Sunday, May 4th, 2008...7:18 am
Challenger for Ann Day?
Local Buisinessman Joe Higgins is talking himself up as a candidate in the Republican Primary to Ann Day. I’m sure that he is no relation, genetically or philisophically, to the Joe Higgins that served in the Irish Parliament as the lone member of the socialist Techta Dála party from 1997-2007.
Higgins owns several local buisinesses, including SportsBuzz Haircuts, Talking Trash and formerly owned Gotta Go Wireless before they ceased operations last year. He also is on the board of Catholic Community Services.
I served with Higgins on the Sign Code Committee. I think we agreed on little, but he always seemed genuinely interested in other people’s opinions and finding common ground.
It’ll be a tough race against Day. She’s got a name and massive establishment support (although, that didn’t seem to help Toni Hellon in roughly the same area). However, Day also hasn’t had to really run a race in a while. Does she have the fire in the belly to campaign hard against a more energetic challenger? The other thing that works against her, and it is hard to see exactly how it will play out, is Al Melvin’s candidacy. Melvin’s supporters dislike Day and will not be enthused to vote for her. However, is Higgins the sort of candidate that would be to their liking?
Of course, calls have already been made among the Mahouts. Ray Carroll has worked the phones to make sure that Higgins doesn’t run. Higgins’s candidacy doesn’t totally monkey wrench his plans, but it changes things up a bit. Although Higgins is more than likely a vote for most of what Carroll wants in his wished-for board majority, he isn’t as sure as a vote as Day is. (I’m not saying he’s looking for toadies, but I did hear him whistling “Possum Kingdom”) This will make it hard for Higgins to raise money, but given who he is running against, I don’t think he is counting on a lot of establishment support.
On paper, Higgins loses right now. But, the election ain’t run on paper and it isn’t for months. Even if Higgins loses, there is no obvious successor to Day (I can’t see her running again after this). If he runs a credible race, he has made himself the most logical successor to her.
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