George Wenschhof
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| Randy McClement |
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| Shelley Aloi |
Getting past the primary election held on September 10 will not be easy for the first term mayor, who has the reputation of being a nice guy. Randy will first have to get past former mayor Jeff Holtzinger and alderman Shelley Aloi in the Republican primary before he would face the winner in the Democratic primary and unaffiliated former mayor Jennifer Dougherty.
One of the
main reasons cited for the multitude of candidates opposing Randy is that,
putting aside he is a nice guy, the rap on Randy is he is a weak leader with no
vision for the city.
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| Jeff Holtzinger |
Holtzinger put it more bluntly in a recent interview when he told me the mayor is letting the alderman run the city and that is not the way the city charter is set up. Often silent on issues that come before the mayor and board over the last four years, Randy rarely offered his opinion on matters presented at public meeting or workshops.
In my
interview with McClement, he touted his fiscal stewardship during a time of
economic uncertainty as the main thing he was proud of during his first term in
office.
However,
as a result of a lack of vision and a seemingly unwillingness to provide
direction, Randy has been stuck with the moniker of being a “caretaker mayor”. That is, during his watch, nothing great
happened and nothing really bad happened.
Former one
term mayor Jeff Holtzinger can’t say the same, as it was during his
administration two costly decisions were made.
One, was the early retirement buy-out program and the other was the
decision to purchase the Hargett farm for a park.
Both
decisions are still costing the city money.
Holtzinger sticks by the Hargett farm purchase, telling me the cost to
develop the farm will be considerably less per acre than the city is paying to
develop Carroll Creek.
Holtzinger,
who is also an engineer by trade, wants to get back to building infrastructure
for the city to provide relief from the congestion city residents currently face.
Alderman
Shelley Aloi is also frustrated with the lack of leadership exhibited by Randy
and told me when she announced her run for mayor “the city can’t take four more
years of him”.
She is
angry the city hasn’t done more to reduce the underfunded liability of the
pension and other post employment benefits programs. She was especially incensed over the
negotiated contract the mayor did with the city police union, saying it will
cost the city millions.
The talk
around town has Randy surviving the primary election, resulting from Holtzinger
drawing votes away from Aloi.
But, don’t
discount Aloi, who was the only Republican elected to the board of alderman in
the 2009 election. In that election, as well as this one, she has displayed a
strong closing campaign effort as voting day nears.
The real
fireworks will begin following the primary when city voters will have a choice
between the Democratic, Republican and Unaffiliated candidate for mayor.
Stay
tuned.
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