2018

Brekke/Paulson race wasn’t ‘CLOSE’ and wasn’t ‘BIZZARE’

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.

When you hire a wedding planner to run a mayoral race, this is what happens

H/T – To ZDB for the election stats below, based on approximates.

The big loser of the night (when it comes to cost per vote) was Jim Entenman. This of course was no surprise to me. His strategy was all over the map and seemed like it was cooked up by some one who plans kid’s birthday parties and plans weddings, oh, that’s because it was. I also heard they were advising some other campaigns last night that didn’t do so well. Erickson wins the ‘thrifty’ award for the night. Maybe she should resign from the council and become a consultant 🙂

By the numbers (cost per vote);

Entenman; $41.40 (Jim should have just had a FREE hog roast, would have been cheaper)

Jamison; $17.39

TenHaken; $14.37

Soehl; $12.24

Hurlbert; $11.15

Gunn; $8.64

Anderson; $7.03

Loetscher; $6.40

Paulson; $4.08

Bardon; $3.78

DeBoer; $2.86

Weiland; $1.37

Brekke; $1.19

Bartlett; $0.85

Erickson; $0.84

 

South DaCola Predictions; The Huether Reign ended tonight!

Here’s a rundown of my predictions and how they turned out;

Voter turnout, Prediction: 27,000 voters, Actual: 32,000 voters (27%)

*Pretty close . . .

Mayoral Race, Prediction: Jamison 1st, TenHaken 2nd. Actual: TenHaken 1st, Loetscher 2nd.

*I always had Jo and Paul in a battle royal for 2nd place, just never thought they would make runoff together. Jamison and Entenman really came in lower than I ever thought. It was obvious the energy was behind Paul and Jo.

AT-Large ‘A’, Prediction: Brekke. Actual: Brekke.

*I figured Janet would win in a nail biter or clean house. She cleaned house.

AT-Large ‘B’, Prediction: (Did not make one). Actual: Erickson.

*I wish Nick would have least got 40%, but it is tough beating a popular incumbent.

Central District, Prediction: Soehl 1st, Bardon 2nd. Actual: DeBoer 1st, Soehl 2nd.

*While Bardon didn’t make it. Zach has always been my second choice. GO ZACH!

School Board, Prediction: Thoelke & Parker. Actual: Thoelke & Parker.

*This one should be no surprise. Todd and Kate have been on the school board for several years and are the incumbents. With the new school bond issue on the horizon, they are going to try to keep that board tight. I will give Peter credit though for putting an effort forward.

Jenna Netherton (Haggar) ‘NOW’ decides to move out-of-state

Like we couldn’t see this coming a mile away;

She’s not seeking re-election and resigning before finishing out her term so she can move out-of-state with her husband.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. Jenna conveniently finishes her legislative term THAN decides to move out-of-state. She also sets up the ‘fake incumbent’ scenario for the Governor to appoint someone to finish out a very short term.

There was already speculation that she has already living out-of-state with her husband before the session started. When this blog and others brought it up, there was radio silence from Jenna and the Legislature on the issue.

And some in the State Legislature wonder why the citizens are so Hell bent on more ethic rules for our legislators. Hmmm.