To the Editor,
As they say, all politics is local.
If, like me, you’re currently displeased with the shape our country’s in, then do not vote for candidates in the upcoming Mount Airy City Council election who are affiliated with the Democrat party – because local office-holders typically support and mirror the policies/activities of their same-party counterparts at the state and national levels.
If we’ve learned anything from Joe Biden’s radical-left administration about the Democrats’ view of finances, it’s that budgets don’t matter – because if there’s not enough money to pay for their pet projects, they simply print more Franklins or raise taxes on the middle class. For a left-leaning office-holder in Mount Airy, the only option would be to raise taxes.
Joe Zalescik, current candidate for South Ward Commissioner in our local election, is a registered Democrat (per the voter files of Surry County’s Board of Elections, as of April 18); and he was appointed commissioner-at-large seven months ago.
Last Sunday, I read in the Mount Airy News that Joe Zalescik said the city budget was $15 million more than it actually is … and then, when that error was brought to his attention, he casually brushed it off as a “minor mistake.” News flash: being $15 million off the mark is not a ‘minor mistake’ — it’s gross incompetence for a sitting commissioner to be so inexcusably clueless about the city’s budget; and it raises a red flag about his ability to be financially responsible with city taxpayer funds.
Zalescik then tried to deflect the significance of his blunder by noting that everyone makes mistakes and that certain detractors in town were “…looking for anything to criticize me.” Hmmm, sounds like another Joe (Biden, that is) when he blames Vladimir Putin for inflation.
It’s also noteworthy that, immediately prior to the kick-off of the current local election, Zalescik and Commissioner Steve Yokeley (who nominated Zalescik for the commissioner seat he now holds) engaged in a behind-the-scenes ‘switcheroo’ deal relating to territorial representation so that both could better pursue their personal political agenda.
Finally, a few weeks ago, Zalescik flooded the local voter market with a jam-packed direct-mail solicitation that included an ‘absentee ballot’ application. Talk about taking electioneering cues direct from the Democratic playbook.
By now you’ve probably guessed I’m a fiscally conservative Republican. What you may not know is that I’ve lived in Mount Airy, proudly and happily, for the past 10 years – having been born and raised in the City of Brotherly Love, where radical Democratic shenanigans is a highly-evolved art form and as culturally pervasive as soft pretzels, cheesesteaks, and the Philadelphia Eagles.
With the upcoming city council election in Mount Airy, we voters have an opportunity to clean house. Let’s rid the City Council of all those whose first allegiance is to themselves or possibly the radical left-leaning fringe of the Democrat party, which is rapidly ruining the nation. Let’s rid the city council of all those who lie, distort reality, and/or provide pathetic excuses to obscure their inability or unwillingness to manage our tax dollars wisely. And let’s rid the city council of all those who engage in secret backroom deals.
Please join me in the primary and general elections (May 17 and Nov. 8, respectively) to vote for candidates whose words and deeds demonstrate their honesty, transparency, fiscal responsibility, and commitment to building a better future for Mount Airy.
Tom Hickey
Mount Airy