I’m on Christina Shea’s email list (I’ll explain in a bit) so I got an invitation from her to attend her campaign kickoff which is tomorrow night (August 8) at a restaurant in town. I also got an invitation to attend a fundraiser in September for Denise Brown’s foundation that Ms. Shea is co-hosting.
When candidates for Irvine City Hall pulled papers, Shea reportedly pulled papers for Mayor and Council (or pulled a Lieberman as they might say in CT). The invite for tomorrow’s event is for the Re-Election of Shea to City Council ($99 a perspon minimum). The Irvine World News reported Thursday that Shea is still keeping her options open, but the invitation was clear: “re-elect” applies only to the office you currently hold.
While Ms. Shea and I have never personally met, we have shared several good email exchanges in 2002 when she ran for council. She is good about answering questions and respectful of my differing opinions as I was respectful of her opinions that I (still) think are flat out wrong. But the tone is always respectful and polite, and sorely lacking from all politics today and who couldn’t appreciate that?
I had email exchanges with Mike House and Chuck DeVore that year as well (Mr. DeVore’s daughter and my son attended the same middle school last year and we talked at graduation). Email was how I met Beth Krom as well when she first race for council. She spoke ot my cub scout pack about Measure W and my pack’s parents were very pleased about the detail in the answers she gave to their questions.
So it looks like two, or three or four in the race for Mayor. The August 11 deadline will be fun to watch.
For those candidates who pulled papers for two offices, a tip.
Pick one race. One. Do or die. Win or lose.
Hedging your bets is a sign of weakness. “Torn Between Two Lovers” was a lame song. It was lame for Auburn to kick a field goal to tie the score with time running out in the 1988 Sugar Bowl against Syracuse instead of going for it on fourth and goal. It was lame for Lieberman to run for VP and Senate in 2000 and if he runs as an idependent this year, it’s still lame. If you want to keep your eggs in different baskets, do it with your retirement account, not politics.
Make up your mind which office and run for that office.
And don’t forget, the voters decide.