Fred Rost says he paid for the Zogby Poll

Fred Rost has issued a statement today saying that he paid for the Zogby Poll provided to mayoral candidate Matt Kelty.  The filing deadline for Pre-Primary Campaign Finance Reports was at noon today.

He entitled his statement "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished."

This morning I released mayoral candidate Matt Kelty from his pledge of confidentiality regarding the source of the Zogby International poll, which I commissioned. I am disappointed that the issue of who paid for the Zogby poll has become more important than the data that resulted from it. My desire was to get some objective data on this issue for the purposes of representing the interests of the citizens of Fort Wayne, and change the dynamics of the discussion which is biased to the administration, and perhaps not representative of the majority of Fort Wayne residents. I think the release of the results of the poll have achieved that objective.

Given that both newspapers are advocating for the project, and only one mayoral candidate has vigorously opposed the project as proposed, I felt that providing the information to the Kelty campaign was an effective way to ensure there was both an advocate for the people of Fort Wayne, and an unbiased reporting of the results. Matt Kelty has courageously led the charge opposing the project as proposed, and has forced the administration, city council, and his primary opponent to move on this issue. That might not have happened otherwise. The Kelty campaign immediately provided the results of the Zogby poll to the media, to its primary opponent, and most importantly to the public (via posting on the internet). That is more than can be said for those sponsoring other polls on this issue in the last weeks. In the spirit of full disclosure, I challenge the sponsors of those subsequent polls to release the results of their polls regarding Harrison Square.

In accordance with Indiana Code, the Kelty campaign is under no legal obligation to claim the results of the Zogby poll as an in-kind contribution. However, I have provided it to the campaign to be accounted for as an in-kind contribution to avoid the ensuing attack on Matt Kelty undoubtedly planned by members of the Allen County Democratic Party, members of the Election Board, and the proponents of Harrison Square should he not claim it.

Focusing on who funded the poll only serves to distract from the fact that 54% of Fort Wayne residents are opposed to the Harrison Square project as proposed by the city, and nearly 76% of these same people oppose the ballpark and public financing aspects of the project. These results represent Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, who all plan to vote in the primary. Who funded the poll does not change the outcome of the answers to the questions put to citizens by Zogby. The fact that some people are more interested in the who of the poll, versus the results, is just another indication of why we need a change in city government. If a subsequent poll has results which show increased public approval for Harrison Square, I’d sure like to see it. On May 8th I’ll vote for the candidates best representing the interests of the people of Fort Wayne.

Comments

[Robert Pence]

"... has courageously led the charge opposing the project as proposed"

I'm reminded of the de facto corporate motto at a Fortune 500 manufacturing company where I worked. The ads said things like "Progress is our most important product" or "Bringing Good Things to Life" but the internal working philosophy was more along the lines of "This is the way we've ALWAYS done it."

As one of my role models, a long-time engineer with the company, liked to say, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten."

I read the comment about courageous leadership as, "... has courageously led the charge defending the status quo."

[Robert Enders]

Some people get so caught up in thinking outside of the box that they forget the reason why the box was there in the first place.

[Craig Eckert]

Have you ever heard "the customer is alway right". This is especially true in consulting.

[Sam Talarico, Jr.]

Deep Mr. Enders, very deep.

[Jason Blosser]

You should Trademark this right away:

"Some people get so caught up in thinking outside of the box that they forget the reason why the box was there in the first place."