Let’s hear it for engineers! I don’t know Ken Wilson. But I like his argument: “I could bend your ear all day about cost-efficiency” The message I hear is that you can trust his leadership because he knows how to manage large projects and bring them in on/time on/budget.
God, I wish I had thought of that for my campaign. 😀
I also like the article because it talks about cost per vote. In SeaTac some candidates have raised $30,000… to get 1,400 votes. That’s what? $28 per vote? YOU’RE FIRED! (Sorry, I’ve literally never said that to anyone.) Here in DM, so far the spending leader Matt Mahoney has raised close to $20k to get prox. 2,500 votes. $8 a vote. Better, but not exactly ‘thrifty’.
Look, I’m not saying that this is necessarily a one-stop way to judge candidate quality. Even if you’re the hardest working man in show business, you need some money to run. But I think it’s telling that candidates for City Council are now routinely willing to spend so much money and effort on a job that only pays $250 a meeting.
And that’s my point. Unless there’s something hinky going on, the office of City Councilmember has no individual authority. Zip. And I don’t think the public realizes that.
However people with real power do know this and so a CM gets treated like shit all the time. Nobody has to return yer call and often they don’t. Also, it’s serious work to get people to cooperate on anything… often it’s the people who agree with you who are the biggest pains in the collective tush and sabotage your efforts just to have things their way. And those are the good parts of the job. 😀
All I’m saying is that when you choose a candidate, the spending does matter–both the quantity and the quality of that spending.
People who spend zero should not be taken seriously and frankly, there oughta be something like a ‘frivolous candidate’ ordinance. There’s no filing fee, but if you don’t get off yer ass and act like you actually care about winning there’s a $250 loitering fee. OK, maybe not. 😀
But people who spend a fortune to get a job like this? You really should ask candidates how they can justify spending so much of other people’s money to get elected…. and then magically transform into the kind of elected who properly manages public money.
You can view contributions and spending for any campaign at the Public Disclosure Commission web site.
Oh… and BTW, In 2019, I spent about forty one cents per vote–which included a Primary and a General.