Norman Mayor Elections

[king183]

Anyone heard word on whether Rosenthal is going to run for re-election for mayor in March? I've heard both that she's out and that she's in. I haven't heard of any potential opponents or replacements.

[blangtang]

I hope ez Million runs and wins.

[king183]

Heck yeah. Then we can OU/Texas moved to Norman.

[metro]

I hope ez Million runs and wins.

What is up with that guy anyways?

[kevinpate]

Like a birther, he has a mission, is convinced he is right and isn't much willing to see a different point of view.

On a pure dobber level, he probably has a point that the OU/UT game ought to alternate. He'll never be likely to carry the day with the argument, but he does appear to be committed to it.

[metro]

Well, that's probably the only issue I can agree with him on. We'd get a ton of out of state revenue poured into Norman and Moore economies if we would.

[king183]

Well, that's probably the only issue I can agree with him on. We'd get a ton of out of state revenue poured into Norman and Moore economies if we would.

Same here. The guy's kind of wacko, but like a clock....uh...he's right once a day.

[veritas]

Same here. The guy's kind of wacko, but like a clock....uh...he's right once a day.

I thought clocks were right twice a day...........

[blangtang]

Im getting alot of mailings from both mayoral candidates. I'm curious if anyone has a feel of who will win. There seems to be an angry mob voicing displeasure with Rosenthal and her plans. Thats about all i've gathered so far.


IIRC, the last mayor election ended with around 12-14000 total votes, so you're needing only 7% of the people of the town deciding which wins. That seems pretty small, no? I voted for EZ Million, but he died recently, so he's not on the ballot any more

Im in ward 4, with 3 candidates, for what its worth, the only people that have bothered to stop by is some guy named Jack Dawson. They dropped a flyer in my door, i didnt meet anyone. But I've been getting mailings from some lady named Carol.

Overall i dont really know who to vote for, seems like the council and mayor are just feel good type of positions, not really having much influence, but if your candidate wins you feel good. Maybe i'm wrong!

Apparently the speed humps really touch a nerve, here's some locals take on the speed humps:

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[kevinpate]

I have no complaints on the speed humps.

As to the mayor race, I suspect the professor
will prevail, but I also expect it to be a rather
result.

[Hammondjam]

I really hope that Norman people DO get out and vote on the Mayor's race. I'm also hoping that Ezzell wins out because almost everything I know about Rosenthal proves that she must go. As a professor, her boss is OU. She is currently under investigation for meeting privately with the OU Foundation in an attempt to get OU out of their 29 million dollar agreement on the TIF district. She wants to build around 90 million dollars worth of pet projects while NOT addressing the state of our water supply, Lake Thunderbird, already deemed dangerous by the EPA. She has a Stormwater Master Plan but she hasn't addressed the number of houses that will need to be torn down or what we are going to do with te current residents of said houses. A LOT of people don't even know that the Master Plan calls for losing properties. She is pushing for giving the decision on utility rate hikes to the council and mayor's office instead of letting the voters decide. She has taken the business of the city council and hid it so the citizens don't know what's going on until it's too late. I voted her in but she has turned out to be quite the big mistake. WE NEED HER OUT! Besides, she'll have plenty of time then to complete her book with Nancy Pelosi.

The Mayor's office DOES have an important role in the community. It is to SERVE the people of the community through fiscal responsibility and careful management of infrastructure and any new development . Our current mayor serves David Boren and her own dillusions of grandeur. If you live in Norman, PLEASE take the time to vote on this. It IS in your best interest to get a more transparent and fiscally responsible mayor.

[BossLady]

Somebody has issues with women in politics...

[kevinpate]

All the counting is done.
Most of the toothie gnashing is hopefully done.
Ever forward Normanites, ever forward.

If your folks dinna prevail, take a breath, hold the
feetsies of the winners to the heat, and back new peeps
next go around. It'll be here before ya know it.

If your folks did prevail, call them, tell them congrats, and
then keep an eye on them, just so they are doing what you
expect them to be doing.

Oh yeah, and win or lose, let's get the signs down and make
our town all purty again.

[Hammondjam]

Somebody has issues with women in politics...

If that was in response to my comment, I voted for Cindy when she first ran. I simply think she is spending too much money on the wrong things and attempting to stick us with OU's part of the TIF.

[king183]

If that was in response to my comment, I voted for Cindy when she first ran. I simply think she is spending too much money on the wrong things and attempting to stick us with OU's part of the TIF.

Same here.

Get a life, BossLady.

[Hammondjam]

SOME men and SOME women have the leadership qualities necessary to run a business, a city or a country. I've had about as many female bosses as male in my working life so gender doesn't figure into my decisions when I make a stand about a politician.

I think the small gap between Rosenthal and Ezzell, in the election, should send a message to Mrs. Rosenthal that MANY aren't happy with her choices of pet projects considering that our water is in jeopardy and our fire stations need new roofs. Also, how many homes are needlessly going to be torn down because of the Stormwater Master Plan? Many of the targeted homes aren't in an area that drains into Lake Thunderbird but that matters about as much to Cindy as actually informing those residents of the intended plan. I guess when you pay out of state consultants big bucks, you just trust them no matter what!

If anybody doubts my accusations, I have a copy of the SMP on disc. I'll be more than happy to share it with anybody interested.

[kevinpate]

I don't see the small gap you reference. The percentage spread, and raw vote count, was not insubstantial.

Given that:

there was heavy and intensely negative campaigning against the direction Rosenthal and the majority of the council have been going, more than I recall in other recent years; and,

that voters across the community returned council members Quinn, Dillingham and Griffith by strong margins in their wards along with returning the mayor to her position;

the message I seem to see is the majority of the community saying 'go on and get after your plans.'

[Redskin 70]

You should be worried about your water.............Lake T Bird is becoming polluted from storm drain water from Moore and Norman.
In addition your building activities have severely affected your ability to provide basic water services to your town.

Do remember that a significant portion of the Tbird water belongs to two other communities....................She has tried twice now to deprive those other cities of their water rights to the lake,.
In addition she has successfully gotten your city in a law suit over excess water use from the lake.

The lake isnt yours (hers) She needs to slow down the rate of growth until your ability to provide basic services have been resolved.

[Hammondjam]

I don't think 900 votes is a runaway win. That was the last number I heard.

Negative campaigning didn't affect my decision any more than gender. I had my reasons to vote against Rosenthal before I even read a single word of Ezzell's campaign.

I guess there's enough Norman citizens that don't mind getting hit up constantly for MORE money....or maybe is it because they just don't know. It's not like there's a lot of "transparency" in our current city government.

I've had my say so I'll not beat this dead horse anymore.

[king183]

I don't see the small gap you reference. The percentage spread, and raw vote count, was not insubstantial.

Given that:

there was heavy and intensely negative campaigning against the direction Rosenthal and the majority of the council have been going, more than I recall in other recent years; and,

that voters across the community returned council members Quinn, Dillingham and Griffith by strong margins in their wards along with returning the mayor to her position;

the message I seem to see is the majority of the community saying 'go on and get after your plans.'

Uh...it was a 900 vote difference in the mayor's race and Griffith beat a 23 year old by 30 votes. I'd say that's close. Maybe that's just me. Also, Dan Quinn had an unexpectedly close race, by his own admission.

[kevinpate]

Uh...it was a 900 vote difference in the mayor's race and Griffith beat a 23 year old by 30 votes. I'd say that's close. Maybe that's just me. Also, Dan Quinn had an unexpectedly close race, by his own admission.

I suppose we just have different takes on it. That's fine.

From where I'm sitting, while I did expect Quinn and Rosenthal to prevail, I also expected the races to be much closer, given the push by and for their respective opponents.

Given the very hard push against their positions, and given they prevailed at the level they did, I'm hard pressed to think the opposition could have found anywhere near the necessary votes amongst the usual voters.

This means their respective bids would need to rely on atypical voters - the vast majority of the populace who wan't be bothered to take 20 minutes to vote, let alone take the time to have a politico or his/her supporters try to educate them on how they should vote and why it matters.

When you're heavily dependent on the 'why should I even care' crowd of peeps, even a 100 vote margin is substantial.

I'm open to hear anything hindsight shows the opposition could have used, but didn't, to overturn the incumbents, but given what it would have taken to entice the disinterested off their tushies, a 900 vote spread seems nearly insurmountable.

Oh well, it's all done now and everyone has to hug and go forth. Should be interesting

[ValleySooner]

When you're heavily dependent on the 'why should I even care' crowd of peeps, even a 100 vote margin is substantial.

Without reliable exit polling, I'm not sure you can accurately conclude that Ezzell's base of support disproportionately came from the 'infrequent voter' bloc. For example, I and several of my neighbors vote in every election and were among Hal's supporters. For many of us, the deciding factor was a perceived lack of recognition that we can't do (and spend money on) every worthy project at once.

Oh well, it's all done now and everyone has to hug and go forth. Should be interesting

I do, however, agree with this statement. Can't we all just join hands and go back to disparaging Edmond once again? :-)