Toledo Free Press Endorses Carty

I don't think the Toledo Blade will

The Free Press Endorsement is linked above, after the several articles in the Toledo Blade singing the praises of Jack and writing about the "bad" Carty, I think we can all guarantee there will be no endorsement by the Toledo Blade. They even managed to throw in the now infamous "coffee cup" incident. It appears the Toledo Blade writers today have a different attitude about it then they did back during that time, even here, where it's made very clear:

In other action, council unanimously approved a $35,000 settlement with Carolyn Smithers, former manager of the Erie Street Market, who sued the city in December, 1999, claiming Mayor Carty Finkbeiner hit her in the head with a coffee mug and made offensive and sexist comments.

The mayor has denied the allegations and does not admit wrongdoing in the settlement. The city law department urged the settlement as the cheapest and least risky way to end the litigation.

Councilman Gene Zmuda said he asked council members whether they still had questions about the settlement, and whether council should wait for two weeks before giving it final approval.

He said the law department heard of the possible delay and sent him a letter telling him the settlement "had to go forward."

Mr. Zmuda said the letter showed him the law department is concerned only with the mayor's interests, and not the city's. Ultimately, no councilmen had questions, but Mr. Zmuda said he feels the letter was inappropriate.

Law Director Barbara Herring said her office sent the letter "because we just wanted them to pass the settlement."

Why does this bother me? Not because I'm a fan of Carty but because no one proved he did anything wrong in a court of law. It's all "alleged" and Jack Ford is using it when in reality? He's demonstrating he does not believe in one of the primary points behind our legal system "Innocent until proven guilty". Now, if in the course of the settlement, Carty would have included a statement of guilt? That would be one thing. But...he did not. It's obvious there was more to this that what Jack is stating, even the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote about the settlement. To me, Jack Ford is demonstrating he doesn't think he can win this election on his own merits, that the only way to win is to try to make this about Carty. Carty has not been running the City of Toledo the past three years.....I didn't like John Kerry, there was no way I would vote for John Kerry, however, I disagreed with the whole "swiftboating" because it was not accurate. That is exactly what the Toledo Blade and Jack Ford are doing, while we've come to expect this type of behavior from the Blade, that doesn't make it any less disturbing that they would make their bias that obvious. I'm sure if you are a Jack Ford fan it doesn't bother you, however? What they do today to those you don't like? Could turn....

Maybe the Toledo Blade will succeed in helping Jack Ford to win this election, maybe they won't, that we won't know until next week. This is one of the main reasons I wanted Keith Wilkowski to run against Jack Ford, so that the real issues became Toledo rather than a laundry list of past accusations about Carty Finkbeiner.