There are a couple of questions I have about John Morris, one of three Republican candidates for the 18th Congressional District, that I don’t feel have been adequately answered:
When Morris decided not to run for reelection as a city councilman, he said it was so he could spend more time with his family. (May 1, 2007: “[T]he most important thing for me is to spend more time with my family.”) Yet he’s now embarked on a quest to become a U. S. Congressman, which will mean even less time with his family. Why the change?
When I asked his campaign office about that today, they said that his family fully supports him in this race, and that eight years as a city councilman was long enough. Both excellent answers to questions that I didn’t ask. One logically-consistent but improbable conclusion we could draw is that, while Morris wanted to spend more time with his family, his family wants Morris to spend more time out of town. Like I said, improbable, but any other explanation I can think of makes him sound either wishy-washy or deceitful. So, it would be helpful if Morris would candidly answer that question, because it does make some people cast doubt on his veracity.
- On Dec. 1, the Journal Star reported that “WTVP was found in technical default [of their loan with Bank of America] in 2005 after failing to raise a specific number of pledges and pledge money, items covered in bond covenants.” John Morris was Vice President for Development at WTVP for 10 years — up until he took a leave of absence starting Sept. 17 to run for Congress — and it was his job to oversee fundraising for the station. So does that mean that Morris is responsible for WTVP being in technical default on their loan?
Not according to Morris’s campaign office. They say he “exceeded his fundraising goals,” raising “more than $20 million” during his ten years of employment and winning “nine national awards” for his fundraising work. Again, we have a paradox. He met all his fundraising goals, but WTVP is in default because they didn’t meet their fundraising obligations. How do we resolve this antinomy? Was it that his boss wasn’t setting the fundraising goals high enough to be in compliance with WTVP’s bond covenants? That could explain the issue at hand, but would raise some unsettling questions about the management of WTVP. It would be nice if these questions could also be cleared up with some frank explanations.
3 cheers on question #2 !
Why wouldn’t this have been asked already by mainstream media?
Now about your Schock questions….
I have a much longer list of questions for Schock. Don’t worry.
Peoriaguy: It was asked. By Jonathan Ahl of WCBU. I mentioned it in my post about the press conference.
It was asked, as Billy said, but it wasn’t answered any better, unfortunately.
As a candidate who is running hard on his conservative family values, the first question is the most serious to me.
Although there is more to number 2 than CJ is asking. My question would be: how can you continue on a leave of absence from a position that ultimately could decide whether or not WTVP continues to exist?
The answers to both questions will say a lot about Morris’s character.
Maybe it’s just the opportunity is too good to pass up. A vacant congressional seat is pretty rare.
Anonymous: this is a “feel good” job- it has to be the worst job existing, commuting to and from Washington, having to live around and working with phonies all day and night,having to beg for money all the time so you can retain your job, paying back favors for monies received, how the hell can you live with yourself? Oh, I know, it’s the pot at the end of the rainbow, you get to become a lobbyist for a Washington firm and a hefty salary. How you doing, Bob?
Roman II, You flew way by the cynical exit and went straight to negativity. I think there are good people(as well as bad) in Washington and I think we have three fairly decent folks running for the Republican primary. It could be a whole lot worse! I think John is way out in front of them in terms of negatives and unresolved “questions” to be answered.
1) He received 9 awards for his fundraising and raised 20 million for a PBS station? I’d call that pretty darn good. How the money is spent is another thing. How’s the zoo and the museum doing these days?
2) He did take time away with his family if he has been away from city council for several months. I don’t think because he said spending time with his family is important doesn’t mean he can’t take on another campaign someday…ever? If he were to win I assume he would no longer work for PBS or deal with the long hours of those annoying tv fund drives regardless of whether PBS makes it or not. Plus, when Congress is not in session(which seems to be a fair amount) he’d be at home with family.
If this is the worst there is to say about Morris then I’d say he is doing really, really well.
Re #1: CJ, you’re not supposed to hold people accountable for polite pro-forma lies, like, “Not tonight, I have a headache” or “I’m sorry, we have other plans that evening” or “It was a mutual decision” or “I’m quitting to spend more time with my family.” The world would come to an end! 😉
Is there an official list of “polite, pro-forma lies” that we are not supposed to hold people accountable for? Or are all politicians’ lies just “polite, “pro-forma lies”, so we can’t hold them accountable for any of them (like their campaign promises)?
I have a really radical proposal – how about politicians who want our vote, don’t start out by lying to us in the first place? I just don’t accept that the world will come to an end.
Jeff:I wasn’t trying to be negative about Mr. Morris, but what problem do you have with what I said?
Jeff, Morris was a vice president of the company. Are you saying he had no influence on the organization for which he was a vice president???
As for family time, are you kidding? As a city councilman yes there are some long nights and evening receptions. But as a congressman we all know you can be gone for much longer periods of time. And when you are home its nothing but back to back receptions and events again. And Morris made his reach for the congressional race less than 3 months after leaving the horseshoe…
Regardless, I would like to hear Morris’s take on those questions not one of his supporters. He might very well have a good answer for all of them, I don’t know.
C.J.: As we both learned tonight, Morris’s role was to secure donations from corporate sources. The newspaper articles I have read reported that the station didn’t meet pledge goals, which implies to me that Morris’s performance was NOT an issue.
I keep going back to the fact that WTVP was, in fact, making its payments on time. It’s almost like taking out a loan for a home while you and your spouse BOTH are employed. But one of you loses your job, but the other works overtime to make sure the house payment is made. But the bank demands full payment because it doesn’t think the situation is tenable.
If this issue keeps coming up, Morris is going to have to address it in depth.
“Is there an official list of “polite, pro-forma lies” that we are not supposed to hold people accountable for?”
You know, I want to say “of course they shouldn’t be telling polite pro-forma lies” (hence the winky face, I was being sarcastic), but to be honest I’m a little mind-boggled that anyone WOULDN’T read “taking time off to be with my family” as a polite cover for being pushed or forced out. It’s what they ALL say.
And I’m not entirely sure it’s a bad thing. When you interview for a new job, and they asked why you left your last one, do you say, “My boss was a raving lunatic with a chip on his shoulder who expected me to read his mind and blew his stack when I failed at telepathy”? Of course not, you say, “Personality differences” or “I felt like I’d done all I could in that position, and it was time for me to move on to new challenges.”
I’m not sure we’d all like the world where everyone told the straight up truth in those sorts of situations rather than the tactful half-truth.
The guy spent 8 years on the Peoria City Council! He should be given a special award for that 🙂 So he said he wanted to leave to spend time with his family. Maybe he was just done with serving on that city council. I think a number of the other folks on there could take a cue from him and walk away. I’m not talking term limits or anything, but some of those folks on there need to step away. What “new” ideas are many of the old timers bringing to the table anyway? Where are the George Washington’s of the world?! I guess dead:) It must bother people to see someone give up a position of power. They must know why. Who would give up a position of power if they don’t have to? (ummm, George Washington.)
As far as the PBS thing goes I really don’t care. They are making their payments.
Now, can we get back to the issues and where the three rep candidates stand. I heard there was a debate last night. I did not attend. Can somebody post something about that and what was said?
Billy, agreed. I double checked some news accounts and found this corroborating story from the Journal Star on 2/8/07:
The fact of the matter is, Morris wouldn’t have won another City Council election. He barely got in the last time [came in 4th]. Being a Congressman he will never be home, I guess seeing his young children grow up is not a top priority. He gives generic answers to everything so as to not have to answer truthfully. And when it comes to WTVP, you don’t get to take credit for your fund raising success for a certain job but take none of the blame when there is a fund raising failure with that same job. Wishy-washy, anyone!