2007 Election

To help fill the need for a forum covering a broad array of topics, UAPA helped facilitate the creation of the Candidates' Night 2007 meeting coming up this Wednesday, Oct 24th from 7-9 p.m. in the UA Municipal Building, 3600 Tremont Road.

It started with an idea to work with a UA High School student, Deanna Hunt, to create the forum as her Senior project. Once Deanna was on board, the non-partisan group, Leadership UA, graciously agreed sponsor the event and guide Deanna through the process.

The evening includes details on the pending Schools levy, a chance to hear from and ask questions of the three School Board candidates (for three seats) and the five City Council candidates (for three seats). Call 487-8131 for additional details.

Between October 9th and 20th, UAPA asked members to complete a membership survey about the 2007 Upper Arlington City Council election. We received 118 completed survey returns. Many respondents took the opportunity to add free-form comments --- adding valuable context to their responses.

We wanted to answer questions like these:

One source of candidate position information is the Chamber of Commerce's City Council Candidates Lunch Forum held on Thursday, October 11. This year the moderator asked some tough questions and got at least a few substantive answers. For the benefit of those that could not attend, the forum was captured on video and posted on the web. [link no longer available]

BuckeyeState blog recently posted an entry regarding Leslie Heath's run in the UA City Council race. The Ohio Dept of Taxation seems to think that Leslie Heath and her husband owe over $11,000 in Ohio taxes. To see the court record, search on the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas web site for the name 'Leslie Heath' or look at this screen shot.

Based on the feedback from our membership survey, nearly all of our 118 survey respondents indicated that unpaid personal income taxes or business bankruptcy would effect their vote.

Update: AsOhioGoes has also picked up the story and added to it.

Update2: Heath, accountant explain tax snafu

From the UA News, October 24, 2007:

Heath, accountant explain tax snafu

As Election Day approaches, public records concerning Upper Arlington City Council candidate Leslie Heath have become fodder for anonymous e-mail messages and Internet bloggers.

While public records indicate Mrs. Heath and her husband owe more than $11,000 in state income taxes for 2001, she said the whole thing is an unfortunate misunderstanding.