 19.

In what I hope is a sign of things to come, I spoke with one gentleman who told me that for the first time in 26 years, his wife is fed up with the Republicans in Columbus and is strongly considering voting Democratic in the fall. More and more people are vocalizing their disgust with the abuses of power we've seen in Ohio and many more were recently turned off by the dirty tricks employed by a top operative in the Ohio Republican Party trying to smear Ted Strickland. Let's send them a message that we will not accept this type of sleaze in Ohio which only adds to the failures and ethically challenged behavior we've seen in the past several years .

Thank you and have a good evening.

Mark