Election Journal: Turn down the rancor
Election Journal: Turn down the rancor
Musings on a bitter campaign, a new candidate forum video on local business, and a campaign contributions recap
The bitter end
It’s the bitter end of election season – and, boy, I do mean bitter. There have been the usual accusations of stolen or vandalized lawn signs, wild rumors and harsh rhetoric aplenty, and judging from people I’ve talked with, the anxiety level of voters over who they should vote for for the Sebastopol City Council has never been higher.
Can we all take a deep breath here and contemplate what former Sebastopol Mayor Ken Foley wrote on this site a few days ago. “All five of the candidates can be capable and effective council people.”
I don’t know about you, but that sentence dropped my blood pressure by about 20 points. It also forced me to contemplate each of the candidates, not as participants in the blood sport of campaigning, but as actual working government officials.
What you want to know about government officials is this: Are they honest? Are they smart enough? Will they do the work (including the voluminous amount of reading)? Do they have decent values? And finally, can they work with their colleagues on the council to accomplish what needs to be done to keep the town solvent and moving forward.
This last one is particularly important and hard to distinguish in the heat of a campaign, as rumors run riot, feelings get hurt, and tempers flare. Another important question: Can they rebuild the bridges they’ve burnt during the campaign?
Would you want this job?
It takes courage to run for office – the willingness to put yourself out there, to suffer the slings and arrows not just of your opponents but of the hordes of random strangers on Nextdoor and elsewhere. Imagine what it’s like to have your resume examined under a microscope and every public statement you’ve ever made scrutinized for its value as ammunition against you.
All this for a basically volunteer position that will utterly consume the next four years of your life. There are some bennies: in addition to the $300-a-month stipend, councilmembers also get their health insurance paid by the city, which given the average age of the candidates probably has a street value of about $1,200 a month. On the other hand, you then have to spend those four years sitting at hours-long city council meetings, being harangued by people who (for the most part) haven’t done the reading or are victims of some idée fixe like EMF poisoning or gun rights.
Who would want this job? Would you? No, I didn’t think so.
So let’s show a little gratitude to the people who’ve stepped forward to run for our city council. Let’s try to see those candidates we disagree with as human beings who love their town as much as we do, rather than enemies to be vanquished.
Do your own research
Our goal during this election season is to provide information about the candidates — their backgrounds and why they are running for office and what they hope to accomplish if elected. We have no plans to endorse any candidates. That decision is up to voters to make. However, we’d like voters to have as much information as possible to make that decision.
Candidate Forums on Video
League of Women Voters’ Sebastopol City Council Candidate Forum
(See Sebastopol Times recap of this event below.)
NEW! Sebastopol Downtown Association’s City Council Forum on Business
Candidate websites
Dennis Colthurst: https://dennisforsebastopol.com
Oliver Dick: https://www.oliver4sebastopol.com
Sandy Maurer: http://www.sandimaurer.com/
Jill McLewis: https://www.jill4sebastopol.com/home
Stephen Zollman: https://zollman4sebastopol.net/
Candidate statements in The Sebastopol Times
Oliver Dick and Jill McLewis declined to provide candidate statement to us.
Other Resources
Sebastopol Times recap of the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum - Part 1, Part 2
Press Democrat article on the Sebastopol City Council race
How much money have the candidates raised?
The city of Sebastopol recently posted the finanicial disclosure statements for political contributions. Total campaign contributions to date for this year are as follows:
Oliver Dick: $8,224
Jill McLewis: $9,024
Sandra Maurer: $5,986
Stephen Zollman: $3,213
As of Nov. 1, Dennis Colthurst had yet to turn in his campaign contribution form. According to City Clerk Mary Gourley, it is is now considered overdue.
The sign at Roger’s pool was not ripped down and thrown into the street. One of the zip ties broke and it hung askew for a few days and then it was leaning on the wall for a day or two (probably fell into sidewalk and a kind person set it out of the way). The wind is your vandal and wants you to vote for the other candidate, the one you don’t think well of. Thanks Wind! Always stirring up trouble.
"On the other hand, you then have to spend those four years sitting at hours-long city council meetings, being harangued by people who (for the most part) haven’t done the reading or are victims of some idée fixe like EMF poisoning or gun rights." -- Amen to that! (Thanks for not mentioning the press sniping away)