After a Facebook post by mayor candidate John Wilson brought up a number of ethical issues and named several current members of the City of Jackson’s elected and appointed officials, I felt compelled to make this post for full discloser of my involvement.
1) I have known Daniel Mahoney the longest of any of the candidates, he used to sell phones with my cousin. That’s all I’ve ever known about him until after I was elected. I saw him at a health care, mental health or drug-free related board meeting that we had both attended and we traded cards in my first year, I think.
After Kelsey Heck was appointed, I had contacted her and arranged a meeting for us to introduce ourselves to each other. We met at the Jackson Coffee Company downtown. I remember the table were we sat…… timer to go to SOS is going off, will continue when I get back from my appointment.
Back from the SOS now, will post about that later.
I can’t remember who was at the table first, hundreds of times I’ve been in there. I’d asked a few open ended questions about her, and her about me. We then discussed an upcoming vote, I persuasively, her (un)compromisingly (depended if she would need my vote.) At the end of our meeting, she had left first and when I put away my notes I stood to leave myself and found Daniel also rising from a near booth.
That may have been the first time I saw him since we exchanged cards and I mentioned the coincidence to see them both which he nodded and acknowledged with a smile. We chatted briefly and left without firm plans to meet again. Since then I’ve seen him at numerous public functions and am vaguely aware of the press coverage of him over the years, I also know others that claim to know him. I have previously read a full list of his accomplishments, so I shall not repeat it here.
I believe he is qualified to serve as Mayor.
2) My first knowledge of the name “John Wilson” was from a mailer placed in my door when I lived at the now-leveled house on the corner of Monroe and Lansing Ave, circa 2012/2014. In the years since, I have come to know him better, we have been Friends on Facebook for a number of years, and previously I would often read his comments in the old MLive comments section.
I’ve rarely seen him at public meetings and I have had the opportunity to receive several of his public comments in my time on council. I have followed up with him numerous times, once bringing the full printed budget with me to his place to employment for us to discuss. I found him unwilling to set a time to meet to fully discuss the issues he had presented.
I continue to find him unwilling to respond intelligently to some factual conversations. To the best of my knowledge, John has many honorable attributes, and only one is required (in my book,) along with his citizenship in the City of Jackson. John has previously read a full list of his accomplishments, so I shall not repeat it here.
I believe he is qualified to serve as Mayor.
3) I am not sure which came first: Either I first knew Laura Schlecte from her own campaign/elections in 2012/2014, however I may have first known her name through actions of her relatives. I do remember meeting Laura for the first time at the Boo’s center.
I had gone to several of the public meetings at that time for public input towards creating the City Master Plans, that were later ‘adjusted’ to include Dig Downtown (these were actions of the full council at the time.) In the years since, I have come to know her better, we have been Friends on Facebook for a number of years, due to actions of our relatives, we have become family. Laura is my son’s mother’s husband’s father’s wife.
We also served on the City of Jackson Council together at the time the City Council voted unanimously (on motion from the then-Mayor, Derek Dobies, as the Attorney helped us decide that it would not be proper for myself to make the motion for which I would abstain,) to have us both investigated for criminal and ethical activity pursuant of Laura’s non-official/personal actions as a Realtor while she stood to personally pocket $25,000 on the sale of City owned property and my actions to record the meeting where I recorded Laura’s attempts to persuade myself and Will Forgrave to vote in favor of the sale.
Laura also has many honorable attributes, however I believe there is the reasonable potential for her to use her political power for her personal financial gain, as she has never apologized for her actions, to the best of my knowledge.
I do not believe she is qualified to serve as Mayor.
4) I will include myself as any of us can run a “write-in” campaign by filing the appropriate paperwork sometime in October. I have also mentioned my willingness to do this in the past. I believe I have some honorable attributes and I am a citizen of the City of Jackson.
Also, I like the way I think about issues, feel about people and although I still detest politics, I believe there is hope for the City to avoid politics and choose our local elected government officials based on their knowledge of what their job is and their ability to do it.
I believe I am qualified to serve as Mayor.
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