We Won 41% of the Vote! But the Flogging Continues!

The votes are now in. Even though opposition to the Tiffin University's Miami Street project was defeated in the election, a whopping 41% of Tiffin Ohio voters sent a clear message to our civic leaders.

What is the message? A very LARGE group of voters are NOT buying the stench of destructive politics that continue to waft through Tiffin City Council Chambers and the Mayor's Office. If they thought responsibly about it, those who voted 'YES' would NOT buy it either.


Now, Cherubim and Saraphim, Grandillo and Marion, have been exalted-by-vote as the official powers to run Tiffin City Government and inure the use of our tax dollars to lock-in political power and to line the pockets of their favorite contractors. Last April, Marion predicted he would win the day, when at Tiffin City Council's Public Hearing, he declared Tiffin Citizens to be "irrelevant" minions. Nice guy, huh. Must be real smart.

Is the Cherub and his boss really that smart? No. Smart has nothing to do with them winning the vote. Having unfettered access to a rich cache of campaign RESOURCES won the vote. This is pure political power! Economic power, too!

If you listen to the "buzz" around town, the total fully loaded cost of getting the YES vote was over $200,000! This included, Tiffin City Government employee time, TU employee time, paid political consultant time, ipod prizes, education channel advertisements, billboards, A-T Ads, direct mail, collateral materials, "dirty tricks", etc.

The Responsible Citizens for Tiffin opposition, headed by Monaco family members, with a small group of mostly elderly neighborhood and local church member citizens was able to deploy only a very small portion of resources that TU had at its disposal.

Why did Grandillo and Marion expend so much time, money and effort to ensure the win? Remember, Tiffin Citizens were deluged with political ads, mailers large, billboards, cable-casts played over-and-over. There was so much in-your-face activity, even our own supporters were saying how nice was the billboard drawing of the Monaco Family home. This has got to be the biggest, most expensive campaign in Tiffin...EVER!

Why so much effort indeed! If Tiffin University lost the Miami Street Project, they knew that they would loose a lot more than the $800,000 federal tax subsidy for Miami and closing Jackson St.

How so? Well, TU officials have been raiding the Tiffin Ohio "Cookie Jar" since about 1990. Ask any council person whether Tiffin University always has its "hand out" when approaching Tiffin Officials for anything. If they are honest with you, our official will admit the complicity. If they are NOT honest with you, you are probably asking someone who has profiteered from activities greased with Citizen Tax Dollars, or official approvals for seeking state or federal tax subsidies. If you don't think so, please stop reading here, open one eye wider, and then the other.

I would NOT object to any of this if it were NOT for the abuses to individual Citizens and "back door" politics that EVERYONE complains about, yet does little-to-nothing to stop it. So much for civic leadership in Tiffin! I'm embarrassed for Tiffin's so-called civic leaders. You should be, too. Did I say DARK?

Millions have been spent in the past. Millions of tax dollars will be sought by Tiffin University Officials in the future. And, like their Miami Street Project, Citizens will again and again be made to pay...sometimes for abuses to themselves by the use of TU's Tax subsidies...all approved by Tiffin City Council and our Mayor. Just "follow the money". The Mayor warns of a $1.8 Million Deficit. Duh!!! (Hey, those referendum-winning 'YES' votes will now raise taxes. Get out your calculator, and remember what was earlier written about tax abuses in this blog. Tiffin voters have done the equivalent of asking for the flogging-stick from Dr. Marion while he happily suggests to his buddy contractors that they can sit down, kick back, and watch the "irrelevant" Citizens flog themselves out of their own money!)

Tiffin University HAD to win the vote on the referendum! If it did not, everyone from Marion and Grandillo to their subordinates would find it harder to get tax subsidized cooperation from Tiffin City government for projects that frequently include abuses such as those opposed by citizens in or near the Tiffin University neighborhood. They HAD to win so bad, their bag of "dirty tricks" turned from a campaign resource to get 'yes' votes, to a resource for DESTROYING their political opposition's attempts to participate in an orderly campaign for the 'NO' vote. Politics in Tiffin has a dark side. The recent events, when de-coded from the local politico-speak, are NOT for children or innocent-minded adults. If you bother to get into the middle of any the sordid affairs of our leadership, it in part, explains why Tiffin is hemorrhaging its population of regular residents. Like I said, Tiffin is no place for the innocent-minded...and certainly not our children.

So, let us talk about how our children get abused. Think about it. The three 23 year old councilmen act like they really got voted onto city council for their wisdom, anticipated youthful contributions, and personal strength of their ideology! The abuse? Well, the sick joke played on them is that they are on city council as the political boy-toys of about a dozen "advisers" who subtly and confidently provide them with the trappings of local political power. Want to know who is really calling the shots? You can get actual names! Just ask around in Tiffin. Many are the Tiffin political machine. Someone needs to tell the children. It would be silly if it wasn't so sadistic. Who will disabuse the children of their mistaken understanding? Probably no-one. Just follow the money! It is so pathetic.

Am I making this stuff up? I don't have to make up anything! Marion, Grandillo, and their smiling young minions are so "drunk" with political and economic power, they have failed to cover-up documented facts of their dirty tricks...that are clearly irresponsible, and in at least one case, criminal. Yes, I said CRIMINAL! Remember? I don't have to make this stuff up! It is instructive what you can learn from a little reading of Tiffin University's or Tiffin City Government's documents provided by their own hand.

But, I can NOT explain further until the Tiffin City Police, the Secretary of the State of Ohio, or the FBI apprehend the person who committed such an egregious act that even Dr. Marion is speechless and unable to repudiate an act that clearly indicts his campus organization. For me, I am sickened by what has happened. Because of it, I am compelled to do three things:

1. Request, from the Tiffin Police, the procedure for purchasing a hand gun,

2. Request, from Tiffin Police, the procedure for registering a gun as a concealed weapon, and

3. Inviting all Responsible Citizens of Tiffin who have a permit to carry a gun in Tiffin Ohio to send a comment to me that I will not publish to this blog. Indicate your willingness to stand with me and others in an organized attempt to demonstrate our 2nd and 4th amendment rights in the face of people who would declare us so "irrelevant". I am making the same appeal to area members of the NRA.

I will explain more, in a later blog article, or privately if you provide full contact information.

So, we won 41% of the votes, yesterday! I thank all of you who voted with us on principle! You ARE the Responsible Citizens for Tiffin. I'm proud of what we were able to accomplish with so few resources.

I regret that the flogging will continue.

Thank you,

Joe Monaco
Registered Voter in Tiffin Ohio