In this process of holding elected officials accountable, getting information out there and running for office, I’ve come across fabrications, uncertainties, exaggerations, misconceptions and false allegations regarding who I am and what I’m about.
I wanted to take this moment, before election, to reach out to everyone and set the record straight by responding directly to some of those falsehoods and hyperbole. The concerns below represent actual thoughts/concerns expressed.
I appreciate your taking the time to read my responses.
#1: ‘Dixon will get in there and destroy everything Maggard has done!’
Answer: False. a) Anything of value is to be sustained and properly appreciated, as I do. b) If she wishes to do more that is good, why would I nix good things? It makes no sense to do that to the city of my birth. c) I would become 1 of 7 votes. I would have zero power to enact or stop anything. Any power that I would have would be in my God-given right to persuade, through argument, my position and why it is the best course, as the process is intended to be. (That which doesn’t get done now because there is no dissent, no critical thinking and a lacks level of understanding and curiosity on complex issues and their ramifications to our community. Instead they blindly rely on the ‘experts’ without the critical thinking necessary to get all the answers for the best outcome for our community and its citizens.)
If what is being brought forth is right and good and fine, then the answer will be ‘yes’. If it is judged wrong, through thorough critical analysis, it should, rightly, be rejected.
#2: ‘He’s always arguing with people on Facebook’
Answer: This is nothing more than to kick up a fuss, done so to imply in the public perception of me, that I’m simply some raving maniac with no sense or scruples. In it’s complaint lies bias and public manipulation.
To be clear, argument is not ‘fighting’, it is debate. Argument is a skill which anybody has the ability to exercise and make stronger, like a muscle. I enjoy spirited and informed debate, it is at the base of critical thinking skills. However, what I see too often on Facebook are people who come to argue with me bearing little more than biases and grudges against me due to my positions regarding people in City Hall whom they support. Those who enter do so, not with a spirit of fair play in argument but rather, with only the express purpose of degrading and minimizing my standing in the community for the benefit of their own self-interests, and those whom they support. They don’t adhere to the principles and standards of argument: making salient points using informed research, sticking to the argument at hand, using logic, reason and sense and adhering to a stable of tenets in civilized society and argument: good manners, decency, respect and fairmindedness. Instead, they disrespect the process of argument and the work I’ve respectfully, dutifully and fairly offered up, full of bravado and offering only illogical ‘arguments’ brimming with bias, mocking derision towards information, derogatory ad hominem attacks and strawman arguments. They’re no more than attacks falsely paraded as ‘argument’. Those I, or anyone with a modicum of self-respect and decency, would never simply lay down and tolerate.
A perfect example is my writing scores of things, like this example below, on this blogpost. It is clear and concise and its point is more than well made:
Yet it is examples, like this, of responses and attacks I get (posed as ‘argument’) which underscores the point I’ve made addressing the assertion that I argue with people on Facebook:
#3: ‘He’s always attacking the Mayor’
Answer: I don’t ‘attack’ the Mayor, I criticize her, with specificity of actions and proof as well. The list of her immorality and wrong in the public’s name is well documented in this very blog. I have documented it through observation, paperwork and critical analysis. I have spent years proffering it to my fellow Whitehallians in the attempt to get them to actually do something tangible about the wrong she perpetrates. In response she does things which win the citizen’s approval, thus making it more difficult for them to rise up to see justice served. Due to that, because few to none have actually done anything in response to the charges I’ve made, it then stays in the spotlight where it belongs, waiting on the stronger and more just response that it deserves. Plain and simply.
The more important consideration here, really, is not so much why I criticize her but rather, why everyone else is fine with it.
#4: ‘He hates Whitehall’
Answer: Completely false. I was born and raised here. If I hated Whitehall so much, ask yourself: why would I have left NYC to come back here, investing my life and time and energy and money in my childhood home and my hometown community if I hated it so?
Sadly, people conflate my fight for ethical principles and moral responsibility with elected officials and their obligation to the public trust as somehow ‘proof’ that I hate Whitehall. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whitehall nurtured me, I lived and participated in all of it growing up here. My service to righting the wrong of it is my way of paying it back. I know it like the back of my hand. I don’t hate Whitehall, what I ‘hate’ is elected officials doing wrong in the citizen’s names. Period.
#5: ‘He wants Code Enforcement gone!’
Answer: Absolutely, 100%, positively…wrong. What I DO want ‘gone’ is the overreach and abuse of code enforcement. I have shown time and again how this has been so and it is wrong, not only in a free society but morally and ethically by our government. I have asked, once, for a moratorium on it (which our government ignored) after I charged that they had violated a citizens 4th Amendment rights. If it is to be used it must be done so ethically, respectfully and with common sense and humane reasonability. That is the core of my demand of code enforcement in our community. Plain and simply.
THE PETTY TYRANNY OF WHITEHALL CODE ENFORCEMENT (PART FIVE) ***CITY COUNCIL EDITION***
#6: ‘Dixon uses big words to confuse people and issues’.
Answer: False. Firstly, words are not big or little, they merely lend different flavors, regardless of their length. Does one not use ‘cardamom’ in a recipe because its more difficult to pronounce than ‘salt’? What of a painting that only uses primary colors with 3-5 letters instead of cerulean or burnt sienna? When we keep things too elementary then we lose out on a wider palette of sensory gifts. The world isn’t black and white, its multi-hued, as such, and because I’m a reader, I write what I know and respect people’s level of comprehension enough not to ‘dumb it down’ for easier consumption. After all, we’re supposed to be reaching up as a people, not falling down…right?
#7: ‘He has no ideas’
Answer: False. My blog, https://whitehallwatchblog.com/ is filled with numerous posts about my intentions, my beliefs, etc. All one has to do to find out what they are is to read it.
#8: ‘He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!’
Answer: While I may not have a formal college education, I have spent innumerable hours doing the exact same thing they do, which is reading, discussing and writing on the courses of study. In my case it happens to be subjects that have always interested me, avocations as it were: Sociology, City Planning, Psychology and Philosophy. Just because one hasn’t formally entered college doesn’t mean that you can’t rise with a self-education, as this article makes an excellent case for:
https://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2012/01/02/10-impressive-people-who-educated-themselves-with-only-a-library-card/
As for myself, this has been my ‘college’ education on these matters:
So, while I may not know as much as a Cornell West or Ada Louise Huxtable, I’m probably more learned on these topics than most currently at City Hall. Why wouldn’t you want someone with that knowledge representing you in a Council seat?
#9 ‘He hasn’t done anything for Whitehall’
Answer:
a) The hundreds of hours I’ve personally spent keeping an eye on City Hall, through observation in Council meetings, Charter Review meetings, documenting their behavior and lacks governance, Freedom of Information requests, etc. has kept them on their toes, averting trouble and abuses for citizens that otherwise may have gone forward if I hadn’t shouted out.
b) I am a proactive citizen, keeping watch on my little section of Whitehall, either by keeping teens behavior in check, picking up litter, notifying police about trouble and keeping my eyes on the streets.
c) I have given away and helped plant trees throughout Whitehall because I believe trees add so much to our community.
d) I have risked my own skin when no one else would, by taking on the cause of citizens who’s voices were weak, small or fearful in speaking out to power.
e) I have lent my voice in countless ways to stop abuse of our processes by government officials who otherwise would’ve acted with impunity.
f) There are many things which I do that, unlike some, I have no interest in revealing. Good deeds revealed lessen their goodness. As well, when asked to recall what I’ve ‘done for Whitehall’, its usually others who remember or point out more than me because I don’t do them for myself, I do them for others, as such, I simply put them out of my mind. They’re really not my concern. Although, because this amusing photo exists, I’ll share.
Photo courtesy of The City of Whitehall public record
#10: ‘Gerald Dixon hates the Mayor!’
Answer: I don’t ‘hate’ anyone. Am I angry for what she does that’s wrong? Absolutely. Do I have a right to feel that way and express myself accordingly? Yes and yes. Do I question her character and feel her wrongful behavior disrespects the citizens and my hometown? Yes, I do. That person is Kim Maggard, the elected official, charged with people’s lives. However, as a human being and child of God, I wish her love and peace and grace. When I or she is not in ‘defense’ mode, I have exhibited my care for her humanity several times, like when she hurt her foot and was in a ‘boot’ and when she has been ill. That was Kim Maggard the human being. I wish her no ill will and all the success in the world, particularly when it comes to our community’s success but, demanding strict adherence to standards of behavior while in office and exercising my civic obligation to demand it of her has zero relationship with ‘hate’. It is a vast difference.
The bottom line is she and all who have vested interests surrounding her, hate my calling her out and shining a light. The only problem I actually present, is to wrongdoing.
#11: ‘Dixon has done nothing worthy to be on Council!’
Answer: Besides the volunteer work I’ve done (which is nobody’s business, if you volunteer and then talk about it, its not selfless, its selfish).
I saw wrong in my government and did everything in my power, within legal parameters, to bring it into the light in order to eradicate/change it, as is my right and civic duty under our US Constitution. I have done so through protest on street corners, alone and vulnerable where people scream and jeer and give me the foulest looks for daring to call out elected officials for wrongdoing. I have taken it to Council chambers themselves where I took advantage of my opportunities to speak. I took it to print in letters to the editor and guest columns in the newspaper. I have run for office three times now at a cost of nearly $5000, hundreds of man-hours designing signs, literature and campaign strategies, walking the streets, knocking on doors, talking with citizens, putting signs out and taking them up after election day. Hundreds of man hours requesting freedom of information documents, sifting through boxes of records, interviewing people, talking with the Press, compiling information, facts, records and THEN spending hundreds of hours recording them into a blog with over 100 lengthy, precise and well-documented, thorough posts, all in service to my fight and my respect for the citizen’s right to know. I, in my vocality, have kept my elected leaders on their toes, again and again while everyone else slept, watched tv, enjoyed outdoor time, etc. What has MY gain been?
Growing up in this town, I was viewed as amiable, funny, likeable Jerry Dixon, I don’t think anyone had an ill-word to say about me. Now, because of the heresy of my attempts to hold my elected Whitehall leaders behavior accountable, I’ve been called a ‘Nazi’, ‘ill-tempered’, a ‘bully’, that I hate Whitehall and that I’m merely ‘miserable’, those things which have dropped me considerably from that ‘likeable’ reputation in my own hometown. I have made ZERO money for my efforts over 10 years and have had the entirety of my CITY HALL government hate me, those who cherish their jobs and power and patronage more than the tenets of the U.S. Constitution . I am treated like a pariah because I gave enough of a damn to do something about wrong in government instead of sitting on the sidelines giving silent consent to that wrong. I have gained nothing and if I do get onto council, I’ll still be only 1 vote of 7 in a house fully lined with those hand-picked by the Mayor herself. I will have ZERO power to do anything about whatever anyone else in Maggard’s house wants to do. That will have been my gain. Doesn’t much seem worth it now, does it?
The bottom line is this:
I came back to Whitehall with the express purpose of getting involved in local doings. It just so happened that it was City Hall which presented itself to me through arrogant, authoritarian advances.
It became apparent that Whitehall’s governance was being operated by a close-knit clique who was bent on keeping their power and abusing the processes of government to hurt those who opposed them or spoke out.
That was wrong.
My sense of fairness became outraged at what I saw and so I fought them. I have always been a champion of the little guy and rail against abuse of authority (ask any of my friends). I am a single man with no children and so had the time to spend fighting them that others perhaps didn’t (to the outrage of those who hate me for calling out the status quo they’re a part of). The things they did and said were outrageous to me and out of a duty to justice and this country’s very sacred tenets, I fought back… hard, after all, I was one person against an entire City Hall but, if you can’t do what needs to be done to do the right thing in your own hometown, where do you fight? And so I did.
From John Wolfe’s wrong’s to Mayor Maggard and those on Council who’re supposed to be representing YOU, the citizen, but instead sidle up to the Mayor and keep that clique going for their own self-interests. As an American and as a Whitehallian, I find it unacceptable and appalling in a representative government that elected officials would circle the wagons, not against enemies who would encroach against our amazing Republic but against citizens who would exercise their civic duty to fight for that Republic. All for the continuation of their own self-interests (vanity, ego, power, friends pensions, their pensions, vested interests, etc.). This blog is not filled with over 100 posts because I like to hear myself think but rather because a) their self-interest and wrong is evident and because b) people need to hear what City Hall officials don’t want them to hear.
The fact is that Whitehall can’t afford to be its once sleepy little insular self anymore*. Mayor Maggard has seen to that, repositioning our government, sidling up to heavyweight investors and bringing in MORPC and OHM to transform our little town into something bigger for the future, that which may not include you in its plans. As such, our insular, small-town attitudes must change to compete and/or fight back. That includes the way we view our participation in local governance. If we’re truly gonna play with the big boys then we must elevate the citizenry to a place where they ensure their leaders are thinking of them, fully, in all those heavyweight decisions they’re making for you. If this is gonna be a city of the people by the people for the people then we must rise up and put effort into making that happen. We don’t do that with complacency over what’s happening at City Hall or silently give our consent to their wall of self-serving silence.
Do you want to be governed even further by self-serving businesses and the wealthy or do you want to be the director’s of your own lives and community: individual, self-governing and independent? That is what I am trying to help you be as she steers our little town towards something bigger that will be increasingly difficult to turn around once it gains its momentum.
One man, one vote towards you, the citizens, and not them who would mindlessly sacrifice your community to the highest bidder. One man in there who is watching out, fully, for your interests and not those of wealthy self-interests who don’t care about your community but instead, their own bottom lines.
Those whose self-interests oppose my efforts and whose voices are so much louder than mine, rail against me with furious opposition to drown out my understandable and damning accusations. They don’t want you to listen to me because it doesn’t serve the clique and all their self-interests. They want you to think that it is I who is the problem and not them who I charge with such wrong goings-on. I have fought valiantly and tirelessly for you and my hometown now for 10 years, trying to upset the applecart of this ‘little guy’/freedom-damaging clique.
What possible harm could one man with one vote do to anyone or anything if elected? Don’t you want, at the least, one voice in there who will stand as a watchdog, a guardian for you and your rights in your government? In light of their wrongs: morally, ethically, why is that something anyone would oppose?
I ask then for your consideration Tuesday November 5th.
Thank you
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Whitehall Watchblog 
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