Unlike last time, Coralville elections quiet

CORALVILLE - It's a sign - or lack thereof - of the times.

This time, there are no contested seats in the Coralville City Council elections Nov. 3. For three seats, three incumbents are on the ballot: Mayor John Lundell and council members Jill Dodds and Mitch Gross.

An uncontested race is by no means unusual, but this year stands in stark contrast to Coralville's last council election in 2013, when residents saw a record number of candidates (12), record turnout (more than 2,800 voters) and witnessed what became arguably one of the strangest elections in Johnson County history.

Just ask Lundell, who, as a then-council member, ran against three other mayoral candidates in that election.

'First of all, it was unlike any election I have ever experienced, that's for sure,” Lundell said. 'It just seemed like, as the election went along, it grew more and more - I guess the word is - complicated.”

So what happened two years ago in Coralville, when campaign signs sprouted in yard after yard, in an election that ended with Lundell receiving a congratulatory phone call from Vice President Joe Biden and brought visits by Al Jazeera, the New York Times and Comedy Central's The Daily Show to the community of roughly 20,000 residents?

It started with increasing focus on Coralville's financial situation. City debt had reached nearly $280 million, the council's growing use of tax increment financing and falling bond ratings were under a microscope and many in the county criticized Coralville's multimillion dollar incentive to Von Maur to relocate from Iowa City to the Iowa River Landing.

Finances dominated campaign statements and candidate forums, but then things got unusual.

Americans for Prosperity. a non-profit organization with direct ties to billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, set its sights on the Coralville election.

Officials with AFP's Iowa branch began making phone calls, knocking on doors, circulating literature and spending money in Coralville to criticize incumbents and offer support to challengers.

David Petsel, owner of Iowa River Power Restaurant, was one of those challenging Coralville's financial path.

Petsel said AFP's involvement in the election hurt the entire process, especially challengers who soon became connected to the Koch brothers in the public eye.

'That was totally unexpected and it didn't really help at all,” he said. 'It hurt the discussion. We went from discussing facts about a budget and financial situation in Coralville to talking about stupid things like whether or not John Lundell's house was paid for by the city.”

Several in that election say AFP's involvement muddied the waters and ultimately hurt candidates challenging the incumbents.

Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, who supported the incumbents in that race, said some good came out of AFP's presence - it forced discussion.

'I think there were legitimate questions about TIF policy and what Coralville was doing and I think bringing that up moved that question out there and incumbents had to answer,” he said.

The combination of a dozen candidates, outside influences and concern over AFP's intentions created a perfect storm of sorts, driving Coralville's 2013 election turnout to a record 2,824 voters, or 24.4 percent

When the electoral dust settled, Lundell was mayor, incumbents Tom Gill and Bill Hoeft had retained their council seats and Laurie Goodrich filled Lundell's vacant council seat.

The status quo was kept.

'The margin of victory in the election for those that won, along with the percentage of turnout in the community, were both an indication that a vast majority in the community were in favor of what we were doing,” Lundell said.

Now two years later, Lundell said the fact that none have challenged the incumbent candidates is a clear indicator that the city has been making strides in addressing the financial concerns and adding transparency.

'People are hard-pressed to come up with significant issues in Coralville that are troubling right now,” he said.

As for Petsel, who is not running this time, he said he feels the council and mayor are doing a much better job.

'I think things are going well. This year I plan on voting for all the incumbents,” he said.