Comments on: City Council Campaign Finance Crosses Wards

By: Ruth Kraut

Ruth Kraut — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:02:03 +0000

Dave, I love maps (almost became a geographer, truly) and I’m glad you put them in. I agree that they are interesting and can visually show important data. It’s just that if your main variable is “in ward” vs. “out of ward” then that creates an idea (at least in some people’s heads) that “out of ward” donations are ‘bad’ while “in ward” donations are good.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 04:25:02 +0000

@Dave (Cahill): The Fourth Ward used to be the most reliably Republican ward, didn’t it? The area west of Main (Lansdowne etc.), at least. Not surprising they don’t feel enthusiastic about living in a Democratic ward.

By: Dave Askins

Dave Askins — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:58:20 +0000

Re: comments from abc and Ruth Kraut on “the big deal” about geographic distribution of campaign contributions. I don’t think anyone has advanced the idea that it’s a “big deal” that some person from outside a ward or even outside the city supports a given candidate financially. Instead, what’s been suggested (in previous comments and implicitly by the maps in the article itself) is that patterns that become clear by plotting the data out on a map are interesting.

Randomly distributed contributions from outside a ward are, well, not very interesting. And if it takes plotting the data out on a map to see there don’t appear to be visible patterns, it’s still worth the effort to verify that, yes, that’s another just plain boring set of data.

However, when the effort to map out the data does reveal clear geographic patterns of such contributions (or a lack of a pattern where you’d expect to see one) then to me at least, that’s just plain interesting.

By: abc

abc — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:43:59 +0000

Ms. Kraut, I say, “yes, and then some.” Even if you live outside of the city you will be affected by decisions made here and therefore you may prefer one council person over another. Maybe your business in in AA City but your home is not. Maybe you just do business in the city and you feel that different councilmember would make your life easier. Or maybe you just feel like you are a member of this region and want what’s best for AA City. It is, after all, the center of our region.

Last time I flew over I did not see those ward lines.

By: Ruth Kraut

Ruth Kraut — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:34:25 +0000

Sure, it’s nice to be supported by people from your own ward, but I don’t know what the big deal is about people from outside a ward, but inside the city limits, supporting candidates from wards that are not the one in which they reside.

In the end, whether I get to vote for them or not, as a city resident I am affected by the votes of all city council members, whether they are in the 1st, 2nd, 3d, 4th, or 5th wards.

By: Dave Cahill

Dave Cahill — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 18:30:37 +0000

An intriguing analysis. It highlights the fact that there are so few active Dems in the Fourth Ward. It is bizarre, to say the least, to see that neither Fourth Ward candidacy has its financial center of gravity in the Fourth Ward!

By: Mark Koroi

Mark Koroi — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 01:58:03 +0000

Sumi Kailasapathy’s heavy financial contributions received from Ward Five, in stark contrast to Sturgis’ few donors in that ward, likely results from the Anglin/Armentrout “Townie” clique that is backing her in hopes of derailing the Council Party’s control of City Council.

She is likely the best shot at gaining a seat for the anti-development Townies on the City Council.