Winners

After last week, Des Moines might consider changing the name of Robert D. Ray Drive to Easy Street following the Des Moines City Council's approval of their second pay adjustment in the past five years. Boosting their part-time salaries by 13 percent, council members will see their pay jump from $19,465 to $22,000 and Mayor Frank Cownie's check will increase from $27,670 to $31,500 as of Jan. 1. And that doesn't include extra perks, like health insurance and $50 per week for business expenses. Probably sounds mighty luxurious to the average Iowa household that, according to recent census data, watched its income decline by 5 percent over the past five years to barely $43,000 annually for full-time (or more) work. And it probably sounds a little fiscally flippant to other officials who are staring down a more than $5 million budget deficit. And that's likely exactly how it sounded to council members Michael Kiernan and Christine Hensley, who decided that the buck stops here, not only voting against their own bank accounts in the interest of city coffers but pledging to donate every cent of their windfall back to local charities and civic organizations.

Losers

There is nothing worse than a sore loser. Case in point, school board also-ran Jonathan Narcisse, who started to howl along with the winds of so-called corruption following last week's Des Moines School Board election. Corresponded Narcisse in a dangerous e-mail to supporters the day after he finished an honorable fourth in a field full of contenders: "Despite the clear attempt to manipulate the outcome of this race, we captured two out of three of this year's school board seats, and for the fifth consecutive year sent a message to incumbents... I also know that more people who turned out to vote wanted Jonathan Narcisse on the school board." Then he went on to blame Polk County Auditor Michael Mauro's outfit, accusing them of posting signs poorly, closing sites early, being geographically racist and, in turn, demanded that a recount was in order. Then, in the days that followed, Narcisse went off on a rant regarding the fact that not everyone in the city's poorer neighborhoods has access to a car, so the non-drivers (a powerful voting bloc) were unable to turn out in droves for him, and that some voting sites in wealthier areas of the city had been kept open later in order to get his detractors one last shot at stuffing the ballot boxes. For someone who wanted to be a representative of the people and an example for children, it was repulsively unfortunate behavior. To make matters worse, Narcisse had a strong issue entering the race and the numbers to back it up regarding how our current educational system is failing students of all races; not to mention his issue resonated with a large number of voters, who nearly put him on the board. And while we hope his issue doesn't go away, we also are grateful that a conspiracy theorist who refuses to stay on message, fight fair and be respectable will not be an addition to this already struggling school board. Jonathan Narcisse lost for the simple fact that too many people he rubbed up against thought him to be a paranoid, xenophobic asshole. In the end, they were right - and it cost him. CV

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