There is great news in the Free Press this morning for Burlington voters. There are contested city council races in all seven wards!!
Burlington City Council races present choices
Published: Tuesday, January 30, 2007
By John Briggs
Free Press Staff WriterAll seven wards in Burlington will have election contests on Town Meeting Day, said Jo Lamarche, the city’s director of elections.
In Ward 1, independent incumbent Sharon Bushor is running unopposed for a new two-year term. A three-way race has developed, however, to fill the remaining year of Democratic Councilor Ian Carleton’s term. Carleton, the council president, announced recently he was resigning his seat because he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Democrats have nominated attorney Ed Adrian for the seat, and he will face independent Dick Bove and Progressive Megan Munson-Warnken.
In other wards, contests that became clear after the Monday filing deadline are:
WARD 2: Progressive incumbent Jane Knodell will be opposed by independent David Rogers.
WARD 3: Incumbent Tim Ashe, a Progressive, will face independent Loyal Ploof. Ploof was nominated by city Republicans but withdrew from the race before deciding to run as an independent.
WARD 4: Republican incumbent Kurt Wright will be opposed by Democrat Jim Holway.
WARD 5: Incumbent Joan Shannon, a Democrat, will face Green Party candidate Rene Kaczka-Valliere and independent Basil Vansuch.
WARD 6: Andy Montroll, the incumbent Democrat, will be opposed by Tom Licata, running as an independent.
WARD 7: Linda Deliduka, a Democrat, Craig Gutchell, a Republican, and independent Ellie Blais will campaign for the seat held by Democrat Carmen George. George, elected in 2005, decided not to run again.
Deliduka lost a three-way contest for the Ward 7 seat in 2004, coming in third behind Republican Alan Sousie and the ultimate winner, independent Ellie Blais. Gutchell ran unsuccessfully in 2006 for state representative. Blais lost her seat in 2006 to Republican Paul Decelles.
This is a great day for local democracy in Burlington.
I will continue to bring local election coverage during the month of February. If there are any candidate websites, feel free to e-mail me (go to my profile) and I will put up a link.
Also, be sure to check out BurlingtonPol.com for Haik’s local election coverage.
January 30th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Great news that there is choice in all wards this year!
My initial thoughts on the races are as follows:
Ward 2,3,4,6 – I believe the incumbents will most likely keep their seats in all these wards as they have quite strong support in their wards. Shannon has a good chance of also keeping her seat, but I think that a strong candidate could beat her.
At this time, I think that Dick Bove would be the best choice in Ward 1. For my ward, Ward 7, I would not be surprised if there is a run-off between Gutchell and Blais. I also believe that Ellie Blais has a good chance of winning back her seat in Ward 7.
These are just my initial thoughts and may change as the election progresses.
January 30th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
I think your prediction in 7 is probably right on, with the run-off. I think the Republicans might pick up another seat with this one, though.
I think the incumbents will win in all wards, although, I hear there is some discontent with Shannon. Still, I think she will probably hold on to her seat.
And Haik seems to think that Knodell is going to have a challenge with David Rogers. The voter turn out is so low in ward 2 that, in theory, someone could oust an incumbent if they were able to get out the vote, as they say.