The results of the Sioux City Council race yesterday demonstrated how incumbents have had a rough go of it in the 2000s, as the sole councilman seeking re-election placed fourth, not in the money for the three seats that were set. Jim Rixner, who was elected in 2005, will be leaving the council in January. Additionally, two councilmen didn’t seek re-election — Dave Ferris after eight years and Brent Hoffman after four years, so a combined 16 years of tenure goes by the wayside.

Replacing the three are furniture store associate Keith Radig (who ran unsuccessfully for the Iowa House in 2002 and 2004 as a Republican), former councilman Tom Padgett and long-time contractor John Fitch. Padgett brings eight years of council experience, which is helpful, while the other two men on the council, Mayor Mike Hobart and Councilman Aaron Rochester, are two years in on four-year terms. In the aggregate, not a lot of experience.

Going into the election, I had one thought on sole incumbent Rixner’s chances — just how ticked off would Sioux Cityans be over the new city ordinance limiting pit full ownership? Rixner has taken some hits over supporting the pit bull ordinance, and after the loss he said the pit bull ordinance anger factored into his defeat.

He also said there was a “furious effort” by the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce to defeat him. Hmmmm. I guess we can see the merits of nabbing a chamber endorsement — in the Sioux City School Board race, the three candidates who were endorsed by the chamber (Molly Williams, Nancy Mounts and Doug Batcheller) won the seats, while that happened again now in the council race. The pro-business chamber, indeed, endorsed Fitch, Radig and Padgett.

The final results: Padgett, 4,245 votes; Fitch, 3,915; Radig, 3,030; Rixner, 2,840; and Ian Rappolt, 2,758.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 3:49 pm and is filed under City/county politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.