Irving is holding elections for Mayor, District 3, and District 5 this year. Honestly, this is probably the first time that an Irving election has been interesting, and generally it circles around the proposed Las Colinas Entertainment Center, to a lesser extent the Heritage District, and transparency in meetings. Each candidate has their own particular list of issues, though, so anyone interested in the elections should take the time to read through them. The Dallas Morning News’ Irving Blog is a good place to start. I’m sure there is a guide from the League of Women Voters out by now, and that’s always a great resource for finding about the candidates.

I can’t spend the time to make this an extensive in-depth commentary on every single candidate. I do want to pick out some highlights though. As far as the mayoral race, it’s my gut feeling (because there really aren’t any polls at this level) that the race is really between Gears and Putnam. I say this because of two things: first, most people don’t know anything about the council members, so that leaves Gears and Putnam with a clear lead over all others in name recognition. Second, despite reporting very low fund-raising, Putnam obviously has people pouring money into his campaign. There were “Elect Joe Putnam” signs out on lawns before he even formally announced his candidacy. The man was drafted into the election! His were out there first and from my driving tour of the city, the amount of Putnam signs is at least equivalent to Gears’. Despite raising a respectable amount of money, Beth Van Duyne doesn’t have nearly the presence that either Putnam or Gears does in the advertising. Given that early voting is going on now, it would seem rather late to make a big difference with an ad push. Besides that, (just between you and me) there are plenty of folks who really don’t like her. Spink is a non-factor in this race. He probably can’t overcome Gears in his home district, much less in the entire city.

On that note, as much as people want to take Gears out, pulling opposition votes in three directions is not the way to do it. If there was a poll in the city, he’s probably got somewhere around 50% approval. Despite the questions arising from the Las Colinas and Heritage District development financing, a lot of people take a look at the city and like what they see. City services are apparently untouched by financial hardships (this is untrue, but the city goes to great lengths to mask the cuts they make). New buildings have gone up around the city, like the animal shelter, West Library, McDonald’s in downtown, and there’s always construction in Las Colinas. The average citizen just isn’t going to see too much wrong with the city. They can’t see the hollowing out of certain departments through employee attrition, and have no idea that the state of the city’s budget is the reason it takes a little longer to find books at the library. So far, only Putnam has even raised this issue.

Putnam’s questioning of the financing of the entertainment center has exposed some things the mayor and city manager evidently didn’t really want to have to talk about. However, the fact that the city has been racking up a lot of debt in recent years is no secret to the rest of the council, which makes one wonder why it’s not a bigger issue in this campaign.

The place 5 incumbent Rose Cannaday’s release to the Dallas Morning News indicates all is well, which, being the incumbent, is the expected stance. She also mentions the lowering crime rate and the crackdown on illegal immigrants (as if that’s connected).  On an amusing note, she tells us “we have 29 Certified Liberians and 23 of them have their Master’s Degree”. What are we doing with all these educated Liberians? She is challenged by Julie Grant, a small-business owner and community activist. This one is almost certainly going to Cannaday. I would say that the amount of votes for Ms. Grant is the measure of disapproval that Irvingites have  with the current state of affairs as regards financing for city projects. Unfortunately, without a strong campaign aimed squarely at the incumbent, the challenger isn’t likely to win.

Place 3 is an interesting race. It features three newcomers as the incumbent, Alan Meagher, is stepping down. I’m not personally familiar with any of these three men, but they don’t boast much political experience. Quoting this article: “Webb is a Grand Prairie firefighter and the founding pastor of Bear Creek Community Church in Irving; Kensley Stewart is a healthcare professional; and David Gutierrez is a local business owner of Can Do Wood Projects and Repair Company.” Based on this description and nothing else, I’d say Webb has the best chance. District 3 covers the Bear Creek area, which means that a black candidate who’s a church leader has a built-in supply of votes (because he’s a member of the community). Kensley Stewart is an activist, and that’s a good thing, but he seems more like one of those guys who’s always at city council meetings instead of out there meeting the power brokers of the city. Gutierrez is an unknown. 3 isn’t the most heavily Hispanic part of town, and I’ve seen practically no campaign signs for him whereas Webb and Stewart at least have signs in yards.

So those are my predictions: Gears for mayor, Webb in 3, Cannaday in 5. Interestingly, if Webb does win, that would make the third minority council member, which would be a third of the council. Just think, two years ago there were no minorities on the council!

So, if any Irvingites find this blog, what are your thoughts?