How about you give Elwell his campaign money back Bentz? You should be free from his special interests and control. The man doesn't live here and we need independent voices on city council and school board. Will you do that?

It's disingenuous to suggest that Bentz cannot be independent of those who contributed to her campaign. Money is the lifeblood of politics.

Marsha, you are absolutely correct. That goes for all of our elected officials.

Normally I would agree, but Elwell is using his machine to get control of our city. He recruits, finances, and markets his candidates in a way that severly changes local elections. We have enough of his candiates on the school board and city council already. Let's just have everyday citizens that live in Ankeny make the choice on who should lead us.

It would be nice to give the candidates credit for running. It takes courage and all we can talk about is Elwell. A huge distraction to the political process.

If I am not mistaken, I think Elwell was behind Jim Robidoux and not John Landon, and Landon won the House 37 seat, so this logic that Elwell owns the city and candidates does not seem valid. Yes, I agree it takes courage to run, that is why it so sad to see people bash these candidates without even knowing them, or I assume in most cases never having met them.

I think it's really humorous how many folks see a conspiracy behind every election. Let's see, out of a community of almost 50,000 folks, there were only about a thousand votes cast. Let's see a show of hands. How many of you actually voted? How many of you attended a council meeting in the last year? More than five meetings? If you were really involved with the process you would understand that our representatives vote according to the principles stated during their campaign and according to the citizens they hear from on a particular issue (and not anonymously). To think that Elwell controls these folks is laughable and gives him far more credit than he deserves. He's just like the rest of us in that he throws support behind those who have similar goals - I.e. fiscal responsibility! And since he doesn't live in the community, it shouldn't be hard to vote in candidates who have different views. Where were at least another 20,000 voters?

Well said Jeff H.

Hey Jack if it is so easy why dont you run....just saying....I know I do not want to . A lot of talk on here but no action on here

Robidoux got the most votes in the House primary because of Elwell. In this case, none of the delegates approved of Mr. Robidoux and went a totally different direction. Maybe Elwell will now look to unseat all of the delegates and take control of that too, just like school board and city council.

Personally, I agree that he should stay out of it. There are good people who choose not to spend their money at establishments where Elwell puts up his political signs and that is not right for the small business owner. I don't lease from Elwell, but being a small business owner myself that would really irk me. He is supposed to do what he can to drive their businesses, not drive consumers away.

One more thing, Robidoux got Elwell's support because he owed him a favor. Mr. Robidoux was part of the gang that led the efforts to change the school board and helped elect Elwell's candidates. That same political side of Robidoux is what cost him the House election though.

Mrs. Bond, thank you for discussing your thoughts on issues before the election. I have not seen the same transperancy from Ms. Bentz, but I am hopeful she will step forward. We need to select an experienced conservative and it appears you fit the bill Ms. Bond! Good luck.