Stop the Place 3 Race, I Wanna Get Off!

I've been chiding myself for not writing anything up on the Jennifer Kim campaign's public safety conference/Randi Shade robocall counter-conference yesterday, despite my attendance. But it's the least I can do to muster any enthusiasm to riff on an increasingly ugly, petty race, characterized by ugly, petty issues.

The escalation of tension in Place 3 has been a thing to behold. I suppose it began with the dubious "Your Neighbor Lisa" robocall not exactly copped to, then admitted to, by the Kim campaign, accompanied by the mailer claiming Shade made promises to police and fire on executive pay and staffing increases, promising to "break the bank" or whatever. This in turn prompted a Monday press conference from the endorsing public safety unions, where Austin Police Association head George Vanederhule called the accusation "nothing short of an outright lie" – despite the APA's issuing a press release earlier citing Shade's support for "expanding the number of Austin patrol officers and EMS personnel" – which engendered yesterday's press conference by Kim campaign manager Elliott McFadden , who worked up the outrage, calling the remarks "intemperate, unprecedented, and uncalled for" – followed by another press conference, at which Shade campaign manager Mark Nathan trotted out the union heads to take umbrage with this yet again, and announce their own counter-complaint regarding the robocalls.

Personally, I've had enough of the outrage-o-rama for now, thank you very much.