By LARRY THOMAS
Nearly 20 years ago, the song “Cult of Personality” brought Living Colour a Grammy and a pair of MTV awards.
Now, Tom Galligan and Monty Snelling hope their respective cults of personality are good for a win in Jeffersonville’s mayoral race on Nov. 6.
The platforms of Galligan, a Democrat who served two terms as the city’s mayor from 1996 to 2003, and Snelling, a first-term Republican county councilman, are almost indistinguishable, leaving voters with little more than political affiliation or preference for personality by which to distinguish them.
Conventional wisdom says Snelling is the race’s underdog, given that it’s been 20 years since a Republican was elected the city’s mayor and because some voters are likely to accept the sometimes-controversial Galligan has a better known record of accomplishment due to his eight years as the city’s mayor.
Snelling has said that he not only intends to win on Nov. 6, he has promised to run for re-election no more than once.
Both men say they understand the connection between quality of life — which can include subjects ranging from parks, to shopping and dining opportunities, to housing choices — and economic development, as well as the latter’s effect on decreasing tax rates.
“They all work hand-in-hand together,” said Snelling, 55, who serves as pastor of Jeffersonville’s Faith Evangel Church and owns a company that remodels homes. “It’s got to be a complete package with economic development.”
Galligan points out that when he was mayor, the city added amenities such as Meijer Fields and the Aquatic Center, sparked the renovations of the former U.S. Army Quartermaster Depot and the old Piggyback yard and drew a trio of restaurants along the city’s riverfront.
“All the while we were doing that, we were lowering taxes,” said Galligan, 61, who owned a construction and excavating company before he became mayor and now works for his children’s company.
Both are interested in building a large park — perhaps several hundred acres in size — in northern or eastern Jeffersonville, after 7,800 acres are annexed into the city on Jan. 1.
“We have some good (public) parks here,” said Snelling. “We have nothing that really stands out.”
Snelling said a new park should serve as a “destination” for both people who live in the city and for those who live elsewhere.
Galligan said such a park would serve as only part of his approach toward people who live in the annexed areas, many of whom are becoming Jeffersonville residents against their wishes.
Galligan said he will work with the City Council to petition the state for second-class city status, which would expand the council from seven to nine seats through the addition of one district seat and one at-large spot. He said he would then seek a special election with the intent of providing the city’s newest residents with immediate representation in city government.
“That would make the (annexation) transition a lot better,” he said.
Neither Galligan nor Snelling would comment when asked who might hold key positions in city government — such as police chief, fire chief, city attorney and redevelopment director — during their administration.
“I’m going to try and pick the best and the brightest,” said Galligan, explaining that a transition team led by former deputy mayor and city councilman Phil McCauley would help review prospective candidates for such jobs.
“I want people that are not politicos,” said Snelling. “I want people who will come in with an open mind and a clear direction of where they want to go.”
Giving the similarities in their ideas, the mayor’s race could come down to personality.
In some quarters, Galligan is seen as a hard-charging, in-your-face cheerleader for Jeffersonville.
Even he admits that after a relatively smooth first term from 1996 to 1999, poor communication became his downfall during his second four years as mayor.
“The key to this term is going to be communication,” said Galligan. “I got along fairly well with my first council. I look forward to getting along even better with this council, because they’re all people who want to get things done.”
Galligan also discounted the criticism that he was a “budget buster,” pointing out that a mayor is prohibited from spending more money than the City Council appropriates.
“The perception of me being a budget-buster is absolutely false,” he said. “It is illegal. I would have been in jail for a long time. It is a white-collar crime.”
Snelling’s approach is perhaps more genteel — he is part of a Republican minority on the Clark County Council which has, for the most part, worked well with the Democratic majority — his critics express concern that three years on the county’s fiscal body does not quality one to lead a municipal government.
“Every promise I made people when I ran for County Council, I’ve kept,” said Snelling, whose council platform included abolishing the county’s wheel tax and lowering the county’s portion of property tax rates, both of which have happened. “I’m very well aware of what needs to be done on the executive side (of government).”
GOOD, BAD AND UGLY
Tom Galligan, Democrat, Jeffersonville mayor from 1996-2003
• GOOD: Was instrumental in the construction of Jeffersonville Aquatic Center, Meijer Fields, addition of football fields at Shirley Hall Park, RiverStage and the Terraced Lawn, restaurant development along Riverside Drive and the redevelopment of Quartermaster Station (the former Quadrangle) and the former Piggyback yard as North Shore Drive, to name a few.
• BAD: Conflicts with City Council members during his second administration and several seemingly avoidable lawsuits, such as those involving Bridgeview Center LLC and Glenn Lewis, who owned property the city tried to take through an erroneous eminent domain process.
• UGLY: Galligan once publicly suggested that he could solve a dispute with an AK-47, something he has since said he regrets having said.
Monty Snelling, Republican,Clark County councilman from 2005-present
• GOOD: Made good on a 2004 campaign promise to repeal the county’s wheel tax, effective in January, which cost $20 per vehicle and was paid through the Bureau of Motor Vehicles when license plates are renewed. Supported a 2008 county budget that should decrease the county’s impact on property taxes.
• BAD (potentially): The long-term effect of the county’s 2008 spending plan remains unclear on two fronts. By decreasing next year’s the property tax levy, the County Council has decreases the starting point for budgets in 2009 and beyond. With the ongoing uncertainty of both the jail’s operating expenses and the potential restructuring of local government by the Indiana General Assembly, the 2008 tax levy decrease could prove shortsighted within a few years.
• UGLY (potentially): When the wheel tax was enacted, the County Commissioners agreed to discontinue a bridge tax that was assessed to property owners. Next year, the county will collect no wheel tax and Snelling supported a one-year moratorium on funds for new bridge repair and renovation work.
ONLINE
• www.galligangetsitdone.com
• www.snellingformayor.com
ELECTION HISTORIES
Tom Galligan, Democrat
1995, ran for mayor of Jeffersonville
• Primary election - received 2,190 of 4,581 votes cast, or 47.8 percent, to win a three-way race with Bob Potter and Sheryl Yoder.
• General election - received 5,381 of 7,475 votes cast, or 71.7 percent, to defeat Republican Melody Carrico.
1999, ran for mayor of Jeffersonville
• Primary election - received 2,597 of 5,248 votes cast, or 49.5 percent, to win a three-way race with John Perkins and Glenn Muncy.
• General election - received 3,194 of 4,453 votes cast, or 71.2 percent, to win a three-way race with independent candidate Robert Cook and Republican Jac’kee’ Cooper.
2003, ran for mayor of Jeffersonville
• Primary election - received 1,708 of 4,313 votes cast, or 39.6 percent, to finish second to Rob Waiz in a four-way race that included Muncy and Ken Ogden.
2007, running for mayor of Jeffersonville
• Primary election - received 2,610 of 4,959 votes cast, or 52.6 percent, to defeat Waiz.
Monty Snelling, Republican
2003, ran for mayor of Jeffersonville
• Primary election - received 281 of 438 votes cast, or 64.2 percent, to win a three-way race with Derrick Chapman and Gary Drake.
• General election - received 2,354 of 6,183 votes cast, or 38 percent, to finish second to Waiz in a three-way race that included Libertarian Teresa Fisher.
2004, ran at-large for Clark County Council
• Primary election - ran with Jim Smith and Danny Yost for three seats, making each of them effectively unopposed.
• General election - received 18,509 of 108,334 votes cast, or 17.1 percent, to finish second - and thus win won of three seats - in a race that included Smith and Yost and Democrats Vicki Conlin, Janice Caldwell and Perry Smith.
2007, running for mayor of Jeffersonville
• Primary election - ran unopposed.
Personalities could decide Jeff mayor’s race
Galligan, Snelling put out eerily similar campaign platforms
