You want to know why so many people are absolutely disgusted with the entire political process?
I mean, beyond the ongoing avalanche of nasty, fact-twisting, I-want-to-shoot-my-television-just-like-Elvis commercials?
And beyond the fact the candidates talk to each other like third-graders on a playground?
And beyond the refusal of any candidate to give a straight answer to a simple question?
And beyond the fact we have become so polarized that every fan of one political party wants to gouge the eyes out of every fan of the other political party?
I guess that should suffice, but if you’re looking for another reason, consider the race for U.S. representative in the new 16th district.
Both candidates are incumbents whose districts were cannibalized when the lines were redrawn following the 2010 census.
Jim Renacci is a Republican from Wadsworth. Betty Sutton is a Democrat from Copley.
(I listed Renacci first because I put them in alphabetical order. I need to point that out because, otherwise, the supporters of whichever party was mentioned second would accuse me of favoring the other party.)
Their only public debate was held in downtown Cleveland — a hefty 90-minute drive from the most distant households in their weird, rambling district.
Why wouldn’t the two candidates stage at least one debate inside their own district, ideally in a somewhat central location? Because they couldn’t agree on how and where to do it.
Seriously. Two people who want us to send them back to Washington to solve the nation’s problems couldn’t settle on a place to debate each other inside their own district.
The only thing they could muster was a joint appearance in front of some high school students today in Wadsworth.
For a public debate — zip. Nothing in downtown Medina. Nothing in Wooster. Nothing in Brunswick. Nothing in Green or Jackson Township or Mogadore or Strongsville or Norton or Rootstown or New Franklin or anywhere else in an area that is about 50 miles long and 45 miles wide.
If these people can’t figure out how to work with someone from the other party on something as simple as arranging a local debate, how in God’s name are they going to forge bipartisan agreements on important national issues?
CAK-isms
After making fun of a Cleveland radio announcer who made a reference to “Canton-Akron Airport,” I received an email from Anne Dennee of Akron, who said that gaffe pales in comparison to the one her husband heard over his plane’s intercom as he was arriving home on a Delta flight from Atlanta.
He was welcomed to “Akron-Canada Airport.”
Play money
Somebody connected to the Akron Public Schools’ levy campaign is looking for love in all the wrong places.
Such as Hudson.
A longtime Hudson resident sent me a copy of a fancy flier her family received in the mail.
“Vote for Issue 61,” it urged. “Akron’s Future Starts with Education.”
Nobody in the family has ever lived in Akron.
The mailing label carried the correct name, the correct street address, the correct town, the correct state and the correct ZIP code — 44236. But nobody in that ZIP code can make one iota of difference in the voting booth because nobody outside of the Akron city limits will see that issue on the ballot.
I wonder how many of those gems were mailed out.
Color change
In almost every community, school levies face tough sledding, simply because anyone who votes “yes” is voting to reach more deeply into his or her own pocket. But here’s a chance to cast a vote that will help an area school without costing you a dime.
Franklin Elementary in Kent is in the running to win 200 gallons of free paint and the labor required to give the interior of the 90-year-old building a makeover.
Judges for Glidden’s Colorful Classrooms Contest waded through 320 entries from 43 states and came up with five finalists. As of this writing, Kent was in third place, trailing schools from New Mexico and Mississippi.
The local school said its current color scheme is “bleak, blah and boring” and the existing walls bring to mind a combination of “mental hospital, soggy oatmeal, yellow snow, pink antacid medication and T-shirt armpit white.”
Yum.
You can vote through Friday at www.glidden.com.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.