The contest for New Brighton mayor is between two known quantities: Dave Jacobsen, the incumbent mayor with a track record of his positions in the last campaign and his documented performance in office, and Bob Benke, a former council member and mayor with a long public record. A critical examination of this information, in my view, makes the choice for mayor an overwhelmingly easy decision.
There were two candidate forums this week at New Brighton City Hall for the mayoral and council contests. These events were, as usual, not very useful in providing a lot of meaningful information for voters to make an informed decision. This is not the the fault of the candidates. The constraints on time and the shallowness of the questions (at times driven by the political agenda of the sponsoring organization) assure that these events serve as little more than a joint appearance of the candidates where people can associate names with faces and get a feel for the speaking styles of the participants. At best, people who do not pay attention to city government may glean a very broad sense of the general philosophy of the candidates but very little to make an informed decision. Those who do follow this stuff closely can perhaps pick up some information on the campaign strategies, but it is doubtful any minds were changed.
I will first address the New Brighton mayoral race and will do so in multiple posts to keep the reading time reasonable, beginning with general political philosophy and governing style.
First off, let's throw out the notion that this is a non-partisan contest. City elections are officially non-partisan in that there are no reference to party affiliation on the ballot and generally no open endorsement by political parties on yard signs and literature. In this race the political views and general governing philosophy of the candidates are very apparent based on their campaigns, performance in office, and their supporters: Mayor Jacobsen is a solid fiscal and social conservative while former mayor Bob Benke is clearly a hard-left, big government liberal. In other words, essentially polar opposites on the right/left political continuum.
In his short time in office Dave Jacobsen has established a public record of fiscal responsibility, holding the line or lowering taxes, governing in accordance with the will of the people, planning for the long term, and a style of quiet competence. In contrast, Bob Benke has a long documented record of growing the size and scope of government, unashamedly raising taxes (including a city "death tax" that made the national press), abuse of eminent domain, a long tenure as a lobbyist for liberal causes, support of liberal candidates, and generally governing with a style of centralized command-and-control.
It would be difficult to come to any other conclusions by looking at the individual public records of the two candidates, and a side-by-side comparison of the evidence would be of little practical use in determining who is the candidate deserving of your support. If you are a conservative, or even lean conservative, Dave Jacobsen is your candidate. On the other hand, if you are a liberal/socialist/progressive Bob Benke is the logical choice. If general political philosophy is your only criteria in selecting who to vote for your choice should be clear, one way or the other.
To me, as a proud conservative, Dave Jacobsen is clearly the only choice. Returning Bob Benke to power would be a huge step backward the city of New Brighton on several levels.
To be continued...
