Candidates find county races hard to call

by Carla Knapp
Pharos-Tribune associate editor

Fri, May 16 2008

— While many candidates in Cass County’s primary races said they couldn’t get a good feel for how Tuesday’s election would play out, county council incumbent Ralph Anderson said he had a pretty good idea of who would win.
“The three that won the council race were the three I thought would win the council race,” he said. “... The only thing I did not know was that the top three candidates would be within 31 votes.”
Of the eight Republican county council at-large candidates, Anderson, fellow incumbent Chod Gibson and newcomer Jeff LeDonne earned the right to challenge Democrats Julian Pugh and Gordon Southern in November’s general election.
Gibson had the most council votes with 1,864, LeDonne was second with 1,852 and Anderson was third with 1,833.
“It’s flattering and very humbling to think that the voters continue to put their confidence in me,” said Gibson. “I certainly try to do the fairest job I can do.”
Cameron Mills finished with 1,363 votes, Jim Parsons had 1,213, Christopher Dixson earned 710, Pat Badt finished with 706 and Ryan Elson had 425.
In another county race, Gene Powlen defeated Ed Lucy for the county commissioners Republican 1st District nomination. He is so far unopposed in the November election, but he said he was not assuming he would take over the seat now held by Dick Rusk.
Powlen secured 2,355 votes to Lucy’s 1,299. Despite the margin, Powlen also said he was unsure ahead of Tuesday’s primary how the race would play out.
“This was an unusual primary election,” said Powlen. “... My opponent is well known in the northwest corner of the county. He’s a good guy, and I just didn’t have a good feel for what was going to happen.”
Each of the nominees said budget concerns and employment opportunities have been and would continue to be the most important issues in Cass County. Most acknowledged the council and commissioners would have to work together to deal with the challenges facing county government.
Considering those challenges, Anderson said he was encouraged by the close totals between himself and the other Republican nominees.
“That’s good because people picked the ones they wanted,” he said, adding that he didn’t remember another council race as close as this contest.
In particular, Anderson said he was pleased to have a chance to continue the work the current council had been doing. He said the work he and Gibson started when they were first elected to the council was only now showing up on taxpayers’ bills, and though the current council has been criticized for not implementing the Local Option Income Tax, he said the council felt strongly that its decision would pay out in the long run.
Still, Gibson said she was finding it hard to read whether voters were pleased with the current state of the council.
“I was very uneasy with this election,” said Gibson. “I kept hearing that people wanted change, change, change. That did concern me, and I was pretty apprehensive.”
LeDonne also said he was nervous heading into Tuesday’s primary, but considering his close showing alongside two council incumbents, he said he was happy with the outcome.
“It makes you feel pretty good,” said LeDonne, who said that he also worked closely with Mills during the campaign and would have liked to see him earn a nomination. “I know it will be hard again this fall.”
Carla Knapp can be contacted at (574) 732-5150 or via e-mail at carla.knapp@pharostribune.com

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