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Akron Recall: The Mendenhall Syndrome
June 23rd can't come soon enough. At this point I'm not even concerned about the results of the special election. What the arrival of that day really means for me and other citizens of Akron is the removal of Recall Warner from our lives. As Lady Anne exclaimed in Richard III , "thou dost infect my eyes!", and Mendenhall has been infecting our eyes, ears and sensibilities for the past year.
We have all been exposed to the Mendenhall Syndrome. Aside from being an insufferable whiner Warner's symptoms also include a preoccupation with conspiratorial delusions about Mayor Plusquellic. The mayor shouldn't take it so personally, there have probably been scores of other people that have been directly exposed to this virulent strain.
The most recent example of the affliction was the immediate condemnation of the roll-out of the first phase of the Connect Akron venture. To the casual observer the introduction of a public wireless network is a good thing.
Those afflicted by the syndrome see a calculated plan to buy votes by timing the announcement. Somehow Don was able to cajole the dudes stringing fiber and installing access nodes all over Akron to finish right before the recall election. The guy has impeccable timing alright. If he is that good of a manger then sign me up for four more years.
Then the 1,000 or so new jobs announced by PlusOne Communications, a new call center start-up in downtown were identified as a transparent scheme to garner votes. To the mentally lucid observer the announced job openings are a desperately needed shot in the arm for an economy that continues to suffer from unemployment.
Perhaps Warner didn't see the latest unemployment numbers. I thought he was unemployed. You'd think he would be standing in that line at the old Firestone Bank building.
Comments Are Not News
Someone please inform the folks at the Beacon that reader comments on the paper's website are not news. This is true even if the comments are from the friends of Tom and Howie. Good taste would dictate to refrain from quoting a reader comment in a news story.
1 comment:
Amen on the "comments are not news" part. The ABJ and Akron News Now sites (comments) are inundated with Mendenhalls followers. The only news there is that his supporters don't seem to have anything to do all day other than to make snide comments about the mayor on every story. It rained today...must be Plusquellics fault.
None of that translates into votes on Tuesday. Just like Mendenhall claiming 40,000 hits on his web site but only 4K in contributions. Thats about 10cents a dance. Miss tia sitting at home compulsively logging on to CAN is not a sign of overwhelming support for the recall.
One final note. I have a close friend who is with Community One...this connect date has been on the radar since well before the recall was known. Plusquellic should have come to the ceremony...he deserves some credit for this.
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