Bloomington Mayor to Nominate LOSER to Fill Ward 6 Seat

10/10/2021

It’s been 40 days since Jenn Carrillo was forced to give up their council seat. Carrillo was the only renter on the Bloomington City Council and represented Ward 6 which includes the West Side and half of downtown. Carrillo’s landlord sold the house they were a tenant of, despite their desires to continue living there. This forced Carrillo to move, and, according to them, they were unable to find housing that was within the 6th ward. According to City rules, a city council member must relinquish their seat if they begin living in another ward, even though they were elected during a time when they did live in the ward.

Since Carrillo’s forced resignation on September 1st, 2021, 9 people have submitted applications for the seat:

• Luisa Gomez, nominated by former-McDem Chair Nikita Richards;
• Elizabeth Hawthorn;
• Mikaila Walls;
• Andrew J Alvarez;
• David Wolfe, nominated by Ward 3 Councilperson Sheila Montney;
• JoAnna Chambers, also nominated by Ward 3 Councilperson Sheila Montney; according to WGLT, Chambers has withdrawn her nomination;
• Jenee Clark Richards, nominated by Ward 8 Councilperson Jeff Crabill;
• Dianna De Urban
• Levi Champion, nominated by Ward 1 Councilperson Jamie Mathey

You can view all their applications here.

Two sources with knowledge of the situation tell WGLT Mwilambwe sought the council’s approval for Levi Champion, one of 10 candidates who filed for the vacancy in August following Jenn Carrillo’s resignation, two years into their term. A majority of the council had indicated support for Champion, according to the sources.Champion works for Country Financial as a direct sales supervisor, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Mayor Mwilambwe continues to force Ward 6 to have no representation because he claims he doesn’t just want a majority of support but consensus.

Mwilambwe said he is trying to avoid a similar circumstance that preceded his appointment to the council a decade ago. Mwilambwe, who was elected mayor in April, was appointed by then-mayor Steve Stockton to fill a vacancy in Ward 3 in 2011. Stockton appointed him after the council voted down the choice. Bloomington voters later elected Mwilambwe to the seat in 2013 and re-elected him in 2017.

Mwilambwe recalled that his fellow council members told him their vote against him was nothing personal, but he didn’t feel “warmly” received by all of his council colleagues.

“I’d like to avoid that for somebody coming on to the council, so that they can have a good experience and can hit the ground running and not have to worry about that,” he said.

Except, it appears he already has the majority he needs to nominate Champion and it pass the council. Is the Mayor really concerned about consensus, or could their be an alternative reason for this delay?

Presenting exhibit A:

For those of you unfamiliar with just who Karen Schmidt is, she was the longest-serving councilperson on Bloomington City Council, representing ward 6 from 1999-2019. She is also the same 20-year incumbent that Carrillo beat in the 2019 local election. Carrillo defeated Schmidt by 42 votes. As Dominic Toretto played by Vin Diesel in the first Fast & Furious movie said, “It doesn’t matter whether you lose by an inch or a mile: losing is losing.”

If the Mayor was looking for consensus on a candidate, he already lost it according to Council Member Jeff Crabill who posted on social media:

Here’s the video of Karen Schmidt endorsing Mwilambwe for Mayor:

Schmidt was also an advisor to Mwilambwe’s Mayoral campaign. So, instead of the almost a dozen people that actually filled out applications and were interviewed, the Mayor wants us to choose a LOSER. One with political ties to himself and the rest of the Bloomington establishment. We have a wealthy, white landowner who lost to a working class person of color; the winner was then forced out of their home due to the precariousness of tenant life; and now, the huge LOSER gets to literally fail upwards¹ into a seat she doesn’t deserve and hasn’t even done any work to get besides calling in a political favor. But, at least she’s FUCKING civil right.

Make it make sense.

The city rule that forced Carrillo to resign is classist and disadvantages tenants. Wealthy city council members who own their homes (i.e., usually everyone on the council), don’t face the precarious nature of tenant living. People who own their houses typically only move when they want to. Renters, on the other hand, are dependent on the whims of the landlord class and are frequently forced to move when they don’t wish too.

Among the BloNo Left, there’s been virtual silence regarding Carrillo’s forced resignation, the open Ward 6 seat, or the possibility that a huge LOSER like Schmidt might be get the Ward 6 seat back. Only the BloNo Tenants Union has consistently spoke out against all three. This may be partly because of Carrillo’s own behavior in the past year which alienated large portions of the Left. Regardless of your opinion on Carrillo, the underlying issues mentioned remained and are part of systemic issues that prevent working class members from running for office or even staying engaged politically. The Left should not be abdicating it’s role here.

Will the Karen Strike Back? We’ll have to wait & see. The deadline to fill the seat is October 30th.

1. Failing upwards is typical in neoliberalism. Look at major politicians like Biden or Pelosi that repeatedly supported some of the worst decisions from the past 40 years (NAFTA, mass incarceration, military industrial complex, war on drugs, deregulation of financial industry, and so much fucking more.)