Message from the Mayor

The primary election is over and now it’s on to the general. Once again, we had a pretty good turnout in the Powell precincts. It’s still a big deal to go out and vote.
One issue that was on the ballot and was beaten was the 1% sales tax issue for the West Park Hospital. The group campaigned in Cody but weren’t very aggressive in Powell, which could be one of the reasons it garnered only around 15% of the vote here. They didn’t do any local radio, ran a few ads in the Powell Tribune, and hoped to gather big crowds at their two presentations in town. How many showed up? 3 People attended the two meetings. Now, I am not expecting a hospital district to run a smooth and sharp campaign. Political novices usually seek out help in a campaign and I don’t think they did. They stumbled coming out of the gate and failed miserably in convincing the voters of their cause. There were a few campaigns that worked well and one was from a novice. Loren Grosskopf picked up a number of votes in the Republican primary for County Commissioner and seems pretty solid to move on in November. Tim French was the top vote getter again, while Joe Tilden finished third. Both Grosskopf and French hit the bricks, talking to people in Powell and Meeteetse, and it seemed to do the trick. Meeteetse diluted its candidate base while Powell went more toward Vicki Gibson, a local candidate. The top three vote getters for the Republicans didn’t stumble at the candidates’ forums, hit the airwaves, pressed the palms (shook hands), and got ink on the fingers (newspaper).I don’t know if the landfill issues played a big part in the primary or not. The amount of candidates in the primary for County Commissioner showed that there were a lot of people who felt that they could do better. Issues from the Northfork, salary increases, Sheriff cars, the Marathon building, and just a general distaste for incumbents spelled doom for two of the three running again. French’s campaign message was that he was NOT like those other two. It seemed to work. So take a deep breath and get ready again. It’s a couple more months of campaigning before the general election. With it being an off year, the turnout may not be very big.
Except maybe in Powell, where we like to vote.
Scott Mangold
Mayor
City of Powell
mayormangold@cityofpowell.com
MAYOR MANGOLD
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