Campaign News
Neighborhoods power Gergel to big win
April 2, 2008
Belinda Gergel was elected to Columbia City Council on Tuesday, offering a resounding victory to neighborhood leaders concerned about developers' influence in downtown growth.Gergel's election maintains the Democratic tenor of the nonpartisan council and is a win for one of her main backers, Mayor Bob Coble.
It was a setback for a group of conservative developers and businessmen who had recruited and funded Brian Boyer, a developer who works with his brother-in-law, financier Don Tomlin.
But incumbent Daniel Rickenmann, who enjoyed some of the same support as Boyer, held off a fierce challenge from Cameron Runyan to keep his at-large seat for a second term.
"The city is built on neighborhoods," Gergel supporter John Stucker, of the University Hill neighborhood, said Tuesday night. "The city is strong because the neighborhoods are strong."
Gergel echoed that Tuesday night moments before greeting hundreds of supporters at the Inn at USC. "This is a resounding affirmation of the interests of our citizens in carefully guided, positive growth."
Boyer said he knew his candidacy would be an uphill battle.
"But we activated a new group of voters who had not participated in city government before," he said. "At the end of the day, the entire city wins."
Gergel, a retired Columbia College professor, will replace Anne Sinclair, whose 20-year tenure was marked with an independent streak. She had passionate support among constituents in her district, which includes the Democratic strongholds of Rosewood, Shandon, Wales Garden and Five Points.
Since the election of politically conservative members Kirkman Finlay of District 4 and Rickenmann, Sinclair often has sided with Democratic-leaning council members Coble, E.W. Cromartie and Sam Davis.
At-large council member Tameika Isaac Devine often has been the moderate swing vote between those emerging factions.
Gergel's election, with the public backing of Coble, gives the mayor more power to sway council votes. "I think Belinda is more aligned with the mayor than Brian is," Finlay said. "I don't think that's any secret."
Coble dismissed the faction talk, saying he works with all council members.
Gergel used her network of neighborhood leaders, academics and big-time Democrats to raise more than $164,000 - a record for a district race.
Boyer raised $150,000 from mostly businessmen, developers and military officers - and sent out a "Republican voter alert" earlier this week telling voters if they didn't vote Tuesday then "liberal spenders will keep control of our city."
"I think, by running Boyer, who is an attractive candidate in many senses, (they were) trying to do something unnatural politically," said political consultant Bob Wislinski, a Gergel campaign donor. "There are just too many Democrats in that district. I'd be very surprised if they rejected one of their own in favor of him."
In a district with five neighborhoods with a historic preservation designation and four others seeking it, Gergel - a former chairwoman of the Historic Columbia Foundation board - worked hard to present herself as a preservationist.
She mentioned her restored 1908 home in the historic University Hill neighborhood at nearly every candidate forum, and filmed her TV commercial in her front yard.
Her announcement to run for City Council was held at the Inn at USC. There, she took partial credit for preserving a home called the Black House, which USC eventually agreed to incorporate into the hotel's design.
Gergel never directly criticized Boyer in public, but with a series of deft comments and actions portrayed him as the developers' candidate.
She sent Boyer a letter early in the campaign urging him to post his list of campaign contributors on his Web site - a list that includes a number of developers and home builders.
At a March 12 debate, Gergel answered a question about the sightliness of billboards by saying: "I have not used billboards in my campaign. I feel that sets an example" - a dig at Boyer, whose billboards have been prominently displayed around the city.
Some developers were concerned that Gergel's election could hurt the city's economy because her zeal for neighborhood protection could stall development projects.
"Development opportunities are going to come fewer and fewer and fewer, and we need to jump on the quality opportunities that we have and capitalize on the revenue they will generate," said developer Travis Butler, a Boyer contributor.
Gergel's charisma - from her brightly colored blazers to the exclamation point on her campaign signs (Belinda!) - connected with District 3 voters.
She spent Monday afternoon walking in Ward 10's Hollywood-Rose Hill neighborhood, where she won 60 percent of the vote.
As a young couple approached while jogging, Gergel poked her husband Richard and reached for a campaign door hanger.
"Poor things, they thought they were going to get exercise," she said before stopping to talk with them.
Every meeting ended with Gergel blowing kisses.
"That's a girl thing," she said. "(Women) do things differently. ... They are more collaborative."
Boyer was more laid back in his campaign style - offering voters a relaxed smile and a Southern drawl - but still put in the door-to-door, living room-to-living room hours.
At Bradley Elementary on Tuesday, Boyer greeted poll workers and ran into Gergel's sister, Daphne Friedman.
"We're kicking your butt," she said as Boyer shook her hand.
"I'm holding my own in my neighborhoods," Boyer said with a smile.
But Boyer didn't win a single precinct, including his Shandon neighborhood. The closest he came was in Melrose, where he lost by fewer than a dozen votes.
Boyer relied on some nontraditional campaign methods - investing thousands of dollars on billboards and TV ads. His TV ads were the first in the city's history for a district race.
Boyer's criticism was more direct. He tried to portray Gergel as "status quo" by pointing out her longtime friendship with Coble and her husband's past legal work - and his partners' continued work - for the city.
"This issue highlights what is really at stake in Tuesday's election - Columbia can either move forward or remain mired in the status quo," Boyer wrote in a March 26 e-mail to supporters.
The State
By ADAM BEAM
abeam@thestate.com
Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405.