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The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz., Mark J. Scarp Scottsdale Column: No-Name City Council Hopefuls Face Long Odds

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 March 2006, 15:00 CST

By Mark J. Scarp Scottsdale, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Mar. 8--It's been a brief and enlightening ride for the seven writein candidates for Scottsdale City Council. They made a point about integrity.

Odds remain long, though, against any awaking next Wednesday as a council member-elect.

The reason isn't that their cause wasn't noble or that they aren't worthy. They just didn't give themselves enough time to establish themselves with enough voters. Where name ID is king, those without the means to effectively market themselves will remain uncrowned.

The seven nobly filed to run out of disgust for the three incumbents seeking reelection -- Wayne Ecton, Bob Littlefield and Kevin Osterman -- who shamefully hid and continue to hide the identity of a minion who legally and successfully challenged former candidate Nan Nesvig's petition signatures.

But they were about a month and a half too late to make enough of a dent in Tuesday's election.

All seven walked into City Hall and filled out a brief form declaring their candidacies between Jan. 30 and Feb. 2. This was long after the ballotnamed candidates -- the incumbents above plus another ballot candidate, Tony Nelssen -- had filed their petitions in mid-December. The mysterious challenge of Nesvig's signatures at that time was reported first by the Tribune, days after it had taken place.

Yet it took nearly six weeks for the write-ins to declare. Their outrage may have been legitimate, but their waiting that long cost them valuable face time with voters.

Sure, there were three televised forums, each repeated several times on city cable Channel 11, which has a small, though loyal, audience in Scottsdale, just like its counterparts in other East Valley cities. But let's just say that the networks had nothing to worry about going up against the Trib forum's rebroadcast on Sunday nights during the past month.

Some of the write-ins didn't just rely on forum appearances, of course. Gary Boyd's been knocking on doors. Stuart Reich bought time on basic cable TV. Merlin Gindlesperger put up signs on roadsides. (So have Nelssen and Reich.)

It's name ID that wins most elections. While incumbents may not be invincible -- the Tribune's Ryan Gabrielson reported Monday that only 52 percent of Scottsdale incumbents seeking re-election since 1986 were returned to office -- their names are better known because they are repeated in news coverage and at local events.

A challenger has to get at least equal name-recognition footing to have a chance. This means he must get a voter to recall his name from memory, not from the usual multiplechoice quiz found on a ballot. That quiz is just too easy to take.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Tribune

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