There has been speculation on whether Steve Bach runs for
reelection. From this point of view, the
answer is no. There are several reasons.
First, late last year, Bach suspended his mayoral forums. Any candidate running for reelection would
not only continue these events, he would increase the number and
frequency. What better way to appear
before potential voters than by going from neighborhood to neighborhood with
senior city managers in tow to answer questions, make crowd pleasing decisions
and take action to solve neighborhood issues.
There was some speculation recently when Bach announced a new series of
forums following the November 4th election to promote his proposal to
meet storm water and other capital improvement needs. After attending the “forum” near my home, I
could only shake my head. The forum more
closely resembled a science fair as my wife put it. Various department representatives were
standing next to tables around the perimeter of the room with poster boards on
the tables. A few of the tables had
information hand-outs for the curious, and city representatives were available
to answer questions. Bach attended, but
all of his conversations were one-on-one with citizens and for a television
camera. Not only was there no speech,
there were no chairs set up for anyone to take a seat. Not the actions of a candidate looking to
impress and convince voters he deserves another term.
Secondly, several weeks ago I attended the annual meeting of
Downtown Colorado Springs, when they invite the mayor in for the annual
address. Three years ago Bach delivered
a speech to this organization that he had clearly written himself, and it was
full of new projects and goals to be met.
This year Bach spoke, but what he had to say, and how long it took him
to say it spoke volumes. The entire
speech was backward looking; all content was focused on past accomplishments. Not a word on new goals or even on existing
goals not yet completed. The speech sounded
like one written by a staff member in the public relations department; Bach
read it with little audience eye contact.
Further, it took less than five minutes to deliver. Anyone running for reelection would write his
own speech, mention a few past accomplishments and then pivot to goals unmet
and new goals to be attained.
Finally, when one reviews the recent campaign contribution disclosure
reports filed by John Suthers and Amy Lathen and compares them to those filed
by Bach in 2011, there is some overlap.
Not exact to be sure, but enough that one must question whether the
contributors to Bach’s 2011 campaign will be there in 2015 if he calls on
them.
Is Bach running? Not according to his actions.
11.24.2014