Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Mayor-Elect of Dunwoody, Mr. Mike Davis - election night speech.


Congratulations to Mike Davis and Terry Nall for winning this evenings runoff election.

2011 Runoff Election Results

Mayor
Bob Dallas - 2267
Mike Davis - 3432

Council Post 4
Terry Nall - 3699
Robert Wittenstein - 1980

Links to other news sources.

35 comments:

  1. Congrats to Mike and Terry. Knowing the three newest members to council and also the existing council members , I am confident all will find common ground and work together.

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  2. I think the lying Dunwoody YES people were not reelected because, of the negative ads and speeches they were spouting. Time to clean house and get rid of the rest of the “Dunwoody YES” people.

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  3. Dallas and Davis were both Dunwoody Yes people.

    So I'm watching you wasn't watching!

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  4. What a travesty for the City of Dunwoody when one of the elections was won because of a pharisee's slander.

    His opponent might be Dunwoody's de jure councilman, but Robert Wittenstein will still be my Councilman.

    Please Dunwoody! Next election make integrity count!

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  6. Congrats Mike. And as you say at 1:59, glad to hear you're planning to reign-in the rampant govt spending of the past years. No more ATVs for Grogan and gang. And good luck rescinding the over generous benefits bestowed to city staff in these austere times. I trust you like the prior successful-businessman-turned-mayor will forgo your allotment of such govt-cheese! Walk the walk! If you can... Good luck.

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  7. Welcome to the Dunwoody "Tea Party", but you'll only get an invitation if you are a right-wing white Republican with a fat head (literally, as well as figuratively).

    The Dunwoody "Yes" crowd has successfully brought us full circle. Away from the tolerant and embracing DeKalb County city with the integrated and harmonious high school football team that won the state football championship in the early 1990's back to an invidious entitled selfish antebellum Southern city.

    And I hope the guy who slandered Robert Wittenstein is proud of himself and still saw a man when he looked in the mirror earlier this morning. If not, I know a great skin peel boutique that will put him on the road to removing that layer of disgust the rest of us see when we have to look at his guileful face - it's called a confessional.

    This is not the Dunwoody I left Boston for some 30 years ago.

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  8. Come on now Colleen, that's way overboard, wouldn't you say.The voters have chosen their leaders, and the leaders reflect the ideals and the aspirations of the voters. Those ideals and aspirations have always been in place in Dunwoody.

    We still have a harmonious and integrated Dunwoody High School as well. Don't think the election has any effect on that.

    We will unlikely be an "antebellum Southern City" that's for sure with all these Yankees down here now. But we will certainly be having a tea party for some time.

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  9. Mr. Robert Wittenstein, my family and I are very grateful for your three years of selfless and honorable service to the community as Dunwoody Councilman.

    You are a good man, and we thank-you.

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  10. Hey, all you entitled Campus Young Republicans gushing here and on the streets because your guys, Pitbull and Karl Rove, won, your Mommas just called!

    Your Momma said she just took your Totino's Pizza Rolls out of the microwave and set them at the top of the basement stairs to your bedroom. She doesn't want to venture down the steps as your Jar Jar Binks "Star Wars" poster and your stiff sock puppet scares the hell out of her.

    Be gracious!

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  11. Was it that the recently concluded races/runoffs were divisive or did they merely expose a pre-existing animosity lying in wait? It isn't like it was a choice between Teddy Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover. No disrespect to either or their fans, but can someone explain why the raw, exposed nerves all of a sudden?

    Curiouser and curiouser...

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  12. What insight you have, Sight Edman. Our local situation mirrors similar larger trends beyond our city certainly. But the underlying differences in what is best for Dunwoody have always been there. Now that we have a local government & local candidates actually espousing different views makes us aware of them in a clearer way. This is a good thing because it means we have our own viewpoints and our own choices. While we were subsumed in a much larger county very little of these views were evident. But if you went to DHA meetings you could see that such different viewpoints were always there. This is true for all past years. You just weren't as aware as you are now. Our future will be determined by which of these views prevails.

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  13. @Sight Edman
    The animosity has always been there. The exposure isn't "sudden" in the last couple of days/weeks around the election, it has been slowly growing since the City started operations in 2008.

    For years Dunwoody was defined by its conflicts with DeKalb County. Now as a City, Dunwoody can create its own status quo. We all found out the hard way that 1) contrary to our detractors' opinions this is NOT homogenous "bedroom community" and 2) there is almost no room for compromise with those of various opinions.

    The conflict you're seeing is the result of different groups of people, many of which have a very concise, even narrow view of life and cannot see the validity in other POVs. Some of these "special interests" have gotten special attention from city government and the remaining population reacts with "What the hell....?"

    Think I'm exaggerating? Look at the above comments. Small random sample of the larger population and its dynamic.

    IMHO, it's called "growing pains" and there's no way to avoid it. You can only manage it and keep people from shredding each other in the process. City council, with its new occupants needs to acknowledge all of these factions and find a way to incorporate all of them fairly where they can. No easy task - they have to find the compromise and set fair boundaries where the advocates cannot.

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  14. I'm not sure about how accurately folks who comment on blogs represent even the "participatory" element of the community, and that includes me. And let's bear in mind that less than 50% of the registered voters voted, including on the cityhood referendum, so at least a simple majority fall into the "don't care" category. Could it be this is just a dust-up between competing sororities?

    In the past there have been some relatively minor outcry's regarding the baseball special interest and brookrun, or parks in general, or sidewalks, paving and imminent domain, but nothing quite so...so angry. It was not until now that we've had folks insulting an office-holder's physical appearance. And it may be subtle but there is a difference between saying someone does something stupid and someone is stupid. Perhaps it is simply that we now have names and faces representing one or the other point of view and apparently a target to shoot at will get shot.

    Oh well, what's a curmudgeon to do when everyone else is a curmudgeon too?

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  15. It's kind of like this from today's AJC - no middle ground or just ridiculous positions .....

    "On Friday, testimony regarding planning regional mass transit evoked images from wartime atrocity to Soviet oppression.

    "A tea party member, Susan Stanton, testified both on mass transit and on the "livable community" reshaping of cities that mass transit can spur. She likened them to Soviet Communist planned communities, with the government forcing a way of life on people. In contrast, transit advocates such as activist Chioke Perry charged opponents with "institutional racism" in hamstringing mass transit."

    Yes, we will go far with thoughts like this leading the way.

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  16. Jake punched him in the wiener. Yep, he sure did. Socked him right in the wiener.

    - overheard uttered by a boxing fan at the Jake LaMotta vs. Sugar Ray Robinson fight

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  17. Yep, I do believe the ire and subsequent lack of civility stems from the "below the belt" campaigns, especially the one against Wittenstein.

    Small town politics shouldn't be filled with so much enmity. The Dunwoody folks were all so much more cohesive when they communally contrived calumny against Vernon Jones (and perhaps for some in the movement there included a racist agenda), resulting in their vehement and sociopathic secession from DeKalb County.

    But now that there is an actual City of Dunwoody, playtime is over and the little foxes have only themselves to turn against.

    "Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.”

    Song of Solomon 2:15

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  18. No one had to contrive anything about Vernon Jones. His problems were many and real. Not only him but lack of any local control over local issues led to city government. There's still underlying unity here. Just the focus is changing (narrowing?) a bit. More immediate and short term perhaps. Well see.

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  19. "A person who cannot imagine the future is a person who cannot contemplate the results of his actions. Some are thus paralyzed into inaction. They lie in their beds through the day, wide awake but afraid to put on their clothes. They drink coffee and look at photographs.

    Others leap out of bed in the morning, unconcerned that each action leads into nothingness, unconcerned that they cannot plan out their lives. They live moment to moment, and each moment is full.

    Still others substitute the past for the future. They recount each memory, each action taken, each cause and effect, and are fascinated by how events have delivered them to this moment, the last moment of the world, the termination of the line that is time.”

    from Lawrence Raab’s novel, “Einstein's Dreams”

    So, Mr. Heneghan, as the paralytic Tea Party has machinated victories in the run-off elections, this means that you and Ms. Lynn Deutsch are the only progressive, enterprising, and enlightened elected Dunwoody government officials left; therefore, please continue your noble and earnest quest to make Dunwoody an enriched and superior city that advances the cultivation and physical activity of our children; otherwise, just work to shut it down as I trust the DeKalb County government a thousand-fold more with my children’s future than the Dunwoody obscurantist movement that just won. If it ends up that you are muted and suppressed, then please shut it down, just shut it down.

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  20. Yeah Colleen, we need more progressives in our local government, 80% isn't enough. We need more laws, codes, regulations. We need to tax.. er.. a.. stop the slaughter of trees in our neighbor's back yards. We need to tax.. er..a.. stop the building of decks and patios that kill Gaia. We need more police to keep us safe from driving too fast in our driveways. We need video cameras on every street corner to keep us safe. And, our subcontracted government must generate more revenue for their New York consultancy firm which drives progressive UN Agenda 21 policies through our bureaucrats and down our throats. Who cares if they make millions of bucks, they, like the 3rd Reich, provide a progressive and scientific model of sustainability - they deserve every penny they receive from these Dunwoody tax farmers.

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  21. We've fulfilled Godwin's Law. Time to shut down comments on this thread.

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  22. I have made this inquiry previously to other persons, but have not received an answer. I will try here as well.

    What are the requirements for membership in the Dunwoody Tea Party? Does the Dunwoody Tea Party allow minorities to become members? Are there any minorities that are currently members of the Dunwoody Tea Party?

    Why wasn't the candidate, that a couple of years ago attempted the suppression of songs normally associated with minority groups during a public school holiday program, castigated for his intolerance? Seems like the press was obligated to discuss a transgression of this type when someone is seeking a position of public trust.

    Is there going to be an investigation into the campaign finances of the recent candidates, that is whether a candidate was provided with free campaign ads in a local newspaper, or was allowed to defer his payment for the ads?

    Thank-you

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  23. I might still be running on the alcohol fumes from raising glasses to my friends and the wonderment of life till this early morning but i just wanted to say to those selfish pains-in-the-asses in Dunwoddy, and you know which ones are you, that with the only way the most of you all party is only through schadenfreude by denying the city adequate parks, lying about your political opponents, and keeping minorities at a manageable number, that you are such appalling people that you even make this straight as an arrow Seamus feel funky!

    So, Dunwoody, I just want to thank you falettinme be mice elf agin!

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  24. @Bob Turner

    Thank you falettinme re memba this klasic!

    http://youtu.be/5YXPJOUD7G0

    Turn it UP!

    Happy Holidays, Everyone.

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  26. Yesterday the Tea Party-led United States House of Representatives voted mostly along Republican party lines to increase taxes on 160 million people starting January 1, 2012. In other words - "Happy Holidays from the Tea Party."

    I guess we can expect very much the same treatment by our new elected city government, candidates whom were endorsed by the Dunwoody Tea Party.

    What I would suggest, "NoLongerAWhisper", is that you notify the Federal Election Commission regarding the campaign finance irregularities that took place where a candidate received free campaign ads. The FEC will assess whether a violation occurred and take the appropriate action.

    Regarding the lack of press-speak regarding the intolerant acts of a fool running for council, hey, this is Dunwoody, what can I say. Things of that nature get buried.

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  27. When we can't dream any longer we die. The Tea Party has killed the ambitions of our city!

    The people of Dunwoody took the easy way out as it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think. The winning candidates only condemned the efforts of those who founded the city.

    The new regime shall now work to dismantle all the good that was accomplished these past three years, making sure the greediest are well sated, until finally there is no Dunwoody worth salvaging for our progeny.

    Oh alas, is there no balm in Gilead? I weep for Dunwoody and what it could have been. There no physician here. Thy civic health of our people shall never recover.

    Oh forgive me, Jeremiah, for distorting your 8:22.

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  28. The story of "Red Emma," more properly known as, Emma Goldman is a fascinating education on anarchy in America:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman

    Though wiki is hardly an true academic source, this link is filled with US historical facts about Emma Goldman, a person you won't read about in high school texts.

    Notably, this obscure woman became an icon during the 1970's. She is buried in Forest Park Cemetery in Chicago, BTW...

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  29. Two fantastic musical references, on top of fascinating historical perspectives on anarchy in one day!

    The magnificent Mahalia Jackson owns this version of "Is There No Balm in Gilead," a popular and traditional hymn:

    http://youtu.be/DFMY4V7RdbU

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  30. Republicans are acting like Roy Reigels in the 1929 Rose Bowl. They are running the wrong way and scoring for the opposition.

    Run, Roy, Run! Raise those taxes on the middle class!

    Go Davis & Nall !

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  31. You can add hypocrisy to extremism and obstructionism when describing the Republicans. They don't believe in government; therefore, they don't think it's important to govern.

    Boener does not have control over his caucus in the house. The extreme right-wing Tea Party faction is controlling him. In order to save face all he can do is attack President Obama, the Senate, and his ex-wife's manicurist. Deplorable! Despicable!

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  32. Sorry, wife's manicurist, not "ex" he has no "ex-wife".

    Boehner did though serve in the US Navy for a whole 8 weeks, but as with his chicken-hawk mentor, George W. Bush, found a way out from serving in Viet Nam.

    Johnny "Can't Find His Gun" Boehner said he had a "bad back" and left the Navy after 8 weeks, so he, as GWB, never had to serve in Viet Nam, but sure found a way to have thousands of other Americans bravely fight their ill-advised wars.

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  34. I'm thinking "Red Emma" is "GaryRayBetz" as he is Dunwoody's resident raconteur, communist, anarchist, atheist, and libertine but most of all - solipsist (he worships himself).

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  35. Ah, and whom might ye be, Miss Colleen, me sweet lass?

    Why the vitriol? Are you one of my many scorned and forgotten lovers?

    Or are you just envious that I'm oft drawn a Guinness Stout on the house by lovely barmaids that, like Synge's Pegeen Mike, exclaim, "And this is for you with your poetic talking and bravery of heart!"

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