EAGLE, Idaho — Eagle City Council President Brad Pike saw the intensity surrounding the mayoral runoff increasing in the final weeks leading up to Tuesday's election.
“I think they reached out and tried to find anything that can be twisted, just enough to make the public confused, and yeah – these PACs – boy I learned a lot about PACs this election,” Pike told KTVB Wednesday.
It escalated to the Idaho Republican Party putting out a message directed at Pike, stating "it is important to be aware of the groups and organizations, such as the Democrats, that are supporting a certain candidate.”
It roots back to a flyer paid for the Preserve Idaho PAC. It paints Pike as the Democratic candidate in the non-partisan race, insinuating he took “Liberal Dark Money.”
“Here's the deal – I didn't receive any money. The Democrats didn't give me a dime," Pike said. "The Republican Party surely didn't give me a dime. In fact, after 41 years, I'm very disheartened that I felt like the Republican Party, that I put so much into, turned their back on me."
Political Action Committees, or PACs, getting heavily involved in the race was a surprise to many, and it certainly created an impact.
“They took some information and really ran with it, and that was so disheartening for me," Pike said. "I can't get out there and rebut everything getting thrown out against me. But I could tell you that the erroneous information that was thrown out there is absolutely false, and I'm just sad that it had to be taken to that level."
Still, Pike is ready to get to work as the newly-elected mayor. That includes bringing the community together – harmony, as he puts it – in addition to other plans.
“Public safety and economic stability are the two cornerstones of my platform that I ran on my campaign. I feel it's imperative, that we get the right staffing levels up,” Pike said.
There is quite a circumstance as well for Pike – he was the lone member of Eagle City Council that voted against annexing Avimor. That is a done deal now, but Pike and city councilmembers will need to work with developers and the community to figure out how to address concerns.
“The irony of this whole conversation with Avimor is I didn't think we were ready for it. I think that our last interview we talked about we weren't ready for it. That's still my strong opinion on it. I'm going to stay there,” Pike said. “The fact that they are here, they legally went through the process. The partnerships that I gleaned and I want, it's going to be interesting to see how developers come to me as the mayor and have a dialog of what their plans are and how their whole project comes to fruition.”
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