by Travis Mateer
The title of this post is NOT who is QUALIFIED to be the Mayor of Zoom Town because who am I kidding? This isn’t the kind of political climate where the cream of the crop is going to rise to the top. Instead we’ll be dealing with substances that look more like this:
Am I walking into a metaphor that connotes some sort of unconscious racial bias? Probably, and thanks to someone who REALLY doesn’t know any better, race gets to be a fun focus for the slate of candidates that unsurprisingly will include Jacob Elder.
Here’s the inevitable announcement I hoped I wouldn’t see on Facebook:
What is driving this young man to ignore the drubbing he received against Mayor Engen? A political loss that occurred BEFORE the no contact court-order imposed on Elder after serious allegations have once again been directed at him, this time from his baby mama? Is it the church community helping this troubled young man keep the faith, thus wasting our time, with his obsession?
Moving on (like Elder needs to do) we have Jordan Hess, a City Council person and Director of Transportation for ASUM. Or is he? I’ve heard Hess has moved on from that position. Is he getting ready to be Mayor?
The next possible candidate might not even be a possible candidate, but the way Stacie Anderson glared at me and my council viewing partner during the long Council meeting made me realize I had no idea what Anderson does when she isn’t killing Carlino amendments, and after some quick online searching, I STILL don’t know, but it has something to do with making more progressive candidates like her and Pete Buttigieg.
When you go to the New Deal profile page for Stacie Anderson, you’ll see the organization she is supposedly the director of. From the link (emphasis mine):
Councilmember Anderson was born and raised in Montana and is a proud graduate of the University of Montana, with a degree in Organizational Communications. Stacie is a passionate believer that the best way to ensure good policy is by electing effective policy makers; she has worked with and led several statewide organizations whose missions range from electing conservation champions to electing more progressive pro-choice women. Councilmember Anderson currently serves as the Executive Director of A Better Big Sky, which is a state-based donor alliance that works to fund greater civic engagement and progressive leadership.
I tried finding more about A Better Big Sky, but there isn’t much online about this organization, which I find a little weird, so instead I poked around the New Deal website to see who else are promoted leaders, and I found another Stacey who is very well known for her political activism:
If you’re interested in how created political persons like Stacie and Stacey operate, the Propaganda Report has been tracking Stacey Abrams for quite some time. Here’s a podcast episode examining some of the questions Abrams raises with her political advocacy.
On Friday, Missoula citizens will get to see the names of those who turned in applications to be Mayor. I’ll be writing more as this process plays out, so stay tuned.
And, as always, thanks for reading!