I went to my mailbox and saw a Republican newsletter and of course I was interested. I picked up and noticed it was titled "Rogue Elephant". I was also intrigued that it was sent and paid for by Matthew Bartow. The newsletter was a pro-Stainbrook, including a letter from Jon and a note encouraging your vote. It also included some Republican history. You can read the letter yourself below.
In full disclosure, Bartow most likely took money from those sending out lit on my behalf in previous campaigns and did not send out items. We suspected this before he had charges filed (several months before) and approached him on it. He denied it, although was not convincing. Since there was no solid proof other than a high number of people who were supposed to get letters/postcards not getting them and being that it was paid on my behalf both times (I did not directly contribute to the mailings so I could not file charges or also join in on the case), the people paying the check did not want to pursue it further (one was the Lucas County Republican Party). Several months later when I read that he admitted that he did not send out items, well that just showed that not only is he a thief but he lied multiple times straight to your face. That means that his credibility is gone and I doubt it will be earned back in my book.
What is interesting about this letter is what Stainbrook said about Bartow in the Blade:
"Mr. Stainbrook fired back yesterday that he didn't recruit Mr. Bartow and had no responsibility for disavowing him."
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080111/NEWS09/80...
Glass City Jungle even posted about it:
http://glasscityjungle.com/wordpress/?p=2419
So Stainbrook did not recruit Bartow? Strange that he is now sending out promotional material for Stainbrook. If I was in Jon's place and did not encourage this, I would be distancing myself from Bartow as much as possible. Jon keeps saying that he is advocating to rid the party of people tainted by Noes but he himself appears to be hanging around with those tainted by someone who not only stole from the Party but from multiple candidates, multiple times. There is a reason why those like Bartow are not welcomed back. Does this mean that Jon is welcoming Bartow back? Why not welcome the Noes back? Maybe because they are not sending out letters on Jon's behalf.
Of course Jon could say that Matthew was doing this himself, but he did appear to write the letter in the newsletter, which would say he knew he was doing it and working closely with Bartow. This sort of ruins his point of wanting to clean up the party.
Also, I noticed the photo of the cancelled meeting in the newsletter. Jon made a point on Fred's show last week saying people went to the meeting did not know it was cancelled. Well in the photo in the newsletter, you can see the only people there were member of Jon's merry band of men. I was given the impression listening to Jon that there were many people who showed up unaware of the meeting cancellation, well unless the photo was taken at another time, I don't see them.
Anyway, another chapter in the saga.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| bartowstainbrook.pdf | 1.58 MB |
He was seen by multiple people at the mud hen's opener with Block. Apparently his relationship goes back a long time.
Just finding this out now? When JRB was visiting the bars on the east side it was Stainbrook who acted as his wing man and would intro the girls to him. Stainbrook has also done music reviews for the Blade on a number of occassions Anyone who wants to move ahead in local politics better kiss JRB's ring, or at least that's how it used to be. The power of the newspaper has been waning with the falling subscription numbers and the time JRB spends in Pittsburgh. And as Martha would say "that's a good thing."
Here's to the crazy ones, the rebels, the troublemakers, the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them.