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Some say money can't buy happiness; but spending double than your opponents could help win an election.
Steve Turley, the Provo incumbent who ran for the city-wide seat II, outspent opponent Coy Porter by at least double and placed nearly five times the number of signs across the city.
It worked, too. Turley beat Porter by 485 votes.
Incumbent Midge Johnson won by 370 votes in District 3, even though Provo council Chairman George Stewart, who was not up for re-election this year, contributed to her opponent's campaign. Mark Sumsion lost his second try at the council by 98 votes to incumbent Cynthia Dayton in District 1.
But it wasn't a victorious night for all incumbents. Barbara Sandstrom lost to Sherrie Hall Everett by 153 votes in District 4.
Turley, along with his supporters, spent Monday night and into the wee hours of Tuesday placing signs, distributing fliers and putting on a last ditch effort in the campaign.
"We emptied our campaign headquarters," Turley said. "Everything that has a Turley name on it ended up on someone's door."
During his current term in office, Turley often cast the lone no vote on the council. Those nay votes included the iProvo funding decision, the city's so far unprofitable fiber-optic network. But Turley said he doesn't feel like he has an adversarial relationship with the rest of the council.
"Everyone votes their conscience. I still don't believe there's a majority, minority or voting block," Turley said.
Sumsion, who lost to Dayton, refused to comment on how he would have interacted with the rest of the council.
"I think the voters have voted and that's what they're going to," Sumsion said.
He also didn't comment about whether he would run again. He ran against Stewart in 2005.
Howard Stone, the candidate who launched a write-in campaign in District 4 after narrowly losing in the primary to Sandstrom and Everett, only received 15 percent of the vote.
"I don't think the people of the city know what they're getting into. They haven't investigated things very in depth," Stone said.
He said he spent Tuesday campaigning, and hasn't slept in three days. He called on voters to get out of their climate-controled houses and take control of the city.
"I tried to be a standard-bearer in the streets," Stone said. "We will get what we will have for the next few years based on current trends."
Everett, who will have to represent both Provo's far west side and Grandview neighborhoods, said she doesn't see the interests of the two neighborhoods being contradictory, even though she knew she had more support from the west than she did in Grandview.
"I think you can fairly represent more than one viewpoint of neighborhoods in a discussion," Everett said.
Those who were looking for change, including Stewart, didn't get much. Sandstrom was the only incumbent to lose.
Provo Mayor Lewis Billings said he would work with the council.
"I'm prepared to work with whoever the voters send," Billings said. "I don't think that there's really anyone who is running that (I) wouldn't be able to work with."
The remaining three seats, those of Stewart, Cindy Richards, and Cynthia Clark will go up for election in two years. There will also be a race for mayor. Three-term mayor Billings said he is in the middle of his term, and hasn't decided if he will run again.
"I haven't decided for sure what I'm going to do, " Billings said. "I'm not strategizing for the race."
Stewart, a former Provo mayor, said that if Billings runs he intends to work against him. Whether that means running himself or supporting another candidate hasn't been decided.
"It's too early to decide. I've taken the position that three terms is probably enough," Stewart said referencing Billings time in office.
He said he isn't eager to assume power.
"I'm not anxious, but if I felt like if I needed to I would certainly," Stewart said.
It has long been wondered if Turley would take a stab at the mayor's seat, but the man himself denies the rumor.
"No I have no intention on running for mayor," Turley said. "The answer is a very unequivocal no." |
