Ben Konop, honor your word
Written by Tom Morrissey | | news@toledofreepress.com“He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable or dangerous to do so.”
— Walter Lippman
A common stereotype of politicians in the United States is that he or she promises everyone the world on the campaign trail and conveniently “forgets” the speeches after Election Day, despite the record that exists in the news and in their constituents’ memories.
On Feb. 9, 2006 and May 15, 2006, Lucas County Commissioner candidate Ben Konop publicly signed pledges that read in part, “I will serve the full duration of the term for the office of which I am elected to.” The pledge is still posted on the commissioner’s 2006 election blog. During the campaign, Konop repeated the accusation that his opponent, Councilman George Sarantou, was going to use the office of Lucas County Commissioner as a springboard to get elected Toledo mayor in 2009, rather than fulfill his duty to the voters to serve with undivided attention as commissioner.
On Sept. 2, Konop launched a campaign complete with billboards and a Web site asking Toledoans if they were ready to help create change in their city. Soon after the launch of his campaign, Konop said the campaign’s purpose was “in some ways” testing the water to make a run for mayor of Toledo.
This campaign is in obvious violation of the two pledges Konop signed and challenged his opponents to sign. Toledo will not be served by another selfish power grab; the “change we need” is an elected official who follows through on campaign promises to voters and holds themselves to a higher ethical standard — an ethical standard that Konop ran on and was elected by.
Values such as honesty and integrity still matter. These ideals were ingrained into the lives of me and my three brothers as we grew up. My father made it very clear that when all is said and done, all we have left is our word and our name. I was told repeatedly that I was a Morrissey, and I had the duty of keeping that name untarnished and respectable. My dad made it very clear by the way he lived that keeping his word was of the utmost importance even when it was inconvenient and problematic.
For these reasons, I am calling upon Konop to keep his word and serve his full term. Konop signed an ethics pledge twice and attained elected office by this ethical standard. Please join me in this grassroots movement to hold local politicians to their word. To make your voice be heard, please visit www.onetermis.notlong.com and tell Konop to honor his word by serving his full term. At www.onetermis.notlong.com, an online petition is available to let Konop know that old-fashioned values such as honesty and integrity are still important to the citizens of Toledo. There are also links on the right side of the page that detail Konop’s pledge.
Working together, we can create the change that we want to see.
I agree that Ben has been attempting to Springboard his way to a higher level of local government since the day he was elected. He has been trashing this city and some good people along the way. I hope to see Ben realize that he is not always right and that Toledo deserve more than he is giving us as a politician and as a citizen.
This comment was posted on October 6th, 2008 at 3:03 pm