Davenport's Mayor Election

[PBrunsel]

I take great interest in Iowa politics, so I thought I would tell you the candidates and results of Davenport's Mayor Race that has recently happened.

Davenport voted in 1990 to do away with partisan labels, so you don't know what party candidates belong to. The strongest candidate was incumbent Mayor Charles W. Brooke. He has a record of big spending and high taxes as mayor, but is a registered Republican! He is a firm backer of River Rennisance, the $500 million project to rebuild the Davenport river front. I am opposed to it, but our mayor loves it. He had the backing of River Rennisance's ally the Davenport One Association. Davenport One paid for all of Brooke's campaign.

The Conservative republican Candidate was political activist Niki Bowles. Niki Bowles is a bit off the wall. When the City Council wanted to build a new multi million dollar library in farming land, she was outraged becuse she owned it. She spoke before the City Council dressed in a farmer's outfit! The library was voted down. She entered to stop Davenport One and River Rennisance.

The third candidate was the Democrat, retired Police Commisioner Bob Swanson. Swanson was very old. Some said he looked like he needed to be in a casket and not the mayor's chair. He promised, "Basic Services First." He wanted to fix sewers and roads before fixing the river front. He was eliminated in the primary election.

Brooke vs. Bowles left me dizzy. Brooke's nickname is "The Moose" due to his sucessful high school football career. Bowles ran adds that stated, "Cut loose the Moose." Brooke ran on Davenport's "Momentum." With Davenport One constantly attacking Bowles as "anti-Progress", Brooke was re-elected in a landslide.

Charles W. Brooke: 60.3%

Niki Bowles: 27.5%

Bob Swanson (Write In): 12.2%

[muon2]

Many municipalities have elections without party labels. In IL most are "non-partisan".  This generally helps save time and money since small to mid-size communities are often dominated by a single party, and the winner of the primary is the de-facto winner of the election. By eliminating the party label the general election becomes the real battleground.

[WMS]

Many municipalities have elections without party labels. In IL most are "non-partisan".  This generally helps save time and money since small to mid-size communities are often dominated by a single party, and the winner of the primary is the de-facto winner of the election. By eliminating the party label the general election becomes the real battleground.

Indeed. Albuquerque's elections are non-partisan, although candidates usually declare their affiliations. The last mayor's race was in 2001, and it was a big one! Due to some damn judge's ruling, we don't have run-offs anymore, which is important to how things happened.

About 8 candidates, 5 at least with somewhat importance. 2 Dems, 2 Reps, and a self-financed (read: rich) independent. The 2 Dems were former mayor Martin Chavez, a pretty moderate, pro-growth mayor (1993-1997), and the incumbent mayor (from 1997), Jim Baca, a green socialist @#$%!^& who spent a lot of his time trying to p!ss off the West Side of Alb. (my part of town, BTW). Now, in 1997 the runoff was struck down, and Baca won by about 29-30%. Sadly, the second place candidate, Vickie Perea, another moderate Dem, would've kicked his @ss in a run-off but there were strong third and fourth place candidates as well: http://www.bernco.gov/upload/images/clerk/past_elections/municipal.html

So, by 2001 Chavez, after losing the Governor's race in 1998, was ready for a comeback, and so were a lot of other people fed up with Baca's anti-growth leftist policies. Moving to...

The Reps produced former Bernalillo County DA Bob Schwartz, a moderate, center-right Republican but who had a few fuzzy stances (we'll get to that) and Mike McEntee, a conservative ex-City Councillor from the equally conservative Far Northeast Heights.

The Independent, Rick Homans, more or less fell in the center, but didn't have a lot of details in his policy prescriptions. But he had a lot of money!

There were disputes over the constitutionality of Albuquerque's campaign expenditure limits, which ended up hurting Homans after he spent past the limit early and then got forbidden from spending any more.

Chavez was helped on the West Side by his strong pro-road and pro-bridge stances (only in NM do we have people - on the LEFT, of course - opposing infrastructure), while Schwartz was kind of wishy-washy. McEntee backed them, while Baca opposed them.

And: http://www.bernco.gov/upload/images/clerk/past_elections/results_10022001.htm

A story ran in one of the daily papers showing which candidates won which Council Districts. All Council Districts went by party affiliation, Dem to Chavez, Rep to Schwartz, except for one...the upper West Side. Rep by both registration and voting behavior, it nevertheless rejected Schwartz in favor of Chavez over the roads and bridges issue, and by QUITE a large margin, and may have very well put him over the top, 30.6% to 27.8%. McEntee pulled third at 11.3% and Baca fourth at 11.1%, although McEntee won no precincts and Baca won a few downtown greenie left-wing socialist precincts...but only a few.

Of course, that election saw the fall of two moderate Dems on the City Council to left-wing Dems, and the Council has become highly polarized, 4 left-wing Dems (including one corrupt SOB), 2 moderates (one from each party), and 3 conservative Reps. MUCH factionalization by race, party, geography, income, etc. The 2003 Council races confirmed the trend, and that's where we stand today...Chavez spends more time fighting the four socialist Dems (remember the corrupt one? Won with 28.4% in a six-candidate field...would've lost a runoff for SURE, and is IMHO in deep s*it next Council Race - he's anti-road, but a majority of his constituents are pro-road) than anything else, and it's usually the Reps and moderates who back him. The left-most of them all, Councillor Eric Griego, is probably going to run for Mayor next year, as with Schwartz and who knows who else.

As I mentioned a long time ago, there is a nascent secessionist movement on the West Side, over services and infrastructure. If another leftist becomes mayor, I think we'll bolt from Albuquerque, give the green left BOTH birds, and find a way to build our infrastructure ourselves. Double the chances if Albuquerque votes down road bond money for West Side roads again like it did in 2003. Those green socialist !@#$% underestimate how p*ssed off we are...

Attempts to restore the runoff system have failed in the Legislature as leftist minority Dems WANT extreme candidates to win races in Albuquerque, since they would always lose runoffs to the moderates and even the conservatives. And so another messy election is in store.

And if you're still reading this, this is a little window into my strong dislike of the left: they have hurt my community and they have made my own life more difficult by their refusal to support adequate infrastructure on Albuquerque's West Side. And polarization continues apace, with even the governor sticking his nose into it - some Rep Senators and Reps gave their OWN DISTRICT'S capital outlay funds to support West Side road construction, and Richardson is making everyone jump through hoops so he won't line-item veto it.

New Mexico: reminding you that the word 'enchantment' can also mean 'curse'.

[ilikeverin]

"My name's Bob, and I'm for roads!"

"My name's Susie, and I'm pro-bridges!"

"My name's Tim, and I'm anti-road!"

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

PB - that sounds a lot like Memphis.

In 2001, the NBA's Grizzlies wanted to move from Vancouver to here.  That was the good news.  The bad news is that they expected us to build a new arena for them.

Just a little over ten years ago, we built a "state-of-the-art" arena called the Pyramid.  It's like the largest Pyramid shaped building outside of Egypt.  It was supposedly NBA-ready at the time of its construction - and again, was just ten years old.  The building isn't even paid off yet.

But in order for us to secure the team, we were told that we had to finance a new arena, because the Pyramid just didn't have that new-arena smell and there weren't enough luxury skyboxes for the rich people to sit their fat asses down in.

So, our Republican County Mayor and Democrat City mayor united together to screw Shelby County out of $250 million for this project.

Keep in mind that our city schools are falling apart and our county schools are busting at the seams.  Neighborhoods like mine are decaying past the point of no return and Memphis has one of the nation's highest murder rates.

But hey, who needs teachers and police?  Who needs money invested in schools and neighborhoods?  Not Memphis!  No, our priorities are $250 million NBA arenas and playgrounds for the wealthy.

Two conservative activists - Heidi Shafer and Duncan Ragsdale, along with Greens like Scott Banbury, started a movement for justice on the Arena issue.  Ragsdale headed up the legal arm and Shafer the political arm.

Our goal was not to oppose the Arena, but just to get a referendum on the bond issue - as state law requires.  A local judge ruled that a vote was required... but he was overturned on appeal by a politically well-connected state appeals court.

So after those efforts failed, the Arena construction began and its now almost done.

I was watching a local forum and some leaders from the city and county were talking about the arena and what its doing for the city.  The anchor asked our arena-supporting new County Mayor what the arena would do for people in the city who could not afford to attend the NBA games.  The Mayor replied that people could get "jobs at the concession stands."

As the neighborhoods of Whitehaven, Parkway Villiage, Berclair, Nutbush, New Chicago, Orange Mound, Frayser, Raleigh, Senic Hills, Binghampton, New South Memphis, Hickory Hill, Fox Meadows, Capleville, Hollywood, Highland Heights, and all the neighborhoods of Memphis continue to go down the tubes -- at least we can take comfort that we can get jobs at the concession stands.

I hope those fat asses in the luxury boxes are happy now.

[© tweed]

"My name's Bob, and I'm for roads!"

"My name's Susie, and I'm pro-bridges!"

"My name's Tim, and I'm anti-road!"

That's basically but local politics is...boring...

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Believe me, local politics is anything but boring!

[Dave from Michigan]

Believe me, local politics is anything but boring!

exactly, local politics are great

[Dave from Michigan]

My city's politics are interesting although they have gotten more civil lately

[© tweed]

Local politics are very boring.  I don't give a crap.  What can they do anyway?  Fix highways?  Who cares?  tax me less?  Who cares!

[WMS]

"My name's Bob, and I'm for roads!"

"My name's Susie, and I'm pro-bridges!"

"My name's Tim, and I'm anti-road!"

Oh, they have some other issues, but it does come down to that at times. Pro-growth vs. anti-growth. A note or two for you: one bridge took 30 YEARS to get built, and one road is on its EIGHTEENTH year of conflict. And you thought I was exaggerating...

[muon2]

Local politics are very boring.  I don't give a crap.  What can they do anyway?  Fix highways?  Who cares?  tax me less?  Who cares!

National politics may be most interesting to watch because they have the most coverage. Local politics is where a great many of those national programs that are the subject of so much debate are actually implemented.  To name a few: highway funds, anti-pollution programs, education funds, open space and wetland preservation, disabled access, historical preservation, job creation and retention, housing programs.  These programs cannot generally be administered by private entities but require a local unit of government to receive and administer the funds.

The point is that a local goverment that is gridlocked is effectively blocking itself from any federal programs that might benefit them. A gridlocked locality must still comply with any mandates passed, and that almost always costs money at the expense of other local services.

[Huckleberry Finn]

"My name's Bob, and I'm for roads!"

"My name's Susie, and I'm pro-bridges!"

"My name's Tim, and I'm anti-road!"

Oh, they have some other issues, but it does come down to that at times. Pro-growth vs. anti-growth. A note or two for you: one bridge took 30 YEARS to get built, and one road is on its EIGHTEENTH year of conflict. And you thought I was exaggerating...

It's interesting that America has such problems about traffic issue. I have always thought that in the America nothing could stop bridge/road building!

[WMS]

"My name's Bob, and I'm for roads!"

"My name's Susie, and I'm pro-bridges!"

"My name's Tim, and I'm anti-road!"

Oh, they have some other issues, but it does come down to that at times. Pro-growth vs. anti-growth. A note or two for you: one bridge took 30 YEARS to get built, and one road is on its EIGHTEENTH year of conflict. And you thought I was exaggerating...

It's interesting that America has such problems about traffic issue. I have always thought that in the America nothing could stop bridge/road building!

Well, ALBUQUERQUE has such problems...I think the rest of America handles it much better, since they don't have the unholy coalition of ultra-left ethnic interest groups and rabid environmentalists on one hand and those conservatives who never vote for bonds on the other hand in their community. Now that it is too late to stop growth by about, oh, 40 years, these groups are operating out of ignorance and spite...

[WMS]

Now, in 1997 the runoff was struck down, and Baca won by about 29-30%. Sadly, the second place candidate, Vickie Perea, another moderate Dem, would've kicked his @ss in a run-off but there were strong third and fourth place candidates as well: http://www.bernco.gov/upload/images/clerk/past_elections/municipal.html

And speaking of Vickie Perea...a little blurb in today's Albuquerque Journal declared that she and the rest of her family have just become Republicans and are going to actively campaign for President Bush! She cited two things in particular in coming to this decision: Bush's opposition to gay marriage and his support of the partial-birth abortion bill.

As I've been saying, there's a strong streak of social conservatism in New Mexico, and here's an example of it. In the end, I think that social conservatism will swing New Mexico to Bush this year. NM is NOT friendly to social liberals...

Update: In today's Albuquerque Journal (5/12/04), another bit in favor of NM social conservatism: Las Cruces and Dona Ana County [note: heavily Hispanic and leaning Democratic] tried to put in a provision barring abortions at a hospital owned and funded by Las Cruces and Dona Ana County [and it appears that it was a UNAMINOUS decision to insert the clause]. The provision would have prohibited abortions from being performed at the hospital for "birth control purposes". The state told them that as it stands the provision would be unconstitutional under state law, and the state Board of Finance, who had to approve the lease, FORCED the city and county to reconsider the clause (on the 13th; all signs point to the city and county removing the clause). [note: before the pro-choicers start celebrating, think about this...a Democratic-leaning Hispanic county and city tried to ban abortions at a hospital they owned. This is not a good sign for social liberals there. I wonder if, in the long run, this will hurt Richardson and other Dems in the area...? I also wonder if there will be a move in the 2005 Legislature to change the law so that such clauses are allowed?]

[WMS]

*bump* the Edit - I think PBrunsel might find it interesting, at least!

[WMS]

Yes, I'm dusting off this thread, but it IS relevant...

OK, I've got a bunch of poll results on issues both statewide and local, and this seemed like the best place to put them!

Note: Same Sex Marriage is over here:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=8240;start=15

And the NM Presidential Polls are here:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?board=5;action=display;threadid=8609

I'm missing the NM Congressional Races - I'll try to get that paper and edit this another day.
All polls are by Research & Polling, Inc.
I don't know if this is the exact wording - I'm going off the newspaper.
IRAQ WAR: Did the U.S. make the right decision?
48% Wrong
46% Right
6% Undecided

U.S. LEADERSHIP ON IRAQ: Whom do you trust?
51% George Bush
37% John Kerry
7% Neither
5% Undecided

U.S. ECONOMY: How would you rate it?
42% Fair
33% Good
20% Poor
4% Excellent
1% Don't Know

U.S. ECONOMY: Getting better or worse?
42% Worse
38% Better
13% Same
7% Undecided

ECONOMY: Are you better off than you were four years ago?
45% Better
27% Worse
26% Same
2% Undecided

ECONOMIC LEADERSHIP: Whom do you trust?
45% George Bush
41% John Kerry
7% Neither
7% Undecided

Do you think free trade between the U.S. and other countries is good or bad for the U.S. economy or do you think it makes no difference?
43% Helps
25% Hurts
14% No Effect
18% No Response/Undecided

Do you think free trade between the U.S. and other countries creates more jobs in the U.S., loses more jobs in the U.S. or makes no difference?
48% Loses Jobs (especially working-class Hispanics)
19% Creates Jobs
19% No Effect
13% No Response/Undecided/Don't Know

Would you say that things in this country are heading off in the right direction or are off on the wrong track?
45% Wrong Track {again, especially Hispanics}
39% Right Direction
16% Undecided/Mixed Feelings/No Response

WAR ON TERROR: Confidence about government protecting us from terror?
52% A Fair Amount
28% A Great Deal
16% Not Very Much
3% None At All
1% Don't Know

Whom do you trust more to handle the war on terror, George Bush or John Kerry?
51% George Bush
36% John Kerry
8% Undecided
5% Neither

WAR ON TERROR: Winning or losing?
57% Making Progress
32% Losing Ground
11% Don't Know

Do you support or oppose a law that would ban cockfighting in New Mexico?
66% Support ( )
23% Oppose ( Boo! But watch them 'influence' the Legislature and kill the proposed ban again! Bloody rural representatives! Note: this is NOT a partisan issue - both parties split over this one)
11% Undecided
[some more #'s: A majority of all groups support the ban...
70% of Anglos, 59 % of Hispanics;
74% of women, 57% of men;
69% of Republicans, 62% of Democrats;
78% of voters between the ages of 50 and 64;
74% of liberals, 63% of conservatives, 58% of moderates;
"Geographically, support for a ban on cockfighting was strong around the state, with the possible exception of the east side..."[50% Support the ban, 32% Oppose the ban, 18% Undecided]
68% in the Albuquerque Metro Area;
82% in the Northwestern Quadrant (mix of conservative Anglo Reps, liberal - or populist? - Native American Dems, and ? Dem Hispanics, none of whom like each other);
64% in the South/Southwest.

[above: 402 likely voters, Aug. 27-Sept. 1, MOE +/- 5%]

And some local stuff, for those who've actually read the entire thread:

Do you approve or disapprove of the overall job performance of Martin Chavez as mayor?
62% Approve 63% of Democrats and 61% of Republicans!
21% Disapprove
17% Undecided

Do you support or oppose increasing city councilors' salaries from about $9,300 to $31,000 per year?
59% Oppose
27% Support
14% Undecided

[missing from Sunday: Governor Bill Richardson's poll - it's good for him, shall we say]

[missing from Monday: City-County Unification (in another thread, I think...
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?board=11;action=display;threadid=667;start=75

Well, it's not there, but everything else is. It's about, well, a proposal to unify Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, and it's not popular.

ALSO, a poll on a proposed new school district on the West Side of Albuquerque - split from the current dysfunctional Albuquerque Public School district - it's very interesting, and close!]

In the upcoming November general election, there will be a $52 million city road bond issue. Do you support or oppose this road bond issue for the city of Albuquerque?
59% Support ( )
23% Oppose (Boo!)
18% Undecided

The $52 million road bond issue includes $8.7 million to extend Paseo Del Norte westward through the petroglyph area. Do you support or oppose this bond issue?
57% Support ( )
31% Oppose (BOO!)
12% Undecided

[above: 338 likely voters in Albuquerque; phone poll Aug.27-Sept. 1; MOE +/- 5%]

I'll get the rest of the polls as I can and edit this post...

Anyway, here's a ton of data for those who are interested!

[muon2]

In IL all local elections are in April of odd numbered years. That in cludes cities, villages, townships, schools, parks, libraries, and similiar races. They are generally, but not exclusively, non-partisan.

Though April 2005 is still a ways off, and the national, state, and county races are this November, the local races are already gearing up. The main reason is that by law petitions for April can be circulated beginning Oct 11, before the November election. Some candidates will wait until after November, but others will get an early start. The petitions are due in January to get a ballot spot in November.

The overlap in races can be confusing to some of the public, but most people seem to get it. One advantage of the overlap is that the public is more tuned in during a Presdential race, so talk about local races is easier for candidates to the public.