User:TooSimplicious/Draft of Esrati Article

David Esrati is an activist, small business owner and political candidate in south-west Ohio.

Early Years and Education
David's father clearly had a strong influence on him. He wrote a book for David challenging him to think hard about what US citizenship means and what ideals the country was founded on. Quoted in DDN,
 * I think it’s important to make people think. My father always stood up for what was right, and he always said if you live in a democracy, you have a responsibility to be informed and to be a participant.

Military Service
Chose to be a citizen, chose to serve

Dayton Activist and Political Contender
Advocating for open, accountable government

David Esrati has been a consistent and steadily growing force in the Politics of Dayton, Ohio. Starting in 1993 he garnered just one thousand votes in the City commission election, in his latest run in 2009 he received roughly ten times that number.

Esrati's expertise in communicating with the public translates into unique, cost efficient campaigns.

Congressional Campaign
Esrati is running in the 2010 special election for OH-3.

The Mask
'''Dayton v. Esrati (1997), 125 Ohio App. 3d 60''' -- Disrupting a lawful meeting and other charges were properly dismissed where city could not show its actions were not directed at the communicative nature of the defendant's conduct. Defendant quietly donned a ninja mask during city council meeting to protest proposal to reduce public participation.

Esrati explained his motivations on his website,
 * The Dayton City Commission was breaking the law when it was meeting in private to discuss ways to eliminate citizen participation at its meetings. I wasn't the reason the commissioners wanted to eliminate speakers - it was what I said at the previous meeting and how I said it.

The balaclava has made other appearances at Dayton City Commission meetings, though without the previous waste of tax-payer resources or faux shock on the part of the commission. He was quoted by Dayton Daily News as saying, "Any restriction on citizen participation is a mistake."

Citizen Journalist and Small Business Owner
Esrati's muckracker sentimentality, establishment-outsider standing and Web2.0 marketing savy make for a rapid, responsive and technology-fueled reporting style. His site has emerged as a combination of networked public engagement, free-wheeling discussion forum and public-interest watchdog group.

As a blogger Esrati has scooped the more mainstream investigatory media outlets in revealing the dirty feedback loop of corporate welfare and public office campaign financing which was only latter picked up by mainstream news sources.