Published: November 15, 2006 10:50 am            

Elections are over — now what?

With state and national elections behind us, the next big ballot issues formally on the Iowa calendar are school board elections in September and municipal elections next November.

The question today is if or how the results of last week’s vote will affect upcoming local races and what impact, if any, local politics had on the Nov. 7 vote.

On March 29, I questioned whether Clinton Mayor LaMetta Wynn should resign her post to focus on her bid for State Senate. Wynn’s service to the citizens of Clinton did not seem to suffer from her race against Roger Stewart, which is a very good thing. As someone who voted for her in 2003, it’s good to see she gave as much to Clinton during the campaign as she has in the years prior.

However, after losing to Stewart by nearly 5,000 votes, perhaps the Republican leaders who asked Wynn to run wish she had spent more time campaigning. Still, on a night when Democrats won several contested races quite easily, perhaps it must be said that Wynn did the best she could given the political climate and that leaving the mayor’s office prematurely would have been inconsequential.

Now, happily, we have LaMetta at the helm of the city for the next year, especially important given the recent departure of the city administrator. I fear an already fractured council could scarcely absorb the dual pressures of replacing Jeff Kooistra and questions about who will be mayor.

That said, Wynn has made clear her desire to complete her term and then retire from public service. This means the mayor’s office will be wide open for the first time in years. Not only that, but we know about it a full year in advance, which means the campaign may as well start today.

Speculation has swirled that two current councilmen aspire to be mayor, Ward 4’s Rodger Holm and Ward 2’s Mike Kearney. Given their difference of opinion on several key issues, I see no reason why either would shy away from a challenge. Both are up for their own re-election in 2007, which means they’d face the chance of being off the council altogether if they run for mayor and lose.

One councilman who would not have that dilemma is Ron Mallicoat. Presently an at-large councilman, he was twice elected to serve as the Ward 2 representative before moving from the ward in 2004. Mallicoat certainly is an independent thinker not prone to side exclusively with Holm or Kearney. His combination of experience and relative youth makes him a viable candidate.

Too often, however, we limit our search for mayoral candidates to current councilman. Some of those people may feel they can do more good for the city in that post — writing, rewriting and amending resolutions and ordinances — than in the center chair wielding the gavel. Of course, one of the current councilmen may believe they would bring a different approach than Wynn and could therefore affect their own change.

On the outside, however, is another possibility. Les Shields, who failed to unseat Polly Bukta for a seat in the Iowa House, is as well-suited as anyone to run for mayor. Shields has the same pedigree as Wynn when she became mayor — many good years on the Clinton School Board.

He also has a good working knowledge of at least part of the city, owing to his 30-plus years with the Clinton Police Department. His Statehouse campaign revealed him to be someone in touch with larger issues in Iowa and therefore qualified to serve as the city’s face in Des Moines. I’ve no idea if Shields would consider a run for mayor or any personal insight, but it would make things interesting.

There are other possibilities as well, be they people from the city’s various boards and commissions or other recently retired school board members. Some would be “blast from the past” names who last served 10 or more years ago, others could be well-known people who have never made their aspirations known.

If current councilmen run for mayor, and there’s no reason to think they won’t, it will force all voters to reconsider what they want in a mayor. With LaMetta Wynn out of the running, any successful candidate will have to present a definite platform and explain how they would approach the office.

This time, change is inevitable, and there figures to be many options to choose from. The election is about 51 weeks away, plenty of time for the situation to resolve itself. Here’s to a clean, fun campaign. It should be interesting.

Scott T. Holland’s column appears every Wednesday in the Clinton Herald. His e-mail address is scottholland@clintonherald.com.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.