Opponent to Kooiker announces for Mayor. Mistakes already being made. 

The man who is arguably the primary opponent to Mayor Sam Kooiker in this year’s’ Rapid City mayoral contest has made his announcement for mayor. And it seems that mistakes are already being made.

On his campaign page, former police chief Steve Allender notes the following:

“I intend to run a positive campaign because I believe the voters should be allowed to choose the best candidate, not the lesser of evils.”

But what’s the intro of the Rapid City Journal article announcing his candidacy?

 Now wholly committed to a bid for Rapid City mayor, former police chief Steve Allender said Monday that he will roll out his criticisms of incumbent Mayor Sam Kooiker slowly until the June 2 election.

Allender, who on Friday said he remained just 99 percent sure he would run, only alluded to his indifference with Kooiker during his formal campaign announcement Monday at the Adoba Hotel in downtown Rapid City.

“I am pacing myself a little bit,” he said. “I don’t intend to bring up the deepest and darkest issues here this morning, especially with such a friendly and good-looking crowd.”

Read it here.

“Criticisms,” and “I don’t intend to bring up the deepest and darkest issues here this morning.” Good grief. Cue Darth Vader’s theme.  So much for positive. It sounds like the only thing the campaign will be about are evils.

And then there’s the logo.

Is that swirly thing after “Allen” and before “er” supposed to constitute a letter in his name? Well, it really doesn’t. It just renders his name illegible at any speed.

Seriously? That’s something I’ve spoken about since year one of this web site, and was taught over 25 years ago. Never, ever substitute a graphic element for a letter of your name. Especially once like this, which is actually difficult to discern as a letter.

Supposedly, he’s going to be deploying that logo on yard signs, billboards and 4×8’s. If you can’t read the darn name quickly and clearly, that’s a waste of money. There’s a graphic designer out there who needs to return their fee, because this is not an asset to the campaign.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Mr. Allender (or Mr Allen-swirly-er) is a nice person. But for someone in a political campaign against Sam Kooiker, a tough, experienced campaigner – he’s not kicking things off on the right foot.