Event #1
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| Ben at a P2P free bike tune-up in 2008. Photo by Hank Greer |
Anyway. A little over a week ago, I mentioned how my buddy Ben is running for City Council president. You can read the end of that post to understand the background on why I'm trying to help Ben out. The plan was to have a bike hang event at our house as a way for Ben to do some glad-handing with local cyclists.
Here's the date for that: Monday, May 23rd. 6PM. Our house.
If you are a Spokane cyclist, you are invited. So is your family.
Here's what I know:
- Most of the local cyclists that read this blog know where I live. If you don't, send me an email (johnspeare at gmail dot com) and I'll give you directions.
- We will provide beer, water, and food. There will be vegetarian and vegan options too. I'll likely do my standard big-crowd Mexican-inspired thing.
- Suggested donation to Ben's campaign is $25. If you're opposed to that generally, or can't afford it, or you just want to come and have beer and food and talk nerdy bike stuff, then don't feel obligated to pony up. The deal is that it's better for Ben to have a lot of $25-donors than it is to have a handful of high-roller donors. He's doing well on both fronts, but that's the angle here.
- I wonder if we could swing a post-hang ride? On paper, May 23rd at around 8pm or so should be really nice cruising weather.
- RSVP would be really nice, but that tradition appears to be fading quickly.
The second event that I want to mention here is happening this weekend. Here's the flyer:
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| Click for bigger |
What: We’re pulling 2 or 3 trees from Pedals2People to the new Spokane Public Market, where we’re having a tree planting party with a DJ, wine-tasting, taco truck, etc…
When: Saturday May 7th, Meet at Pedals to People at 4:30. The bicycle-tree parade starts around then and will proceed to the Public Market.
"The deal is that it's better for Ben to have a lot of $25-donors than it is to have a handful of high-roller donors. He's doing well on both fronts, but that's the angle here."
ReplyDeleteUm...nevermind.
Anon -- indeed, a nonsensical statement. The re-write:
ReplyDelete"He's doing well raising money from a few big donors and lots of $25 donors. But it's better for everyone if he gets more $25'ers."
The longer I do this, the thinner skinned I get. You'd think it would go the other way. But I'm annoyed by snarky anonymous commenters. And on the snark scale this particular comment is pretty low, but I still find it pretty irritating, which I guess is the point.
I'm not a huge FB fan, but one super obvious generality I'm noticing is that when people communicate as themselves, they're way friendlier -- in fact, one thing that drives me nuts about FB is how almost artificially contrived it seems in this regard.
In any case, I'm pleased to know at least *someone* is reading this stuff carefully, if not me.
Eh, I'm the same in person.
ReplyDeleteI'm just thinking "low-rollers" may have mixed feelings about "the angle" of being used to make a candidate's big-money contributions look "better."
I'm less afraid of being falsely accused of snark than helping a candidate who is corrupt.
Not saying that's true of your friend (doubt it), but then again, candidates seem to always brag about their low-level donors...then burn us.
Just makes me wonder who is giving him those big money donations, how much, and what they expect in return.
That's not snark, but hard-headed realism.
Thanks for your hard-headed realism here Anon. Very helpful.
ReplyDeleteBut don't bother to look up Ben's PDC filing, which shows that the vast majority of high roller donors are friends and family like me that have seen the passion and intensity Ben has brought to his work over the last decade.
Oh yeah -- and don't bother to do a 1 second web search that reveals the work Ben has done over the last couple years to get better health/dental care for poor kids in our community, or his effort to push a solution for our dismal dropout rate.
No, your casual reference to corrupt politicians and being burned by guys like Ben is right on! Generally, I find your hard-headed realistic, off the cuff, and of course anonymous super-insightful wisdom is very appreciated.
Those who talk the most, do the least.
ReplyDeleteYou can judge a persons character when you meet them in person, and I've met Ben. He's solid. I've also talked to Mary Verner, and she is cool. Al French is in it to make money.