Mayoral Results Analysis

After the mayoral election, Jane Adams laid out the results on a map of Carbondale, indicating who won which precincts and if they won by an absolute majority.  The results are interesting.

Joel Fritzler was the clear winner, winning 11 districts, 3 of them with absolute majorities. Most of his wins were  closer to the center of town and bordering the university as he won all the districts between Emerald Lane and Illinois as well as district 25 south of Chautauqua and district 8 north of West Highway 13.   The exceptions to his wins in this area were the only 3 districts won by Sam Goldman,district 25 which included SIUC, district 22 which is adjacent to the university and 11 which includes Memorial Hospital and is also adjacent to the university..  Even in those areas, Goldman did not win absolute majorities.

Though George Maroney came in second, he only won 6 districts, none by more than 50% of the vote and all, except for district 29 which lies east of Wall Street, lie on the outer rim of the city, indicating his strength lay in Carbondale's extended suburbs.

Finally, Stephen Haynes strength was in the northeast part of Carbondale.  He won the five precincts in that area, four of them by over 50%.  Unfortunately, of the approximately 1600 registered voters in those precincts, only 313 turned out to vote, of which he won about 195.  He did win a sixth precinct, #17 located between old and new Highway 51, but only 33 people turned out to vote there.

Districts 6 thorough 16 wound up key to the mayoral election, accounting for 1891 of the 2791 votes cast. Six of Fritzler's wins fell in those districts, while Maroney had two and Goldman one, indicating that voter density was key to Fritzler's win.

Final Results

Here're the final results for today's elections if you want to take a look at them. For all the attention focused on them, voting was down significantly in the mayoral race from the Cole/Simon contest, about 40% by my rough estimation. Apparently the concerns that votes for Haynes and Goldman were votes for Maroney and against Fritzler proved overblown as Fritzler beat Maroney by 8%, indicating that a vote for Goldman would up a vote for Friztler, instead.

Fritzler and the three winners in the city council race, Don Monty, Jane Adams and Lance Jack proved once again that name recognition and a good ground game are hard to beat in politics. Monty and Fritzler about tied in terms of walking neighborhoods and knocking on doors with Adams and Jack not far behind. Fritzler also dumped a significant amount of money into direct mail as the campaign sent out several postcards in the week before the election, compared to one or two from Goldman and none that I saw from the other two candidates.

Looking at the council results, it roughly appears that most voters cast one vote each for Jane Adams and Don Monty,t hen picked a third candidate. Only about 30 votes separate Lance Jack and Tom Grant, indicating Grant's name recognition was almost enough to beat Jack's extensive campaigning. Also indicating the importance of name recognition, Janet Elizabeth Donoghue, who suspended her campaign several weeks ago, beat Candle Wester-Mittan by about 50 votes and Hugh Williams by about 10.

In the other race catching a (comparative) lot of attention, Amy Erickson won a spot on the school board for District 95, due in part to lots of support from residents of the Arbor District, who hosted several "get to know the candidate" meetings with her. Tommy McQueen-Hamilton, who had been canvassing quite a bit in his bid for a seat on the school board and had his campaign literature available at several of the candidate forums, came in last in the field of five.

Why I Am Voting For....

Joel Fritzler for mayor. Four main reasons, three of which he shares with Steven Haynes and one he doesn't:

1. Experience with city government. Similar to Haynes, he has about 6 years of experience with city council and government under his belt. Maroney and Goldman have none.

2. Part time mayor. Though some people have cited the full time availability of Goldman and Maroney in the position as an advantage, I have to wonder how having a full time mayor affects the effectiveness of Alan Gill as city manager. In a larger community, having both would certainly help the community run more effectively. However, from what I hear from talking with people who deal with the city government, Gill runs decisions by the mayor before undertaking anything, slowing decision-making at upper levels of city government. From what I have seen of the temperament of both Goldman and Maroney during various forums, I would expect them to both have management styles to Mayor Cole. Part time mayors, such as Fritzler and Haynes, would leave more decisions in the hands of the city manager, which is why we pay him.

3. He asked me for my vote, as did Haynes. Despite speaking with both Goldman and Maroney at several forums, neither asked for me to vote for them. It's not a huge factor but still, the personal touch does count.

And the reason Fritzler gets my vote and not Haynes:

4. He voted against the Saluki Way tax. As I have indicated before, I think the tax and the way it was implemented was the biggest mistake made by the council in the past 8 years and will haunt the city for years after the current council has long stepped down. In addition, at the first mayoral forum sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club, when asked about the tax and stadium funding, Haynes, Maroney and Goldman all indicated they still thought it a good idea. Given that I don't, I have to question whether I want them in the leadership position in Carbondale. This reason, combined with the previous three, means I will vote for Joel Fritzler on Tuesday.

City Council Meeting

Caught a good chunk of the city council meeting tonight. Only actual piece of business voted on, besides the warrants approving various contracts and expenditures, was approval for the remodeling and expansion of the Long John Silver's restaurant on the east side of town. Passed unanimously with one question from city council candidate Lance Jack, asking if any city funds or inducements were offered to aid in the expansion. The answer was no, to which Jack responded that he had asked the question to emphasize that despite some perceptions, the city did not offer tax inducements to entice business to town.

Citizen comments on the budget opened up with a parade of council and mayoral candidates including Hugh Williams, Jane Adams, Sam Goldman and Don Monty. Though one speaker, Seymour Bryson, came out in favor of the mayor's proposed District 95 reading and writing program, all the others, including all the candidates, spoke in opposition to it, saying that, even though the projected finances of the city appeared improving, the program had no termination clause during its five-year duration if it proved not to work, and as written, no methods of evaluation regarding its success were included.

Another area of concern brought up was the recreation of the economic development manager position. Don Monty and Jane Adams were both concerned that the specifics of the position were unclear. What was the position's actual title, as it had two different ones in the budget and where was its position in the city's organization chart? Citizen comments closed when a younger community member, Baylon Earles, thanked the city council and manager for their work on the budget and improving the city.

Caught part of council comments on the budget. Steven Haynes expressed some concerns about the proposed economic development manager as far as how it fit into the city's organization. Both Mike Neill and Chris Wissmann focused on the longer term problem facing the city, that of pensions, with Wissmann pointing out, and the mayor concurring, that, given the rate of pension growth, the city would pay more in pensions to retired staff that it would in salaries to employed staff. Wissmann further pointed out the budget contains an increase of $400,000 for health insurance costs and $560,000 for retirement costs, such that hiring a new police officer, in Wissmann's example, was like paying for 1.47 officers.

I left the meeting as Corine McDaniels spoke in favor of the District 95, reading and math program, saying that, while it was true the city needed to concern itself with basic governmental functions, it also needed to work with the schools to help those who are the city's future.

I was mildly amused to see Chuck and Janet Vaught in the audience. Barely retired and returned from a Florida vacation and already back at council meetings.

Mayoral Forums

Just got back from the 2nd Carbondale mayoral forum in as many days. This one, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, was not nearly as well attended as yesterday's, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. Of course, yesterday's came with lunch so food was a draw then.

The thing that struck me most about the forums was George Maroney's sense of humor. He didn't show much of one during his interviews or meet & greets earlier in the campaign but it certainly came out during these two events. Fritzler, only the other hand, wasted a good opportunity to differentiate himself from his opponents Wed. night during the "pose a question to your opponent" section of the forum and chose to ask what their favorite pizza topping was.

Overall the candidates acquitted themselves adequately. Suprisingly, I heard little mention of either downtown development or development of the northeast section of the city. Haynes and Goldman were mushc more general in their responses than were Fritzler and Maroney. Fritzler would like to remove moneys generated by the hotel tax from the Convention and Tourism bureau (which has funded a number of Mayor Cole's trips over the years) to the city's General Fund and would reactivate the city's street sweepers which were put into storage to save the city $200,000 per year, despite the fact that the city is still paying on them.

Maroney is also concerned about city cleanliness, though he didn't get as specific as Fritzler, feels that zoning regulations should be loosened and is very concerned about the amusement park completed proposed for Marion, which he feels will hurt Carbondale greatly if it comes to fruition.

Based on what I have seen from these events so far, it looks as if the election is really between Fritzler and Maroney

Yard Signs

Since I has a free half hour or so this morning, I took a drive through the western side of C'dale looking for yard signs for the various candidates in the upcoming primary. While I didn't take any counts (the whole driving the car made that impractical), here are the general impressions:

Jane Adams and Don Monty are the only city council candidates with any yard signs out in the areas I drove through (Arbor District, southwest and northwest areas). Most appears alone in a yard, though about 15-20% of homes had both signs there.

All the mayoral candidates had signs out, though I did not spot a Brent Ritzel sign until late this afternoon, while driving down a side street off N. Oakland. George Maroney and Joel Fritzler had about the same number of signs out, with Fritzler more common in the Arbor District and just west of there, while more Maroney signs appeared out by Tower Road and to the west. Sam Goldman signs are common near the hospital and are the only signs in yards in the retirement community area north of Old Rt 13, but pretty space otherwise.

I only spotted 3 Steven Haynes signs, one in front of Hundley House and the other two scattered in the area around S. Oakland and Emerald Lane.

Though it is still about a month until the primary, signage gives an indication of the depth of current support for the candidates as only more dedicated supporters will have signs out in their yards now. This is also only support on the western side of town. I will check out levels of visible support on the east side next week.

Update: I see several Ritzel signs have popped up along W. Sycamore since yesterday.

Questionaire Responses

4 of the five mayoral candidates have sent their questionnaire responses to the Shawnee Green Party:

Joel Fritzler
Sam Goldman
Steven Haynes
George Maroney

Looking over the responses, George Maroney's focus is on safety. Half of his answers involve improving or increasing the safety of Carbondale as an answer to the community's problems. He views city government's function as maintaining civic infrastructure and public safety, then getting out of the way of business.

Sam Goldman's long involvement with both SIUC and the local health care community are evident from his answers. He sees both SIUC and SI Healthcare as economic drivers for the region and would have the city be supportive of both. Like Maroney, Goldman believes city govenment should encourage business and " where warranted, change regulatory policies and actions to assure that they are not unnecessarily burdensome to business, while preserving the quality and standard of living our citizens expect. We need to aggressively pursue business enterprises and offer incentives for them to “set up” shop in Carbondale. Of special interest is the development of business activity at the Southern Illinois Airport." Incidentally, Goldman's website was developed by city councilwoman Mary Pohlmann.

Joel Fritzler's answers emphasized his experience with the city due to his service on the city council and his time with the Carbondale Main Street program. His responses to the sustainability and environmental question posed by the survey are more detailed than the previous two candidates, nor does he mention the city needing to lessen regulatory burdens on business as they do. He does not mention the university or health care as economic drivers for the region and there's no indication of any proposal to increase city growth, save for downtown revitalization. Fritzler goes into the most detail of any of the candidates in his answers to the survey questions.

The last of the four to turn in a questionnaire response, Steven Haynes, also emphasizes his council experience and as well as the importance of SIUC to city economic well being. He does not view safety as such a vital issue as Maroney does, nor does he place as much emphasis on healthcare as an economic engine as Goldman. He would enforce current statutes and regulations to enhance sustainability and environmental health within the community. Haynes gave the most general answers of the four, twice refering readers to his website for more information on his positions in response to a question. None of the other candidates referred to their websites in response to any of the questions.

Edited to fix an error in Sam Goldman's name. Edited again to correct the spelling of Mary Pohlmann's name.

Sam Goldman Speaks

Mayoral candidate Sam Goldman spoke with Jennifer Fuller this morning regarding his candidacy. Some interesting points emerged during the interview:

Goldman believes he brings three things to the position: temperament, expertise in management and a vision for Carbondale, though he didn't want to say what that vision was.

However, from the conversation, it appears Southern Illinois Health Care plays a big part in his vision of Carbondale's future. He pointed out only SIUC employs more people than SI Health Care does and pledged his office would work closely with the organizaiton to expand Carbondale's position as a medical hub.

He wants Carbondale to rely less upon SIUC as its economic engine, commenting he would rather have it said "As Carbondale goes, so goes the university," than the other way around, as is common today.

He doesn't appear a big fan of comprehensive plans, either Southern at 150 or the recent one adopted by the city council, as they slow down the response of the community to changes and opportunities. Rather, he would take a more flexible position, working to encourage entrepreneurs within the community and a more entrepreneurial spirit withing city government. He does seem to like the words "entrepreneur" and "entrepreneural", using them half a dozen times at least during the course of the interview.

Goldman on SIUC

Chancellor Goldman has been popping up with more frequency lately to get the word out that, yes, the university is facing financial difficulties and yes, attendance is not what he would like but no, the university is not closing down.

Poshard Letter

Here's the email that was sent out by President Poshard that Chancellor Goldman referenced in this morning's interview on WSIU.

Dear SIU Employee,
>
> Last week, at the request of the SIU Board of Trustees, I presented > the actions we have taken thus far in meeting the cash flow > problems we are currently experiencing as a result of a delay in > state funding. I emphasized the following points:
>
>
> 1. That the question of our ability to meet November and December > payroll had been largely resolved since the measures we have > employed have been successful and the comptroller's office has > fulfilled our request for $15.5 million in November and has given > us assurances of another similar payment by mid-December.
>
> 2. That January and February payroll would be fine since we will > be receiving new tuition and federal pell grant monies in January.
>
> 3. That in the interest of complete transparency our projections > of cash flow indicate that without any state funding whatsoever > from December through February, we would be facing an even greater > problem in March. I described this as "an absolute worse case > scenario" and as "unimaginable". The odds of such a scenario > evolving are almost nil but it would be irresponsible not to > prepare for even the very worst case possible. Other universities > in Illinois have also articulated the same predicament in the last > several weeks. While we have taken many extraordinary steps to > manage our cash flow over the past few months, this remote > possibility would require even deeper cuts, however in order to > maintain our high quality of education it is our goal to avoid > layoffs altogether. To enact substantial cuts in personnel at this > time when the likelihood of state reimbursement is great would not > be a prudent step to take and would cause unnecessary pain to > hundreds of our employees.
>
>
> The possibility of SIU being forced to close its doors from lack of > state support was only discussed in the context of this most > extreme possibility. I am absolutely confident that the state of > Illinois would never allow its public universities to fail and even > though the discussion of this remote possibility has caused concern > among the public, I am equally confident that the outstanding work > SIU performs in educating our students will continue unabated > through the spring and into future years.
>
> While it is in our best interest to be completely open and > transparent about this issue before our university community, to > allow such a remote possibility as school closure to inordinately > influence future decision making would be totally unacceptable.
>
> To be sure, in the foreseeable future, additional sacrifices will > be asked of every individual associated with SIU but we will meet > our challenges and be a stronger and more excellent university > because of it.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Glenn Poshard
> President
> Southern Illinois University
>

SIUC Retention

I think this means that retention for the spring to fall semester is up, though 10,216 students registered for spring at this time compared to 12,885 at the same time last year doesn't sound like much to celebrate to me. Also, this was an interesting paraphrase from the Chancellor:

Chancellor Sam Goldman said at the executive session of the SIU Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday he believes the university’s retention problem has been tackled.

Given the enrollment trends at the university for the past 20 years, I don't think one semester is enough to consider the problem "tackled".

Chancellor's Events Cancelled

Money is really getting tight at SIUC. According to this email from the chancellor's office, all events hosted by the office through the end of December are canceled:

TO: SIUC Faculty and Staff

In light of the President’s November 10 email message to SIUC Faculty and

Staff regarding the financial crisis facing the campus, all events that were

scheduled to be hosted by the Chancellor’s Office through the end of

December, are being cancelled. We will reassess the budget situation in

early January and will determine if further cancellations of events are

necessary.

I am requesting each of the Vice Chancellors, Deans, and the Provost of the

School of Medicine to review events that their responsibility areas are

scheduled to host and follow my lead.

Thank you.

Samuel Goldman

Chancellor

Southern Illinois University Carbondale