Democrats should squirm at this shot from Mayor Jerry Krambeck criticizing his opponent Dana Boke's vague vanilla promises of change and new perspective if she's elected mayor of Spearfish. But since Democrats aren't all that active in Lawrence County, Krambeck throws the punch anyway in his closing statement at last night's candidates forum:
The last time I heard the phrase "Hope and change" I was unemployed about 12 months later with 350 of my coworkers. Unknown change just doesn't go with me. It scares me [Jerry Krambeck, candidates forum, Matthews Opera House, Spearfish, SD 2013.03.27].
Ah, that would have been more like 30 months later, Jerry... but who's counting?
Likening Dana Boke to Barack Obama can't sit well with Boke's Christian conservative friends. But however it played, Boke herself offered no direct response... just more of the same empty platitudes that drew Krambeck's fire.
Cory, first off thanks for the updates on the Spearfish Mayoral Race. It's really heating up! I use to live there back in the day and I can remember when Mr. Romkema was mayor of Spearfish back in the 1990's. As for you leaving South Dakota, as I read on the SDWC the other day, I wish you all the best and I hope you will still be blogging since I get most of my news on South Dakota politics from you since I moved to Oregon last year. I will no longer be visiting the SDWC blogsite since Mr. Powers has started playing his games again of not posting my comments. I wont' waste my time elaborating on that silliness, but, to sum it all up: I'm finally done with visiting the SDWC. However, I look forward to continuining to view The Madville Times. Your professionalism and insight are what I admire the most. Your blog stays away from the sensational while focusing on informing rather than preaching.
The staircase up to the theater in the Matthews Opera House feels like ascending into a nearly inescapable fire rescue experiment.
a kind of Kobayashi Maru of spearditch-on-sandstone....
Kurtz, now the "Phantom".
thanks Cory for all of the detailed video clips of the forums. good stuff to go back and look/listen, to make sure I heard everything correctly.
Yeah, this little diddy about "hope and change" that good ole Jerry let come off of his pre-written document, was very ...um...odd....and he leaves out some very important details:
- Premier Bankcard was looking to close their Spearfish facility prior to Obama even being elected. Then when Dodd/Frank happened, it gave Premier a great excuse to put the heat on Obama and Dodd/Frank - rather than letting themselves look like the bad guy in dumping 330 loyal employees onto the unemployment line.
- And oh contrare....good ole Jerry was NOT one of the people that Premier laid off. They "created" a job as facility manager for him to "look after the place" while it was vacant/until TMONE took over the facility - for a pretty nice salary.
-as far as the Mayor always responding to emails?? nope. I've got three that I wrote directly to mayor reference 24/7 commercial generators run by a developer going on for 12+ weeks next to my home (in the middle of summer) and with no help from the city to quiet them down. How did the mayor respond to me?? oh yeah, he didn't.
- what a condescending/rude/unprofessional person that calls himself a mayor to be shuffling papers and making "busy work" while Boke is giving her ending statement. But that is just status quo for the guy.
That being said.......VERY disappointed in Boke. Since the dear mayor has no idea (cough cough) why she used oligarchy to describe how the city is being run, I am at a loss as to why she didn't lay it all out in the public forum as to why she did use that terminology. It was a perfect time to show that the emperor has no clothes - but instead? She didn't even address it.
If Boke wants this job, she needs to quit being so "milk-toasty" and say it like it is. While many Spearfish-ians understand what she is getting at, if she assumes that everyone does, that will be a lose-lose game plan for her. Yes, she needs to grow some nads (sorry) and show people that she has the stomach, confidence, and assertiveness to run this city. And she can still do that without being inappropriate. If she doesn't get more aggressive, this is going to be a total "turnout" game on April 9th. Notoriously, not many folks vote for the local elections. People aren't going to buy what she is selling if she doesn't start selling it better.
Visual observation - did you pick up the body language between these two while they sat at the table? wowsa, there is no love lost there!
The only thing I noticed was the total lack of respect the man had in the video by collecting his papers. A person's actions speak louder than words.
Thanks, G-Man! I'll keep working hard to live up to your standards. But note: I'll have a little preaching on the candidates coming up; I just want to give everyone a chance to watch the videos and analyze the candidates' demonstrated merits on their own first.
Dana is right: The mayor's opening statement, in which he directly attacked Boke for having no government experience and never having voted in a municipal election or attended a city council meeting set the stage for a very confrontational event... but Boke never took that bait. She let that attack and Krambeck's attack in the closing hang unaddressed. In her own opening statement, she sounded a bit knocked off balance by Krambeck's attack, as if she knew that she'd just been hit but couldn't screw up the courage to hit back. Like Dana, I think she should have hit back and should have put specific teeth in her oligarchy charge. (Heck, she should have talked to Dana first—just reading an e-mail from Dana or Dana's above comment verbatim would have sufficed.)
You don't have to live up to my standards. I already admire your standards.
From my experience, and many of my fellow citizens around here that have been impacted by the decisions of this city - Mr Krambeck leads by confrontation. He attempts to bully and give it a "my way or the highway" direction. And it isn't just me that Mr Krambeck hasn't responded to. It is many others. His confrontational stature and attempts to bully were on full display during the forum, and this is his modus operandi.
I think we've all been in situations where we wish would have said this, or we wish would have said that, during a conversation or debate. But that Ms Boke didn't respond to ANY of Mr Krambeck's bully attempts? And that she didn't even back up her "olly-garchy" allegations? ugggg, it was like one of Gallagher's watermelons hitting the pavement.
Instead, she blogged about "true colors" on her website after the forum and that the "true colors" were on full display during the forum, but again, goes into no detail. What the huh? People are going to listen to you as long as you give them someTHING to listen to! I think folks in Spearfish-tonia have had their fill with the current leadership - but if they come up empty on knowing what a change in leadership will be - they will more than likely stay home on April 9th.
This is truly a tough decision for you queen cityites. And you have a lot of highbrow fun words to guide you:
Krambeck
Boke
Snollygarchnic
Kobayoshi
Snuffmitten
Dana, Spearfish voters thus face a basic political question: what makes for good leadership? Which is worse: a confrontational style that pushes a clear agenda or a clearly less forceful style that pushes no clear agenda? In a political environment in which there is strong competition for resources, which leadership style serves a community better?
It is perhaps unfair to judge the candidates strictly by their performance in this single public forum (the only one I've seen advertised—why just one?). But even this forty minutes of side-by-side comparison is more evidence than most voters will use to make their decision, so I welcome further analysis based solely on what we see on the video from Wednesday night.
Exactly, Cory. Time is of the essence for Ms Boke to start making some very specific and detailed points. Vague and guarded comments isn't going to sell anyone. I could change what bank I'm using because it would be "new" and it would be "different", but would the services I get be anything better?? If not, why change? Ms Boke needs to tell us WHY she would be better and HOW she would do things different for the betterment of the community.
Mr Krambeck keeps using the argument that he is the only candidate running who has governmental experience. Sure. But he was also new to government at some point (same position as Boke is now). Krambeck's "experience" argument will win the day if Boke can't (or won't) give clear, detailed, examples as to why that experience is harmful to the citizens.
And yes, I would be MORE than happy to provide Ms Boke with a laundry list of examples that she could use. I'm sure she has alot of examples from many others in this city also. Use them, Ms Boke. USE THEM! Mr Krambeck is daring you to do that, and you should rise to the challenge! Do a meet and greet. Have a public speech. Is another forum scheduled? Get the word out! Signs and posters are one thing, but there are other needed approaches. Ms Boke is getting some comments on her F/B page that is challenging her lack of detail. Sure, she may not satisfy Krambeck supporters, but she could sure as heck satisfy those that may be on the fence, or thinking about staying home on the 9th.
The results of the election three years ago, Mr Krambeck would not have been victorious if his two challengers hadn't split the vote.
Surprise, Ms. Boke: politics is a contact sport. If you're gonna hit, hit!
Dana P., you are absolutely right. If Boke wants to make her case, she needs to really make her case, not just float one vague attack and then hope fluffy marketing-speak will carry her to victory. Boke gets herself so tangled up in trying not to say anything negative that she said at the forum that TIFs are for blighted areas, and she doesn't think anyplace in Spearfish is blighted, but she supports using TIFs. Come on, Ms. Boke: do you really think you're going to lose someone's vote because they would deduce from your support for TIFs that you think someone's building is in bad shape?
If Spearfish needs change, it needs a Dana-Dana team: Dana P. to write up the specifics of what needs to change, Dana B. to add those specifics to her campaign and sell that message hard.
Jerry has been a good mayor for many years, if anyone has something new to offer? then they should be able to also offer something better.....it's sad when politics gets in the way of community but it will take the whole city to embrace positive change....and Spearfish already has positive change WITH Jerry. Jerry has not only brought beauty and perspective with him to the mayoral seat, but also a hometown fortitude that gets things done right. Nobody is perfect, every person seeking office has their life of service to offer. It is great when candidates bring civic service like councils and volunteer work to the table, but if a person has genuine authentic ideas...they can demonstrate to the public a veracity and/or a git-r-done attitude to make up the differences. I don't see these leadership qualities so far in Boke...she may be able to nurture something for future campaigns, but today...she is falling too short and she does not show the strong leadership qualities I would look for in a mayor. Jerry also may not be perfect.....who is? but he is passionate about doing a good job, and he has a long track record of getting things done....even in the face of terrible adversity. I'm sticking with Jerry, he will serve Spearfish well for another term....guaranteed.