Oh Pitty-Patt, besides demeaning a candidate who actually decided to run for office the first time against a popular incumbent (Weiland actually got more votes than Loetscher) he decided he would spread more of his classic bull manure;
The closest of the major races had Janet Brekke, who ran a bizarre campaign at times, defeating John Paulson, whose campaign didn’t really seem to punch through the clutter.
Beating Paulson 56-44% is hardly ‘close’. Janet ran a strong campaign showing the lack of transparency in the current administration, her attorney and strategic planning skills and her ideas on fighting crime and cleaning up our core neighborhoods. Paulson ran the EXACT campaign he ran against Stehly, an election he lost. He also had his minions out grasping at straws with threats of sign compliance (John’s signs were out of compliance also) and sending petty emails complaining about who should be supporting who.
Janet won this race because she ran a better campaign and is a better candidate. Hands Down.
I won’t speak to who was the better candidate of Brekke and Paulson – they both had their merits – but John’s campaign was poorly executed. Brekke built momentum with her promise for “no-nonsense government” and her 20 years of city administration experience. I felt like voters knew nothing about John other than that his name was John Paulson and he was running for City Council. If you’re going to be running, at least tout your experience with the Washington High planning commission and your time at Sanford. It was just a very poorly executed campaign.
There are serious issues with the unconstitutional city charter. Brekke pointed them out and advocated transparency. Hopefully, dictator Huetherism can be corrected. The people want their city back. They want petitions with 6400 signatures acknowledged. They want due process and restoration of rule of law.
I think in many ways Paulson’s candidacy was the ‘Last Stand’ of the old guard in town. When you think of a Council consisting of Stehly, Starr, Brekke, at times Greg, and possibly DeBoer, its a whole new ball game; and establishment blogs like the war campus are merely trying to hold onto the past for the sake of the Chamber. This clinging is further shown by the war campus’s obsession with Jo’s “Sanford comment” today.
Solid strategy is how Brekke won. It was all well planned and thought out very early on. The campaign may have looked unconventional but it was far from it, it’s called strategy.