The Local Scene -- Candidate Forum Notes

I will be writing more on the important campaigns for mayor and city council in New Brighton in the coming days, but for now I wanted to share a few impressions of what we saw last night at City Hall at the League of Women Voters forum:

• Officially, the race for mayor is between the incumbent, Steve Larson, and Dave Jacobsen, a retired executive making his initial run at public office. Based on Mayor Larson's behavior last night, you would have thought that he was running against incumbent City Council member Gina Bauman. Bauman is the one person in the campaign who has direct knowledge of Mayor Larson's work in the past few years and has been Mayor Larson's most trenchant critic. There was an incident during the event that revealed some of the tension involved. During the portion of the program devoted to City Council candidates, Bauman made a specific point about health insurance for city government officials which apparently rankled Larson enough that he sent a note up to the moderator, who then "corrected" the information Bauman had offered. Because of the rules of the forum, Bauman was unable to respond. This was a bad show on the mayor's part and certainly a mistake by the moderator, who should have ignored Larson's entreaty.
• For a first-time candidate, I thought Dave Jacobsen did pretty well. He's a very smart man and he has an excellent skill set for the position -- he's been a corporate executive with budgeting experience and he was responsible for a large part of his employer's environmental portfolio. He doesn't speak in soundbites and you have to pay attention to what he is saying, but he was authoritative as he spoke. If the first test of a challenger is credibility, Mr. Jacobsen passed easily.
• There are seven candidates running for two seats on the City Council. The forum was a bit of a cattle call and it was somewhat difficult to sort out the candidates. Based on what I knew before the event, it had seemed like there were 4 credible candidates -- Gina Bauman, former city council member and State Representative Char Samuelson, political lobbyist Graeme Allen and newcomer Paul Jacobsen, who has an extensive military background. I would rank them somewhat differently today. Based on what we know at the moment, here's how I see it:
• Bauman is clearly the best candidate in the field, and it's not even close. She is the only incumbent in the race. Considering that the city's governance has been problematic, one might consider her incumbency to be a problem; however Gina has been a consistent voice of opposition to the policies that have brought the city to the brink. She understands what needs to be done and is well-positioned to do the work. With a different cast of characters at City Hall, she would the one candidate in the field who could immediately bring about needed changes. No matter what else happens, it is imperative that Bauman is returned to the council, either as a reform leader or as a watchdog should Mayor Larson be re-elected.
• At this point, it's pretty much a toss-up for the second seat among Samuelson, Paul Jacobsen and Walt Witzke, a longtime resident with extensive experience on various commissions in the city. Of the three, Witzke gave the best performance on Monday. He is a fairly soft-spoken, analytical man and he has thought long and hard about the issues facing the city and has come to well-reasoned conclusions. Like Dave Jacobsen, Witzke has established that he is a credible candidate. Paul Jacobsen is an outwardly impressive fellow and he clearly has outstanding leadership skills, but at times he didn't seem to understand some of the issues he was asked to discuss. He has a lot of upside potential, but he needs to get up to speed quickly, because the task at hand will not allow the luxury of on-the-job training. Char Samuelson has the most impressive resume in the field and has served the city with great distinction in the past, but she was very much off her game last night and seemed almost a little distracted. She also was the only candidate who explicitly said she would raise taxes. My guess is that won't play well, especially among the large percentage of New Brighton residents who are living on fixed incomes.
• Of the remaining three candidates, Graeme Allen was probably the best, but to me was well behind Witzke, Jacobsen and Samuelson. Allen is clearly a bright guy and since he is very well plugged into the state government as a lobbyist, he does understand some of the issues facing New Brighton. Having said that, he also seemed quick to fall back on pat answers -- he talked about "investing" in the community several times, which generally is a coded way of saying he views your wallet as common property. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but I suspect not. Allen would be well-served to spend some time in the private sector; my guess is that he would understand citizen concerns better with a broader overall perspective. W. Christopher Stedman, like Allen, is a bright and articulate young man. He comes to the race from the other end of the spectrum from Allen, as Stedman is an executive at Best Buy and like his employer, he seems like a savvy, effective marketer. Having said that, he didn't really provide any reason that the voters should select him. He spoke several times and I don't have any idea what he'd do on the council. The final candidate, Ron Meyer, is the sort of guy you'd love to have for a neighbor. He's an upbeat, enthusiastic guy who is full of energy and civic pride. He would make a great ambassador for the city; he and his wife are part of the royalty for the St. Paul Winter Carnival and it is easy to see why. Having said that, he didn't offer any reason to be elected other than his own persona. In a different year, in a different time, he'd probably be just fine on the city council, but with the challenges ahead the city needs leaders who have specific ideas for how to solve the imminent problems. From what I could tell, Meyer didn't offer anything beyond his dynamic personality.

We'll revisit the race again in the coming days, talking more about the issues. I also note that Right Hook over at Boots On has offered a detailed synopsis of yesterday's events. As always, his take is well worth your time.