The Gadfly is a series of letters offering commentary on local issues and published in the Warrensburg Gazette.

I've taken a good look at the primary election results and have reached a few conclusions:

Candidate names are important. It's good to have a familiar name, as the Republicans again nominated Jim Noland to be their sacrificial lamb against Ike Skelton. I don't remember the last time Ike was opposed by some not named Noland. On the other hand, it's not a good idea to have an odd name, as the Republicans again showed us when they overwhelmingly (5-1) nominated someone with very little legal experience to be their sacrificial lamb against Jay Nixon for Attorney General. The more experienced yet unsuccessful candidate was named Crepeau.

Location is important, too. It's probably a waste of money for someone with a Warrensburg address to run for Western Commissioner, no matter how many generations the family has lived in the western part of the county.

The failure of the jail levy also has some object lessons about campaigns. It is difficult for an issue without a built-in constituency to pass without an active campaign; merely "educating" the public only succeeds for schools. It's even more difficult when the issue faces organized opposition. As I wrote last year, it's a lot easier to defeat an issue by emphasizing unpopular details, and the opposition did this very well.

To pass a jail issue, the sheriff is going to have to do a better job preparing for the next try. Since the opposition, primarily from the immediate neighborhood, claims to have not known what was proposed until shortly before the election, their leaders need to be invited to take part in the study of revised requirements.

When the issue is again placed on the ballot, a campaign committee needs to be set up so as not to run afoul of the laws prohibiting public funds from being used to promote a tax issue. The campaign committee needs to be prepared for and to address in advance likely arguments against the issue, to organize supportive letters to the newspapers to counter any negative ones, and to buy a little advertising. In May, 2003, I wrote that the following needed to be addressed; they're still valid questions:

• What would be the actual difference in purchase and construction costs between the Holden facility and one in Warrensburg, including debt service?
• What would be the difference in staffing levels and costs over the useful life?
• What would be the difference in life cycle maintenance and utility costs?
• What would be the relative projected income from renting extra space to other jurisdictions?