District 81: District 81 State Representative Candidates

UPDATE: Michael Zoran has Exposed Tom Raymond, Patricia Runyon, and Mary Agnes Simons as the corrupt people they are! Take a look at this Fox 2 Edge TV Broadcast from Reporter Taryn Asher as proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q6hh9KCzj4&feature=plcp Further proof is heard here on 102.3 FM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh_-5n9LRwY&feature=plcp

In December of 2011, there was a poll conducted online. This poll asked the question “Is Tom Raymond the Worst Employee in Cottrellville Township History?" In June of 2012, this online poll suddenly disappeared – probably because Tom Raymond or a friend of his asked the Topix website to remove the poll. This poll should not have been removed because it was set up professionally and the subject was an elected public official.

The last time I looked at this poll was in early June of 2012. The poll results showed over 450 people had voted “Yes” that Tom Raymond is the Worst Employee in Cottrellville Township History. The poll showed only seven people voted “No.”

People who live in Cottrellville Township are very familiar with who Tom Raymond is, because Tom Raymond has already been recalled once shortly after being elected. But for those of you who live outside Cottrellville Township, I’d like to take some time to reveal some of the facts about District 81 Candidate Tom Raymond. I would also like to explain why a poll was conducted online asking whether or not Tom Raymond is “The Worst Employee in Cottrellville Township History.”

Tom Raymond was “appointed” as the Supervisor of Cottrellville Township during the summer of 2007. Raymond was brought in after the previous supervisor retired before the next election. The residents of Cottrellville Township who are familiar with politics and regularly attend meetings wasted no time in recalling Tom Raymond at the earliest possible opportunity.

Unfortunately, Tom Raymond was able to barely survive the recall. Raymond was new to the township and many people who do not regularly attend meetings and are not familiar with politics were not willing to recall someone so quickly. This ended up being a BIG mistake that the overwhelming majority of Cottrellville Township residents eventually regretted – as proven by the overwhelming results of the online poll asking if Tom Raymond is the Worst Employee in the History of Cottrellville Township.

Tom Raymond is known as a lazy man throughout Cottrellville Township and Marine City – an area he was previously involved in politics on a small scale. Residents of Cottrellville Township continuously complain that Tom Raymond does not allow ordinance violations to be taken to court in order to be enforced properly with a penalty – as the ordinances demand.

I used the Freedom of Information Act to discover many very disturbing facts about Tom Raymond. During the five years that Tom Raymond has been Supervisor of Cottrellville Township, Raymond has only allowed 2 (yes, TWO) cases to be filed in court! In a township currently populated by over 3,500 people, Tom Raymond has only enforced ordinances on two occasions! This is what several attorneys specifically told me was a perfect example of “Nonfeasance,” which means “Legal Neglect.”

Blight (ugly property often filled with junk) is one of the most severe ordinance violations in Cottrellville Township. During the spring of 2011 there were 82 pieces of property cited for blight when the entire township was examined! These 82 pieces of land have officially been cited for violating blight ordinances of various kinds. It is now the summer of 2012, yet most of these problems still exist – as proven by the pictures I have recently taken!

The Building Inspector Bill Klaassen has even sent out official 10-day warnings to all 82 of these addresses. But most of these people do not fix their problems with blight, because they do not respect Tom Raymond.

The people violating township ordinances know Tom Raymond’s threats to take them to court mean absolutely nothing – as proven by the Freedom of Information Act. People violating the laws of Cottrellville Township know that Tom Raymond will do nothing to “enforce” the ordinances laws with penalties.

Tom Raymond has also failed to sign a law enforcement contract with any local authority! Due to the fact that Tom Raymond has failed to sign a law enforcement contract, the duty of law enforcement falls to Cottrellville Township’s Supervisor – Tom Raymond. But due to the fact that Tom Raymond does not responsibly do his job, Cottrellville Township is a 100% lawless environment!

For example, an illegal level of noise is generated if a neighbor is using construction equipment such as a tractor, bulldozer, or chainsaw at 3:00 AM. Ordinance 73 dealing with Public Noise Nuisance situations is being violated, as I have proven multiple times after I purchased the same Sound Pressure Level Meter used by the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department. But Tom Raymond refuses to enforce this ordinance whether it is construction equipment, music, or any other source of sound at any time of day or night!

If the noise nuisance becomes such a problem that you decide to contact the police, you discover some disturbing facts. When the Sheriff’s Department officers or Michigan State Police troopers arrive at your home, you are told “Sorry, we don’t have the authority to enforce civil ordinances because we don’t have a contract signed with your township. This is particularly disturbing for me, because I have a disability with epilepsy that causes me to have auditory seizures as a result of illegal levels of noise.

The responsibility of “Enforcement of Ordinances” is specifically listed as one of the Job Duty descriptions of the Supervisor position. No other job position of the Cottrellville Township Board lists the Job Duty of “Enforcement of Ordinances.” This means it is 100% wrong when Tom Raymond attempts to make excuses by saying “I’m just one member of the board; it is up to all of us to enforce ordinances.”

Tom Raymond is a candidate for the District 81 State Representative position, which is a position in Legislature. The word “Legislature” is associated with the word “Law.” Tom Raymond has only filed to take two cases of ordinance law violation to court during his five years as supervisor. Obviously the information obtained from the FOIA makes it clear that Tom Raymond is not someone who should be associated with any form of “Legislature” position such as District 81 State Representative.

After barely surviving the recall, Tom Raymond’s selfish attitude and behavior were truly revealed in a way that angered the overwhelming majority of Cottrellville Township residents. Tom Raymond decided to give himself a HUGE raise using our tax dollars!

Consider the following facts revealed by the Freedom of Information Act:

* The last year Cottrellville Township Supervisor Bill Zweng worked a full 12-month year from January to December was 2006. Mr. Zweng earned $17,335.13 for 2006. This is actually very good money when you consider the supervisor works such a small amount of time each month. The work schedule requires the Cottrellville Township Supervisor to work from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Monday, from 9:00 AM to noon on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and does not work Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

* When Tom Raymond decided he deserved a pay raise, he was requesting $50,000 – nearly THREE TIMES the rate of pay received by the previous supervisor! Keep in mind that Tom Raymond has a high school diploma and no college degree at all! Earning $50,000 for a job that requires you to work less than 20 hours per week is INSANE!

* Tom Raymond ended up giving himself a pay raise of over 40.58% when he was elected! And he continues to pay himself more every year! From January to December of 2008, Tom Raymond was paid $24,369.97.

* Since 2008, Tom Raymond’s wages have increased an additional 18.26% for a total increase of 58.84% increase in pay since taking office in 2007! For 2011, Tom Raymond’s absurd pay raises resulted in Raymond receiving $28,820.02!

Voters are also very interested in a couple other facts I have been encouraged to share with you:

* Court Case ID 08M04335GC and Court Case ID 09M00045GC reveal two interesting facts. Cottrellville Township Supervisor Tom Raymond – a candidate for District 81 State Representative – is currently having his wages garnished $15 per month by two debt collection agencies! This is “Public” information, not “Private” information. You can verify these facts by visiting the St. Clair County Court Dockets website at this website: http://www.stclaircounty.org/DCS/search.aspx

When I was at a public gathering hosted by a candidate seeking to be our next judge, there were a lot of attorneys in attendance. Initially, these men had been brainwashed by Tom Raymond and planned on voting for him. Tom Raymond was also at that gathering, and he was telling people all sorts of lies similar to the ones he told residents of Cottrellville Township when he was being recalled.

But then I showed the attorneys the public information I printed documenting the facts explaining that Tom Raymond’s wages are currently being garnished $15 each month by two debt collection agencies. The moment the attorneys examined this information and shared it with their wives, everyone agreed they were not going to consider Tom Raymond as a District 81 candidate anymore. Several people specifically said “I don’t want someone who cannot even manage his own finances ‘representing’ me.”

Previously there was an instance after the February 2012 Cottrellville Township Board meeting when Tom Raymond had attempted to scare me by saying “If you keep spreading lies about me, I’ll seek legal action against you.” I actually have part of this recorded on video. I told the attorneys that I believe Tom Raymond was referring to some form of slander or libel when he legally threatened me. When I told the attorneys about this, they laughed and said “This is ‘public’ information; it isn’t ‘private’ information.”

The attorneys went on to tell me, “The District 81 Michigan State Representative position is an elected position that people all over St. Clair County and Lapeer County care about.” The attorneys then specifically advised me to share this information with as many people as I could, because this is the type of information people care about during an election year.

One attorney was examining the documents I printed, and then noticed Tom Raymond actually had his wages garnished by a third debt collection company! This can be proven by Court Case ID 08M04191GC when Discover Bank defeats Thomas Hazen Raymond and his wife Vicke Raymond for $5,821.99.

This means that over the last several years there were three different debt collection agencies that defeated Tom Raymond in court for not responsibly managing his finances! Obviously we do NOT want someone like that representing us as our District 81 State Representative! When a man cannot responsibly manage his own finances on a small scale, he obviously lacks the skill needed to handle responsibility on a large scale.

It gets even worse! Earlier in the year, the Marine City Board revealed that the small trailer park Tom Raymond had previously owned after acquiring it for a very low price had been foreclosed! In other words, Republican District 81 Candidate Tom Raymond once again did NOT responsibly manage his finances! This time it was the bank that foreclosed on Tom Raymond’s property.

I believe that Tom Raymond knows he has absolutely no chance of being elected again as Supervisor of Cottrellville Township. Tom Raymond is known as an arrogant narcissist who refuses to admit he is wrong. This is probably why Tom Raymond decided instead to run for the position of District 81 State Representative in the Michigan Primary on August 7, 2012. Quite a few people have agreed with me that Tom Raymond would rather lose a District 81 State Representative election than lose a Cottrellville Township Supervisor election.

The District 81 State Representative position is a political position that will almost certainly be won by Republican Gary Eisen or Republican Dan Lauwers. Gary Eisen actually set a District 81 record two years ago as a successful Independent. Gary was encouraged to run as a Republican candidate this time, so he decided to do so and is favored to win the 2012 District 81 Primary election.

Overall, Tom Raymond’s terrible record as Supervisor of Cottrellville Township speaks for itself. The facts revealed by the Freedom of Information Act and the St. Clair County Court dockets make it 100% clear that Tom Raymond is a terrible leader. The quantitative numbers cannot be debated, and those numbers from the online poll clearly reveal how the people of Cottrellville Township rate the performance of Tom Raymond during his 5-year tenure as supervisor. The overwhelming majority of people living in Cottrellville Township agree that Tom Raymond is the Worst Employee in the History of Cottrellville Township.

Here is a picture of Tom Raymond on June 13, 2012. This is a very different image than the much older pictures Tom Raymond shows to voters when promoting himself from the neck up.

UPDATE: Michael Zoran has Exposed Tom Raymond, Patricia Runyon, and Mary Agnes Simons as the corrupt people they are! Take a look at this Fox 2 Edge TV Broadcast from Reporter Taryn Asher as proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q6hh9KCzj4&feature=plcp Further proof is heard here on 102.3 FM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh_-5n9LRwY&feature=plcp