Last updated on 2013.04.16
Last week's snowstorm postponed the municipal elections in Spearfish and Lead to tomorrow.
While Spearfish mayor Jerry Krambeck tours Germany and Dana Boke whines vaguely about bringing professional and respectful leadership to Spearfish, Lead mayoral candidates Les Roselles and Jerry Apa slug it out on real issues. The following image of competing campaign materials from Roselles and Apa popped up on the Lead Soapbox page 15 minutes ago:
Economic development, city budget, Handley Rec Center, a Lead-Deadwood trolley route, downtown beautification... wow! In a two-minute side-by-side read, we hear more specifics than we have gotten in six weeks of Dana Boke's "Specifics-schmecifics; elect me because I manage two banks but am not an oligarch" rhetoric. Roselles and Apa are having the policy debate we should be having in Spearfish. Happy voting, Lead!
Yeah, I've been reading this back and forth between them and feel alot more informed about those two candidates!
If Ms Boke wins today, she will have calculated correctly that a good campaign strategy was to ride the wave of folks that have had their fill of Mr Krambeck and his leadership. It may just work, but I dunno. The folks that don't care about details and are voting for Ms Boke because their is alot of dislike for Mr Krambeck?? Well, that's one thing. Just cross your fingers and hope that you are giving the baton to someone who will truly start doing .....uh.....something different. What that is? Who knows!
Related/unrelated sidenote:
2010 Spearfish Municipal Election results:
Jerry Krambeck - 38% of the vote/816 votes
Mike Kane - 35% of the vote/750 votes
Terri Dunwoody - 27% of the vote/578 votes
(yeah, it was a squeeker, alright. If Kane and Dunwoody wouldn't have split the anti-Krambeck vote, then perhaps a different mayor would have been in office the last three years)
Paul Young - 51% of the vote/370 votes
L Klarenbeek - 49% of the vote/350 votes
Les has worked his tail off his entire life while Apa ran illegal card games and supported Deadwood's brothels.
As a citizen of Spearfish, I try to stay informed regarding local issues. One of my resources is the internet. While I appreciate varying perspectives, because that is an excellent way to glean the truth, I have found Madville Times articles the least informative and helpful in educating myself on the candidates and issues. After reading several articles over the past month it clear to me that Madville Times is more interested in casting criticisms than in helping the public become more educated about the candidates. Dana Boke may have run a different campaign, but in listening to her speak I have never heard her "whine vaguely." She has been honest about not necessarily knowing all the "answers" right now. No one could. We should be highly suspicious of anyone who claims to. If we never elect anyone who does not have "political" experience, who will be left to elect? Some of our greatest leaders had no experience, which turned out to be an asset. Some of our worst leaders were career politicians. Rather than "real liberal media" I have found Madville Times to be "really liberal media".
So Brenna, help inform us: what specific policies will Dana Boke change if elected mayor of Spearfish? What specific policies need to change, and why?
...and as for being "liberal media," aren't Boke and Krambeck both Republicans? There isn't a liberal or conservative angle to this Spearfish election, is there?
My friend Larry knows that a Lead city run by Mr. Apa will fare far better under the watchful partnership with future Senator or Governor Napoli, his close personal friend.
nothing that the yellowstone supervolcano won't fix....
Wow. Um ok. I agree totally that no one has all of the answers. And I do believe that not having a background of holding political office should not necessarily be held against anyone. But the big question is... And we have been asking it over and over on this blog..... What ARE Boke's positions on things. Anything? it is not the duty of this blog to educate people about a candidate. That falls squarely in the lap of that candidate.
I don't give a rip whether the mayoral candidate is republican or not. I would just like some specifics about how they are going to change things....since they keep talking about changing things. why is the rec center a half million in the hole and what steps are going to be taken to fix that? So much more, so little time.... But if a candidate won't give specifics, who is supposed to do that? Is that not the responsibility of the candidate?
I do not know, nor care if the Spearfish mayoral candidates have a party affiliation. By virtue of being in SD they are probably more conservative . . . Like Dana P. I want to know more about their platforms than their "party" affiliation. Also, valid point Dana P., it is not necessarily the responsibility of a blogger to educate about a candidate. What I find refreshing and appealing about Ms. Boke is that she does not have an agenda she is trying to strong arm, nor is she making promises she might not be able to keep. What I hear her saying is that there are issues that need addressing: rec center, city expansion (lower valley), etc. I understand her position to be one of FINDING OUT what the best solution is. She will consider public opinion, professional opinion, practical opinion. Furthermore, she has specifically stated that UNITY (esp. regarding lower valley) of Spearfish is important. Ultimately, I hear her putting aside any personal preference or selfishness to pursue what is best for the city. That may be why she sounds "vague" to some. Beyond that, her philosophy/method of leadership is far different than that of Krambeck's. Caheidelberger: I have touched on some of Boke's "policy changes." In reality they are more changes in approach than policy. While you may see that as a subtle difference, to me it is crucial. I want a mayor who is fair minded, unselfish, and willing to prefer the citizens and what is right for Spearfish over himself/herself. Boke is that person.
Right, Brenna, and that's my point: talking about my "liberal" bent seems irrelevant when we're talking about a local election. We can drop the party labels and talk about what the candidates will actually do.
You acknowledge that Boke has no policy agenda. I find that alarming. I need some more substance to know that her approach will be substantively different from the current regime. I appreciate communication and community from a blog perspective... but lay it out for me: what bad policies has the current administration "strong-armed"? And how has it "strong-armed" those policies?
It does not alarm me at all. I prefer knowing a person's approach and philosophy. That way I know what guides their decision making. But, you pose good questions. If you live in Spearfish you sense the undercurrent. If you don't live here it is hard to impart. That is not a "cop out." If you live here, you know that police officers quit working for the city and begin communing to Deadwood to be part of highway patrol or county officers. No, it's not a long commute, but it is sometimes a paycut and certainly inconventient. You have to ask yourelf "why?" The mayor appoints the chief of police. What's going on? If you live here you know it's an unspoken issue. Let's address the "elephant in the room" and all the other elephants. Krambeck did a good job early in his career; I don't deny that. But it is time that the "good ol' boys" opened their club.
I live here. I've heard the undercurrent. It's cropped up in this comment section on other posts. But why leave it an "unspoken" issue? Why not talk specifics, like the police issue you mention here? Why not call the spade the spade, point to the elephants, name the good old boys, lay it out for folks who are new to the community or who may not be tuned to the details of city politics, and show exactly what you plan to change?
Frankly, to someone who didn't know either Krambeck or Boke before the election, Boke comes across as someone reciting finely tuned marketing messages. Doesn't communication include being straight with the voters?
Whoa! Boke wins! I get easy blogging! Whoo-hoo! http://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/article_5fe81fac-a70b-11e2-831f-0019bb2963f4.html
The Mayor is defeated! Long live the Mayor!
Neither ever impressed. Now she has to actually lead and run something. Having shared little vision; less agenda; it may be an interesting ride as she gets up to speed. Will it be management-by-crisis or opportunity; or a vision / goal oriented management? Will the town be run by the politics of personality; or by professionalism. Huge difference. Time will tell. In the meantime the department heads and staffs have their work cut out for them to bring her up to speed. Good luck Spearfish.
And there's the thing, John: read Brenna's comments above, listen to what Boke's sign-wavers on the street today were saying, and you hear lack of a policy agenda portrayed as a good thing. The theme is that Boke won't come charging in with ideas of her own and thus will be more open to listening to all of us to get an idea of what the community wants to do. Maybe she'll be like B. Thomas Marking promised in his 2010 House race and hold constant online listening sessions and polls to see what we want to do? Maybe we'll get participatory budgeting and online plebiscites?
So is that a good way to govern? Is that the democracy we want from our local leaders?
Congratulations, Ms. Boke. Of course communication involves being straight with voters. Ms. Boke is. I cannot speak for her on this, but if it had been me, I would have steered clear of mudslinging tactics. Much of calling a spade a spade could easily have come across as that. For example, how many citizens know the details of why Cabela's did not come to Spearfish as it was initially slated to? How many know the details of Premier coming in?
Is it mudslinging to say "Spearfish is an oligarchy" if Spearfish really is an oligarchy? Is it mudslinging to say "X is bad, and here's how I'll fix X"?
And please, if you know those details, please tell us why Cabela's didn't come and what was up with Premier. That's the communication we need: open discussion of problems, failures, and malfeasance.
There is the problem. I don't know if anyone has all the details. I am aware of a number of details, but without all the information, I would hate to inaccurately accuse some one. I think it is fair to ask why doesn't the public know? You can only have a leak when you are trying to keep something sealed. I apologize for not being more detailed, but, like I said, I don't want to unintentionally slander some one because I don't have all at the info. I guess I would encourage people to research it.
Just got off the phone with a Spearditch businessperson. Cabela's decision was strictly market-based. Boke is going to have a really difficult time governing although Krambeck has apparently lost touch with newcomers to town.
Thanks, Larry! I can see the market argument: Cabela's can catch more customers at Exit 61 than at Exit 12. Lots of people go to Rapid City who don't make it to Spearfish (though they should!); not many visitors go to Spearfish without going to Rapid.
Brenna, there's something I'm very conscious of while blogging. I may feel in my bones that someone's an SOB. I may have a passel of back-channel commenters telling me someone's an SOB. I may want deeply to say someone's an SOB, or an oligarch, or what have you. But if I don't have the documents, the words on the record, that show someone's an SOB, I can't expect people to make it a voting issue. That's the kind of documentation I was asking for throughout the campaign, the proof that there really are problems that need to be fixed. What I got was a bunch of words that sounded like they'd been pasted together to win a marketing victory.
And that marketing, plus dedicated campaigners working the snowy streets yesterday, appear to have succeeded.