Dawn "Kuhn" Tubbesing Running for Mayor-Linked In Profile is Out of Whack

Well Dawn Tubbesing has filed to run for mayor of Shawnee.  Anybody doing a search of the various on-line social sites needs to remember that when she did serve on the city council it was with the surname of Kuhn.  So, to get a true reading search both names.

Now here is a funny one.  She resigned from the city council in August of 2013 to be effective in Ocxtober since she was relocating out of Ward 3 because of her pending marriage at that time.  So far, so good.  Doing things right.

But what did she do?  Or actually not do?  It's been 5-1/2 years since her resignation but she apparently has never modified, or deleted her Linked In web page.  That means that that page still, as of this writing shows her as an active city council person, and supposedly has been one for 14 years 10 months.  I'm sure she'll come up with some kind of bovine scatological reason for not changing that page.  Heaven forbid she would never deliberately leave it up there to mislead local residents who don't follow local elections that closely.  She probably has been too busy over the past 5-1/2 years to take the 10 minutes or so to take care of this.

In case she finally decides to change it the link is
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-kuhn-9a766614/

And here is a screen capture:

We will have more commentary concerning her candidacy as time goes on.  Suffice it to say her election would be disastrous for Shawnee.

Stephanie "The Liar" Meyer Wants to be Council President

It’s on the agenda for Monday’s meeting, 1/14/19.

Calling a sitting city councilmember a liar is a tough thing to do.  Unless as in this case it is true.

First, let’s look at what Ms. Meyer wants.  She wants to be Council President.  The Council President has some clearly defined responsibilities and functions.  One of these is to assume the office of  Mayor if for some reason the mayor is unable to complete his/her term.  The other function is to chair the council committee.

Rather than copy|paste abunch of emails I will provide a synopsis of what transpired and end it with a copy|paste of my last email to her.

This all started with a dialogue about the proposed new community center on the west side.  Ms. Meyer claimed that she know the pulse of her constituents.  I questioned that because she had run unopposed in the last city election.  She came back in a very bullying manner (ala Jeff Vaught who she now seems to be channeling) claiming I did not not know how she handled her campaigning.  She claimed she walked her ward in that last election even though she ran unopposed.

She was asked to produce a copy of her walking card.  What is a walking card?  That is that card that candidates have printed, usually about twice the size of a standard post card.  It contains info on what the candidate stands for.  It is used by candidates to remind citizens who the candidate is.  And, if the citizen is not home, it’s a notice that the candidate stopped by (usually left in the door).

She failed to produce a copy of the walking card and never even responded to the request to see it.  Why?  Because she never had any printed.  I had already pulled her campaign finance reports.  She had no contributions listed and no expenses listed.  Ergo, she never bought and paid for any walking cards.  No candidate is going to walk a ward without this type of card.  So she lied about walking the ward in the last city election.  She did mention that walked the state rep district (which is a larger geography) in 2012.  Ahhh yes, believe that was a primary in which Charles Macheers beat her by almost 2:1.

For the record, Ms Myer has never been challenged  for her position on the city council.  She was originally appointed to fill the seat that became open when Dawn Kuhn resigned and then ran unopposed.  Of course she got votes that year.  There was no other choice.

IMHO, that because of her lying about walking the ward, that any councilmember who votes for her for Council President is morally deficient.

Here’s the copy|paste of my final email to her (which includes some quoting from her email):

===========================

Stephanie,

You have not provided me with a copy of your "walking card" from the last election. Probably because you never had one.  Probably because you never walked the ward, even though you claim you did.

This from you:

First of all, I object to your comment that I have not taken the pulse of my constituents.  You have no idea how I interact with my neighbors and other residents, nor anything about any campaigns I've run, as you've never been involved.  I did in fact walk my ward during my last election, despite being unopposed, because they are still my constituents.  Additionally, when I ran for State Representative in 2012, I walked an even larger area, and this came up at many doors at that time as well

You can object all you want.  Taking an arrogant, sanctimonious, bullying "attack" stance with me will not work.  Do you think I am some kind of fool?  If you do, well then young lady you have alot to learn.  It took less than five minutes to pull up your financials from the last election.  All reports were zero dollars in and zero dollars out.  No funds expended for "walking cards".  Who walks a ward without leaving something behind, especially if no one is home?  Granted, you may have stopped to chat with some neighbors and/or friends, but it would definitely appear that you did not walk the ward.

Maybe I should now consider you as Stephanie "the liar" Meyer.

Ray

 

Will The New Councilmember be More Open Than Four of Her Colleagues?

Recently I have been critical of four of Shawnee's councilmembers for a lack of transparency.  These four are Jim neighbor, Matt Zimmerman, Stephanie Meyer and Mickey Sandifer.

The topic that they refused to answer inquiries about was their votes for Lisa Larson-Bunnell to fill part of the term of Justin Adrian.

So, I decided to ask Ms. Larson-Bunnell about the situation.  The exchange of emails is shown below.  Mine are in blue, hers in red.  If she does what she says she definitely will be more open than her four arrogant fellow councilmembers.  I find her comments to be very interesting, since she won't comment directly on the actions of the others.
========================================================================

Mornin’ Lisa,

Happy New Year.

If you have followed my blog you will see that I have been critical of 4 of the 5 councilmembers who voted for you for being non-responsive to an inquiry.

It was felt by myself and others that they needed to explain the reason(s) they voted for you over an individual who received in excess of 1000 votes in an election for the seat.  When the council appoints an individual to fill an open seat they are acting on behalf of the ward and the city as a whole.

There is nothing wrong with asking any legislator to explain the reasoning behind their vote.  As a matter of fact, when asked, they have an obligation to respond.

So, as the person who was the beneficiary of their vote I feel it is imperative to ask you the following:  Do you feel it is appropriate or inappropriate for the four councilmembers to ignore the request for the answer to the  question as to why they voted for you?

I await your reply

Ray


Good morning, Ray, and a most Happy New Year to you!

I will not comment on the actions of other council members, but I am happy to have the opportunity to show you what to expect from me.  I hope you have seen through our conversations that your voice and the voice of other community members is important to me.  If you ask me a question about a policy or why I voted a certain way, I will give you an answer.  

I suspect we will not always agree on what course of action to take, but I will always treat you, and others who reach out to me, with respect and dignity.  As I stated in my public interview, I am committed to being engaged and responsive. While I sense that you were disappointed in my selection, I hope to earn your respect over time.  

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.  E-mail is the best way to get ahold of me, but I am also happy to speak by phone, or before/after council meetings.  

Lisa Larson-Bunnell

P.S.  I will be out of town and not responding as quickly as usual to e-mail between January 9th and 13th.  

Hi Lisa,

Thank you for your reply.

I can understand your hesitancy in commenting on the actions/inactions of your fellow councilmembers

So, let’s look at this from your perspective, regarding these statement of yours:  “If you ask me a question about a policy or why I voted a certain way, I will give you an answer.”  “As I stated in my public interview, I am committed to being engaged and responsive.”  “Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.”  

Based on those statements of yours, is it safe to say that as far as you are concerned you feel that you have an obligation and a responsibility to answer any and all citizen inquiries?

Looking forward to your reply.

Thank you

Ray

Good evening, Ray.  Yes, I consider it my responsibility to listen to our citizens and engage in a conversation about the issues facing our city.

To that end, I always welcome your input and will do my best to promptly respond to your questions.

Thanks,

Lisa

 

Open Government??? Transparency??? Not These Four!!!

Before I get into the subject matter let me wish everyone a Happy New Year.  I spent the holiday week out of town with the kids and grandkids and did have a white Christmas.  Also, found out somebody had apparently hacked my email address and sent out some strange emails to my contact list.  Hopefully that has now been corrected.

On to the subject matter.  If you have been following the previous posts then you know that I emailed the five council members who voted for Lisa Larson-Bunnell to fill the seat of Justin Adrian until a fall special election.  When councilmembers vote for an item like this they are substituting their votes for the citizens of a ward and also for the citizens of the entire city.  Since the newly appointed councilmember will take actions that affect the entire city.

I asked them to explain their rationale for voting for Ms. Larson-Bunnell.  Only one responded (Lindsey Constance) and as promised, her answer is posted below.

What about the other four?  Jim Neighbor, Matt Zimmerman, Stephanie Meyer and Mickey Sandifer?  It appears that these four public servants apparently feel that they don't have to answer to the citizenry for their actions.  Apparently they feel they are above it all.  Is it arrogance?  If any of these four ever say they are in favor of open and transparent government we can play the BS card.  Actually, we can play the liar card.  We can also play the arrogance card.  They need to be reminded that they work for the citizens and are accountable to the citizens.  All citizens deserve responses to questions.  Keep that in mind when three of these four (Stephanie Meyer, Jim Neighbor and Mickey Sandifer) come up for reelection in ten months.  And one of these individuals has also told some other whoppers.............more on that in a future post.

BTW, here is Lindsey Constance's reply.  I have a problem with some of what she says, but at least she replied.  Will probably comment on the problems at a future date:

Hi Ray,

Sorry I missed your email last week with the holiday. Regarding my choice to select Lisa, I felt that she did an exceptional job on the questions posed in the application. I was also impressed with her speech at the council meeting as well as her level of preparedness. The other thing that set Lisa apart was that she attended several of the meetings, spoke at one, and introduced herself to each Councilmember, providing them with resumes several weeks ago. 

I also appreciate the experience she brings from a legal perspective and feel that it will be a positive addition to the diverse backgrounds of others on the council.

From her speech as well as her written responses, I felt Lisa would be a person who will seek to bring together people with different ideas, which is a personality trait I appreciate in leaders. 

Thanks for sharing your input. I hope you stay safe and warm this week.

 

Lindsey Constance
Shawnee City Councilmember, Ward 4