Alachua Voter Guide

Today we had yet another shameful apathy festival. Some of us were naive enough to think that the Republican primary would increase turnout, but it was not to be. In fact, the 2010 mayoral runoff had 6 more voters than this race. And that one was a stand-alone race.

At-large 1 will go to a run-off. Democrat machine candidate Lauren Poe got 4,402 votes for 36%. Nathan Skop got 2,944 votes for 24%. Considering that there are over 70,000 registered voters in Gainesville, this is not something to be proud of. Six other candidates divided up the remaining 4,826 votes.

District 1 will not be going to a runoff because Democrat machine candidate Yvonne Hinson-Rawls got 1,126 votes for 54%.

If you people out there don’t care, there will be no reason for you to get a hearing at city hall when your ox is getting gored.

Since I am a Republican, I have been pounded by what can only be called hate mail. “Newt is evil!” “Mitt is another Obama!” “Santorum is not a real conservative!” It is truly a sad state of affairs. I have gotten very little from local candidates, although I did get one from James Ingle, which I actually liked. It was kinda wordy, but that’s how I roll, so I felt some affinity.

So, here it is and the only sign waver I have seen was the ever-present Von Fraser, our intrepid tax collector who always runs unopposed, so he campaigns for his fellow Democrats. Where is everyone?

I have not seen many signs, and I’ve only seen one TV ad. I wonder if anyone even knows there is an election tomorrow?

For sure, the Republicans do. Therefore, I am anticipating that Democrats and Independents will be even more likely to sleep through this one than usual. That is why i suspect that the Republicans will swamp the field. Yes, there will be a runoff, but I would not be surprised if it were between Nathan Skop and Darlene Pifalo. Darlene is probably the best known Republican, so she will pick up a good share of the Republican tidal wave. Skop is barely known among Republicans, but he will probably get more crossover from angry Green voters who are against the biomass plant. Donna Lutz is the Mitt Romney of the Republicans, except without all the money. She’s fairly new to the party and still sounds like a Democrat.

Tomorrow  night, I will be staying home and watching the returns on the Supervisor of Elections website. After the locals are done, I will probably go to the Google election coverage map that is so cool!

All are invited to Leonardo’s 706 (at 706 West University Avenue in District 1) for a “Final Nail in the Biomass Rate Hike Coffin Campaign Fund Raiser” from at 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. on Monday, January 23. It is my only fundraiser of the election. The purpose is to raise funds to ensure voters in District 1 have vital information about the GRU-GREC biomass deal.  It will have an additional purpose of helping fund further communication of information to At Large 1 voters.

We hope to see you there!

I am creating a video for each of the candidates in which I ask one question. These are the ones I have been able to corner so far. I will try to get the others this week.

Last night, Armando Grundy got the endorsement of the African American Accountability Alliance. That means he got over 50% of the vote of the 4A’s membership after last night’s candidate forum. Following the 8 candidate race forum for the At-large 1 seat, no one got the needed votes for and endorsement, so none was given.

I will only use the video from the District 1 race because it was the best. That forum also had the most fireworks with Grundy provoking the most rebuttals. He criticized Ray Washington for not using facts and for being a “Johnny come lately” to the race, and inferred that Yvonne Hinson-Rawls was only using “buzz words” and didn’t really know anything.

In the At-large race, it was relatively peaceful. Richard Selwach, usually a flamboyant participant, stayed on message about creating a “vocational vortex” through teaching trades to east side students. Nathan Skop went after former commissioner Lauren Poe for “bragging about the biomass plant” but did not actually name him. But anyone watching could see Poe’s anger smoldering, but he never offered a rebuttal.

I will get video from the At-large race in future posts. In the meantime, I have more from District 1.