Why Werk Would Run for City Council?

Dave Frasier writing at the Boise Guardian wrote regarding a potential Elliot Werk City Council that some sources see Elliot Werk running for Council for a good reason:

Here is how one tipster phrased it: “The only name I’ve heard is Elliot Werk. Several people I know have told me that he is considering running because of his aspirations to run for Mayor at some point in the future and plus he is pretty ineffective in the state legislature (consider the fact that he lost the minority leadership race as the straw that broke the camel’s back). You may wanna give him a call and ask him about his plans.”

Boise is the only place in the state that would be unwise enough to entrust Elliot Werk with political power. And the ineffective part is true, though most Democrats won’t admit it. Even though Werk was very pivotal in giving Democrats complete control of four boise districts for 4 years, all it got him was on the losing end of 28-7 votes. 

This would be interesting should Werk leave the Senate as Kate Kelly left last year, and Nicole LeFavour nearly returned to the State House. What this would suggest is that for Democratic politicians in Idaho, there’s a point when you hit the wall, so to speak, at the state level, where it’s not worth it anymore to spend months of your lives when you’re not going to get your ideas enacted.

As for the Boise Mayoral and Council elections, I don’t see a lot of reason for conservative optomism. One reason I’m really not tempted by this race is the results of the 2009 Council elections when insurgent campaigns had the Trolley Folly going in their favor plus the growth of the Tea Party movement and the Democrats won the seats overwhelmingly. The North End continues to dominate city politics with much higher turnout than the rest of the city and conservatives have failed to do anything to cut into this advantage. So, if Werk runs, he probably has a good shot of getting elected.