Janice Daniels, Please Stop Sending Me Junk Mail

Dear Janice,

I didn't want to have to do this again. I thought I could respond to your election literature, say my piece, and move on. But you won't let me. You keep sending me junk mail.

This time, you've stolen Archibald McNeal Willard's painting, The Spirit of '76, to prove how patriotic you are. You desperately need me to know that you're going to strengthen my family with “less government.” And that you're the only person in the council race standing up for “truth,” “vigilance,” and “wisdom.”

Frankly, Janice, I find the whole thing cheap and lazy.

It's not cheap because you didn't spend a great deal of money on this, you did. I would love to know who is giving you all this money so you can keep generating junk mail. As far as I know, this is your fifth mailer. Each one is worse than the last.

No, it's cheap because you invoke the tacky patriotism of a bad Mel Gibson movie. Or worse, the grifter patriotism of Glenn Beck. You use patriotism as an excuse to glorify yourself and blame others. As always, you're blaming city employees and making them the “problem.” Instead of defending them as skilled, talented workers, you intentionally throw them under the bus and accuse them of not being worth their salaries and pensions. (And let's remember, Janice, it's not the first time you've blamed others. When you were tossed out of office, you spitefully blamed the media for your failures.)

But here's the problem with blaming others, Janice: Once you start blaming others, you open yourself up to comparisons.

Tell me, Janice, are you more patriotic than the candidate that received Leadership Troy’s Outstanding Volunteer Award for 2011?

Are you more vigilant than the candidate that spent his entire adult life owning and operating his family business?

Are you more wise than the candidate that listened thoughtfully to the counsel of others and changed his mind about the Transit Center?

I ask rhetorical questions, Janice. I don't expect you to answer them. I'm not sure you can. Which takes me to my other point. Invoking cheap patriotism is a lazy way to try to win an election.

It's lazy to rely on mailers and won't bother to attend events with other candidates.  I speak, of course, of the League of Women Voters candidate forum. Five candidates appeared, sat on the firing line, and answered questions. Some questions were tough. Some were easy. But even after promising to appear, you were a no-show because you were off doing...what exactly? Hiding?

That, Janice, is the crux of the problem. A patriot, in the words of Frederick Douglas, is a “lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins.” I would add that a patriot is a person who is willing to sacrifice for their community to overcome those sins. Those five candidates showed courage in standing before their neighbors to prove that they are willing to sacrifice their time to earn my vote.  All you do is blame others while begging for votes.

And just where were you, Janice? Besides hiding behind bulk mail, crowing about your own wonderfulness.

When I look at your mailers, I can't help but see what isn't there. Your mailers are bereft of examples of your volunteer experience because you don't volunteer. Your mailers of bereft of your business experience because you've never successfully run a small business. Your mailers are bereft of legislative experience because you were a miserable failure as mayor.

But I did notice something, Janice. Your mailers are full of one distinct thing: Narcissism.

You're so full of yourself that you can't abide the scrutiny of a public forum. You simply want to be on council because you want the recall to be shown an aberration. It wasn't. As mayor, you proved that you don't care about the opinions of others. And you certainly won't work with them.

So stop sending me your junk, Janice. I will never believe that you offer Troy anything other than ignorance and hostility.

Sincerely,

An Informed Troy Voter