The Poll Results Are In on County Governance Character

Former Mayor Russell Lloyd Jr. Wins, Commissioner Tornatta Second

During the second week of August, the City-County Observer conducted a non-scientific online poll asking the following question:
Which of the following elected Vanderburgh County office holders do you consider to be the most transparent, trustworthy, credible, and dedicated?
An assortment of Vanderburgh County office holders that are in the legislative bodies were listed on the survey. The respondents of the survey come from the more than 1,262 unique visitors to the City-County Observer’s website during the week that ended on August 17, 2010. A total of 153 unique users casted a total of 249 votes for an average of 1.63 votes per user. It is obvious that some of the voters chose not to utilize their three votes as the total available to be casted was 459 votes. The tabulation of votes in order of finish is as follows:
Former Mayor and County Council President Russell Lloyd Jr.: 52 votes
County Commissioner Troy Tornatta: 36 votes
County Councilman James Raben: 30 votes
County Councilman Mike Goebel: 30 votes
County Commissioner Lloyd Winnecke: 27 votes
County Councilman Tom Shetler Jr.: 26 votes
County Councilman Joe Kiefer: 23 votes
County Councilwoman Stephanie Terry: 20 votes
None of the Above: 18 votes
County Commissioner Stephen Melcher: 10 votes

Former Mayor and current County Council President Russell Lloyd Jr. garnered an impressive win with 52 votes or roughly one for every three voters. County Commissioner Troy Tornatta gathered in a solid second with 36 votes. Following the win and place in the show field were County Councilmen James Raben, Mike Goebel, and Tom Shetler Jr., along with County Commissioner Lloyd Winnecke in a statistical tie for 3rd with between 26 and 30 votes each. Newly appointed County Councilwoman Stephanie Terry, County Councilman Joe Kiefer, and our special category “none of the above”, were in a statistical deadlock for 7th place, leaving the self described public servant yeoman County Commissioner Stephen Melcher at the back of the pack with 10 votes.

Care should be taken in reaching any real conclusions with respect to the ranking of these people. Name recognition certainly contributes to a person’s decision on whom to vote on and the name recognition among this group ranges from Former Mayor Russell Lloyd Jr. who is very well known to some of the others who carry out their duties in relative obscurity like newly appointed County Councilwoman Stephanie Terry. It is reasonable to assume that Past Mayor Lloyd’s strong showing in this poll is a strong indicator of his future electability to other offices. County Councilman Troy Tornatta’s strong showing suggests that a future race for Mayor of Evansville is a real possibility. It is however no indication on any challenges that the bottom group may have as they are certainly not as well known. Their low polling may just indicate that they are not well recognized among our readers.

The City-County Observer is encouraged that the people of Vanderburgh County and in particular our readers are embracing character and honesty as the criteria for election to public office.