Don Marsh for City Commission

Today, we will be getting the results of the machine recount, and I am not expecting a different result. We will not be mounting a legal challenge to the election. And I don’t think the Supervisor of Elections Office did us wrong. There are probably some irregularities, like people who came here to vote from other cities, but in some cases it is legal to do so under Florida law, and even if you tracked down the illegal ones, you cannot be sure how they voted. In the final analysis, all elections have irregularities, just like all football games have a few missed penalties. We’re all only human, and elections are pretty good at determining the winner.

During this race, I learned the hard way how it feels to have my reputation smeared. It’s a new experience for me. I have never had to defend myself so vigorously against so much trash talking. While resisting the various charges and name-calling, I know I have struck a few innocent people. Brett Buell at TV20 took a lot of angry phone calls that resulted from a misunderstanding, and I told him I was sorry for that, and I asked my friends to leave him alone. And after asking for people to tell us if they got 2 ballots, we got no more reports than the three we initially heard about. I’ve concluded that it was the inevitable human error that is unavoidable when handing out over 12,000 ballots. And I have owned enough electronic equipment to know that it is most likely to fail when you are desperate to get something done on time. So the voting machine failure on election night is only a reason to curse the machines, not the poll workers. So, I offer my regrets and say I am sorry for doing to you what was done to me. It wasn’t fair, and I don’t want to have to hide from you in the grocery store. You are the referees in this game, and I appreciate your oversight.

Right now I am getting ready to get back to work and our normal lives. To my supporters, I say this: I am not giving up. The political process is a continuing story. As long as we have a high cost of living heaped upon us by our local government, it should be resisted. Our city commission may learn nothing from our campaign and keep raising our utility rates in the future, and increasing the size of government, and this must be addressed again in next year’s election. There are 3 seats to contest, and we must have like minded people challenging them.

As Zig Ziglar says, “Failure is an event, not a person”. We are not failures for having tried to hold an incumbent accountable. We will build on the support we have and make them listen to us next year. I thank you for having supported me in this effort, and I hope you will do so again. We came so close. Next time, I believe we will achieve a different result.

A woman contacted both me and the Supervisor of Elections to tell us that she was given two ballots by a poll worker. She is a Democrat who came to vote for me, and she was an honest person who gave one of the ballots back to the poll worker. She ran into someone at Publix right after that who told her she was also given two ballots! I would not have thought much of this except a man who supports my campaign told me he got 2 ballots during early voting…and he is a Democrat.

If anyone else wants to contact me about this, please do! Did you get 2 ballots from a poll worker? Are you a Democrat? How many of you are out there?

Send me an email at dontwc@gmail.com with your contact information! We want to make sure we had an honest election here!!

As many of you are aware, the election finished with our campaign down by 35 votes. This triggers an automatic recount. It also triggers a new round of slanderous accusation from Craig Lowe. At least this time he is saying them with his own mouth instead of depending on nameless surrogates. Here it is from the Gainesville Sun:

“All I can say is Don Marsh ran the dirtiest electoral campaign in the history of Gainesville,” Lowe said.

We ran an issues centric campaign from the beginning. Craig Lowe did not refute any of  our points in any of our forums. He ignored every issue and stuck strictly to his script of, “I have proven leadership…I have experience”.

He had nothing to say about our ever rising electric rates that HE VOTED FOR. All he can do is change the subject and call me names, or have others do it for him. It is the same pattern of behavior that he demonstrated during the Transgender Bathroom debate in which he characterized anyone who disagreed with him as a homophobe and a bigot. This is cowardice of a high order. And it is a slap in the face to every Gainesville resident who suffers under an burdensome cost of living inflicted on them by a smug and self-satisfied city commission. But it’s nothing new.

So, did they cheat? Is there some sort of collusion between the Democratic machine that ran their puppet and people who supervise the vote? I am more than happy to let others utilize legal avenues to find that out. Let’s just say that if I judge this in the light of the nastiness of Lowe’s campaign, I would not be surprised.

Whether or not there is a conclusive discovery that overturns yesterday’s result, there is still a bigger problem: 83% of Gainesville voters sat on their hands and did nothing. This is the biggest contributor to our commission’s ability to abuse and manage us. If there had been a 50% turnout, and people voted according to their own self-interest, this would be a moot point.

Although it is apparently the plan of politicians to vilify and ruin me, I will stay in business because my customers know better. And I will run again, because it must be done and these cowardly individuals must be overcome. If not this week, then next year when there are 3 seats in contention.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued a report yesterday that celebrated a statewide crime decrease of 6.4% to a 39 year low. Unfortunately, Gainesville bucked that trend by heading in the wrong direction: crime has increased 36% since 2005.

It is not surprising to me in a town where law enforcement has to compete with a failing golf course for funding. Our city commission has asked police and fire to expect a 15% cut at a time when we are experiencing a crime wave. This is symptomatic of a city infested with a cult of overplanning. Millions are spent to make Gainesville “pedestrian friendly” while it becomes less safe to actually walk the streets.

Gainesville needs to get back to basics and provide for core services like police, fire, emergency services and good roads. This will only happen when the voters hold them accountable by showing up. A voter turnout of 9-14% tells commissioners, “We don’t care. Do whatever you like.”

Last month, 86% of voters opted out of making their commissioners listen to them. If you want to fight crime in Gainesville, start by voting in new leadership with better priorities.

Yes, we included a disclaimer!

I got a call from the Supervisor of Elections today. A citizen (translation: a Craig Lowe supporter) complained that our sign on the 34th Street wall did not have the required disclaimer. I told her that we did have it and that I had photographic evidence. This is what it looked like at the time it was painted.

Next, she questioned the legality of the sign. There was a question of the wall being government property. Isn’t it amazing that this never comes up when ANY other free speech is exercised on this wall?? No, it’s only an issue if a local conservative candidate utilizes Gainesville’s most recognizable public display.

During the late 80′s, I recall that the city wanted to scrub the wall and keep it from being covered with graffiti. At that time, I recall that the city was prevented from doing so because someone discovered that the wall was private property. I never learned whose property it was, but that is what I remember.

Personally, even if it’s public, it’s a good example of UNequal protection. No one else EVER gets a call from the authorities for what’s on the wall!

Yeah… A “concerned citizen”…

During a phone banking operation last night, one of our volunteers got into a conversation with a member of the Evergreen Cemetery Association. That person gave us a number to call, and I called that person immediately. They are concerned that the city is wanting to develop the cemetery property. Presumably, this would include exhuming the remains and interring them somewhere else.

Evergreen Cemetery is a city owned cemetery, and a local heritage landmark. To me, it seems unthinkable and sacrilegious to develop this piece of land. I know that the city is committed to “infill development”, but this is beyond bad taste. If they want to remove a local landmark, I believe Ironwood Golf Course is still available!

If this is some sort of false alarm, the city needs to give its assurances to the members of the Evergreen Cemetery Association. If it is a real threat, I hope that I can help alleviate it after I take office.

Don Marsh

When I got into this race, I had my reasons. Obviously, I was unhappy about something, or I would not be going to so much trouble to effect the changes I want. As this campaign has grown, and others have gotten on board, I have found that many other people not only share my point of view, but some have brought reasons of their own! I just want to list those reasons here. You may find that you have a reason to become a part of it!

1. GRU electric rates. Yes, this was the original and most popular reason. It’s a cause that cuts across party lines and all sorts of socioeconomic barriers. A city commission that is tone deaf to this problem is destined to find opposition.
2. Koppers. I am finding that many environmentalists feel betrayed by a city commission that has talked a good game on the environment but that is, in the end, just a lot of talk. Whether it’s opposing the new tree-burning power plant, or cleaning up a Superfund site. I want to honor and prioritize the concerns of local Greens.
3. Police and Fire. Our first responders feel scapegoated by a city government that thinks it is only “fair” to make public safety take the same hit as other projects during a recession. And many individual fire-fighters are not happy that their union endorsed my opponent before talking to any other candidate.
4. East Gainesville. As we have walked the predominantly African-American neighborhoods of the East side, we hear that these people feel taken for granted. They groan at being given a park or beautification projects when they need opportunity for economic advancement.
5. Downtown businesses. Whether it’s a shop on ripped apart Main St., or local watering holes that feel endlessly harassed by a city that never thinks they are good enough, small businesses operate in a hostile government environment.
6. Angry insiders. I have received more than a few calls from people within the system who are upset at mismanagement and corruption. They want change, and they want new faces who are not connected to the powerful.
7. Churches. People of faith feel scorned by a city commission that looks down on them and judges their motives. When churches came to meetings to voice their concerns, they were called names and associated with hate groups. Then they were told they needed to pay a new fire services fee. The city needs to cultivate a better relationship with its many churches.
8. Commuters. People who drive want to know why fixing the existing roads is a lower priority than expensive and counterproductive cosmetic projects, like making Main St. more “pedestrian friendly”.

Feel free to add your reason to the comments section! And thank you to everyone who calls to say they are telling their friends about me, and the people I see holding my signs on street corners that I have never met, and all my friends who have reappeared from all the stages of my adult life to help.

Don Marsh

The 34 ST Wall is now part of the Marsh Invasion!

The past couple of weeks we have been working hard to get our message out to the people in the Koppers-effected area and to East Gainesville. Of course, Koppers effects a very large area, but as you get away from it, people have different concerns. Of course, GRU electric bills are the transcendent issue that hits every household. Yet, in East Gainesville there are burdens that predate high electric rates and the 1983 designation of Koppers as a Superfund site.

As growth and prosperity came to Gainesville, it seems to have passed the East side by. The East side is much more African-American in population, and it relies on the cohesive communities formed by its many churches much more than commerce. And there are not only churches, but many smaller ministries that specialize in teaching values to their youth and assisting the needy in learning how to add value to society by improving themselves. During this campaign we have only scratched the surface of a body of people who work tirelessly after hours to serve those who are less fortunate than themselves.

I had a conversation yesterday with a minister who runs a small business in East Gainesville. His real passion is teaching the values of marriage and pre-marital abstinence to young people and ministering to HIV/Aids patients. His business is successful, but he lights up when he talks about his vision of creating a community of shared values. You cannot listen to him and not want to buy into his work. It is just one of the great things that is happening in Gainesville.

So, why do people look down on the East side? Is it because of race? Is it a perception of crime? Or is it that working class people are looked down on in general? I know that I have been belittled for my job during this campaign, and I am a white man who works for many white professionals on the West side of town. So race isn’t a part of what gets me a lot of grief. No, it seems that I have just enough lower-class credentials to make some people wrinkle their noses at me.

In some ways, I think we have all played into this condescension of the East side. Is it possible to stop calling it East Gainesville? Aren’t they Gainesville as much as the rest of us? Am I not running for Mayor of Gainesville? The heroic people I am meeting are my fellow citizens, my brothers and sisters, of Gainesville. And they are putting me in a very inclusive frame of mind.

This week it was brought to my attention that Craig Lowe supporters were going through the Stephen Foster Neighborhood, removing my signs and defaming me as a gay-basher. I hold Craig Lowe personally responsible for this because he and his willing accomplices keep raising the specter of gay bashing without making any effort to hear from me, his only opponent! This silent accusation (and not so silent in the student-run Alligator rag) is now forcing me to divert attention from the issues that have been central to my campaign from early on: his inactivity on cleaning up Koppers, his guilt in raising our GRU electric bills, his threats to cut police and fire, and a new fire services fee on churches and non-profits. And frankly, that serves a man well who has been treading water, a do-nothing on the city commission since 2003.

Further exacerbating this, the irresponsible leaders of Dove World Outreach decided to stick an oar in the water and put up a sign that said, “No Homo Mayor”. This was brought to my attention by Sun reporter Chad Smith, who wanted my reaction. He got one. It didn’t see print. I told him that I called Dove personally and told them to get rid of it. I went on the record, but the record never got published. Thanks, Gainesville Sun.

Craig Lowe’s tone deafness to the citizens of Gainesville is made further manifest by the fact that his clowns are attacking me in the Stephen Foster Neighborhood. These neighbors are already aware of his deceitfulness in claiming credit for getting Koppers to agree to close and move. Their leadership showed up at one of the candidate forums at the Untied Church of Gainesville and called him out publicly for lying about his record. It was pretty exciting stuff, but you never read about it in the Sun.

I have been building bridges to the other voters who voted against Craig Lowe (about 60% of us) on March 16 because we have similar views on Koppers and on the poorly conceived biomass plant that he loves so much. That is what I am doing that Craig Lowe is not: forming new partnerships and listening to other constituents. He is ginning up fear and staying on his proven course of empty rhetoric. The choice gets clearer every day. VOTE APRIL 13!

This campaign is a referendum on your high taxes, high utility

bills, the closing and cleaning up of Kopper’s toxic waste site

Vote April 13th to take our city back.