I love numbers. It seems like everything I do relates to numbers. I guess how many steps it will take to get from one point to another. I guess how many Volvo’s will pass by while waiting at red light. I guess how many gallons it will take to fill my tank, and how much it will cost. I don’t guess how many Cheerios will fit onto my spoon, but I’m thinking about it. It’s not that I can’t stop guessing and counting, it’s just that I like doing it. It might seem like it would be a waste of time, but somehow it sharpens my mind, tweaks my awareness, and energizes me.
Now my new thing is counting candidates for the next Municipal election April 7, 2015. As of today, there are 20 candidates running for office (16 for city council and 4 for mayor). That’s a crowd, and as of Sunday, there are still 36 days remaining to submit papers for certification. By the last day for filing (Nov 24) the crowd may have turned into a mob; running for office will be a stampede.
There couldn’t be a better time to run for city council including mayor. All nine positions are available due to referendums in 2010 allowing for district representation and term limits. Both referendums passed by a landslide. Naperville city officials didn’t like the result of either referendum, and they were able to finagle a do-over vote for district representation, and with the help of confusing wording on the referendum, city officials hood-winked residents into approving ‘at-large’, (also known as the ‘good ole boy’) representation rather than districts. However the referendum necessitated that all city council positions this year will be up for a vote.
Term limits, though approved by a voter landslide in 2010, are still not in effect and here we are knocking on the door to 2015. Naperville city officials said they needed time to figure out how to implement term limits……five years. My first grade grandson along with a little help from a second grader could do it faster.
As of this moment, the 16 candidates running for 8 council positions have a one in two chance of making it. And the four mayoral candidates have a one in four chance of sliding in as mayor. So numbers-wise this is a great opportunity to join the stampede of candidates.
Your odds are even better considering one city council candidate filed a law suit against the city (which was later dropped by the candidate), so his chances of running on a fiscally sound platform are gone. And one mayoral candidate has already blown himself out of the water by saying, “I don’t think there’s a person on the planet that could take George Pradel’s place,” and he doesn’t think there are many ways in which Naperville needs improvement. So now your odds of becoming mayor are down to one in three. Those are better odds than Babe Ruth hitting a home run in his prime.
170 days until the election and 11 more council meetings remain for this Naperville city council. All it takes is getting one more vote than whoever comes in 9th place. The candidate finishing in 8th place takes a seat at the dais.
