Wednesday, July 30, 2008

John Faccin's candidacy - not such a good idea

Dateline July 30, 2008

It came to my attention yesterday, in this week's Iron County
Reporter, that John Faccin has decided to run for the 110th District
state Representative's seat. I went to the "Meet the Candidates"
meeting at Crystal Falls last night hopeful of asking him a question.
Unfortunately John fell ill a few hours before the meeting and was
unable to attend. But I am mailing this note to John and asking him to
reply to my question anyway. I will post it if he provides a reply
that sounds in any way reasonable.

Before I get to the question, I want to make the reader aware of the
bad blood John has created between us. On October 3, 2007, he wrote
the following:

"Bill

"You are just plain wrong, what you are is a Master of twisting things
around to suit your twisted mind."

[....]

"Did you ever wonder how Iron County got along so long without you.
They have existed for over 100 years without you and your advice. How
could that be? I'm not asking anyone to take my word for anything,
they can if they want, or they can check for themselves. I don't sell
out, and anyone who knows me, knows that. Ask Chuck Nordeman City of
Crystal Falls Manager if I sell out or stick to what I believe is the
truth and right. He was and is in a position to know."

[....]

"You have burnt every bridge you ever had in Iron County.

"You make my job easier by everything you say. My job is to get the
truth out and I have done that without too much trouble. I wonder if
everything is so bad and there is so much poverty around here why do
you stay, no one would miss you if you moved back to the homeland of
your roots, Hungary. It must be better there right, but then why did
your ancestors want to move to this poverty stricken country? I know,
they like you were going to save us all from ourselves right. I'll
continue to fight for the truth and for Iron County, I unlike you like
it here, and am trying to make a difference for the better. I don't
care what your opinion is, or what you think. I'll just let mother
nature take it's course and all will be fine again."


Well thank you, John, for being so blunt in telling the world how you
feel about things. There's no question that Iron County, unlike most
of the United States, is poverty struck and economically depressed.
There's no question that the county has been unable to sustain those
who were born here, and many have had to leave over the years just to
earn a living. It is a fact we have lousy roads. It is a fact that we
have 40-something fewer stores in Iron River alone than were here 25
years ago. People like you do need to be saved from yourselves. You're
in public office and running for higher public office, so make a
financial disclosure showing what a wonderful living you've been
making here in Iron County! I triple dawg dare you! I predict you will
not make any financial disclosure.

It doesn't make any sense to me at all that an individual who writes
diatribes like John did against fellow citizens could ever be able to
represent all of us equally in a state legislature setting. It is one
of the rights of citizenship to criticize government and the things we
don't like about how things are being run. Government is there to
serve us, not to retaliate as John has done on their behalf.

It is my opinion that John Faccin, who was known for years as a very
vocal reform advocate in Iron County, writes and says things like the
above in order to ingratiate himself with the Iron County oligarchy,
that is to say, the people currently in power. It seems he has some
county jobs at this time. All of them are appointed positions. He is
currently chairman of the planning commission and the parks commission
(which was formed only to be able to sell off some property the county
intends to do in order to raise some money.) He's also the secretary
of the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. I understand John ran for a
state level seat before and failed to be elected. There's certainly no
dishonor in running, or losing an election, but it appears to me that
he's a self-promoting opportunist rather than a dedicated public
servant.

My question for last night directed to John Faccin was, "Mr. Faccin,
for years you were vocally opposed to how Iron County government
operates. They appointed you to some positions in county government
and suddenly they can do no wrong in your eyes. If elected to state
position, what assurance do we have that the same thing won't happen
again?"

All right, John, the ball is in your court. The piece above is posted
at my new web site at www.ironcountydoings.blogspot.com. Your answer
will appear next to the above should you elect to respond in a
reasonable and respectful manner, as though you were already in a
state legislature elected position. Can you be fair in representing me
at the state level? If not, you should withdraw. In fact, I highly
recommend that you do.

The blog reader might well say, Bill you just broke your own rule in
posting an opinion piece. It might seem that way, but the essential
activist element is in confronting John Faccin with his own behavior
and asking him to explain himself. We probably can't achieve that in
the newspaper, so I have decided to do it here partly because the
primary is coming up so quickly.

John Faccin closed out his particularly nasty public posting about me
with this bit:

"What you need to do is find a church and read the bible, but then I
guess you would want proof and would be arguing with GOD telling him
how to do things. Seriously you should think about going to church and
reflect on your life, I know I have and I have made a lot of mistakes,
but I asked Jesus for forgiveness and I know I am saved. I know this
last few days I havn't been very Christian, but I will pray for you
and me for forgiveness."

Unlike you, John, I don't need forgiveness. It is much easier for me
to avoid behavior that requires it.

Being religious is, in my opinion, a good thing. But religion and
politics don't mix very well. Witch burnings in God's name
demonstrated that in the early history of the USA. Religion and
praying are helpful in a human being's personal relationships with men
and God, but not appropriate in the United States for seeking
political solutions. I don't care what sort of a Christian you are,
John. I care very much what kind of a politician you would be if
elected. In my opinion, not a very good one. Change my mind, if you
can.

Of course if you write something really stupid I won't hesitate for a
second to post that as well.

The above is the opinion and activism of Bill Vajk.

No comments:

Blog Archive