The Seventh Ward – Election Discussion

The Seventh Ward is currently represented by Barney Barnhill. 

Barney Barnhill

As stated above, Barney is the incumbent.  He has been a fixture on the council for many years.  His issues are Economic Development – bringing in new jobs and businesses, Public Safety – new officers and expand Nets, Save Taxpayer Dollars, Attract Businesses to gateway corridors through tax incentives.

Strengths - Barney has been around for years and has a large following from the older voters, the type who like to pick a candidate once and leave them.  His issues are some of the main ones for Davenport and he lists some of the same ideas as many other candidates to address them.

Weaknesses- He’s been in office for a long time and has survived in spite a
call to “Clean the Slate” many times.  He is a very likeable guy but doesn’t seem to have any new or original ideas.  He isn’t putting forth new and thoughtful programs.  He also only garnered 50% of the vote in the primary, not a huge amount for an incumbent. 

Marcia Patch

Unfortunately, Marcia has chosen not to have a website so the informatin I have about her is limited.  Maybe her supporters can fill some of this in . I haven’t seen an e-mail address for her either.  My analysis is based on her QCT Q&A. 

Strengths - Marcia has some interesting ideas.  I like that she talks about making people keep up their properties to minimum standards and no other candidate I’ve come across is talking about that.  She also talks about standing up for our existing businesses to retain them.  Again, a good idea.

Weaknesses- I hate to continue beating the drum for websites and e-mails but so many people look to the web these days for their information.  In talking with people of the 7th ward I still find many haven’t heard of Marcia.  She is hopefully out knocking on doors daily to get her word out.  She only received just over 20% of the vote in the primary.

Summary

I was slightly wrong in my primary prediction in that I thought Jim Davis would edge out Marcia (he received the lowest amount of votes in the ward).  But I still think that if anything, I underestimated the 7th ward’s resistance to change.  I think Barney will once again make it through.