A hot item about chili and bad taste at Channel 13
Sharon Mueller was irked. She is running for the City Council seat owned by Tom Vlassis, and it’s an uphill fight. So she seemed quite put out when she wasn’t asked to be a judge in the third annual Chili Cookoff that the Des Moines Waterfront Farmers’ Market has scheduled for Oct. 31. “Chili Cookoff to be Judged by Des Moines City Council Candidates,” said the headline on the Waterlandblog.com Web site. Mueller fired off a post to the blog:
“I happen to be a City Council Candidate in Ward #1 and haven’t been invited to any of these events. Is there a reason for that, and if so, could I be there, as well. I am trying to meet as many folks as possible, even though [Tom] Vlassis has been in office for 20 years. Thanx, sharon.”
It turns out there is a reason Mueller wasn’t invited. The Waterfront Farmers Market is in Des Moines, Wash., which is just outside Seattle and which has its own council election coming up.
Waterlandblog readers were amazed. “You’re running for a City Council seat and you don’t take the time to read and understand what an online blog is saying? Your first clue should have been when you saw the City Council candidates names did not include those in your race. Maybe you should run for something a little less complicated, like dog catcher,” wrote one. Chimed in another: “Wow, too funny! She is running for council in Des Moines, Iowa. Not a very informed candidate if you ask me. How could you make your way to the waterland blog, past the article on our council race, through the Mt. Rainier Pool debate, and over to the waterfront farmers market article on a chili cook off which confirms which council candidates will be attending… I suppose we should take it as a compliment that she thought Des Moines, WA was as nice as the other Des Moines.”
At any rate, the cookoff will be from noon to 2 p.m. on Oct. 31. There’s a $30 entry fee, plus transportation. Roundtrip fare on Delta — leaving Des Moines, Iowa, on Oct. 30 and coming home on Nov. 1 — is $317.90. It is unclear whether Tom Vlassis plans to be on hand to meet as many folks as possible.
Staying on subject, sort of... As of this weekend, 642 people had requested absentee ballots for the Des Moines (Iowa) city council races, and 198 had already been returned, according to Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald. There’s no way of telling which candidates are pushing for absentees, but it’s clear that some of the supporters of at-large candidate David Adelman are old hands at getting absentees. That race for the seat Michael Kiernan is vacating could be close, with lawyer Adelman, city forester Skip Moore, business consultant Leisha Barcus, state Asian Affairs official Cyndi Chen and meatpacker David Rosenfeld on the ballot. Chen and Rosenfeld don’t have a chance, but the other three do. More absentee requests are likely, but getting the most absentees isn’t a sure sign of victory. “The most interesting and I would say closest comparison to this election would be the 2003 primary election for mayor,” Fitzgerald says. That pitted Mark McCormick, Christine Hensley and Frank Cownie against one another. In all, there were 2,099 absentee votes, with McCormick getting the most — 793. But the former supreme court justice finished third.
Staying local... The mayor’s race in Waukee has become heated in a role reversal of sorts, Skinny is told. Democratic incumbent Bill Peard fits some people’s stereotype of the typical Republican while challenger and current Republican council member Isaiah McGhee would appear to be more of a Democrat. “It’s the old, fat white guy who works for the large corporation (Peard) against the young, black school teacher (McGhee),” says a Waukee insider. These two don’t seem to like each other, and it shows, as the gloves came off in the public debate last week and even more so behind the scenes. Although Peard, who works as a government relations manager for Mediacom, will likely win, a guy tells Skinny that “Peard is sweating, more than usual.” McGhee, who was chastised for building a city of Waukee Facebook page in April, continues to use social networking as a means to gain voters, which seemed to work quite well for another black politician in Iowa.
Welfare to Culver cronies? A reader who recently visited the State Historical Building, home to Cultural Affairs, told Skinny that he noticed the atrium was filled with round tables and chairs, not a typical arrangement. Being the curious type, he inquired as to what was going on. “I have become used to luncheons being held in the museum, during the museum hours, which I know is Cyndi Pederson’s way of prostituting the building,” he rants. “I was told it was a ‘Great Places’ celebration. And I know that Great Places is a grant program administered by Cultural Affairs. I saw Cyndi Pederson and several other people (who work at Cultural Affairs) flitting around discussing how to make this a grand event. And I was told the ‘Big Lug’ was going to be there. And there was even going to be a dance floor.” Skinny assumes this self professed elder Iowan was referring to the Great Places Awards and Recognition dinner, which was held Oct. 16. The reader wonders why neither Cyndi Pederson nor the Big Lug realize how tacky parties like this look when the state is going to be slashing programs and laying people off. “It [Great Places] benefits neither health, education, public safety, or welfare.” Skinny just wanted to see the Governor dance.
Incredible quote of the week: Skinny was jolted awake during the Channel 13 six o’clock news the other evening when “Cyclone Fanatic” Chuck Reed said: “Even Stevie Wonder could see the Cyclones are improving every week.”
A poll: Research 2000 for Daily Kos, Oct. 12-14. Likely voters. Margin of error, four percentage points. For United States Senate:
Chuck Grassley (R) 51
Christie Vilsack (D) 40
And:
Chuck Grassley (R) 51
Roxanne Conlin (D) 39
Clarification: Skinny does not think all Republicans are old, fat white guys. Chuck Grassley, for instance, is not fat.
You read it first here. Kind of. Gov. Culver apparently has another issue brewing that may again require him to let top level people go, this time in the Department of Natural Resources, Skinny is told. According to a guy in the know, some fellow DNR agents “blew the whistle” on their boss earlier this week. One employee met with “an investigator” on Tuesday, who told him that his report was “going to go to the governor’s desk” and that action was going to have to be taken quickly. He thought it would be “in the papers by the end of the week.” CV
