Curt Ankerberg represents the Republican id. He is the Marjorie Taylor Green of the local GOP.
He is a candidate for Medford City Council.
If Republicans are unhappy with him, they can clean their own house.
In prior campaigns I have warned voters about Curt Ankerberg. He is a perennial candidate for local offices. This time I will leave that job to others.
Very occasionally I will publish comments on this blog by Curt Ankerberg. I reject most of his submissions, but sometimes he reveals something about the political mood among Republicans in this community and he does it without being obscene or defamatory. I publish some of those.
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| The Ankerberg page in my Voter's Pamphlet |
This week he was triumphant in a proposed comment. I posted it. It is an unguarded statement of what a Republican majority in Salem or the Congress might do. It is a warning. Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan, the two most likely Republican successors to be Speaker of the House, both propose to do exactly as Ankerberg predicts:
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are going down hard, as is Pelosi. The GOP is going to make Pelosi's January 6th committee look like Amateur Hour.
Christine Drazan will reverse the tranny-mania currently polluting the Oregon school system.
Oregon will be saved from Tina Kotek and her Marxist radicalism. No more climate change and New Green Deal nonsense.
Ankerberg's comments in the Voters Pamphlet give a flavor for what kind of city council person he would be. Voters can decide if they like it:
Medford is more corrupt than a Banana Republic. The Chamber of Commerce good old boys have spent millions of dollars getting their puppet candidates elected, and in-return our corrupted, bribed city council has given hundreds of millions of your tax dollars to the Chamber good old boys to subsidize their privately-owned projects. The Chamber controls the lying, corrupt, Marxist local-media. . . .
Over the years Ankerberg has sent me multiple emails and proposed comments. Some express his happy contemplation of my death. (I send those to local law enforcement.) More frequently his comments accuse me and various prominent local people of sexual crimes. He particularly targets named employees of the Mail Tribune. I moderate comments so I can stop their publication.
Ankerberg reflects tension within the GOP between the populist, anti-elitist Trump GOP and the establishment Trump GOP. The local Chamber of Commerce PAC has become a reliable funder for Republican candidates. They make token contributions to sure-winner Democrats, but their endorsements and their multiple $10,000 and $20,000 contributions are to Republican candidates. Meanwhile, the local newspaper, the Mail Tribune has made a turn toward the political right, in alliance with Sinclair. Although Ankerberg criticizes both of them, I consider Curt Ankerberg to be their problem now. He is on their team. Ankerberg won almost 50% of the GOP vote in a state senate primary campaign against a moderate Republican candidate who outspent him 50-to-one. Ankerberg reflects the GOP's position on abortion, election denial, and 2020 fraud. Like nationally prominent GOP officeholders, Ankerberg makes accusations of grooming, pedophilia, and corruption against political opponents. Locally and nationally, GOP leaders and donors overwhelmingly support Trump and candidates who support Trump.
Ankerberg makes obscene comments and accusations, which must create some embarrassment to local GOP leaders. Still, this is a party whose officeholders lead cheers of "F--- Joe Biden." Donald Jr. and Eric Trump sell "Let's Go Brandon" and "FJB" merchandise. Ankerberg is not a typical Republican, but he is no longer an outlier Republican. He isn't different, except that he names names among Republicans, not just Democrats. He is less racial than current Republican thought leaders. Mostly, Ankerberg is more and cruder. But he is a Republican of the Trump populist mode. He doesn't represent every Republican, but he represents a lot of them.
If Republican leaders in Southern Oregon don't like Curt Ankerberg as a visible example of their party, then they can deal with him. They can either speak up against him, or they can hope he self-destructs by his own words. If he is elected to the City Council, they can secretly enjoy the vivid way he condemns Democrats as corrupt pedofile Communists. Or they can decide he goes too far when he includes Republicans in his attacks, and they can try to recall him.
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4 comments:
“That he gets any votes at all” reflects the disaffection which a lot of people feel from their city government.
When Parks Director Rick Rosenthal unilaterally and overnight had a solid structure in Bear Creek Park that was a GIFT to the CITIZENS of Medford from the Kiwanis Club torn down, I wrote him questioning why as well as his authority to do that. He told me that as Parks Director he could have any parks structure torn down on his single say so.
I asked, even the new playground? He didn’t answer.
Our last and longtime Public Works Director had many crosswalks removed, because he doesn’t like them, and ridiculous bike lanes put in where they simply don’t fit, rather than where they would.
The local newspaper offers virtually no coverage of any of this. I tried and failed to get them to cover the structure removal story.
As Peter has written previously, they offer little coverage of County Commissioners also, although a bit more this past year regarding pandemic policies.
Medford’s traffic infrastructure and design is a long-standing statewide joke.
Of Oregon cities that I’m aware of, Eugene and Springfield, for example, have evolved. Medford has declined.
If you walk into Springfield City Hall, the City Manager comes out and greets you. If you walk into the Medford City Manager’s office, you’re met with bulletproof glass.
All this is apropos of my first sentence, not an endorsement of CA.
Below is an edited comment by Curt Ankerberg. In his original comment he named a local journalist by name in calling that person a pedophile. I have removed that reference. Otherwise, here is his comment:
Mike Steely.... I DON'T HAVE A CRIMINAL RECORD, AND I'VE NEVER BEEN CHARGED WITH A CRIME IN MY LIFE. I'VE NEVER BEEN CONVICTED OF ANYTHING, YOU IDIOT. Stay off the heart medication drugs, Pop.
Chris Walker's office played games with petition signatures, and I filed a legal complaint with the Secretary of State, and Chris Walker got reprimanded for it. It made Chrissy cry. When Chrissy called the cops as retribution, they told her that I didn't break any laws. Even the lying Mail Tribune stated that I didn't break any laws. Water of the Brain is Called Hydrocephalus, and it caused me to go completely blind, and require TWO eye operations, which I had in 2015. Want to see my surgical reports?
[REMOVED CONTENT] It's pretty sad when the opposition has to fabricate bullshit, but that's what you get from the Chamber of Commerce, the Mail Tribune, and Peter Sage.
Curt Ankerberg
Note to readers:
I removed a comment by a local citizen that made reference to a problems that Ankerberg had with accounting authorities.
The 1st Amendment does not shield Curt's unfounded accusation from a charge of libel.
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