Last night, I saw this comment on yesterday’s article:
“there is already a whisper campaign against Jacob referencing rumors of claims against him by women, and I'm afraid too many naive Missoula voters would never expect a jovial fat guy who tells self-effacing fat jokes to be laying the ground work to put the scare into white women of the young black man.
I'll throw some money in for the filing fee, Greg. I suspect any torpedoing of Elder will come after the filing period closes in June.”
Well...shit.
I’m extremely disappointed to hear this, but in many ways, I’m not that surprised.
First of all, we know what Engen and his cronies are capable of. These are the folks that steal front yards from property owners to expand South Avenue; waste millions to takeover a water company from a private firm that’s running it just fine; drive around drunk in their taxpayer vehicle while at work; and decry the lack of jobs in town while giving millions each year to out-of-state companies.
So it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that Engen will utilize every trick in his dirty bag to make sure he keeps his grip on power.
And I’m not that surprised about Elder.
I have no idea about any “whisper campaign” or “rumors of claims against him by women.” I do know that claims by women are rather easy to drum-up, if the powers-that-be want it that way. Truth doesn't matter anymore; just the accusation.
And I think Elder would be a good candidate for such a campaign. I know he likes women. A few months back, I was walking my baby in the mall, saw Elder there, and at one point noticed him flirting with a few college-aged women.
‘Well, at least he’s not gay,’ I thought...though here in Missoula, that might be more of a liability than an asset. And come this summer, we might find that out the hard way, say if some kind of "whisper campaign" starts up.
I just don’t know.
And if we really want to be honest with ourselves...what chances does Elder have anyways? He’s never held office before, or even ran for one. Why would voters choose him over Engen?
Why’d Helenans choose Wilmott Collins over the old white guy that’d been mayor there for a couple decades?
I don’t know.
What I do know is that there are a few people that want me to run for mayor. When I say “few” I’m literally talking about a couple people in the comments, and one or two via email. So maybe 4-5 people.
Let me tell you, me running for mayor is a terrible idea that would end disastrously...like most of my other runs. Here’s how I did before:
- 2019: 206 votes (7%)
- 2018: Kicked off ballot
- 2017: 122 votes (3%)
- 2016: 322 votes (18%)
- 2014: 118 votes (9%)
So the best I ever did in this town was when I ran for the legislature in 2016 and got primaried when my opponent took 82% of the vote.
Best I ever did running for city council was 2019, when I knocked on 1,200 doors and got just 200 votes. So for every 10 doors I knocked on, around 1 person felt the desire to vote for me...and that’s with face-to-face contact, supposedly the most effective way to reach candidates.
Well, not in my case. I could have knocked on 10,000 doors that year, and probably wouldn’t have done much better.
The people of Missoula have spoken resoundingly four times now that they do not want me in their lives. I’m an afterthought in this town, a joke.
On top of this, I hate to raise money.
I raised over $1,400 in 2014 when I first ran, mostly from family. I was ashamed of how much I wasted that money, mainly at the behest of the Montana Democratic Party’s MDLCC for useless mailers printed at a very-above-market-rate from their favored union printers in Billings.
I vowed I’d never run a wasteful campaign like that again. When I ran in 2019, I did all my own printing and thought it was better than anything the Dems ever did for me.
So really, no one wants to vote for me and I don’t care about money. I’d be a terrible candidate; a worse politician.
Mostly, I’m about done with this town and probably this state as well. I’d like to buy a home one day, but I’ll never be able to do that here. My mom isn’t going to die anytime soon, so getting her house isn’t an option (about the only option for many native Montanans is that route, waiting for your parents to die).
Eventually my rent will be increased so much where my stagnant wage job just won’t be able to cover it. At that point I’ll really have no choice but to move. Even if I wanted to get another job, there’s no childcare options in town anymore, and I hear more daycares are going to close. It’s just not worth operating them, with the low wages for employees, low overhead for owners, and all the hassles that both have to put up with.
No, Missoula is a dying town. If you’re counting on making your money here and not somewhere else (like rents or capital gains), then good luck.
Missoula is for the rich, and the rich want a man like Engen...someone that knows how to bend down and pucker-up for them.
I can’t wait to see who else will file over the next six weeks, but I know it’s not gonna be me.
