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THE PRIMARY RESULTS!
Vini, Vidi, Victus…they came, they saw, they conquered.
That’s from old Latin musings of a time way gone by. The mayoral primary contest is over, and it was won by Todd Krause, former alderperson and local businessman, but really relatively unknown in current political circles in and around Lake Geneva. Todd got 405 votes, while the mayor, seeking a second term on rather a hard-won effort over the past two years, got 340 votes. Dennis Loese managed to absorb 63 votes without bothering to run much of any kind of campaign.
What happened? It’s hard to be a leader in difficult times, and the Geneva Shore Report, covering all facets of city leadership during the tenure of Charlene’s management, has observed this time and again, as the city leadership has changed six times since the paper began back in 2011. Charlene took the news well while standing for the almost immediate results offered up at the council chambers in the municipal building on Tuesday night. There were no tears, and Todd Krause was a gracious ‘winner,’ if that is the right word to describe someone who was a victor in the first round of a two-round fight. Todd is a gentleman, and there is no doubt that he’s a successful businessman in the community. He’s opening a second business soon, offering banquet services.
Will his time be much more taken than Charlene’s has been over the past two years? Only time and the coming ‘real’ election in April will tell. If Dennis Loese’s 63 votes had gone to Charlene in his absence then the election would have been, basically, a draw. Charlene has concentrated on being mayor and not necessarily giving full attention to the campaign to get her re-elected. Was the primary certification or referendum about her service over the past two years?
Again, there is no way to know that. Will a full-blown campaign, with telephone canvassing, yard signs, and door-knocking make a big difference, saying that she really wants to be mayor again, or is the public tired enough of the pandemic and wanting to change away from anything and anyone who served during that pandemic? These questions, of course, are rhetorical, as it is almost impossible to conclude why elections go one way or the other, as the complexity of the public’s thought process is nearly impossible to calculate aforehand.
The GSR took a strong stand in favor of the mayor’s performance and supported her in her run to win the primary. She won the primary; in that, she gained the ability to run again for the mayor’s position in April. Did the Geneva Shore Report’s support affect Charlene’s vote total in a negative way? Again, that’s almost impossible to conclude, although it does give the staff here food for thought. There was a time, early on in the paper’s early days, when gaining GSR support meant losing any election a candidate might be running to win. That became quite a bit of a humorous following for a few years until the readership of the GSR grew to much larger proportions.
But, given Charlene’s primary vote result, a close but not too close second place, that factor must be weighed in about. Charlene has been an able leader of the city, her work and actions are very closely followed and scrutinized by the staff of the GSR, but that scrutiny does not have to have an impact upon the belief system of many people who live and vote in the community. Lake Geneva must, and is, making decisions on its own, and this it is doing. Congratulations to Todd Krause, and Charlene too. Now, let’s see how both of them do with their heads down and facing into a strong spring wind.
