“A Small Modicum of Sour Grapes”
Those are words from our reelected Mayor, Dona Stebbins as quoted to the Tribune in today’s issue. Ed McKnight, and rightly so, stated that Susan Kahn diluted the vote. According to Dona, this represents “a small modicum of sour grapes”. I hardly think so. The numbers don’t lie. Had the vote not been split, Dona would not have been reelected. As I see it, her remark is nothing more than an excuse for her less than stellar win. This win should not be misintrepreted to be a vote of confidence for either her or the coal plant.
Ed needs to grow up too. He lost because more people voted for Stebbins than him. Blaming other candidates for taken or splitting votes is not democracy. Votes represent unique individuals that place the ballot mark for their very own reasons.
One cannot read the minds or speculate that their unique votes are owned by others of similar belief. That is the two party mentality we are facing next November in the general election.
The winner of this race however has an attitude that does not belong in office. She shows utter contempt for those that opposed her. What a disgrace. What a loss for Great Falls. Either of the other three would have been a leader for all the citizens.
I saw Ed interviewed on the TV news. What a gracious man. Even in defeat he exhibited all the characteristics of a fine man. He would have made a wonderful mayor. Sorry, anon, he IS grown up quite well thank you very much! My respect for him grows daily. I hope he tries again some day. I would LOVE to see him unseat the “uniter” in two years. Now, donna was ANYTHING BUT gracious in defeat. And you’re quite right. She is unfit for office. She is a disgrace because she has NO concept of democracy. She STILL, even at this time, thinks that she works for SME and NOT the people of GF, who she seems to despise. This attitude will not get her far. And yes, we all lost when donna won! But two years is not forever.
I hope Ed remains involved. One does not need to hold an office to help make a difference and to improve the process.
Dona is going to spin things in whatever direction she needs to to feel good about her win and herself. For any of us to expect anything different would be to set ouselves up for disappointment. After two years at the helm, we should know what kind of behavior to expect. She lives in her own world and is a success in her own mind. To think she campaigned two years ago as The People’s Mayor, hmmmphf.
Here’s another famous donna quote from today’s Fib. “If I don’t run the meeting, the meeting will run me”. OK, now just for fun, substitute people for meeting! In other words, “if I don’t control the people, the peole will control me”! She really IS that incompetent! Donna canNOT understand that the people are part of the process! She does not need to “run the meeting”. The meeting will run itself! All she nees to do is to shut the hell up and allow the public to testify! Is that really asking too much? I don’t happen to think so. And I’m STILL waiting for donna to explain just WHAT the threat was that required the cops to be there! Is it real, or quite possibly imagined? Or is donna being less than truthful?
I was saddened by her comments after all the gracious and positive comments she had made on so many blogs over the last two years.
I think she has missed the point of blogs and is disconnected from the people of Great Falls.
Larry, I agree 100%.
This Bud is for all you stupid voters, you know who you are. The 72% that could not breakaway from the Jerry Springer and Oprah Winfrey shows to go to the polls.
Thank you for your lack if effort.
Cheers!
p.s. And lastly, the other interesting comment by donna was that she does NOT plan to “extend an olive branch” to all those who voted against her. So be it. Well, at least we know where we stand. The entire educated, informed, motivated populace of Great Falls against donna. It really is fun to attend the meetings and watch the line of doctors, scientists, lawyers, professors, retired military officers, business people, and professionals of all types who line up each week to testify in front of donna and company, who sit there and look mad as hell to have to endure expert testimony by people who are a whole lot smarter than they are. It’s kind of surreal. No olive branches for donna though. SME will surely reward her with something much nicer down the line.
I heard dona is building a new house… could it be? Na…well….could it?
Anon @ 4:33 pm, if Dona is building a new house, what does that have to do with anything?
I voted for Dona back in 2005. I thought I was voting for change… and the biggest thing that changed in the past two years was Dona. I didn’t vote for her this time around. Her post election comments are not a surprise.
Where there’s dirty power, there is dirty money.
We all knew the vote would be split and everyone but Dona would lose and that didn’t matter because Dona is a known quantity.
Team Stebbins Rocks!
No offense, Anonymous, but you’re not even very good at insulting me. Doesn’t it usually help if the insult is not too cryptic for the victim to get it? If you’re just doing it for amusement well, then, you’re a troll.
The election results definitely proved that the citizens and candidates deserved a primary election to preserve the democratic process. The will of a majority of the people was not served by this election. Who made the terrible decision to save a few bucks and and disenfranchised the majority of the citizens of Great Falls, at least those who made the effort to vote…..