OZARK, MO — April 8 is municipal election day. Most voters don’t care enough to vote in those (mayor, alderman, school board races).
It’s those local elections, however, that matter most, because they directly affect our community’s leadership locally.
In Ozark, the incumbent Mayor Don Currence is facing the same two board of aldermen challengers as he did two years ago: David Snider and Eddie Campbell.
“He’s a nice guy,” his supporters say. “He’s doing a great job!”
They never say specifically WHAT he’s doing so well, but that doesn’t matter as long as you know him and like him.
David Snider is the retired Springfield policeman that has the support of the emergency services people. They sing his praises, because Snider is their “Lone Ranger” and does it his way!
Snider is a patriotic guy and speaks tough and bold. That’s pretty appealing to his supporters.
Eddie Campbell looks like Willie Nelson. He’s definitely a country boy, from Kentucky. Campbell has a certain way of looking at things carefully rather than trying to please his friends (Currence) or do things his way (Snider).
Campbell is against the new “use tax” that Currence and Snider are trying NOT to talk about before the election, because any kind of tax increase is super unpopular with voters and taxpayers.
Campbell knows enough to put the brakes on decisions until all sides have been explored. He’s not trying to please anyone; he’s merely following the Constitution he swore to uphold.
However, Campbell is nervous in public. He isn’t keen on meeting new people and talking about his campaign. Trust me, I know. I was his campaign manager. But he got spooked when the opposition pounced on him for bashing his opponent, Don Currence. In reality, it was true what he said about Currence, but it was a bad move to bash one’s opponent, especially when your opponent’s supporters see him as a nice guy and is doing a great job.
Instead of following a proven strategy of going door to door with specific talking points, Campbell thinks putting up signs will be his victory ticket. As far as signs go, I wanted Campbell to be unique. I told him to put up a sign that read CHANGE IS COMING TO OZARK. I encouraged him to put up four signs on a Friday evening.
Well, he put up one. Then, the next day, he put up another. A week ticked by, and he still hadn’t put up the other signs.
I had encouraged him from the beginning to put up a second message on his sign one week later, again on a Friday. That was to be an image of himself.
One week after his image was to go on the sign, again on a Friday, I encouraged him to put a third message on his sign, stating VOTE EDDIE CAMPBELL MAYOR.
A three-part series of four signs, two on the north end of town and two on the south. They were supposed to be unveiled one week apart, like this:
I have yet to see his signs on the north end. They may be there, but I haven’t seen them.
But, he didn’t put his photo on the signs a week later. He was afraid people would react to him holding the mayor’s gavel in the photo. So, he put his name and a bunch of words and his phone number on the sign, making it wordy and less powerful than it could have been. Rather than unfold it one week at a time for three weeks, he waited 3 weeks with his sign on phase one and added phase two and another wordy idea, making it look like this all of a sudden:
If he has the fortitude to go knock on every door in Ward 2 with his push cards and talk to as many people as answer their doors, Campbell will have a chance. No sense in him trying in Ward 1. That’s where the other two candidates live. No sense in going all in on Ward 3, that’s where he lives, and they already know him as their Ward 3 alderman. But I don’t think Eddie Campbell will do that.
Therefore, I predict status quo will win April 8. Don Currence will get the most votes, followed by David Snider, and Eddie Campbell will come in third, just like they did two years ago. Business as usual. Nothing will change. Change will NOT come to Ozark. I hope I’m wrong.
Eddie Campbell is still the constitutional candidate. He just can’t seem to campaign well enough to win, in my opinion.
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