With just ten days remaining until municipal election day (Tuesday April 6th), city council candidates are amping up their effort to get noticed by Naperville voters. Yard signs are flourishing like weeds, and postal mailers are arriving daily. No phone calls yet, and no door-knockers so that’s a double win for residents.
Jennifer Bruzan Taylor leads the way with six mailers (each different) received by Watchdog, followed by Paul Leong with five mailers, two mailers each for Ian Hozhauer and John Krummen, and one from Vasavi Chakka. No mailers have been received from the other six candidates. Interestingly, I didn’t receive one duplicate mailer from any candidate. That’s refreshing. Candidate Taylor even utilized informative emails. Her most recent mailer (today) shows her standing outside wearing a mask. If you’re modeling masks, that’s one thing, but if you’re trying to get elected, then it would be nice to see the candidate for a personal connection.
When I get mailers, my attention is drawn to the pictures, the colors, the feel of the mailer and how shinny it is. Who doesn’t want a shinny mailer. I read the mailers to see if anything really catches my attention for being unique or different. Every candidate ‘sounds’ better than sliced bread, so there isn’t much differentiation. However, in Watchdog’s humble opinion, the best mailer came from Jennifer Bruzan Taylor, with the words, “Please vote for my daughter. Thank you”. It’s hard to beat a little motherly touch.
A little humor would be nice, but everybody played it straight. A catch phrase would be clever, something to remember, but again no creativity on that either. The best catch phrase I remember in a ‘local’ election was in 2008 when Mitch Daniels was elected Governor of Indiana with “My Man Mitch” signs everywhere. He received nearly 60% of the vote, so either the catch phrase worked or he was a really good candidate, or a combination of both.
Pictures are nice. You can’t go wrong with a family picture, especially if you include the dog. Wearing a uniform definitely scores points, especially if it’s a military uniform rather than a Good Humor uniform. Tossing your kid in the air might be a little edgy, but sporting fans could appreciate the sure-handedness of the candidate-receiver.
Why does every candidate want to place their yard signs among the other 50 on a street corner. Why be just another Cheerio in a bowl of Cheerios. Why not be the top-banana in the bowl by having their yard sign by itself up in a tree. Now that would be something to remember; differentiation in the highest.
And where is Grant Wherli railing about the size and placement of candidates signs. It was just a few years ago when he had city employees remove candidate signs. He rallied his minions to pluck the signs of candidates he didn’t approve of, whether legal or just questionable placement, and toss them in the trash. Oh, the good old days…..