Reflections of a First Time Candidate for Public Office
 Linda
Gorton
(From a presentation to Forum on May 3, 1998)
Linda Gorton told Forum about her experiences so far as a candidate
for City Council. She is running as the representative from District
4 (an area that lies mostly between Tates Creek Pike and Nicholasville
Road). Since there are four candidates for the office, she faces a primary
election on May 26, 1998 to choose two candidates for the final election
in November.
The 4th District race was analyzed in a Herald-Leader
Editorial on April 28th.
Linda, an active member of Second Presbyterian Church, told about her
conversations with her surprised family when she first got the idea of
running, and explained how and why she decided to go ahead and do it. Then
she found she had a lot to learn about campaigning.
Under the heading of "Lessons Learned", she described dealing
with:
- Public Scrutiny
- Media Scrutiny
- Interest not in "who I am", but in "where I stand".
- Special Interests
- Fund Raising Realities
Under "On to the Primary", Linda described her current activities:
- Ringing Doorbells
- Asking for Money
- Planting Yard Signs
- Asking for Money
- Attending Open Houses
- Spending Money
- Plus the Fun of Meeting People
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Update: May 26, 1998 Primary Election
Linda Gorton was the top vote-getter in her primary
race.
The outcome was reported in a Herald
Leader Article on May 27.
The top two meet again November 3, 1998.
Second Church has four other candidates for public office:
- Sandy Varellas, County Judge-Executive:
won the Democratic Primary
- Dennis Penn, Corner:
unopposed in the Primary
- Jack Hillard, City Council At-large:
third of six
winners to compete for three seats in November
- Harvie Wilkinson, School Board District 4
to be on the November ballot
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Update: November 3, 1998 Election
Linda Gorton won her race for City Council seat.
Three of Second's four other candidates
also won:
- Sandy Varellas, County Judge-Executive:
- Dennis Penn, Corner:
- Harvie Wilkinson, School Board
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