PAC telephone survey claims local voters are dissatisfied

In a telephone survey completed last week by We Love Stumptown PAC, Rick Blake's one-man political action committee, more than half of the 400 respondents said the city of Whitefish was "on the wrong track." Twenty-one percent thought the city was "on the right track," and 27 percent were undecided.

About 58 percent said they would vote for a new person to sit on the Whitefish City Council rather than vote for an incumbent. Nine percent said they would vote for an incumbent, and a third were undecided.

Councilor Frank Sweeney is the only incumbent running for the three at-large seats on the council. He faces challengers Bill Kahle, Christ Hyatt and Phil Mitchell.

Blake limited his survey to seven questions, including three on well-known issues:

¥ About 53 percent opposed wider sidewalks proposed in the downtown streetscaping plan, 12 percent approved, 26 percent were undecided and 8 percent didn't know.

¥ About 72 percent opposed the city suing the Mrs. Spoonovers restaurant over a sign ordinance violation, 7 percent approved, 11 percent were undecided and 9 percent didn't know.

¥ About 30 percent opposed enacting the critical areas ordinance, 11 percent approved, 11 percent were undecided, and 45 percent didn't know.

When asked to rank six issues, about a third said taxes and city spending was most important, and 30 percent said schools. The streetscape project, critical areas ordinance, economic development and the environment were given top ranking by 10 percent or less of respondents.

Blake speculated that the poll results reflect public frustration with the city council's actions on the controversial issues.

"I hear it all over town," Blake said. "People feel like this city council doesn't listen to them. We see that reflected in these numbers — people are upset, and there seems to be a great deal of support for throwing the bums out and replacing them with new leaders."

This is not Blake's first one-man PAC — he started Commonsense in Whitefish Government in 2007, the PAC that hired Moonlighting Detective Agency to find out if recently-elected councilor John Muhlfeld lived within the city limits.

Blake claimed Muhlfeld lived at his girlfriend's house in the Northwoods subdivision, but Flathead County District Court Judge Katherine Curtis ruled against Blake and his PAC in January 2008.

At the time, Blake said his motivation in pursuing Muhlfeld was his concern that residents of the city's two-mile extraterritorial planning jurisdiction — the "doughnut" area — were being regulated without representation.

A doughnut resident himself, Blake said he formed his new PAC, We Love Stumptown, because of his continuing concern for the doughnut issue and because the earlier PAC "has a bad rap." He also said he paid to have the survey conducted because he believed "the public was not happy" and he wanted to know "the pulse of the voters."

About 400 registered Whitefish voters responded to Blake's telephone survey, which used a "call" list from the Flathead County election office. About 85 percent were homeowners. A firm in St. Paul, Minn., conducted the survey, Blake said — "not the Fargo company."

Some area residents complained that a phone survey conducted several weeks ago by North American Research Group, of Fargo, N.D., and paid for by the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors (NMAR) had been mishandled. Some residents claimed the surveyors misrepresented themselves as working for the city, but that mishap didn't deter Blake.

"When done properly, a public opinion poll can provide valuable insight as to what people are thinking and help our elected officials make better decisions," Blake said. "When done poorly, a poll like that can leave a lot of people upset."

While NMAR opted to keep the results of its survey confidential until the election is over, Blake decided to give the media a heads-up on the survey and to go public with the results.

"As soon as we get the tally back, we're going to release the results to the public," he said. "I see little value in keeping opinions secret if that data could serve to benefit the entire community."

We Love Stumptown PAC also interviewed city council candidates. Eight questions e-mailed to the four candidates generally covered the same issues as in the phone survey.

Incumbent Sweeney refused to participate in Blake's interviews. Challenger Phil Mitchell responded to Blake's questions, but he earlier refused to participate in interviews by both Montana Conservation Voters, a PAC, and Citizens For A Better Flathead, which is not a PAC.