We just received another 6x9" glossy postcard telling us to vote for Jack Heath in the upcoming Salisbury city election. The postcard, the second in my mailbox in three days, was sent by the Coastal Association of Realtors and Maryland Realtors for Political Action, whoever they might be. It was sent from from Hunt Valley, Maryland, a few miles north of Baltimore.
I've been watching Mr. Heath's performance for the last year on PAC14 and have listened to him speak at two of the forums recently held. I was expecting a lot better from him. I'm terribly unimpressed by what he has to say and what he promises to do for the city. Empty promises, in my book, and nothing at all that speaks to the real needs of the citizens.
I'm not at all impressed, either, by his thirty years in a volunteer fire department (Pittsville, Parsonsburg?) or his having been a CEO of a couple of companies. What he's done in council over the past year for everybody to see is really nothing. He's just sat there and voted and talked about "When I was a CEO.... blah, blah, blah."
But back to the mailings. Who in his right mind would vote for somebody supported to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars spent by a small group of people (real estate), funded by a huge out-of-town organization? And, come to think of it, local real estate people are great friends and business partners of the landlords who own over 70% of the housing here and charge ridiculous rents for most of it. They're certainly not in it for making Salisbury a better place to live, only cashing in on it. Heath's platform is weak, and they know it, but they want that control, so they inject a ton of cash to buy a lot of advertising that isn't accountable by city campaign regulations, money that overwhelms that raised in contributions to candidates by local people and businesses.
To remind people, these are the same bunch who brought Salisbury the Dream Team in the early 2000's, led by Mike Dunn, the worst council and council president that we have ever had. Please, let's not go back there.
My vote and my wife's are definitely NOT going to Jack Heath. If he's accepting and not actively rejecting help from organizations as suspect as realtors' associations, he's not my pick for city council. Or for any other public office, for that matter.
I hope that you'll share this with your readers, because it's just wrong that outside parties like these get involved in local politics, and it's doubly wrong to hand over the city council to real estate people and landlords.
Thank you,
A District 3 Voter
52 comments:
I agree 1000 %
We will vote for Mr Heath. It is wrong to hand over the council to people who know zilch about business.
Money talks. Sleazy money talks the loudest.
Some of the real estate people are the bad landlords.
Same people who shoved Jake Day down your throats. Eat it up Slum'bury.
9:57 Anybody could have run against him if they wanted, it was a free election.
I think the real estate boards should stay out of endorsing local politicians... but guess who now works for the Coastal Board of Realtors ?
95% of the landlords are very good, they keep the properties up, are attentive to the renters concerns etc, the other 5% you call slum lords, who do they rent to? Slum people - poor credit no job skip on rent and destroy property. Where are all the folks you see in the WCSO press releases supposed to live? Contact Jack with your concerns he will listen and act on it. I did and was impressed with his communication and follow through.
9:23 AM-
My wife and I are happy to cancel out your two votes.
Out of town money should not be allowed, except for the legally permitted $250 each. This should be a small city's people's election, not a special interest funded free for all. This kind of stuff makes it all seem dirty and looks bad for Salisbury, especially when connected to the very people who made this city worse, not better.
I won't be looking at Jack Heath the same way anymore. Sorry, Jack. I thought that you had more integrity than this.
These are the same people who are funding Shanie Shields' reelection campaign. 'Nuff said.
Tim Spies is the best candidate for District 3 by far. This guy cares, and has our vote in November.
More of the same from the real estate consortium.
Why don't they put one of their own up for election if they have such great business smarts and interest in how the city is run? Oh, that's right, hardly any of them actually live in the city.
I agree, too. Special interests with money to burn have no place in local elections. There should be laws to keep local elections local.
Well, at least one of them did run for office. John Cannon, one of Salisbury's biggest slumlords (one of the 5%) is president of the County Council. Not a direction I want to see my city heading.
I know some of these people. It's like them to skirt the law to fit their own ends. It's all about as much money as they can squeeze out of the public on their way to the bank.
Jack, I'm disappointed with you, too. Sorry, buddy, but you're not getting my vote, just because of this. You should have known better.
This PAC money comes from big real estate and landlord donations to the PAC, then distributed whatever way they want while not having any oversight or rules. It's all about getting people on council that they can control. Like Shanie Shields, who has probably been living rent free for ten years.
And they stay anonymous to the public through the PAC, so nobody knows who's really pulling the strings.
That's scary.
10:51 AM-
You wouldn't be one of those landlords, would you?
Jack Heath doesn't hold a candle to Tim Spies when it comes to looking out for us. I'll be proud to vote for him again.
And just for you, Tim, Go Navy!
Let's make one thing clear when Jack Heath brags about his 30 years as a volunteer firefighter he is very deceitful. If he was honest and really cared about the City of Salisbury he would have told everyone that he was not a volunteer firefighter in the city he lives in rather he is a volunteer in the Fruitland Fire Company for 30 years. Fruitland and Salisbury are not the same city.
When asked at the forums what he will do for the city if he doesn't get elected. He told everyone he was going to do the same thing he has done for the past 30 years and volunteer for the fire department. Again that is the Fruitland Fire Company not the Salisbury Fire Department. The question was "What are you going to do for the City of Salisbury if you don't get elected?" Again he said he is going to do what he has always done, volunteer in Fruitland and not Salisbury. He is very deceitful and intentionally lied to the voters.
Another thing he has been deceitful about is saying that he is a firefighter. A firefighter actually goes into a burning building and fights fire. Jack Heath has never fought fire in his life and he is lying to the voters making it sound like he is some hero that fights fires and that is not true. He only does corporate business for the Fruitland Fire Department and not firefighting.
Jack Heath is intentionally being deceitful to the voters and lying about volunteering in Salisbury. He has done absolutely nothing for the Community in Salisbury that he is asking the voters to vote for him.
My vote is for honesty and integrity and I am voting for Tim Spies.
Vote Tim Spies for Salisbury City Council and send Jack Heath packing back to the little ole town of Fruitland.
Anonymous said...
Some of the real estate people are the bad landlords.
October 24, 2015 at 9:55 AM
DUH!! John Cannon and Laurie Crawford
Anonymous said...
Well, at least one of them did run for office. John Cannon, one of Salisbury's biggest slumlords (one of the 5%) is president of the County Council. Not a direction I want to see my city heading.
October 24, 2015 at 12:25 PM
All rental properties in Salisbury are run down. Please show me one property in Salibury that is kept up, just one! There isn't really any home owned properties that are well kept. Salisbury is a DUMP!!
Anonymous said...
10:51 AM-
You wouldn't be one of those landlords, would you?
October 24, 2015 at 1:25 PM
That's exactly what I was thinking!
Tim Spies has been a vanguard for Salisbury and should be voted in to continue that! He's got my vote.
I can't support anyone who listens to the money first and the people second or not at all, or worse yet, pretends to listen. We already have too many of those.
Can somebody tell us what Jack Heath has done for the city since he took his council seat over a year ago? I have to agree with the Letter to the Editor writer. Zip, zero, from what I've seen.
Not a real firefighter? Really? That's like somebody claiming to have been in Special Forces when they were really just a clerk in the Army, or stayed home playing Halo in Mom's basement. Stolen Valor is the name for it.
The exact same thing happened to me. I received two mailings over three days. I threw all of them away and I am not voting for Heath under any circumstance. He is a has been and a never was. I'm sick of listening to him try to impress. He is only a place holder on the city council with no vision, a yes man who votes yes to get along. Any jackass that would vote for chickens within city limits is a fool and a jackass. I really wonder at his resume, because I believe he has simply padded it in an attempt to get votes. I also agree he doesn't strike me as being too intelligent either.
If he's willing to lie about his "firefighting", which seems to be his main claim to fame, what else will he willing to say or do if he's elected? Hmmm.
I didn't know about Jack Heath trying to pass himself off as a Salisbury fireman. Listening to him, I thought that he was one, with 30 years experience. And now I find out that he was trying to pull the wool over our eyes the whole time claiming to be something that he isn't?
Stretching the truth is one thing, but taking credit for other firefighters' heroism on the line is a major disgrace.
If I were a Fruitland fireman, I'd be wanting his resignation and for him to take his clean, never used turnout gear (if he even has any) off the rack and home because nobody else wants it. The previous commenter hit the nail right on the head --- Stolen Valor.
Totally agree with 11:04. Mr. Spies IN THE SAME DISTRICT, running for the same seat is no dummy!
We will add to your cancellation by voting Mr. Spies. This plan was part of the reason behind redistricting. Isn't it the only district with more than one candidate?
"I think the real estate boards should stay out of endorsing local politicians... but guess who now works for the Coastal Board of Realtors ?"
We agree. And Who works for Coastal Realtors?
9:20- Working for Coastal Realtors as their full time public relations agent is Sara Rayne, formerly Sara Lake, who was fired from the Daily Times for engaging in a politically driven phone scam during the last election.
We all know who drives her bus and who was driving it back then.
There are some seriously mentally twisted and morally bankrupt people in this city, willing to go to great lengths to steal votes. It looks like Jack Heath is now among their flock, trying to take the vote from the people and give it to the landlord and real estate gang. They had free rein in local government from 2003 to 2007 under Mike Dunn, the SAPOA poster boy, who was handsomely rewarded from a taxpayer funded land annexation and million dollar developer "reimbursement" that he orchestrated and even voted for as council president. A real peach, that one. His and his father's names were on the land deed when it was sold to the developer while he was council president.
It's too bad that Heath has fallen in with these people. Most of us thought that he had a more accurate moral compass.
12:23 - Wow. Didn't know that. The lines between the dots are getting clearer now. That changes things for me.
They have wasted a lot of money on Muir Boda as well. They have given Muir Boda thousands of dollars for his County Council race that he lost and now this race. They have ads all over the internet for Muir Boda and Jack Heath. They want to continue to own this city. Vote Tim Spies!
Anonymous said...
I think the real estate boards should stay out of endorsing local politicians... but guess who now works for the Coastal Board of Realtors ?
October 24, 2015 at 10:43 AM
Who?
Anonymous said...
Let's make one thing clear when Jack Heath brags about his 30 years as a volunteer firefighter he is very deceitful. If he was honest and really cared about the City of Salisbury he would have told everyone that he was not a volunteer firefighter in the city he lives in rather he is a volunteer in the Fruitland Fire Company for 30 years. Fruitland and Salisbury are not the same city.
When asked at the forums what he will do for the city if he doesn't get elected. He told everyone he was going to do the same thing he has done for the past 30 years and volunteer for the fire department. Again that is the Fruitland Fire Company not the Salisbury Fire Department. The question was "What are you going to do for the City of Salisbury if you don't get elected?" Again he said he is going to do what he has always done, volunteer in Fruitland and not Salisbury. He is very deceitful and intentionally lied to the voters.
Another thing he has been deceitful about is saying that he is a firefighter. A firefighter actually goes into a burning building and fights fire. Jack Heath has never fought fire in his life and he is lying to the voters making it sound like he is some hero that fights fires and that is not true. He only does corporate business for the Fruitland Fire Department and not firefighting.
Jack Heath is intentionally being deceitful to the voters and lying about volunteering in Salisbury. He has done absolutely nothing for the Community in Salisbury that he is asking the voters to vote for him.
My vote is for honesty and integrity and I am voting for Tim Spies.
Vote Tim Spies for Salisbury City Council and send Jack Heath packing back to the little ole town of Fruitland.
October 24, 2015 at 4:49 PM
Joe this is the honest truth and it would be a nice 'Letter to the Editor.'
Anonymous said...
Not a real firefighter? Really? That's like somebody claiming to have been in Special Forces when they were really just a clerk in the Army, or stayed home playing Halo in Mom's basement. Stolen Valor is the name for it.
October 24, 2015 at 6:46 PM
He is not a real firefighter. I am a firefighter and have been all my life and I can tell you Jack Heath is not being honest on this one. Thirty years as a firefighter? Nope, nadda! I remember Norman Conway bragging about being a firefighter all those years as well and Joe posted a story on the same lie. Members of the Salisbury Fire Department have never seen Norman Conway fighting fire just like they haven't seen Jack Heath at the Fruitland Fire Department.
Jack Heath is a Fake!
You would be a fool to vote for the Fake!
Vote Tim Spies!
This stinks to high heaven. No Heath. No Way.
Some people probably think that an endorsement by the real estate association is a big deal. It is. A big, bad deal.
(And what's in your basket, little girl?)
People just don't know how much money flows from the realtors to the candidates. At least $4,000 for the two postcards mailed to something like 3000 voters and potential voters. Probably another $5,000 for radio and/or TV ads and then maybe another $2,000 late mailing, all done without Mr. Heath leaving his recliner except to have his picture taken. Just that $11,000, not counting other donations, is more money than any candidate has ever raised for a council seat in individual donations, and more than any candidate CAN raise without a slip under the table or from across the Bridge. We're being smothered by special interest money.
2:22 is right. It stinks in Salisbury.
3:07
You forgot newspaper ads? Add $3,000.
I'm a real Salisbury volunteer firefighter. Boo on Heath for taking credit for what we do. If I could vote, it wouldn't be for him, that's for sure.
So, if Heath is getting $14,000, and so are Shanie Shields and Muir Boda from the realty association, that kind of squashes the competition, doesn't it. I suspect that Shields and Boda have gotten less money because their district candidates don't present the able and qualified challenge that Mr. Spies does for Mr. Heath. Looks like it's up to the people in the voting booth. I hope that they can see through the glitter and glamour, deceit and lies.
--A retired Teacher and Coach and District 3 Resident
Check out the TimSpies.com website. His experience, impressive resume and community service record put Heath in the dust. And he's honest about himself, which makes me support his election.
--A retired Teacher and Coach AND District 3 Resident (again)
Salisbury will be doomed if Jack Heath is elected. Nice guy, but he's under the spell of the landlord set, the same people who have made life miserable for Salisbury. The criminals live in their rentals (the "5%", so they say), the rentals look like Third World rejects, they keep minorities "in their place" (their words) and they contribute nothing to Salisbury or its people. A vote for Heath, Boda and Shields, all landlord picks and one a longtime landlord pocket vote, will be votes for the status quo, or worse.
Some of us have been here for a long, long time and things have improved only over the last few years, none of it attributable to Jack Heath. He hasn't done a damned thing in the year+ that he's been on council except vote with the pack and make dopey comments. He's not worthy, for so many reasons, including his lying about being a firefighter.
Joe,
Thanks for posting the TimSpies.com website on your blog. I don't know if we'd have seen it otherwise.
We just read through the whole thing and are very happy to send this man to the council. He's got a terrific resume and has been a credit to his country and city. Semper Fi, Doc!
Ray & Cindy
"Anonymous said...
We will vote for Mr Heath. It is wrong to hand over the council to people who know zilch about business.
October 24, 2015 at 9:23 AM"
Spoken like a true non-resident. Heath is a joke, and more people are knowing how much of a joke every day.
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