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In the November 10, 2011, Coeur d’Alene Press article headlined Election won’t sway mayor on McEuen, Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem was complaining that Dan Gookin and Steve Adams won because of partisan support in a supposedly non-partisan election.
Really, Sandi?
The nice term for what Bloem is doing is “being disingenuous.” Here is a link to one of Bloem’s 2009 campaign finance reports. Scroll down about five pages to “Schedule B – Itemized Expenditures” and look at item 4 – Winding Creek Group. According to the report, Bloem paid Winding Creek Group $500 for “survey and calling” services.
Who is Winding Creek Group? Click on the link. Pay particular attention to the text associated with picture 1 of the 5 pictures that cycle through every few seconds
And who are some of Winding Creek Group’s clients in Idaho? Click on the link and go down the list. Recognize the names Kennedy for Coeur d’Alene, Mike Kennedy for City Council, and Sandi Bloem for Mayor Committee?
Now, Sandi, lecture all of the voters (again) about how candidates should not accept partisan support in City elections. Sooner or later someone may believe you’re being honest.
Shady Lady.
Comment by Stebbijo — November 12, 2011 @ 4:59 pm
RECALL!!!!!!
Comment by justinian — November 12, 2011 @ 5:01 pm
I think it’s great if all the political parties jump into these campaigns with both feet, inform the voters, and do their darndest to encourage people to vote. As Dan correctly pointed out in his campaign weblog, “nonpartisan” in Idaho simply means that a candidate’s party affiliation, if there is any, is not identified on the ballot.
Comment by Bill — November 12, 2011 @ 7:30 pm
The mayor certainly could have left Cricket’s and come to Fedora to congratulate the winning candidates. She did not do so.
Comment by Susie Snedaker — November 13, 2011 @ 9:58 am
Finally…a picture of Bloem that reflects who she really is!
Comment by rochereau — November 13, 2011 @ 10:53 am
She is a Democrat, why would she?
Comment by justinian — November 13, 2011 @ 11:29 am
Justinian no, no,no. Don’t you recall her telling us the city elections were non-partisan :>)
Comment by Ancientemplar — November 13, 2011 @ 11:53 am
Well, she was right – her partisan affiliation was not listed. But her money comes from Democrats as does her support.
Comment by justinian — November 13, 2011 @ 12:12 pm
Mayor Bloem shows no leadership. Susie is right that Sandi could have come to Fedora’s to congratulate the winners, but our Mayor has become increasingly removed from her constituents, other than the insiders of course.
Three weeks ago, at the presentation we gave at the Senior Center, the Mayor and her posse arrived just before the program started. They entered the full room of about 80 people, sat down immediately and made no attempt to mingle. The Mayor pulled out her paper tablet and proceeded to take notes, intensely focusing on her tablet during the entire presentation.
At the end of the prepared remarks, the speakers, Kathy Sims, Sharon Culbreth and I, stood for questions. One person in the audience turned and asked Mayor Bloem a question. The Mayor barely raised her eyes from her notebook and looked frozen. We spoke up and said the mayor should not be pushed to answer, though we told her she was welcome to, if she’d like. She said nothing and dropped her eyes again. We went on to the next question.
There was no leadership from our mayor! She didn’t have to answer the question, but she certainly could have stood up, made eye contact with her constituents and said something general about our city and her viewpoint overall. Very strange.
Comment by mary — November 13, 2011 @ 1:25 pm
Recall time.
Comment by justinian — November 13, 2011 @ 2:10 pm
Interesting information about Winding Creek. I went to their website as directed on this page and to “testimonials” where I saw Mike Kennedy had a posting too. It looks like they both used this group.
Comment by curious1 — November 14, 2011 @ 7:44 am
curious1,
You are correct. I just didn’t include it in this post.
Here is a link to Kennedy’s 2009 30-Day Post-General Election Report. Scroll down to Schedule B to see these:
Comment by Bill — November 14, 2011 @ 9:15 am
Lets define the term. Nonpartisan does not mean ‘uninformed’. Voters want to be informed. Who is going to provide that information if candidates don’t have assistance, funding, and support? The days of Joe Six-Pack trundling down to vote for his neighbor ‘Billy-Bob’ are gone. The voters are too widely disbursed and often don’t have time to search out people who personally know the candidates, thus they rely on INFORMATION.
Comment by Joe Six-Pack — November 14, 2011 @ 9:30 am
At the first Mc Euen plan indoctrination meeting held at Woodland School, Mary and I were surprised to note that the mayor did not greet the audience. Some of us are familiar with her seeming indifference to those who take the time to attend public meetings.
Comment by Susie Snedaker — November 15, 2011 @ 7:26 am