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McNeal defeats Jett in historic win
Joe McNeal scored a smashing victory in the mayoral run-off election Tuesday, outpolling incumbent Mayor Dave Jett by a 1,252 to 932 margin in heavy voter turnout.
In doing so, McNeal made history, becoming the first black to be directly elected as mayor of any Idaho city by popular vote.
McNeal, a former city councilman, used a heavy advertising blitz on local cable television and a campaign that stressed a more open city hall to defeat Jett's effort to earn a second term as mayor.
Turnout at the single poll at the city library was steady all day long and in the end, saw nearly 300 more people vote for mayor in the run-off election than did in the regular election. In the first election on Nov. 4, McNeal had edged Jett 760-709, with Carol Dalton earning 422 votes, enough to send the election to a run-off. The original vote represented 45 percent of all the registered voters in the city at the time.
It was the third time McNeal had sought the mayor's post, which was a long-time dream of his. Eight years ago McNeal ran against the highly popular incumbent mayor Don Etter after McNeal had completed two terms on the city council. Four years later, he narrowly lost to Jett in a run-off election. This time, he won.
In anticipation of possible victory, McNeal has a transition team already in place, consisting of Truman Parker, Mario Nunez, May South and Jack Walborn. "Joe wants to go in with a show of diversity," said Parker, the First Congregational Church pastor who will head the team.
Parker said the transition team would look at all department heads and interview them, as well as anyone interested in the positions.
"This is not to imply that Joe is going to clean house," Parker stressed, indicating McNeal was well aware of the quality of many of the city's department heads. "He simply wants to interview all so everyone is treated equally."
Parker said if anyone was interested in applying for a department head position they should contact him at 587-4969.