A guest column by Frederick L. Rost II
“A prophet has no honor in his own hometown” – Saint John
In 1995, a man of modest means, with a vision and desire lead his city as mayor into a new direction, ran against all odds for mayor. Without a whole lot of support from the Party and little money on which to run a campaign, the candidate secured personal financing, lent that money to his campaign, and went on to win. The candidate’s campaign finance reports documented his loans to the campaign, as Matt Kelty has to date documented loans made to his campaign. The Hamilton County Republican Party and election board, never questioned, sought to neither investigate nor charge the candidate after he won the primary for loaning his own money to his campaign so he could compete and win. Today, Mayor Jim Brainard of Carmel, IN is seeking his fourth consecutive term this year as that great Indiana city’s mayor. I wish him luck!
Fresh Leadership and a Voice for Change
As we approach the election and campaigning comes to a close, voters have profound and very different choices to consider when voting for Mayor and City Council. St. John once said, “a prophet has no honor in his own hometown”, certainly Matt Kelty is no prophet, but he is a voice of change for the City, and certainly the face of fresh leadership. There are a lot of folks who are afraid of that change, and just want to keep things the way they are, but I think we can do better. Indeed we owe it to ourselves and families to do better.
Matt Kelty has been the underdog for this office since he announced over a year ago. I certainly understood that when my friend asked if I would help him, but I don’t think either of us could have ever foreseen the wild journey along the way. Many in his own Party chose not to support him in the primary, and many abandoned him after he became the nominee over their choice. The ire against him and the ideas that we can do better, change from the way things have been done in the past, be more accountable, more responsible, and represent the interests of the voters over the special interests, is manifest in the charges brought against him. Void of new ideas of their own, his opponents have chosen to beat the indictment drum, sowing seeds of doubt in the minds of voters with innuendo and insinuation about his character and fitness to lead this great City. They are selling fear, Matt Kelty is selling hope and opportunity for the future. I urge voters NOT to give in to fear, to vote for something, rather than against someone.
Buying Volunteers vs. Real People
It is no secret that Matt’s campaign has been run on shoestring since the beginning. He’s not a wealthy businessman from wealthy family. He didn’t raise over three-quarters of million dollars from family members, vendors and contractors that do business with the City and County. He didn’t hire an expensive professional campaign manager from the East coast to come in and run his campaign, or hire a big Washington advertising firm to represent him. And Matt didn’t hire “volunteers” to walk neighborhoods for him.
No, Matt’s campaign has been made up of just plain folks, people from Fort Wayne, people who live and work here, regular people, like him, with the same passion for the City as he has, people who gave willingly of their time and treasure because they believe in the ideas, they believe in the potential, they believe in the future, and they believe in Matt Kelty.
Having a dedicated, passionate corps of volunteers instead of a paid professional staff has had its share of challenges, and certainly mistakes have been made, and Matt has taken responsibility for them all. I think I read on this blog, that you don’t always get to pick your supporters. Indeed, Kelty has what’s been referred to as a virtual campaign organization, a confederation of like minded supporters, the vast majority made up of unpaid volunteers working independently to get their candidate elected. Through it all, Matt’s learned a lot about what matters to voters, what they want to see in a Mayor and a Government, and what their hopes are for the future, and the future of their children. Matt intends to fulfill those hopes for the future as Mayor. He’ll be the first to tell you that he doesn’t have all the answers to everything, I don’t know anyone who does, but he does know how to get the answers, and he will.
The Differences are Significant
Though both Mayoral candidates I’m sure want what’s best for the city going forward, each has a very different approach for getting there. The differences between Matt and his opponent are significant.
1. Matt believes in smaller government, his opponent is looking for new taxing options.
2. Matt thinks we should grow though organic economic market driven activity, his opponent has voted to reach out and take by force areas outside the City in order to feed the insatiable spending appetite of the Government.
3. Matt believes we should honor our current financial obligations to policemen and fireman; his opponent wants to spend that money on more speculative Government driven projects.
4. Matt believes in consolidating select City-County functions that will mutually benefit City and County residents with better service and lower costs, his opponent wants to consolidate purchasing.
5. Matt thinks we should curb our appetite for debt and live within our means, his opponent believes we should continue to mortgage the future of the City with Government driven economic development projects the majority of voters do not want.
6. Matt believes we should leverage the benefits of TIF Districts to help lower individual property taxes, his opponent believes we should spend the money on more Government driven projects.
7. Matt believes in the inherent value of Fort Wayne as a market and its community assets as capital to attract new businesses, his opponent will continue the failed policies of the past bribing companies with taxpayer dollars to locate to the City, and propping them up with taxpayer subsidies.
8. Matt believes we should leverage the gift of the City Light Lease Fund to invest in the future, while using some of the annual interest to help maintain the City infrastructure, his opponent wants to form another blue ribbon committee to develop a wish list on how to spend it all.
9. Matt doesn’t believe all “lifestyles” are created equal, but people are. His opponent believes some “lifestyles” should receive special rights and elevates them to the same stature as the fight for civil rights and freedom of religion.
10. Matt believes in the City of Churches, his opponent has promoted the City of Strip Clubs.
Matt believes the Mayor has an important leadership role in educating our children. He’s proposed improving public safety with streamlined dispatching and better emergency medical response. He believes in the proper role of Government to facilitate the private sector investment in the City, not in Government giveaways to private companies for short term economic activity. He believes in a City of neighbors, and leveraging technology to push the power down to neighborhoods where people live and play.
Trust Yourself
Someone recently asked me why a gambled my family’s money on a candidate many in his own party wouldn’t support financially. I responded by saying, “It wasn’t a gamble, it’s an investment in the future of the City.” Kelty’s vision for the future of the City is a very different one than the status quo of his opponent, and the past. Given what I have read, I have confidence Kelty will prevail in the legal battle against him. He has showed tremendous poise under pressure, remained upbeat and positive, and never quit on himself, the things he believes in, and the City. Don’t let Matt’s opponent slip into office under the smokescreen of politically motivated charges. Vote for something, rather than against someone. Trust yourself, trust your vote, vote for the future and on November 6th, vote for the Architect of a New Fort Wayne, vote Matt Kelty for Mayor.
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Dan – I give you credit. When you layed down the differences between the two candidates in simple terms it really shows how much the two are coming from two totally different sides.
Well – I guess we will know come tommorrow, but I will say this. I think there are alot of people out there that will be voting for Tom Henry, not that they agree with him as much as they are playing their holy saint card against Matt Kelty.
It is to bad that we never got past the early political witch hunt, as I can tell you this, I have a tip that shortly after the election we will see most if not all these charges against Matt dropped, or at least reduced to minor infractions – but I see them being dropped. Just a tip!
Then we will see this was as much politically motivated as it was anything else – and I think you know who actually kicked this in high gear. (SS)
Two questions.
1. Is this an article in the Ft Wayne papers?
2. Why didn’t he write this LAST week?!
The cutoff to the papers was 5PM a week ago.
The papers have long made up their minds. They likely would have found a reason not to print it anyway.
Man I wish this would have run in the Sunday paper !!!
Dan, I realize this may never see the light of day, but …
Will someone point me to a web site where Tom Henry can actually be quoted as saying he promotes a “City of Strip Clubs”? I’m just curious, because I’ve read a lot of quotes and I think I missed that one. Come on, someone throw me a bone – tell me where you got that “quote”. However, if this is just a holier than thou issue, I can understand, although I do have to say that if Matt was mayor and he attempted to shut down strip clubs – and it wouldn’t affect me at all since I don’t even go in them – wouldn’t that run counter to his pro-business stance?
Me too, Cannon-man.
Me too.
Wow…nice piece…if you overlook the lies.
Here are just two for fun:
“his opponent wants to form another blue ribbon committee to develop a wish list on how to spend it all.”
Tom Henry has NEVER said anything about spening it. He thinks we need public input into the best use of the money- which could, by the way, include reinvesting it for the future.
Or how about:
“Matt believes in smaller government, his opponent is looking for new taxing options.”
Tom Henry wants to diversify the tax base. Some folks do NOT pay property taxes- so it makes sense to shift the burden to a broader base. By the way, Kelty has never stated HOW he will cut taxes.
I could go on- but if you are a kool-aid drinker it is too late.
A note to Mr. Rost- I am disappointed that a “Christian” man like yourself would resort to lies in an attempt to win.
Robert Rouse ….
The comment may be in the same area of Tom Henry’s statement “he owned” a company for twenty years that helped other companies enjoy the bennies of bulk purchaseing…..
See he had that little detail confused with his time with Parkview Hospital. Unless he owns Parkview Hospital.
Oh well, the maddness is about over. Kool Aid sales will go down and the beer drinking over on the west side of town will explode.
You can’t close down strip clubs and no one is suggesting that. . . not Kelty, and not Henry.
The difference between Kelty and Henry is that as a councilman Henry opposed Constitutionally allowable regulations that other cities in Indiana have already adopted that may help curb two of the effects of adult businesses: increased crime and lower property values.
Even though over 800 people showed up at a council meeting in support of the ordinance Henry said “no.” (No wonder the some of the strip clubs and bookstores have signs supporting him.)
Kelty has said in a forum he convened of legal and city experts on this topic, that as a matter of concern over crime, that he would look at regs adopted in Indianapolis, Mishawaka, South Bend and other cities.
No one is saying they will shut down strip clubs because unless the prosecutor (and she’s pretty wimpy) declares it a “public nusiance. . . as has happened in some cities where repeated police runs to certain clubs or certain stores have required it. . . clubs don’t get shut down by Mayors.
Again, they only get shut down by prosecutors and public health departments for risky things that apparently go on in the dark in some of them. People who say Kelty will shut down our stip clubs are using scare tactics to wildly distort a legitimate crime and real estate concern.
Less Kool-Aid, more beer. I like it!
“Some people don’t pay property taxes” is a quote from K.K. above. Do you mean those who pay rent on homes and apartments Kevin ? Always remember this, the landlord NEVER pays property taxes. They ALWAYS pass it on to the renter. ‘Nuff said. Got any other stupid statements ?