Does the candidate have a vision of what the city can be like in the future and can he/she develop sensible, creative ideas that lead there?
Does the candidate have the intellect to understand and critically analyze the range of issues that may come before council (policy, administration, economics, technology, etc.)?
Can the candidate work well with a team? Council will have difficulty implementing policies and dealing with crises if it cannot work cohesively and efficiently. Candidates with “issues” are a red flag.
Council should reflect the city’s diversity to at least some extent (geographic, ethnic, religious, socioeconomic).
Samantha Herd
Paul McGhee
David Crowley
Wendell Young
Cecil Thomas
John Cranley
Christopher Smitherman
Nick Spencer
John Eby
It’s disappointing to end up with only 1 woman, but I won’t add another woman just for balance. Maybe next time I’ll end up with 8 women and 1 man. I’d pay a poll tax to see that.
I like the idea of district voting more than the idea of Jeff Berding on Council.
Chris Bortz’s association with Towne Properties was all it took for me to reject him. Developers are the antithesis of smart growth and the last thing we need on Council is more influence from developers and home builders.
A final thanks to all the candidates who stepped up to the plate for public service.
4 comments:
I am puzzled as to why Eve Bolton isn't on your list. She is more qualified than any of the non-incumbents, as well as some of the incumbents. Both Mallory and Pepper love her (Reece and Winburn for that matter), so you know she must be decent at cooperating on a team. Her and Wendell's joint platform on crime has some of the most innovative ideas on the campaign trail (including reorganizing police districts, a very bold move to suggest given the FOP's jealousy of all things policing). And, you complained about having only one woman on your list! (Herd is okay, but she is a professional politico.) I am truly stumped, given how well Bolton would seem to complement the rest of the list you presented.
Good question. She was on the short list but in the end I didn't pick her. The reason is the way I picked these 9 people: I didn't choose my favorite 9 people, which is the typical method. Instead, I chose a slate of 9 that I thought would best represent the political spectrum of the city and would work well together.
The exclusion of Bolton simply means that her section of the political spectrum was already represented. It had nothing to do with her qualifications, which are impressive.
To friends who ask my opinion, I tell them my slate but point out they may prefer to replace Eby with Bolton. So I do support her even though in the end I didn't include her on the list.
Why Herd? Bolton is much more qualified than Herd, Thomas, or McGee. Nick Spencer is just a joke. I can't think of any reason to endorse or vote for him.
Well, I don't need to justify my choices to you. I've adequately explained my methodology and the fact that you can't think of a reason to include or exclude anyone in particular doesn't mean there isn't one, it just means you can't think of one.
I also wonder what kind of effort you made to research all the candidates, since you misspelled "McGhee." Small mistake, but enough to make me wonder.
If you think Eve Bolton is the greatest thing since sliced bread, then by all means vote for her. And if you want to keep thinking that your slate is the only one that makes sense, then by all means go right on thinking that, too.
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