Surprise the first: I've never voted in an election in which the majority of the electorate agreed with me across the board ... until now. Congratulations to the newest members of the Bozeman City Commission ... progressives all. Kaaren Jacobson, Jeff Rupp and Sean Becker will now be tasked with guiding Bozeman forward in a time of frightening growth. I couldn't be happier to see it. Rupp and Becker both bring a wealth of good ideas for enabling growth without obstructing the inevitable. And Jacobson brings a terrific message of cooperation between city government and the people they serve. This could be a great commission.
Surprise the second: After Jeff Krause serves his two years, Kaaren Jacobson will be the mayor of Bozeman. Don't get me wrong, I think she's the best person at the right time. But I thought for certain that Rupp would be the shoe-in for the top spot. There were a lot of local people working very hard for Kaaren's election, and I think that had a lot to do with her getting the most votes. I expressed to one of those folks my sincere belief that Rupp and Becker were a lock, and that it would be close between Jacobson and Hietala. 'Couldn't be happier to be wrong, but I am surprised.
I got to meet Kaaren for the first time this weekend, on the Radio Show Citizen's Voices. I found her to be thoughtful, and above all, honest. She didn't dissemble, and she didn't pretend to know what she didn't know. And I'm positive that it was not easy for her to be in studio with such loudmouths as myself, Captain B, and Princess Di. I really thought that a woman of her demeanor would get steamrolled by the well patted pets of the developers, Henyon and especially Hietala. I was so terribly wrong. That speaks highly of those who committed to her campaign, and to Kaaren's ability to rise above the crap covering politics as usual. I was so very wrong. Madam Mayor Elect, I support and salute you.
Color Me Un-Surprised:
Un-Surprise the first: There was low voter turnout yesterday. As much as Montanans love the Wintry white, for going out yesterday to vote ... the weather just plain sucked. That shouldn't be an excuse. But if it kept the squinty-eyed progress-haten' curmudgeons home, the ones who actually thought Henyon and Hietala care about anything other than the pillage rights of developers, well then I'm all for it. Progressives rule.
Un-Surprise the second: It took less than 12 hours for both Henyon and Hietala to predict dire woe befalling the Bozeman community due to them being sent packing. We'll see if Bozeman is awash in joblessness and sprawl 2 years from now, but I strongly doubt it. Ya' see, there's a difference between controlling growth for the benefit of all, and greedily profiting from it. Those two losers don't quite get the concept.
Hey, I voted - even thought it totally did not matter - I think I voted for someone named Jeff maybe - but in my district in Belgrade, there were only two races with one person each running, someone for mayor & something else; I only voted to increase the statistics (I was #10 in my district) so sometimes voting really doesn't matter...I really upset the voting lady when I handed her my ballot outside the plastic secrecy box!
Posted by: Sheila N | November 11, 2005 at 03:33 PM
Surprise, surprise. Can we say unemployment, a complete shutdown in development, higher impact fees, more taxes. You got what you voted for all in less than 4 years.
Posted by: Erik Henyon | February 20, 2009 at 08:45 PM