A couple of things to discuss. First the Mayoral campaign. Look for Sheila Simon to announce her candidacy for Mayor of Carbondale shortly after she loses the general election to Judy Topinka. She trails, depending on whose polls you believe from anywhere from 20 to 33 points. She claims the election is much closer, but whether you lose by 33 points or 20 points, it is not good. In Carbondale she may actually be able to beat the current front runner, Jane Adams. The problem she runs into is that even in Carbondale, people get tired of her trading on her deceased dad's name. She also alienated a lot of the voters when she kept getting these "big name endorsements". Her campaign should be written up as a text book on how not to succeed in politics. Rumor has it that if Sheila decides to run, Brad Cole may very well toss his hat in the ring. George Mulroney has decided not to run as he is still smarting from his second place finish to Joel Fritzler. No great loss here. Don Monty decided not to run citing that he wants to spend more time with his family. No one believes that. What people do believe is that Monty does not want to be around when two particularly nasty law suits get moving. There may even be a lawsuit that does not involve an alleged murder. The former Chief of Police seems like he is getting ready to file suit over losing his job too. The future is not too good if Adams is allowed to run unopposed. Perhaps
The so called "Ferguson Conference" which was held at the Carbondale Civics Center accomplished nothing other than to give people a chance to shout and yell at each other. The panel was stacked with the usual assortment of left wing authoritarian types. People like Patricia Bynes gave themselves phony titles like "Citizen Journalist" to give themselves some credibility. While she was trying to appear neutral, there is a video of her 9 days after the Michael Brown shooting where she knew enough to call for the officers arrest. She is a Democrat Party operative whose sole purpose for attending was to try to get the Democrat Party base out. They had another person who after being in the Jackson County Courthouse for 2 days was able to make the statement that 45% of the Defendant's in Jackson County were black. She called herself an "Independent Research Consultant". It is easy to see why no one has hired her if she really believed a 2 day study proved anything. There is not much to be said to people who believe that shows a pattern of racism.
