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MAR 17 - MAR 24, 2015

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Election

By James 'Jim' Szwedo

March 17, 2015

A side note to the citizens of Ni- agara Falls from Niagara Falls Mayoral candidate James 'Jim' Szwedo:
Am I willing to stand up and take the hit? NO PROBLEM.
Can I take a joke? NOT AT YOUR EXPENSE.
Am I one of you? YES.
Will what I say make you think, and sometimes smile? YES.
Can I win? THAT'S UP TO ONLY YOU.
Can
we change the way things have always been done? ABSOLUTELY

It appears election season is beginning early this year.

I know we, the citizens and businesses of Niagara Falls, look forward to what is sure to be a painful mix of promises, finish lines, tales about how far we've come, grand plans, and what they (the politicians) see as the future of Niagara Falls.

Please take note that I said their plans (politicians' plans), not ours (the citizens and businesses of Niagara Falls). They won't ask you where you would like to be in the next four years, but rather, they prefer to state what the four-year plans for their political future would look like.

But are they even their plans? The seven plus years of this administration have been controlled by powerful people outside of this city. Look around. Have they really made it any better for anyone except themselves and their special interests?

(By the way, if you happen to see the Mayor limping around Niagara Falls, it's because of that ball-and-chain of outside interests he has been dragging around since he took office.)

When you look at the other politicians running for office, I need you to look for the strings attached to powerful political figures and operatives funding and calling the shots, once again, from outside our city. I need you to visualize puppets or marionettes happily controlled by people who never have to stand in the light. I need you to think of the Wizard of Oz, when the curtain gets pulled open and the Great and Powerful Oz gets exposed by Toto.

That is why, to make things a little less painful for you this election season, I want to state, for the record that I have no ball-and-chain to drag around. There will never be any strings attached to me, and, for better or worse, I speak and write my own thoughts. No outside interests or powerful political operatives will invest in a candidate they can't control.

So let me give you a quick recap:

1. I have no powerful political parties throwing tens of thousands of dollars into my campaign. This means I will not have an endless barrage of junk mail attacking my opponents. (P.S. I do have a Facebook page that I update from time to time.)

2. There will be no rich backers from outside our city hoping to gain or retain control of your future. This means no radio, TV, or phone calls attacking other candidates.

3. I won't bore you with my grand plans, but rather, I would enjoy talking to you about what bothers you, the citizens and businesses, to find out where you would like the city to be in the next four years. (P.S. 40 years of political grand plans haven't served the citizens well.)

4. I need you to know that the only hold these interests have on the future of Niagara Falls is the one we, the citizens and businesses, allow them to have. Their money, their political power, their ties that bind us cannot stand alone in the light. For all their posturing and huffing and puffing, the reality is, in the end, your vote is what determines your voice, and your stake, in the future of our city.

It truly isn't about me. Rather…

IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU.

Your voice. Your choice. You future.

 

 

 

 

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