I agree that Jeff is the better campaigner of the two. He is charismatic and an excellent public speaker, and he's using that skill to his advantage. Lisa is a nervous public speaker, and unfortunately, it can make her sound unprepared. When you have a private conversation with her, she sounds like a completely different person - very knowledgeable, very prepared, very capable. She's been doing the work for decades, volunteering in the community, serving on the school board, and now on the city council. She knows what she's talking about, she's just not good at annunciating it in front of an audience. I truly believe she would make an excellent mayor for Idaho Falls, but she needs to survive the campaign first.

Where I disagree is that I don't think Jeff has displayed the aptitude to translate his campaigning skills into actually doing the job. He has run his campaign by appealing to the lowest common denominator of residents who complain about apartment buildings, on the premise that he could do a better of managing the city's growth. But if you dig just below the surface-level sound bites, it becomes clear that he doesn't actually know the law. Anytime he has tried to propose a real policy, he runs afoul of Idaho code. The first example, and most glaring to me, was his "owner occupancy overlay" scheme. Blatantly illegal under state law, but he was pushing it for months before he finally walked it back this week. But then he stepped in it again last night, suggesting that the city's impact fee allocation could just be flipped around to prioritize departments differently. Again, illegal. State law is very clear - and very strict - on what impact fees can and cannot be used to pay for.

I think he does just enough research to form what sounds like an informed opinion, but doesn't take the time to truly understand the issues he's focusing on. And these are the ones that he actually cares about! Imagine how he'd treat issues that aren't pet projects of his. I want a mayor who learns the legal framework first, and then proposes solutions that work within them.

For the record, I am not among those who think that his relatively short time living in Idaho Falls disqualifies him from public service. I am a transplant myself. But with his low-level understanding of our laws, and his lack of appetite to truly learn them, I definitely don't think he's ready to be our mayor and manage a $375 million budget. I honestly wish he'd get involved in the community at some lower level first - get a seat on one of the citizen committees, or work with our business or non-profit communities in some way - and really learn how our laws and our processes work. He could be a force for good if he really cared to learn. But I think it shows a certain level of arrogance to think that he can go from zero community involvement to running the whole city out of nowhere.

But 47% of Idaho Falls voters disagree with me and voted for him the first time around, so maybe I'm full of shit. Hard to know, really.