I believe that looking for the worst in people, and then being pleasantly surprised when you don’t find it is a great way to start building a relationship.

One thing I hate the most about online debate like this is that so much is lost in the way of body language and facial expressions.

When it comes to Mr. Soumis what I am trying to get across is that since I don’t know him I don’t want to take the chance of believing everything he says is true and then find out that it is not the case.

By doing the digging and the research into this matter and looking for the negatives I will be much better equipped for working with him on the council.

Seeing as the only negatives that I found were an incident that happened over ten years ago I feel I can trust that Mr. Soumis is going to pursue what he thinks is best.

Does this mean that I will always agree with him? Probably not – but that is more because I am not afraid to express disagreement. Let’s face it – if we all agreed 100% of the time on 100% of the issues there would be no need for the Common Council.

As you come to know me you will find out that I am always looking for the worst case scenario and then preparing for that so I will be equipped for just about anything.

You will also come to find that I am very open with everyone and that if I am made aware of information pertaining to an issue that I believe is relevant I will share those facts with the people as they deserve to know.

As a side note, my site receives between 10 to 15 visitors a day from Antigo – no where near the level of this site I’m sure but still not something to laugh at.

One last thing that I want to say is thank you for being able to hold an intelligent discussion – it’s hard to find that in the offline world, let alone on the web where people have some degree of anonymity.

Jesse Seymour
Candidate for 2nd Ward Alderman
http://www.voteseymour.com

As for playing devil’s advocate, that seems a bit irresponsible to me. You are running for a position that will have to work directly with Mr. Soumis. Looking for any possible way to find a man guilty doesn’t do much in building a working relationship with someone.

The splitting hairs comment was unfair on my part. I apologize for that. As for contacting you on your site, I prefer to communicate here where others can read the dialogue. Your site doesn’t seem to get much traffic seeing as the two polls you have posted have had very low totals. At least here, more people can see an intelligent dialogue between two individuals that probably don’t look at things in the same way. I can get down and dirty with the kooks but I prefer this kind of discussion.

Now, if you have other information you feel I should consider I invite you to present that information with one of the following methods:

* Email me at jesse@voteseymour.com

* Send me a letter at Jesse Seymour, 631 North Ave, Apt 7, Antigo, WI 54409

* Call me at 715-216-4116

* Comment on an article at my website

* Use the contact me page at my website

* Or stop by and visit me at the above address

I believe that like all of us, Mr. Soumis has made mistakes. Those mistakes made him grow and develop as a person and have made him better for it.

During the days leading up to the trial I had played the devil’s advocate and looked for any possible way that Mr. Soumis could be found guilty. I was very glad when I found none – which is why I removed the articles on my website before the trial. I believe that we have too many problems to face as a community without this legal mess that Mr. Soumis was entangled in.

Now that this trial is over we can move on to more pressing issues. I feel that Mr. Soumis, while I may disagree with him, is a fine manager and deserves to keep his job until he does something that proves otherwise.

As for splitting hairs I will never do that – I value my reputation to much to sink into “politics as usual”. If I say that I will do something I will do it. The fact that it took me over 12 hours to do it shouldn’t count against me. (Can’t a guy take a night off to relax?).

‘If he turns out to be innocent though I will be the first one to retract this call for his resignation however if he turns out to be guilty I hope he will have the good grace to resign.’

It is nice to see that Mr. Seymour took his article off his website but there were some comments as to what kind of manager Mr. Soumis is. Will you take back those comments?

I simply relayed the information that I was provided. It is interesting to note that the charges Mr. Soumis faced in Gladestone, MI have some similarities to wrong doings that he has been accused of here.

I proclaim that Mr. Soumis is neither guilty nor innocent; I am not a judge. I was not selected by my peers to judge them. I simply find it important that all facts relevant are bought into the open for examination. I prefer to let people make up their own minds rather than allowing my opinion to influence their decisions.

The court date is March 20th for the trial. After that we’ll see if he is found innocent or guilty.

“There are more charges than this but this list shows the kind of manager Dale Soumis once was and may or may not still be. It seems that back then he felt that he was the one in charge of the city and that he could do whatever he wanted”

That is pretty irresponsible to say when you have not heard both sides. You are instantly agreeing with what was said. The current council here in Antigo can write a list of things that Mr. Soumis is doing wonderfully. Would you instantly agree with them because it is in the minutes of an official meeting? That would be equally irresponsible.

If Mr. Soumis did what was alleged in those minutes, would he not be charged with some kind of crime? I am hearing charges on here of perjury, financial impropriety, etc. Heck, if kooks on the current council MORSE, EDER, and KAPUSTA had their way, their list would probably be much worse than the one on your website. However, that doesn’t make it true.

Mr. Soumis will have his day in court. We’ll see what happens.

I will be posting it on my website later today.

As for this whole issue on what Mr. Soumis did or did not do back in Michigan, can someone give some concrete evidence that he was guilty of something. People are throwing this around and I would like to see where they get their info from. I am assuming that it is “I HEARD” kind of stuff but if someone on here can produce a link or some other way of proving the claims made on here, I am willing to listen.