In normal campaigns (as if) opponents make their cases for their candidacy and that’s it. Here in Whitehall, because I’m Gerald Dixon and I have spent years recording issues with the current administration of Whitehall, the Mayor and others feel its their duty to keep me out of office. As well, she does her best to make sure what she wants gets voted for or in. If history repeats itself, this then is what the Dixon camp has in store and what you, as voters should look out for.

First, there is 20 year Councilman Chris Rodrigue’ ‘literature’ which usually arrives soon before the election. Small, inexpensive, almost as if he wasn’t trying very hard to win…or…because he had the juggernaut of the Mayor’s bully pulpit behind him, he didn’t have to put much effort into it. This was his card from two years ago.

All of these things stated on the literature are things ANYONE would want and fight for. That they are exclusive to him is ridiculous.

Then there is this ‘letter’, dropped off the last weekend before election:

This Mayoral letter is for all those who are unaware of her untrustworthy behavior; all the conflict of interests she’s ignored, her hijacking our government for her own political gain, abusing our government’s processes to grab property and thwarting the citizen’s rights when it doesn’t align with her own plans. This letter preys on their low-information for her maximum gain.

In it she makes Chris Rodriguez out to be Mother Teresa and Robert Moses rolled into one; a beatific saint, generous and warm to all who, sometimes, has to put up with ‘ill-tempered’ citizens demanding accountability. That its HE who is responsible for every great thing to roll into Whitehall and that without his essential help, Whitehall would be nothing more than a lawless hell-scape of murders, dirt lots and slatternly lean-tos. Its all quite laughable though because he is merely one vote. If he’d voted no on everything, it would all STILL have changed. He voted yes when things were good but (and here’s the problem) also voted yes when things were bad (as we’ve seen). He doesn’t discern what is actually good or bad, he just ‘yesses’ everything and in the doing, allows some things through which he should have said ‘no’ to. The truth is; she wants him kept in because his role as a yes-man in her administration holds aloft that illusion she created where ALL is well at City Hall and everything she produces is yet another golden egg. Without a full lineup of yes-people, cracks may begin to form in that carefully constructed illusion and the people may start to see that, after all, she wears no clothes.
BTW, her alluding to the ‘ill-tempered’ treatment is no doubt her only barb towards his opponent (me) because I’d had the audacity to spend 20 hours of my own time pouring through Mr. Rodriguez’ official record as Councilor for 16 years and then post it on this blog for everyone to see. How ‘ill-tempered’ of me! Here is what his official record produced:

Then came this letter from the mayor’s husband:

It was the Mayor’s actions in denying people their rights which veterans had fought to preserve for ALL of us that caused me to protest at DSCC’s gates that day. Her personal affiliation with people in the armed forces I was not privy to at that time. Regardless, my protest was with her as an elected leader causing those rights to be trampled which, ironically, were also harming and disrespecting the rights of those her husband wrote about who’d served. Of course, that ultimate irony was ignored so as to keep the Mayor’s yes-man in office and an actual fighter for the people and their rights…out. Mr. Maggard’s wretched letter reached voters about two days before the election. Imagine its impact on those who value the station of power his wife holds without my ability to rebut…and yet, I did as I was able, as you see by this post (the entirety of why I protested is in this post):

Summing up: Chris Rodriguez is one person. While he is ‘nice’ and affable enough, his job requires him to be many things, all of which don’t necessarily hinge on the level or quality of his niceness. Whether its his ignoring his constituents appeals regarding the rezoning for apartments at Maplewood and Main or his voting to undermine and quash the citizens hard-fought battle to take an issue to the ballot or his near-perfect score as an administration yes-man or being the Councilor with the worst attendance record in 20 years, none of those things are ‘nice’, neither to his obligations or the citizens he was elected to represent. The ‘nice’ character they keep representing him as (as does he) is merely a ploy to throw you off the scent of the truth of his record. That whole record which is most certainly worthy of your attention, whether the Mayor or any guardians of the status quo think it so with their election-time hyperbole.

The bottom line is this: If history has taught us anything here, its that the Mayor and/or other of her supporters will do their best to keep her yes-man and ‘Team member’ Chris Rodriguez in office. Not because, after 20 years, his presence is still so invaluable in bringing great things to Whitehall but, rather, because the Administration really needs him to keep up appearances for everyone that all is well at City Hall, that its already stocked full of only the brightest, hardest-working, most intrinsically valuable people it needs. Fortunately though, as we’ve seen with various of the administrations recent stinkers, we know that is just so much bull. Don’t fall for the deception. I’m nobody’s ‘yes-man’. I WILL fight for YOU and say yes when right and ‘no’ when right to do so. You can count on it!