Denver Direct: District 8 Goes Old Skool


Wednesday, May 2, 2007

District 8 Goes Old Skool

In choosing Sharon Bailey for City Council (by a plurality, run-off yet to come), District 8 voters opted for the most-educated, most-experienced-in-the-ways-of-government-bureaucracy, most previously-elected, and perhaps, “safest” candidate.

Dr. Bailey’s website is an academic treatise. She has laid it all out. If you want to know what she thinks, read, read, read it here.

She scored zero on my “internet responsiveness” measurement, but she told me she was sorry about that. She says “My top priority will be to provide more efficient and effective constituent services for District 8 residents.” and I believe her. Call me naïve, but I actually think she means what she says.

Having Bailey as our representative will also give us more clout. With her background, she won’t start out at the bottom of the City Council newbies.

Madison came in second, 484 votes behind Bailey and 74 votes ahead of Watson. That 74 votes is 1.19%, so I assume there won’t be an automatic recount. A candidate could request a recount, but they would have to pay for it, so I don’t think there will be one.

In relegating Watson to third place, District 8 passed on a chance to snag the brightest and most inspiring candidate (IMHO). When I was editing the hours of candidate tapes, I always came away impressed by Watson. I think he could have provided a “new skool” kind of leadership that we haven’t seen before, actually inspiring the diverse population of our district in exciting, creative ways. I hope he continues to be active in politics. He might be better as a state legislator than on City Council.

Greg Rasheed got only 7.7% of the vote. Despite his best intentions, I don’t think voters considered him to be a serious candidate. His “radio” personality sometimes made him seem superficial. His “youth” platform seemed limiting. He had the highest “internet responsiveness” score, but most voters apparently aren’t wired. You gotta love the guy anyway.

Will losing candidates throw their support behind run-off candidates? Will the voters follow? Does anyone care?

I was talking to my barber on Monday about the election. I asked if he had gotten a ballot. Yes, he said, a little sheepishly, he had gotten one, but he had thrown it away.

And so it goes.