Munson Survives, Thanks to the Other Wimpy Candidates
Despite my hopes and dreams, Mr. Magoo (and his cronies and henchmen) survived a race he had no business winning. I’m a bit surprised, but I guess I really shouldn’t. The simple fact is that none of the other candidates set forth a convincing reason for anybody other than their pals and family to vote for them.
I’ve held back my comments for a couple of weeks, but I’m really disappointed in the “bottom ten”. They were all milquetoast, giving the same opinions time after time. We get it…a sufficient water supply is extremely important for our city’s future; the streets need to be kept in good repair; and they all believe we need an event center. My God, at least Lora Hubbel stuck her neck out and created a couple of non-existent issues. Insane non-existent issues, but at least she stood out from the pack. We learned absolutely nothing about any of the other candidates. Even this morning I know nothing about Bruce Halverson except that he was the President of Augustana and at one time spent time in a crappy 60’s cover band.
Sure, there were a couple of incidents where somebody made a semi-controversial statement. Mitch Richter threw a couple of barbs at Vernon Brown and Bruce Halverson, but he really was just saying what a lot of people had been thinking for weeks. Let’s add one more for Vernon – please never start another sentence with “when I was a reporter for KELO”. And there was that silly non-issue about a self-proclaimed Democrat actually having other Democrats donating money to his campaign. Funny thing is every single candidate had leaders of their respective political parties giving either money or advice.
Nobody, though, took it to the man they should have been receiving all of their attention. Not a single word of criticism was leveled at Mr. Magoo, and that’s exactly why he has survived and will easily win the runoff. Granted, Darrin Smith really couldn’t say anything about Munson as he has always been conceived as the cause of Munson’s problems. But there were nine other candidates, including two other members of the city council, who could have brought up Munson’s problems with budgets, fund raising, communication, and the entire “I’m out/no, I’m in” moves of the last two months.
I’m not advocating running the sort of negative campaign that we’ve had to deal with too many times in recent years. I never want to see a Daschle/Thune race happen again. But there is nothing wrong with merely raising the issues in a factual way, emphasizing exactly what one would do to ensure these problems do not plague the city in the future. Certainly those who were languishing in the bottom of the polls, both scientific and non-scientific that appeared everywhere (including this blog) in the past few weeks. What did Jamison or Murschel have to lose?
I now really wish I had entered the race. I definitely would have been towards the bottom, if not THE bottom, but I would have made the most of that month or so. I would have taken no prisoners, especially since it would probably be the only way that my enemies at all three television stations would give me any airtime. Next time. I gotta do it next time.
I’ve held back my comments for a couple of weeks, but I’m really disappointed in the “bottom ten”. They were all milquetoast, giving the same opinions time after time. We get it…a sufficient water supply is extremely important for our city’s future; the streets need to be kept in good repair; and they all believe we need an event center. My God, at least Lora Hubbel stuck her neck out and created a couple of non-existent issues. Insane non-existent issues, but at least she stood out from the pack. We learned absolutely nothing about any of the other candidates. Even this morning I know nothing about Bruce Halverson except that he was the President of Augustana and at one time spent time in a crappy 60’s cover band.
Sure, there were a couple of incidents where somebody made a semi-controversial statement. Mitch Richter threw a couple of barbs at Vernon Brown and Bruce Halverson, but he really was just saying what a lot of people had been thinking for weeks. Let’s add one more for Vernon – please never start another sentence with “when I was a reporter for KELO”. And there was that silly non-issue about a self-proclaimed Democrat actually having other Democrats donating money to his campaign. Funny thing is every single candidate had leaders of their respective political parties giving either money or advice.
Nobody, though, took it to the man they should have been receiving all of their attention. Not a single word of criticism was leveled at Mr. Magoo, and that’s exactly why he has survived and will easily win the runoff. Granted, Darrin Smith really couldn’t say anything about Munson as he has always been conceived as the cause of Munson’s problems. But there were nine other candidates, including two other members of the city council, who could have brought up Munson’s problems with budgets, fund raising, communication, and the entire “I’m out/no, I’m in” moves of the last two months.
I’m not advocating running the sort of negative campaign that we’ve had to deal with too many times in recent years. I never want to see a Daschle/Thune race happen again. But there is nothing wrong with merely raising the issues in a factual way, emphasizing exactly what one would do to ensure these problems do not plague the city in the future. Certainly those who were languishing in the bottom of the polls, both scientific and non-scientific that appeared everywhere (including this blog) in the past few weeks. What did Jamison or Murschel have to lose?
I now really wish I had entered the race. I definitely would have been towards the bottom, if not THE bottom, but I would have made the most of that month or so. I would have taken no prisoners, especially since it would probably be the only way that my enemies at all three television stations would give me any airtime. Next time. I gotta do it next time.
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