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one quarter-page ad in the local newspaper. Gordon raised about $1,800
from friends in the community to cover the campaign expenses.
I spoke at local public meetings at every opportunity. The fact
that our Fire District had improved its operations (replacing gasoline
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taxes) put me in good stead. While we started late, Jean suggested that
we hand out balloons with my name printed on them at the local grocery
stores on Saturday. Janets husband, Elvoid, rigged up a helium tank to
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at the stores. I was helped greatly by my grandchildren Dan, Paul and
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store patrons when they emerged from the store, when they would be
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was entering the store. When the man emerged from the store, Paul of-
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said, Thats all right, you can give the extra one to a neighbor. We
were delighted at how quick-witted Paul had been.
A former mayor had met Janet outside the store and had said,
Your father is a good man, but he hasnt really got a chance in the elec-
tion because these other candidates have organizations and have been
working hard for weeks. To the surprise of many, I was the third high-
est in the vote tally. When the data became available I was delighted to
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but my campaign expenditures per vote received was less than half of
the other candidates. Since I hate to see elections won on the basis of
spending the most money, this was heartening.
Two of us were new to the City Council. The general public
thought that the city administration was well handled. In fact, it was a
mess. The accounting was so badly handled that we found there were
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before being opened. The City Manager had been a hard worker in
terms of hours per week on the job but his performance was seriously
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