Janice Daniels Must Represent ALL People in Troy
My concern about Janice Daniels being our mayor is that she seems to have no intention of representing all of the people of Troy, but only those who are like her. She has even said that her votes represent only the people who voted for her.
That is problematic, I think, because as her tenure continues, we learn repeatedly that Janice Daniels has a tremendous patience for bigotry. Troy is the second most diverse city in Michigan. How can such a diverse city be led by someone who seems to support a social agenda of intolerance?
Examples of her embracing and protecting intolerance abound.
In December, Mayor Daniels demanded that a supposed “expert on transit centers” be given 20 minutes to speak to council. When her demands were rejected by other council members, she had her “expert” come in and speak for five minutes at public comment, during which time he threw around repeated cultural and ethnic slurs. The man who calls a train from Detroit a “mugger mover” and the “heroin express” apparently deserves 20 minutes under the Janice Daniels administration. This was her noted expert?
When a Troy resident and Daniels supporter used a racial slur against Chinese people, did Mayor Daniels immediately demand his apology? No. Did she apologize to Troy’s hugely successful Chinese community? No. Did she apologize in Troy’s name to Dr. Sook Wilkinson, Chair of the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission, who actually came to the next council meeting to protest his slur? No. Instead of vilifying the man, Janice Daniels appointed him to the all-important Troy Planning Commission. Again, bigotry is rewarded.
When a gay woman and two high school students from the Gay Straight Alliance at Troy High School spoke to Mayor Daniels about her attendance at a suicide prevention meeting for gay students, Janice Daniels said famously, "I will bring in psychiatrists who will tell you that the ‘homosexual lifestyle’ is dangerous." When asked to apologize for this and other objectionable things she has said about the LGBT community, the mayor apologizes just before assuring us that everything she has said is true.
Of course, everything she says is not true. But one thing I have learned, bigotry is not only rewarded by Mayor Daniels, it is embraced.
Mayor Daniels has written, “I never ran on a platform as a social commentator. I have absolutely no desire to continue any discussion on human sexuality--that is not why I ran for office.” That’s odd. Janice Daniels talked about this issue twice on mainstream radio in recent weeks and brought in anti-LGBT activist Gary Glenn to speak before the city council. Glenn is infamous for his desire to criminalize homosexuality. Really? Criminalize it? Is that what we’ve come to?
In a radio interview Janice Daniels did after taking office last fall, she said, “I want to use this new role that I have as mayor of this great city to promote the healthy aspects of society.”
The people of Troy must impress upon Janice Daniels that her role is NOT to be a social commentator. We do not want her to run our lives. We do not want her to critique or guide our religious, ethnic or sexual identities. We do not want her deeds to represent us as Christians.
We want her to stop promoting herself and her social agenda and get back to cutting ribbons and running meetings properly.
Sharon MacDonell
Keep Troy Strong blogger
Dave W
5:40 pm on Saturday, July 7, 2012
Thanks Sharon, this is a good summary of the main issues. I also appreciate the various links that demonstrate your points perfectly.
If anyone has never heard that radio interview on blogtalkradio.com, it is very enlightening, if not scarey. They discuss how being a moderate, or liberal in hiding / leftist in disguise, is something that should not be acceptable. She defends why she didn't take the oath to the Troy City Charter. There is plenty of rhetoric around many issues, especially around education, where she says that kids are being indoctrinated with marxism/communism and how critically important it is to correct. She says "this is the direct result of our allowing 1970 radicals to become the professors of today." She also says that she's working with Dr. Michael Ross to "restore intact families". She wants him to speak to the city, and she wants to use the role of Mayor "to promote the healthy aspects of society".
Isn't the Mayor a non-partisan position?? You'd never know that based on this interview. No wonder the concept of "representing all citizens" is so lost on Mayor Daniels.
Daffy Noodnicks
5:51 pm on Saturday, July 7, 2012
Who the heck is Dr. Michael Ross?
Cathy Fucinari
11:22 am on Friday, July 13, 2012
What does she know about "intact families" or the "sanctity of marriage"? She's been divorced twice!
If anyone needs a mental health evaluation, it's not the city of Troy.....
Jeff S.
5:40 pm on Saturday, July 7, 2012
I liked it before when I had no idea who the Mayor of Troy was. Now half the country knows the name of our mayor. Can't we just go back to our well run, fiscally responsible city, before Janice and her TCU pals showed up?
Sharon
5:58 pm on Saturday, July 7, 2012
Dr. Michael Ross showed up at the last city council meeting inviting Janice Daniels to a meeting about lowering the number of divorces. They acted like it was an all new idea. Yet, she said she would invite HIM to speak about intact families last fall. It's simple evidence that she is inviting these people to speak and to try to make us better people. This organization convinces clergy people to refuse to marry people unless they have gone through some kind of training and also wants to make it harder to get divorced. They want to end "no fault" divorces.
Timothy Maurer
10:49 am on Sunday, July 8, 2012
It is a very sad state of affairs when a Mayor invites a leader of a certified hate group to speak at a city council meeting.
Chris P.
2:14 pm on Sunday, July 8, 2012
Well said, Sharon. But therein lies the issue. She is incapable of representing ALL of the people of Troy. She is so divisive it's sad. She needs to resign and let this city move on in a healthy way.
Barbara Koehn
6:28 pm on Sunday, July 8, 2012
As I read all the information you put in your blog, Sharon, I realized that the residents of the City of Troy have been short-changed. We have always been in the news for our excellent test scores, our outstanding city manager, good city services, and a mayor and city council who had THEIR city's citizen's interest as their number 1 goal. Where did we go wrong? We have had some real doozies for mayors in the past, but this one takes the cake. She has her own agenda, only cares about those citizens who voted for her and doesn't care if she and her "backers" spew racial slurs, stick their noses where they don't belong and have forgetten why they were elected.
I have lived here for over 35 years, raised my children here, and love this city. I am sad that people like Janice Daniels are put in a position where she can follow her own agenda. To the many people who have worked so hard to recall her, thank you-To those who support her actions, my Mama used to say, "Birds of a feather flock together" I must say that people such as you do nothing to enhance our city, you have spoiled what was a wonderful place to live. We now are the laughing stock of the nation-In November, I will be more than happy to drive people to the polls in order to make sure Janice Daniels is recalled-I refuse to sit and watch her ruin a wonderful place to live. It will take a while to regain our credibility, but we will!! We will regain our good name in spite of this woman and her flock-
Anonymous
8:07 pm on Sunday, July 8, 2012
Well, I would say past Mayors Schilling and Stine had their own agendas, too, but most of you don't think so because they are liberals that all of you like. Schilling/city council didn't even interview all those that were selected by the search firm to become City Manager when she appointed John Szerlag position with no good explanation and again wasted tax dollars on a search firm when she had an agenda all along.
Daffy Noodnicks
8:31 pm on Sunday, July 8, 2012
This liberal/conservative claptrap is made up nonsense and has nothing to do with the current recall, neither does anything any past Mayor has done.
The recall of JD crosses political and ideological lines because what she has repeatedly done is so offensive to so many people. Period. End of story.
If you had some problem with some past mayor, your time to do something about that has passed. Bringing it up now is a diversion from the issue at hand.
Ellen Hodorek
10:17 pm on Sunday, July 8, 2012
The interviews happened. City Staff even met the candidates. I was there. I met them. That whole process wouldn't have even had to happen -- including the waste of money on a search -- had the TCU councilpeople at the time approved the then assistant city manager Brian Murphy as interim city manager. John Szerlag would have proceed with his consulting plans and Murphy would have served as interim having a chance to prove himself. In all likelihood Murphy would have ended out as city manager, no money would have been wasted on search and you Szerlag haters wouldn't have had Szerlag back.
Chris P.
10:33 pm on Sunday, July 8, 2012
Stine is as a Republican and Schilling a Democrat, but neither of them brought an extreme ideological agenda to the Mayoral position in the same way Daniels has. Not even close. And the fact that both a Republican and a Dem are supportive of her Recall says everything about how inept Daniels is as Mayor. To say anyone who isn't of the thinking of Daniels is a "liberal" is strange. And explains a lot about the thinking of the folks who took hold of the election conversations with their extreme propaganda in recent years. I'm definitely a Republican and am astounded at the fiscal irresponsibility I see in Janice and her supporters. Good grief.
Linda
10:59 pm on Sunday, July 8, 2012
Chris, I am a fellow Republican and agree with you. However, it goes beyond being fiscally irresponsible. She is fiscally ignorant.
I am also sick and tired of her supporters trying to make the issue something it is not, i.e., partisan, sore losers, etc. They will come up with whatever inane excuses rather than face the facts. We constantly see them spew their ill informed rhetoric over and over and over and over again ad nauseam.
canseeallsides
1:26 am on Thursday, July 12, 2012
It's not just her!!!
http://boycotttroy.com
Barbara Koehn
11:09 am on Friday, July 13, 2012
It is too bad that no one decided to put Murphy in as interim city manager! He's been here all along, has been a part of all that has happened and would make an excellent City Manager-Did he apply for the job? How did the interviews go?