A ballot challenge to the city commission

Not that anyone in Pierre should be nervous when those things come out of my mouth, but this afternoon, I'm not talking about the town of my youth where I usually cause trouble with things on the ballot.

Today, I'm in Brookings with the family. I was out mowing the lawn with the new (used) mower, where a piece of crumpled paper was found on my lawn. What was it? A flyer for the anti-Lowe's-subsidy people.

If you recall, the City of Brookings is providing Lowe's a huge incentive package to locate in Brookings, as opposed to another area. And some people don't really like it.

Check out http://www.brookingsclearchoice.com where they've done a just "ok" job of laying out their argument. I would have done it differently. Some of the best arguments in support of their position are buried in the website as opposed to being the primary focus. I suspect that it's because of the homegrown nature of the effort. I don't know that they have anyone with serious campaign experience on their team.

What are they doing wrong? I don't really sense a unifying hard hitting message. You have stabs at different versions of a message here and there, but I don't sense that they have formed a succinct, easily understood driving set of points that's going to resonate with the voters.

Don't paint me on one side of this or another just yet. If there's a website for the pro-side, let me know. I'd be interested in reading before I make up my mind.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The people that don't like it are the retail owners who didn't get as lucrative an offer, like Steve Paula. The Old Money Brookings people hate anything that represents a threat to their perceptions of the town. They want growth, but only with their say-so.

I lived there for almost a decade. I'm glad to have moved out.

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