Thompson Vs. Mindlin

Winners cheer and losers say deal!

"Winners cheer and losers say deal!," according to the late Bill Burns, who was a local city news anchor on the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, Pa., in the 1960s and 1970s. He claimed that people who lost elections always had a good story to tell.

The races between Council President Linda Thompson and Republican Pennsylvania Bar Association lobbyist, Nevin Mindlin gave Harrisburg residents something to talk about for years to come. Penn Live Reporter Laura Vecsey said that Thompson’s 842 vote victory "demonstrate that Thompson will not enter office with a sweeping mandate." That is a good thing because 4 years ago Mayor Reed did enter his last term with a sweeping mandate. That mandate caused the incinerator disaster, City and school district debt of over $1 Billion, and a crack down on citizens who wanted to be heard concerning city issues. The reaction by the public was to support Linda Thompson and defeat the 28 year mayor by 1,000 votes.
　
One person that turned against the mayor was political activist Joyce A. Hamburg of Bellevue Park. Joyce was recruited from Pittsburgh by Reed to work in computer programming for the City’s computer system. He fired her along with 32 other employees using a City layoff as a cover to warn citizens that speaking up against the incinerator project would not be tolerated. She was associated with a person who talked about the bad management of the incinerator. This is just one of the heavy handed tactics that later backfired on him. Mayor Reed soon got an education when one day just before the 2009 primary, he received a letter sent by Ms. Hamburg’s Political Action Committee, outlining everything that his administration had done against the citizens of Harrisburg. Over 9,000 letters went out to the voters of Harrisburg. Many claim that this is just one of the locks that locked the door of Mayor Reed’s public life in Harrisburg. Many of the people who had been the victim of Mayor Reed found themselves active in Linda Thompson’s Primary Campaign and working in her November campaign. The Thompson victory party at the Hilton ballroom was filled with supporters who had an axe to grind with Reed. Therefore, having a mandate would not be in the interest of the people of Harrisburg or to Mayor Thompson.
　
It was reported on TV-21 that the race was closer than the 4,869 to 4,027 vote looks. They claim that for every 6 people that voted for Thompson, 5 voted for Mindlin. That is true but looking at it from a 53.82% Thompson and a 44.61% Mindlin, a 9.21% vote advantage is still a big win.
　
Looking at the Numbers in Detail
　
The numbers show that the vote for the candidates fell along racial lines, not party lines. Linda Thompson had a big advantage in Democratic registration, fund raising, and campaign workers. Nevin Mindlin had the advantage of having anti-Thompson and Reed Team support. These two groups came together as a well oiled political machine. For over 20 years, Mayor Reed’s organization controlled the news media. Reed would put out misleading information about people using the networks and the local newspaper. This would demoralize the anti-Reed voters. Along with getting out more Reed supporters at the poles, Reed would get more votes than his opponent’s. This was the key to him staying in power for 28 years. This is why he was able to place members on City Council and remove them at will.
　
But in this election, many of Thompson’s supporters knew the 28 year old Reed script. Her hardened supporter’s fresh from taking Obama from the Primary to the White House knew that they could win this election. Joyce Hamburg told her committee to be ready for "hard ball" politics last August. She said that "they will start attacking her character just before the election. Be ready to turn the tables on them." Not only did they talk about her personally but they also used racial stereo types to scare White voters into coming to the polls and voting for Mindlin. In the past, Reed supporters said that Thompson was a prostitute on the West Shore, a drug user, and a falling down drunk. They continued this type of slander on Penn Live under their false IDs.
　
Here is just an example of the talk that you would find on Penn Live about Linda Thompson. Blackcrat blogged on Pennlive, "Would you tell me what specifically leads you to believe that she will disadvantage whites and give an unfair advantage to blacks under her administration? I know her and to be honest I just don’t get that hate for white people from her that a lot of you comment about on this forum." There is NO "beauty in politics". Demsbawl said, "Where does she go to get her hair done? Petsmart?" pissinvinegar said, "If Thompson wouldn't have won we would have had Jackson and Sharpton crying foul play." Jameswestfal replied, "I would have expected race riots or something. I mean the only way she could have lost is if it was fixed by the man." pissinvinegar , "yes sir there would have been burnt down buildings and a lot of theft going on. Good thing is, they burn down their own houses most of the time." And to think that it is in this atmosphere that our establish media picked up on these secret bloggers and went after Linda Thompson hoping to demoralize her supporters and trying to crush her spirit. Welcome back to the 1930s!
　
If you watch TV-21, TV-8, and TV-27, you would have seen the people at both the Mindlin and Thompson election day parties. In Mindlin’s camp you had seen all White with maybe a few Blacks. In Thompson’s camp, you had seen Blacks with several Whites. Here are the votes according to precincts along with the poll addresses, and maps of the precinct areas. From this, you would be able to see that the vote for mayor was along racial lines.

http://www.dauphinc.org/vote/ViewPrecinctForm.aspx?select1=MAYOR%20HARRISBURG&select2
Votes by Precinct for Mayor of Harrisburg

http://www.dauphincounty.org/elections%2Dvoter%2Dregistration/polling%2Dinformation/polling%2Dmaps/
Map of Voting Districts in Harrisburg

http://www.dauphincounty.org/elections%2Dvoter%2Dregistration/polling%2Dinformation/harrisburg%2Dlocations/
Voting Locations in Harrisburg
　
The USS Harrisburg
　
No matter who you voted for, the city is sinking in a billion tons of debt. The crew is on deck fighting over who will get the last ounce of Ice Cream. Don’t you think we should work together to save our ship? Mindlin said it best to TV-21 news. He said that for the first time in years, the city will be able to explore more than one vision for the city. The citizens should stop name calling and start working toward a new vision for Harrisburg. That is the direction that the people of this city should take!