Palm Beach Gardens council race goes rough-and-tumble

This Palm Beach Post article highlights some of the tactics used in the recent Palm Beach Gardens election. The incumbents held on to win, with one race having a comfortable margin. But the Jablin (i) and Peragine race was meaner. Reading this reminds me of tales of some of our past elections, but the conclusion here, again, is that elections are won in the field and not collecting campaign donations. And even the candidates that did not prevail had a sense that the election was a good thing as it was a way to get people involved and talking about issues. Turnout was higher than usual this time too. Click title for link.

“The process works,” Peragine said. “I was just new. I had a lot to learn. If I had done this again, it would be 100 percent different results.”
Jablin had many volunteers on the ground early, and at the polls. Peragine says in retrospect he spent too much time early on collecting contributions — he wound up with a city record $117,810 — and not enough time organizing volunteers.