Columbia City Council District 3 candidates

As a companion effort to my drive to gather up legislative sites wherever I can get them, I’ve been collecting some on the Columbia City Council races.

I don’t have all of the at-large candidates together yet (I have Rickenmann and Runyan — who still sort of look alike — but there are two more), but here, in alphabetical order, are the three who are running for the District 3 seat to be vacated by Anne Sinclair:

  1. Brian Boyer — His site tells of a young man who grew up in the community, and cites his leadership serving as a captain in the Airborne in Iraq and Afghanistan. Expectations are that he would be allied with Daniel Rickenmann and Kirkman Finley III. Don Tomlin is his brother-in-law, in case you keep track of such things. His "key issues" are "fiscal responsibility," "crime (fighting it, that is)" and "leadership."
  2. Belinda GergelThe retired chair of the poli sci department at Columbia College has a long history of active service in the community, recently as chair of Historic Columbia Foundation (remember the battle over the Inn at USC site?) Commonly seen as likely to be allied with the Bob Coble faction, she’s been reaching out beyond her usual circles to widen her support — an example: Jack Van Loan, 5 Points business leader and POW comrade to John McCain.
  3. Reed Swearingen — A guy who has demonstrated his perspicacity by commenting on this blog (I think; although I had trouble finding a comment just now — he’s quoted in this post, though). He’s for smart growth, against digital billboards, and positions himself as one who will "remain independent and uninfluenced," which I’m guessing means he has the backing of neither of the aforementioned factions.

I’ll be back when I have more. In the meantime, peruse.