Run-Off Election Outcomes: Extreme Liberals vs. Slightly-Less-Extreme Liberals?

Austinist didn't vote in the run-off elections this past weekend, owing to a problem with our voter registration. And by "problem", we mean we never sent one in.

But we do send our huzzahs! to Jennifer Kim, who won the Place 3 spot over her opponent, Margot Clarke. It was an ugly, ugly campaign, with both sides accusing the other of stealing campaign posters and other dirty tricks. But compared to the egregious criminal activities perpetrated during the somewhat-more-important Presidential elections last year, these local scandals resembled silly schoolyard antics.

Case(s) in point: Texas Monthly publisher Mike Levy, who rallied together the deliberately ridiculous independent political action group, "The Committee for Even Minimally Sane and Rational Government in Austin" against Clarke. More laughable were the attack leaflets posted by an evidently distressed (or un-medicated) citizen around town, warning citizens that Clarke was, in his words, "the absolute darling of the ultra-left socialists", and further going on to dismiss supporters of the Sierra Club, with whom Clarke had been affiliated, as cultish salamander worshippers. Boo! Hiss!! If you ask us, these flyers probably helped Clarke more than they hurt. Or that might just be our unfettered liberal speculation.

Kim's ascension makes her the first Asian-American and the first minority woman elected to the city's high council. In and of itself, this is a wonderful precedent for diversity-strapped Austin. Time will tell whether Kim makes good on her promises to defend Austin's small businesses and, more importantly, protect our waterways.

Otherwise there'll be hell to pay when our amphibian overlords return.

* The title image was lifted from the University of Florida Zoo.