CurlyShavings

Our doorbell rang Sunday afternoon. Not the single "ding" that tells us that one of the kids has locked themselves out of the house and is impatiently waiting on the back steps but the double "ding-dong" that indicates someone waiting (patiently?) on the front steps.

My wife and I arrive at the front door together and we find a guy on our porch wearing shorts and a "Matt Brakey for County Council" t-shirt. And a two-day stubble. And a big toothy grin.

Turns out this is actually Matt Brakey, so we pin him down, follow Frazz's advice and asked him lots of questions. And he hung around answering them. He answered the ones we posed to him well.

Things like backing out of the Medical Mart (if it's really so important, why can't private industry find their own funding?), the role of government in the economy (make it easier for private companies to create jobs), limiting government and reducing taxes.

He said he'd look into a response on the Ameritrust property debacle and what he thinks the county should do. I'll post back if/when I get a reply.

If I'd known more about Matt Brakey before his appearance on our porch, I'd have asked him more and different questions.

• Under your proposal of no sales tax but higher property taxes, how might that impact retail purchasing trends? Our property ownership trends? Do you have any examples to point us to?
• Is it the red-light camera that disproportionately hurts the poor or just tickets for running red lights that does so? (Don't get me wrong, I think red-light cameras need to go, I just don't understand your reasons.)
• I'd also like to understand where you think we have a right to privacy. Or do we just expect that we have that right? (I like and enjoy privacy but am not quite sure where that "right" is guaranteed.)
• And I'd like to question some of your usage of social media. Some of your Twitter posts and responses on CleveScene.com aren't exactly County Council caliber. Some of your Facebook posts are. (I'm fairly certain that you, as a 29 year-old, have different views on this than I do!)
  On second thought, scratch that. Our current elected public officials frequently say things that seem intended for a different audience.
• Can we define "corporate welfare"? Let's make sure we're talking about banning the same thing.
• Oh, and one other thing: Where's the RSS feed for your blog?

What do I think of the candidate? Well, his sign is still in my yard. I urge you to give this fellow your consideration. Let's get through the primary and see what our choices are then.

Footnote:

I wish we hadn't changed our county government structure so quickly. I still maintain that it isn't the county structure that's corrupt but the folks in the structure. And I think the nearly-unanimous guilty pleas from all these indictments in our "County in Crisis" back me up.

Update (8/6/2010): Here's a link to the county's cast of characters.