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Treasure Island candidates reflect upon election
By LEE DIEKEMPER
Article published on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 |
TREASURE ISLAND – Ed Gayton Jr. and Alan Bildz, representing Districts 2 and 4 respectively, were re-elected to their Treasure Island Commission seats in the March 11 election.
For Lunn, the campaign could be summed up in two problems: one, a monumental obstacle that he admitted was difficult to tackle and the second, a minor, yet important bump he overlooked.
Lunn noted Gayton has strong name recognition from the electorate partially due to the fact he has been a resident of Treasure Island since 1971 and that Gayton has a lot of family members who also reside within the district.
But what irked Lunn was an oversight that may have contributed to his defeat: voters didn’t know when the election was. Since just a handful voted, which Lunn called “a tragedy that more people don’t vote” that is all too common nationwide in non-presidential elections, he found out the hard way getting more people to vote for him required better educating the public.
“I ran into someone over the weekend who supported me and said they were going to vote for me,” Lunn said. “He asked me when the election was and I said, ‘It was last Tuesday.’
“Of all the brochures and pamphlets I put out, it never occurred to me to add the date of the election,” Lunn said.
Callahan used almost a clandestine campaign in trying to unseat Bildz. He did not participate in a debate held a couple of weeks before the election, a move which was a repeat of his last campaign against Bildz. But, this move backfired as Bildz mocked him for it saying Callahan was not a serious candidate.
“My campaign manager didn’t want me to talk about controversial issues,” Callahan said, explaining his decision. Callahan ran basically on two platforms: replace the city manager type of city government and to return Treasure Island to a small-town atmosphere that he feels made the island such a wonderful place to live.
“Right now there is so much construction on the beach properties on Sunset Beach it’s no longer a public beach; the public can’t use it,” Callahan said.
Bildz seemed humbled by the re-election. He has been a staunch opponent of free spending and his terms in office can be summed up as: Don’t spend what we don’t have and what can we save?”
“I think it’s a common sense approach,” Bildz said. “That’s something that I think is lacking in a lot of areas of government.”
Bildz also looked forward to working with Gayton again. “He’s a hard worker. He’s an ally,” Bildz said.
Gayton, also a stickler for a balanced budget, was humbled as well and saw the elections results as reinforcement or a “mandate” that he is doing a good job for his constituents. He also looked forward to working with Bildz for another term.
“The commission is now a cohesive unit,” Gayton said. “We have a cohesive community now. I think that is good.”
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Article published on Tuesday, March 18, 2008
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