I try again

(South Bend Tribune Voice of the People submission)

Some would have us believe that evaluation of the past job performance of the two candidates for Mayor of South Bend is merely a matter of opinion - that there is no data to inform a citizen of who most deserves his/her vote.

One of the two campaigns is certainly happy to advance this theory. The Manigault campaign's mantra is "perceptions are more important than facts". They actually said that. It's hard to imagine a more cynical approach to electing a chief executive. It's hard to think of a comment that more demeans the process.

The worst thing that can be said about Mayor Luecke is that he is a good man doing a hard job.

As for Juan Manigault, the best way to characterize his past accomplishments is to paraphrase auditors Crowe, Chizek, et. al... comments made in their report after they were hired to evaluate the operation he headed (by that organization): The most serious problem found is that because of the reporting system of the Workforce Investment Board , we can't be sure we've found all the problems - some of which may be very serious.

The problems that were found were certainly serious and caused that organization to forfeit 1.1 million dollars which could have provided training and pathways to a better life for many of our citizens.

Look into it. Your paper won't. Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Don Wheeler