Post by Admin on Jun 17, 2018 11:04:31 GMT -7
June 2018 Election Analysis
The June 2018 election was another battle between old timers and newcomers. Old timers wanted to "take Glastonbury back" to the good old days when CUT ran the show in a totalitarian manner. If you disagreed with CUT back then, they simply kicked you out of the community, cancelled your lease and sold your property. Newcomers, people who generally bought land after 1998, wanted good government that served their needs via good road maintenance and enforced covenants.
Two candidates that served on the stellar and accomplished 2017 Road Committee garnered the most votes. RJ captured 66 in North Glastonbury and Dennis Riley scored big with 69 votes in South Glastonbury. Linda Ulrich, another road committee member, won the North Glastonbury ombudsman position.
The old timers coalesced around three South Glastonbury candidates who promised to demolish the "police state", bring back the discriminatory road policy and give free rein to all landowners in developing their property in whatever way they wished. Those three candidates were soundly trounced. The one North Glastonbury candidate who actively supported them, Charlotte Mizzi, also took a big hit but managed to eek out a win.
South has far fewer old timers than North Glastonbury. Good roads and increasing property values are important issues. Both Dennis Riley and Kevin Newby have delivered on those issues. Not surprisingly they captured the top two spots in terms of number of votes in South.
The three candidates favored by the old timers were all suing the GLA and this was not in their favor. Tens of thousands of dollars that could have gone to roads was instead spent on lawyers. Seen in these terms the choice was easy for voters; do we want someone who is enhancing or destroying property values and our roads? CUT affiliation and old timer credentials took second place and did not seem to matter to many voters.
In North Glastonbury the most telling result was where candidate Val O'Connell received just ONE vote! Clearly she is very unpopular with landowners. Val took credit for helping Kathleen Rakela create the initial lawsuit that delayed the 2017 election. Voters took notice and punished Val, Kathleen Rakela, Clare Parker and Ed Dobrowski at the ballot box. Even Charlotte Mizzi was injured for supporting Kathleen Rakela.
The newcomers in North Glastonbury had a difficult time but both Claudette Dirkers and Debbie DeGraaf finished with respectable numbers. They have the support of landowners who want positive change but they need to build a bigger base around newcomers. Unfortunately for them, old timers make up the majority of North Glastonbury landowners. Dirkers was an energetic and powerful force on the Road Committee, the Election Committee and the Governing Documents committee. Perceived as a threat by several incumbents she was unfairly maligned and rarely given credit for all she accomplished. DeGraaf is a successful business owner and well respected. She volunteered for the GLA and helped to collect over $10,000.00 of past due assessments. Her accomplishments were ignored by the GLA Board entrenched powers who then took full credit for her work.
The Glastonbury Landowners for Positive Change (GLFPC) did not do enough to promote candidates Dirkers and DeGraaf. The GLFPC also took a big hit from Charlotte Mizzi who sharply criticized them and then went on to win. It is not clear if the GLFPC can recover from this defeat and go on to promote and get elected candidates that represent positive change that newcomers desire.
The election did not solve any problems and the battle between old timers and newcomers was a draw. The voters chose the status quo with one minor exception; John Carp won in North. However he replaced old timer Paul Rantello on the ballot and is widely viewed as part of the entrenched power structure in North Glastonbury.
A few cynical candidate lessons stand out:
- The Road Committee is a good place to be so voters can see you and judge the committee's accomplishments. You do not need to do much work as voters will be crediting you with everything good the committee accomplishes. If the committee does poorly and the roads suffer you may want to resign to escape election carnage.
- Do not sue the GLA Board or align yourself with Val O'Connell. This will surely lead to your defeat.
- Find capable landowners and convince them to help the GLA solve long standing problems. Then take full credit for everything they accomplished and find a reason to dismiss them so they can never become an election threat. If they accidentally get on the Board find a way to make them resign.
- Agree with voters for both sides of any issue. Do not take a stand, do as little work as possible once elected and always agree with your superiors on the Board. Given enough time your lack of ability, lack of a record of proven accomplishments and willingness to get along with everyone will float you to the top.
The next election is only 5 months away and the same battle will still be raging. What will the voters decide to do then?