2009 Richardson election analysis: Why did the winners win and the losers lose?

by Andrew Laska of Richardson Echo

The Richardson City Council election took most people by surprise. Three races were potential runoffs but none will be had. Two first time incumbents were defeated. The recommendations promoted by the Richardson Coalition ran the table going six for six in contested elections. We break down each race and draw some conclusions.

The main struggle in the race centered on tension over the decision to replace then Mayor Gary Slagel with Steve Mitchell. In Richardson, the mayor is elected by the City Council and not directly. This tradition dates back to the 1956 charter. (Some ask why things are set up this way and the discussion is too long for this article. Briefly, many of the reasons revolve around the Mayor being a type of executive leader of a board.)

The 2007 vote that brought Steve Mitchell into a position of service as Mayor was decided by a 4 to 3 vote. Steve Mitchell, Rhea Allison, Pris Hayes, and Dennis Stewart voted for Mitchell and against Slagel. Gary Slagel, John Murphy, and Bob Townsend voted against Mitchell and for Slagel.

What exacerbated this situation was that the Mayor vote was barely discussed in candidate Forums so that few knew that some of the newly minted council members who voted for Mitchell would do so. This left some people dissatisfied while some were elated.

Nobody knew how this issue would play out in the 2009 election. Add to this, campaign rhetoric which turned negative very early. The negative and divisive tone taken by some candidate’s supporters marred the election and that negativity divides the city afterward. This negative tone was taken by some candidates as well.

Apparently by the results it played out in Gary Slagel’s supporters favor. Of the four council members who voted against Slagel, only Mitchell remains on the council. Rhea Allison (Place 2) chose not to run again but he supported attorney Jimmy Schnurr who gained only 27% of the vote and lost to Mark Solomon. Solomon has not said who he supports as mayor. Pris Hayes (Place 5) and Dennis Stewart (Place 7) lost.

Let’s look at various interpretations and comments floating around town and talk about them. We look at these races asking what led the candidates to win or lose.

“This is a mandate to return Gary Slagel as Mayor.” This elephant in the room is the most common one that I hear. Proponents of this viewpoint state that Slagel and Murphy faced their most qualified candidates in years, both had races that could have ended in runoffs but both beat two opponents each with over 50% of the vote. Add to that that both the council members who voted against Slagel were removed by margins greater than that by which they were elected. To supporters of this view, this equals a mandate.

“Mitchell should be returned as mayor so that we don’t go backward.” Proponents of this view believe that the city would best be served by “going forward” and not trying to rehash an old city council. They say progress was made that wasn’t made during the Slagel administration and we should continue this progress.

Place 1: Bob Townsend defeats write-in candidate Bill Denton. There isn’t much to say here. Bill Denton was the only write-in candidate in Dallas County. Write-in candidates would have to have a strong, almost miracle-like following to win against a weak opponent. Denton had neither.

Place 2: Mark Solomon avoids runoff against Jimmy Schnurr, Jennifer Justice, and Thomas Volmer. This is where the Richardson Coalition helped. They promoted Mark Solomon in their campaign mailer. It didn’t hurt that Solomon was the most well known of the four and that he has had the longest tenure in Richardson. Some supporters of Solomon’s opponent tried to paint him as “backed” by the Richardson Coalition even when he appeared to be running his campaign independently. This may have backfired as the results may indicate that the Richardson Coalition attachment was more valuable than people anticipated. Schnurr was barely known and has served in no leadership capacities in Richardson. Jennifer Justice was too young, she too has no Richardson civil participation experience and no recognition. Thomas Volmer has no following and no recognition.

Place 3: John Murphy avoids a runoff against Chris Davis, and Sheryl Miller. John Murphy campaigned hard. He had several mailers that were sent out and his name recognition helped carry him. Chris Davis is a founder of the Cottonwood Heights neighborhood association and she has strong Republican ties including her employment with Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey. Davis campaigned directly against the Richardson Coalition by stating a coalition (without naming which one) was trying to go back to a previous council. However, Murphy campaign worker Bill McCalpin stated, “the Murphy campaign actually didn't have much to do with the Coalition because we were running our own race.” Sheryl Miller is a perennial candidate having run and lost at least five times and she has little support. (Editorial note: I am president of the neighborhood association where John Murphy lives and I campaigned for him.)

Place 4: Gary Slagel avoids runoff against Diane Wardrup, and Thomas Bache-Wiig. Gary Slagel has some of the biggest name recognition in Richardson having been Mayor for 16 years. Wardrup had the early momentum in the race because Slagel waited until the last day to file. However, once Slagel filed it seems that many of Wardrup’s early supporters went back to the Slagel side because they thought, maybe, he was not going to run. Wardrup has ties to many organizations around town – including the Chamber of Commerce – so it’s not surprising she was thought of as reasonable opponent. Slagel’s connections and name were too deep being endorsed by Pete Sessions and former Police Chief Larry Zacharias. Slagel was going to win without the Richardson Coalition’s help with that kind of support. Thomas Bache-Wiig’s supporters were loud but he had no significant support. He has no real widespread name recognition or experience in the community.

Place 5: Robert “Bob” Macy defeats first time incumbent Pris Hayes. Macy, at first, seems like an unlikely opponent but he is one of the most well known volunteers in Richardson and has been for a long time. He also has the reputation for being extremely nice and well mannered. He had a minimal base from the beginning. In this race the Richardson Coalition ties probably made the difference. Macy was listed as a supporter of the Richardson Coalition on their website and he was probably the only candidate recruited specifically to run. Hayes had several strengths and weaknesses. Strengths: She is an environmentalist, an incumbent, and the only woman on the council. She has a strong following in certain circles. Weaknesses: She voted against Gary Slagel and she did not seem to cultivate her support from the previous election. In her previous election win, she won in a runoff by fewer than 150 votes against an opponent who was later criticized for weak campaigning and yet she worked hard during that election for a less than overwhelming win. (Editorial disclosure: I campaigned for Pris Hayes in the 2007 election.) One interpretation is that her voter popularity might have been overestimated. Another possible weakness was that she was promoted – probably without her consent – by some anti Richardson Coalition campaigners. They might have inadvertently weakened her.

Place 6: Steve Mitchell was unopposed.

Place 7: Amir Omar defeats Dennis Stewart. This is the most surprising event of the election. Amir Omar is the son of Middle Eastern and Persian immigrants but was born in the United States. His ties to Richardson are not deep. He has not had a long tenure in Richardson. Dennis Stewart was a Richardson police officer for about 24 years and was the incumbent. Dennis had a strong following and defeated a long time incumbent to gain his 2007 win. It is hard to say why Stewart lost with certainty but we have a few things that contributed to Stewart’s loss. First, his opponent was by far the hardest working of the campaign. He was everywhere. When I visited various polling places on Election Day the candidate I most ran into was Amir Omar. He also took the tactic of putting signs around town with his picture in order to build his image. Second, Omar was probably helped by negative campaigning that was thrown against him. This became a focus of the race in some people’s minds and not Dennis Stewart’s record as an incumbent. I met one campaign worker who told me he campaigned for Omar specifically to counter the negative campaigning. Some of this negative campaigning came from Stewart supporters attacking his religion and ethnicity. In one case, opponents attacked the spelling of his name. Omar was accused of negative campaigning by questioning Dennis Stewart’s position in direct mailings. Third, Richardson Muslims came out and voted for him. Fourth, the Richardson Coalition gave him a pedigree amongst certain voters so he was then “OK” to vote for.

The Richardson Coalition clearly played a part in galvanizing the six wins. It is hard to say what they tapped into. One idea suggests that they were merely reminding a certain segment of voters about Gary Slagel being removed as Mayor. Another suggests more innocently that they simply laid out the races and with many voters loyal to their candidates seeing opposition that motivated them to vote.

Whatever the reason the Richardson Coalition motivated people to vote and they are the surprising story of the 2009 election.