MONEY & TAXES NOT SCHOOLS NO# 1 ISSUE THIS ELECTION TIME

[Psycho]

MONEY & TAXES NOT SCHOOLS IS NO# 1 ISSUE THIS ELECTION TIME

 

by: Jonathan R. Rees, Candidate Ward 3 City Council

 

Website: http://www.rees2006.net

 

The true role of our DC City Council as it concerns the DCPS is funding and nothing more.

 

It’s oversight is merely one of funding what DCPS asks for in its budget request each year, but the real people who can make things happen are the DCPS officials we elect and otherwise, not the members of the DCCC. Until voters realize that, we will still have the likes of candidates promising things they cannot do. This is why Pat Bitando suggested if people are really concerned about our schools, then they should run for a spot there.

 

I do not know who woke up one morning and decided that our schools would be the number one issue in this political season but as a ward 3 resident and candidate, I realize that only 7% of the voters in my ward have children in school and more than half the people I have spoken too, which has been well over 3,000 so far put matters of the pocketbook first not our schools.

 

The sad truth is when I came to DC in 1979, our schools were in disarray then and after all these years, we finally decide to do something about it! Have voters been out to lunch these past 27 years?

 

The fact that all the ward 3 candidates except Eric Goulet and myself have made schools the top campaign issue and have ignored all else has robbed the voters of where they stand on so many other issues of concern to voters.

 

Income taxes, property taxes, jobs, job security, housing, excessive and costly regulations on businesses, healthcare, assisted living for our seniors, traffic congestion and so many other issues were brought up in my talks with voters before the school issue was.

 

Sadly, most of the ward 3 candidates have made this campaign season a single issue and are cheating and/or keeping voters ignorant on where they stand on so many other important issues.

 

In sum, I ran into this 72 year old gent who lives at 2712 Wisconsin Avenue NW and he said to me: “Mr. Rees, I am 72 years old, I have no children, never had any, I live on a fixed income of $1,700 a month, I live in a rent controlled unit, I have health issues and I am concerned about paying my rent, putting food on my table, co-payments on the 14 different medications I take each day, so why would I give a damn about our schools? Mr. Rees, probably half the voters in ward 3 are just making it and they are just like me, more concerned about what I am as it is painful watching greedy landlords, doctors, pharmaceutical companies and others squeeze the life out of what little most of us have. What are you going to do to strengthen the backbone of what life people like I have left?”