Few changes on Jeffersonville City Council

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November 7, 2007

At-large candidates Grooms, Samuel are re-elected; Zastawny more than doubles Cooper

By LARRY THOMAS The News and Tribune Wed Nov 07, 2007, 10:25 AM EST

All of the Jeffersonville City Council members who had opposition Tuesday won re-election, meaning six of the board’s seven current members will return for four more years.

Ron Grooms and Nathan Samuel retained their at-large seats, each of them holding off a competitive challenge from political newcomer Kevin Vissing. In District 2, Ed Zastawny beat Edward Culpepper Cooper, while Connie Sellers held off Mike Hutt in District 4.

Incumbent Democrats Keith Fetz and Barbara Wilson were unopposed, as was Mike Smith, who beat incumbent John Perkins in the Democratic primary in May.

Several council members expressed enthusiasm at the prospect of working with Mayor-elect Tom Galligan, who is returning to the office he held for eight years after defeating Monty Snelling.

“The immediate impact is that you have a council that has experience, you have a mayor who has been in office eight years before,” said Grooms. “I think the picture looks good for Jeffersonville.”

Zastawny said, “What happens now is a great thing — we move forward.”

Zastawny said Galligan has suggested a retreat with council members, to exchange ideas and develop a plan for the city’s management for the next four years.

That all three of the incumbent Republicans were re-elected is notable, because before Grooms, Sellers and Zastawny were elected in 2003, the last time two members of the GOP were elected to the City Council simultaneously was in 1967 when John Wann and Dale Orem were elected.

At-large race

Samuel, a Democrat, was the leading vote-getter among the three candidates with 3,514, or 34.4 percent of the votes cast. Grooms, a Republican, finished second with 3,469, or 33.9 percent, and Vissing, a Democrat, finished third with 3,243 votes, or 31.7 percent.

Grooms is in his fourth nonconsecutive council term. Samuel was elected to the council by Democratic caucus earlier this year after Phil McCauley left the board to accept an appointment from Gov. Mitch Daniels to the Indiana Ports Commission.

“It must have helped some,” said Samuel, referring to the name recognition he garnered by filling McCauley’s seat.

Samuel said winning Tuesday’s election left him with a different feeling that winning the caucus to replace McCauley.

“I was elected by the caucus and I was excited about that, but this feels legitimate to me,” he said.

“I knew I was in a dog fight,” said Grooms. “It was a very, very hard-fought victory.

“Fortunately, people respected the job I’ve done and the experience I bring to the table.”

Vissing ran as a blue-collar political outsider who happens to have a name familiar to Clark County politics. Vissing is a service technician for Vectren and is related to the late Richard Vissing, who served five terms as Jeffersonville’s mayor.

Vissing said he believes Grooms and Samuel benefited from better campaign funding and jobs that permitted them to spend more time campaigning, but that he does not begrudge them their wins.

“They’re both good men,” he said.

District 2

First-term Republican incumbent Zastawny ran away with a win against Cooper, a Democrat who has previously served on the Clark County Council and on Greater Clark County Schools’ board.

Zastawny gained 968 votes to Cooper’s 472, or 67.2 percent to 32.8 percent.

“I’m humbled and honored that I got re-elected,” said Zastawny.

District 4

Sellers, another first-term Republican, won re-election with an 800 to 691, or 53.7 percent to 46.3 percent, win over Hutt, a Democrat.

Hutt — who has been a regular in the audience at City Council meetings for 18 years — told Sellers four years ago that he would run this year, after he retired from Ford Motor Co. The two campaigned as respectful rivals and both said they believe Sellers’ incumbency made the difference in the race.

“She’s been in office for four years and it’s just the power of the incumbency” said Hutt. “The voters have spoken and I accept their decision.”

Sellers said while she may have gotten headlines early in her term for helping save an estimated $20 million on sewer-system upgrades, voters in her district were more likely to respond to her re-election bid due to more personal problems she helped them solve.

“I don’t think people remember (the sewer system savings). They remember what you do to help them personally,” she said.