Editorial

Z1C Candidate Evaluations
Douglas Myers

This is an attempt at an objective evaluation of the candidates for Zone 1 Coordinator in the election currently in progress. Readers may question the objectivity of one of the candidates offering evaluations of himself and others. Offhand, I'd say this is a healthy suspicion... you be the judge. Candidates are discussed in the order the Election Coordinator processed their nomination.

Douglas Myers

Doug was initially nominated by a group discontent with the closed elections by the RCs in the past. This issue, however, has become less prominent because of the willingness of the RCs to conduct this election in an open format. He is the only candidate who is not currently an NC or RC with Fidonet, but offers ZC experience with a small FTSC network. Doug's suitability was questioned early in the campaign by suspicions that he was directing a mudslinging campaign employing some contraversial supporters, the SUPER-BITCHES. At this point, however, those suspicions seem to be discredited and there is no noticable effect on his candidacy. The theme of Doug's campaign is to open the zone political process to all sysops.

Dallas Hinton

Dallas is the candidate most identified as an insider in political circles, and suffered early criticism based on this perception. However, he has handled such criticism with grace and charm, and has been responsive to questions asked of the candidates. His campaign is helped considerably by the fading of RC resentment over closed elections, and it appears that his insider image will not be the detriment some had predicted. Dallas campaign emphasizes his experience as RC.

David Moufarrege

David, though a sitting RC, seems to have avoided the insider image. In fact, David's campaign is characterized by a lack of contraversy. He has been personable and eloquent in his interaction with sysops throughout the zone. David emphasizes his accomplishments in integrating Internet nodes with the more traditional Fido nodes, and points to the tranquilly of his region as a harbinger of a non-contraversial term as Z1C.

Todd Cochrane

As much as David repels contraversy like a duck's back repels water, Todd seems to attract it. He came out of the nomination gate promising a fight, and immediatly drew attacks from several quarters. However, the contraversy seems to have died down. Todd's campaign emphasizes strong, authorative leadership with an agressive approach to technology growth in Fido.

Bobby Queen

Bobby was the last candidate to be nominated, and is still establishing his campaign. He has been responsive to all questions and appears to be a credible candidate. His campaign emphasizes his personal time available to serve as Z1C.

It's difficult to rank the candidates at this point due to the representative nature of the voting. Probably, there will be no definitive perception of the front runners until all the regions have reported in. It's clear that no one candidate has established himself as front runner, and no candidate is definately out of the race.

Another difficulty in ranking the candidates is a lack of distinguishing issues. So far, all candidates have favored further integration of Internet nodes into Fidonet, and all candidates have indicated a need for Policy 4 revisions.