Simply put: The American Revolution was bad ass.  We stood up to the mighty British Empire. And ultimately we won.  I highly recommend "1776" by David McCullough My favorite player in the Revolutionary War was Henry Knox.  We had captured Fort Ticonderoga and Knox was to deliver all the ammunitions to the Continental Army […]

   I got this cool question on my Facebook wall when I woke up this morning: "Are you really an atheist?" The short answer is: No.  But the background of that answer is complicated.  Let's start at the very beginning.  My grandfather was a Methodist minister. He always had this beloved aura around him. He […]

   Stephanie Warsmith tweeted this:    Those are noble pursuits.  But then I got to thinking: what does the Clerk of Courts know about creating jobs? I'm sure he oversaw people that had jobs. That's cool.  But that's not creating jobs.  When I read that tweet I thought: "Hey! That's what I do." I create […]

  When I watched presidential debates I always was amused by how they rarely answered the question they were asked. They answered the question they wished they were asked.  Maybe I'll see someday why a candidate shouldn't answer questions directly.  Maybe someday I'll see why I shouldn't say I don't know the answer to a question.  […]

   I had an amazing day today talking with people on the Akron Subreddit.  If you've never been to Reddit I'd highly recommend it.  It will take a bit to get in the flow of it. But once you do you'll likely see the power of it.  Reddit is democracy in action. Stories and comments […]

   I love technology.  That's probably why I'm in the technology business.  One of the many things I love about it is how it makes you free. With tech you can work (almost) anywhere.  Between our family's love of travel and traveling for business, I am fortunate to get to see a lot of the […]

   Near the end of World War I the German Major-General, Ludendorff, had a mental breakdown. He went to see a psychologist.  The psychologist told him he needed to take some time for himself. He needed to have a good meal, spend time with friends.  This sounds absurd as you contrast this to the cataclysmic […]

   Stephanie Warsmith of the Akron Beacon Journal did an amazing piece on my switch from Democratic candidate for mayor to Independent candidate for mayor.  This move is highly risky because it gives the board of elections ammunition to say "he declared himself a Democrat by running as a Democrat so he's a Democrat." The […]

   Something that is strangely missing is my opponents' positions on things.  The people have some very specific questions on things like: The EPA-mandated sewer project.  Homeless Vacant buildings  Schools Jobs  But I'm not aware of any public declaration from any of the major opponents.  I know it's a political strategy. But it seems unfair […]

   My goal is to get 1000 signatures by September 7. 1000 signatures that meet all the many requirements of the Board of Elections.  On Tuesday I looked at my calendar and realized my summer was quickly booking up.  We love to camp. And we try to get as many camp trips as we can […]

   I'm a little gun-shy after my denied signature submissions to run as a Democratic candidate for mayor. I feel like the political road is filled with hidden land mines that an uninitiated candidate is very likely to set off.  So far I've passively raised about a small amount of money through a Paypal account […]

   The path I'm on for mayor is unlikely, filled with unforeseable risks and unadvised by pretty much everyone in power and authority.  The last one is why I'm pushing forward with everything I've got.  I've always had a problem with just blindly accepting what authority tells me to do.  But more importantly: I'm doing […]

I'M RUNNING AS AN INDEPENDENT! Today the Summit Count Board of Elections officially announced what petitions they approved and what petitions they didn't approve. I had 65 out of the 50 needed signatures needed to run for Mayor. They accepted 41 of my signatures. Natural Hunka Kaboom, the other outsider, submitted 53 signatures. They accepted […]

   Deciding to run for mayor has instantly given me the opportunity to talk with all sorts of people.  What I've quickly found is that we all, no matter the party, have more in common than not.  We don't want others to suffer We want less crime We want to be safe We want our […]

   I had the opportunity to check out Celebration Church on Dan St. here in Akron today.  A friend of mine's kid was having his high school graduation party there.  The graduate's grandfather is a minister. I got a chance to talk with him for some time.  We got on the topic of what people […]

11 days in and my mind is flooded with things I should do to run a successful campaign for the office of Akron mayor.  The help I have been given within 11 days is breath taking. Amazing. That's all I can say. I don't under estimate the tried and true activities of running an Akron […]

I felt something today that maybe I never have felt before in my life. Today this whole mayoral journey felt bigger than just me.  The outreach of help and encouragement I've gotten in these 10 days is utterly humbling.  People have written me detailed insight in their experiences running for office. People have suggested books […]

   I posted a story yesterday about Dan Horrigan winning the race.  The story wasn't the problem. I found a picture of him and The Don.  It was one of those pictures that you see of politicians looking like politicians.  I didn't make fun of him. But I also knew that the picture put him […]

  OK. Politics is weird. It's only taken me eight days to figure that out. By day 16 I should be really tripped out. Talk to an insider and they will tell you one thing: Dan Horrigan is going to win. He will get hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend any way he wants […]

Monday, June 15, 2015 Running for mayor has been some of the most exciting work I've had the opportunity to pursue. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I use Mondays to get as much work done as possible. Adding a mayoral campaign to my list of activities has added a decent amount of work […]

Sunday, June 14 2015 We had a really great weekend in Hocking Hills. It's a very cool and fun place. I love checking at all the interesting places in the world. Our friend who has worked on some campaigns in the past drove home with us back to Akron.  She started going through all the […]

   It's Saturday. I often use the weekends to think. I avoid the phone and email as much as possible so I can take some time to think.  Every small business owner knows this fact: As a small business owner you are the General, the front line soldier and the cook. You have to be […]

I was so excited about day 4 (Friday, June 12 2015) that I couldn't sleep. Indy and I had just went to check out Jurassic World at the HIghland Theater the night before. It was so good I couldn't stop thinking about it. But at 9am on day 4 I was to have my first […]

It is now 11pm on day 3. I wrote day 1 and 2 just now because Greg gave me this idea today. Day 1 and 2 were so interesting. I wanted to make sure I had them recorded. This site is running on WordPress. It's easy to find a new theme and install it for […]

Greg and I thought there would be nothing to this part.. I mean, how hard could it be to get 50 signatures? We were wrong. People refused to sign. People didn't live in Akron. Endless people who don't vote and will never vote. There were countless hurdles. I was laughed at. I was told there […]

Greg Habermann, my campaign manager, had a brilliant idea.. as he often does. He thought it would be cool to blog my journey of becoming Mayor of Akron. He also thought that other people in our town might find this journey interesting. That future people whom might want to run for office might find this […]