MARION—As is the case just about every four years for the past four decades, Marion mayor Bob Butler is running again for the office many believe he’s held far too long.
And as is the case in each election, there are challengers.
However, in recent years, the challengers haven’t prevailed for varying reasons: They weren’t as well-known to the public as they likely should have been, going up against a political giant the likes of Butler (which doesn’t justify his office-holding; but rather inexplicably underscores the longevity of it), or their platforms were so unreasonable in the corruption climate that plagues the city that they couldn’t break through it, let alone understand it.
Enter someone like Ann Colborn.
Colborn is the real estate agent who has experienced the brutal corruption in Marion first-hand, and has challenged it. While she experienced early success in the fight against developer Doug Bradley (a Butler crony who uses sleight-of-hand in order to wrangle property away from unsuspecting landowners so he can “develop” it under Tax Increment Financing [TIF], something he to this day doesn’t understand is a taxpayer-funded construct which makes him answerable to Freedom of Information Act requests), Colborn lost to Bradley about a year ago when he improperly (and probably illegally) purchased a mortgage she held on a property and lifted it away from her…so he could “develop” it.
While that fight might be stalled for now, what it showed is that Colborn is tenacious.
And now, in her bid for mayor, she’s being called the “Steel Magnolia,” an acclaim that the 2011 challenger to Butler, Carolyn Swartos, never reached.
Colborn turned in her petitions in mid-December and will be on the ballot April 7, along with Butler, now 87 and now seeking his 14th term, and another challenger, Charles Montgomery.
And she says that it’s time for “a new face” in the mayoral scene.
“A foundation is in place,” she said, “and Marion can move forward.”
What separates her from the other candidates, she says, is the fact that she’s been a strong advocate for the city, having been in real estate and having brought in commercial businesses and jobs.
“I’m comfortable working with large corporations and Fortune 500 companies,” Colborn states, such a thing being something that can intimidate others, some of whom might either lack the experience it takes to find a comfort zone with individuals and their businesses that make a city work.
Colborn noted that she believes there are plenty of pressing responsibilities for a mayor of a city the size of Marion, among them police and fire departments, zoning, and taxes.
Taxes, she said, figure prominently among her priority points in the race for mayor.
“Taxes are most prominent,” she said, noting the current tax situation would have to be examined carefully and closely. “More taxes are discouraging,” she stated, as it regards both business and individuals and their tax responsibilities.
Colborn was honest when she was asked what her vision of the future of the city might be, and whether she had a plan to get the city closer to that vision.
“I’ll have to give that some thought,” she said with a Steel Magnolia sweet smile. “Candidates are always making promises.”
However, there is one promise she believes she can keep with certainty:
“Jobs,” Colborn said. “That promise is to create more jobs; and I’m working on it.”
