Student joins Bloomington mayoral race

IU senior Jamie Lober is more interested than the typical student in who will be elected as the Republican candidate for Mayor of Bloomington this May. That’s because Lober will be running against fellow Republican and current City Council member David Sabbagh in the primary elections. \nLober officially filed to run for Mayor last week, said Jessica White, elections supervisor for Monroe County. White said anyone who is a registered voter, has been a citizen of Bloomington for one year or more and has filled out the proper forms can file to run for mayor. Friday was the final day to file for the primary election. \nLober said she has been reaching out to the community by registering voters and hosting fundraisers.\n“It hasn’t been hard work, it’s been fun,” Lober said.\nEconomic development and affordable housing are key issues for Lober. She said she has talked to several companies about relocating to Bloomington.\n“People will stay if there’s affordable housing and jobs and opportunities to progress,” Lober said, referring to efforts to retain IU students in the city after they graduate.\nLober said she realizes the odds are stacked against her as an inexperienced student, but that has given her a reason to work harder.\n“I wouldn’t set myself up for something I didn’t believe in,” Lober said.\nLober said some people have asked her why she did not choose to run for one of the offices that are unopposed where she could have definitely made it to the general election in November.\n“If that’s where I felt my strengths would have best been put to use I would have run for that,” Lober said.\nMonroe County Republican Party Chairman Franklin Andrew said he knows Lober and that she has been involved with the party as a volunteer. Andrew said as party chairman he doesn’t think it is fair for him to decide who should run for any office, but Lober contacted him “out of respect for party structure.”\n“Jamie Lober is a young lady who will probably achieve great things politically in her future,” Andrew said.\nAndrew said the office of mayor comes with an enormous amount of responsibility and candidates must have a clear-cut understanding of the inner workings of city government.\n“City Council would have been more appropriate for her to start out with,” Andrew said.\nAndrew said the Republican Party in Bloomington has had a number of IU students run for offices of city government. Current Assistant Director for real estate for IU Jason Banach ran for City Council when he was 22 years old and a senior at IU. Banach won the 1995 election and served on the council from 1996 to 2006 when he retired from the position, he said.\n“It took an inordinate amount of work to accomplish,” Banach said. “I wouldn’t have even dreamed of running for mayor at that time.”\nBanach said he had a lack of experience when he first ran for City Council. Banach said the only thing he could attribute his win to was a “grass roots effort” that involved going into neighborhoods, knocking on doors, meeting people and registering voters.\n“Without that, any first time campaign is a goner,” Banach said.\nAndrew also mentioned that U.S. Congressman Frank McCloskey ran for Mayor of Bloomington when he was a student at IU. Charlotte Zietlow, who was one of the first women on the city council, said she knew McCloskey very well.\n Zietlow said McCloskey was finishing law school at IU when he was working on his campaign. Zietlow said McCloskey was in a different situation than Lober. McCloskey had just run for state representative in 1970, making him a well known political personage, Zietlow said. She added that he was about to complete law school at the time and also served in the Air Force before that. Although he lost the race for State Representative, he went on to become mayor of Bloomington, Zietlow said. \n“He was encouraged to run by a number of people in the community,” Zietlow said. “He was a visible political figure with a fair amount of life experience.”\nLober hopes her young age will encouragxe students to get behind her.\n“It’s rare that we’ll have a candidate our own age so I hope students realize this opportunity,” Lober said. “It’s really the chance of a lifetime.”