this page generated 29.11.24 08:30 CST (@646 .beats) Follow @CRZ |
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31.7.13 22:10 | 97 DAYS TO ELECTION DAY: It's a $20 filing fee to declare your candidacy - there was talk earlier this year that they would raise it to $500 to discourage "frivolous" candidacies, but the City Council didn't act fast enough or something. You can Google it - I would Google it but that's not what I wanted to talk about today. I drove around the block a few times but eventually found a street space instead of springing for $8 "early bird" parking in a lot - and as a bonus, there was a quarter left on the meter! (Even after we all waited ten minutes for the woman going to court to figure out how to pay for HER space - I will note here that I was very helpful to her...but I forgot to ask her to vote for me as I hadn't filed yet) I added $2.75 to max it out at two hours, expecting a super long line of candidates. I first entered City Hall through the wrong door (5th St S), wandered around that half of the building that didn't house the Elections Office, went back outside, and walked all the way around the outside to the OTHER City Hall entrance (6th St S) - fortunately, it had stopped raining. The office opened at 8am; I had really planned to be there when they opened, but weather and driving and parking and waiting for the lady to understand how to feed the electronic meter and long walks and getting lost all conspired to get me there closer to 9. Surprisingly, by 9am there was only one person ahead of me in line for candidate filings - Councilwoman Hofstede. She and her husband were super nice to me even though I told her right up front that I didn't live in her ward and couldn't vote for her. I told her she would probably get re-elected, but the truth is I kinda hope her opponent wins as part of a protest of her stadium vote. But I digress. (No!) Filed the candidacy AND the statement of all the stuff I own (which determines your conflicts of interest later - if I become mayor, there better not be any Symantec-related stuff come across the desk!), made sure to tweet my anouncement, and made it back to the car. There was an hour left on the meter, so I blew $1.50 there. (In retrospect, I wish I could have banked that hour and given it to Mark today! Coincidences!) And of course, that's ANOTHER good deed gone anonymous - whoever got that hour would have voted for me for sure! My POINT (have you made it this far?) is that I have invested $22.75 into this campaign (air quotes optional) and that's really the extent to which I plan to spend any money in pursuit of this office. I will happily spend all the valuable time I have writing super long status updates for a few of you to read, but I don't want to waste another red cent on this. I'd like to think it speaks to the type of government I'd like to have and be a part of, wasting as little as possible - but it's just as much me being super cheap. I can admit this. So...no donations, please. All I need is your free vote. And if you have 30,000 friends who could do the same, I think we'd be in business. |