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<font size=3>As a volunteer in Marcus Mitchell's campaign and 40+ year
resident of Ward 3, I'd like to respond to Karen's concerns.<br><br>
Marcus has deservedly taken credit as a leader of the effort that saved
the library branches through formation of Providence Community Libraries,
but never as the only person responsible for that success. It could not
have been accomplished without the active participation of library
advocates and ultimately the City Council. Marcus's key role in
galvanizing all the related interests was recognized in his election as
founding president of PCL.<br><br>
Marcus became a community and economic development staff member in
Senator Santorum's office because of his demonstrated experience in
community service in the Philadelphia area. He has never shared the
senator's views on social issues and his work did not involve them. His
accomplishments while there included leveraging more than $1 billion in
federal funds for affordable housing, educational and healthcare
facilities in low income communities, and labor skills and apprenticeship
programs. Those skills would be welcome here.<br><br>
In evaluating the two candidates, we should also take into consideration
Councilman Jackson's failure to submit required campaign finance reports
to the state Board of Elections since 2010 and his failure to pay over
$30,000 in fines levied by the board for failing to file the
reports.<br><br>
-- Art Norwalk<br><br>
At 12:12 PM 10/29/2014, Karen MCA wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">I have known and worked with
both Kevin Jackson and Marcus Mitchell on many issues, particularly due
to my position as the union representative for the Providence Community
Libraries. <br><br>
Based on my experience, I have concerns about Marcus Mitchell's
candidacy. <br><br>
In addition to his association with Rick Santorum, who holds repugnant
views on any number of issues I hold near and dear, I also object to him
taking credit for work preserving the branch libraries in Providence when
in fact there were several of us who worked on this issue (with Kevin
Jackson's support) long before Marcus got involved and who continued to
do the lion's share of the effort.<br><br>
Although I share the frustration that Kevin is co-chairing Cianci's
campaign and know that his responsiveness to constituents is a real
issue, I believe he has a much stronger record of supporting progressive
community issues. <br><br>
Thanks for listening.<br><br>
Karen McAninch, 22 Memorial Rd.<br><br>
Sent from my iPhone<br>
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