Please join me in supporting three Ames City Council candidates who seem to use a very special gift and skill: the ability to analyze available statistics and details and then anticipate likely consequences – and head off undesirable ones. Those three candidates are Jim Popken for the at-large position, Ryan Doll for the 3rd Ward position, and Dan Rice for the 1st Ward.

These candidates also display intelligence, a strong commitment to involving the Ames community in city plans and a conviction that the city is best served by diversity in board and commission appointments and other city positions. All three have chalked up significant business and administrative experience.

Note that Ryan Doll took time off from college for management work and then returned to college as a mature student who will now graduate December 2005. Jim Popken will bring the technical expertise of an engineer to the council. All three candidates have served the city in various community organizations and on boards. Ryan Doll has also served as a GSB senator.

I urge you, first, to vote for Jim Popken, Ryan Doll and Dan Rice on Nov. 8 or earlier by absentee ballot.

Second, I ask you to call one or more of these candidates and offer your help and a contribution. Remember the purpose of a campaign is outreach to the community members whom the candidate will represent. This takes a lot of walking around town and door-knocking by the candidates and their volunteers. It also requires printed literature for the thoughtful review of citizens. To reach a broad swath of the community, a campaign must purchase advertising in newspapers, printing and postage for mailed reminders, yard signs, and Web sites. Last spring, based on my own experience with campaigns, I recommended that prospective candidates begin raising several thousand dollars to pay for these expenses.

Finally, I urge that you remind friends and neighbors of the Ames city election Nov. 8, and that you ask them to vote for Jim Popken and, where applicable, Ryan Doll or Dan Rice. Let’s make Nov. 8 the best city election turnout ever!

Leslie Osam Pensack

Alumna

Ames