2013 Toledo mayoral candidate websites

May 16, 2013, Tom Troy blog post Candidates for mayor announce new Web sites

From Troy's post, I added Joe McNamara's website link to the top of this thread.

I still don't see a website for libertarian candidate Michael Konwinski. Maybe that's the libertarian philosophy. Don't host your content on someone else's servers.

Websites and social media sites for the 2013 Toledo mayoral candidates that I'm aware of:

• Incumbent independent Mike Bell
• Democrat Anita Lopez - Facebook - Twitter
• Democrat Joe McNamara - Facebook - Twitter
• Independent Alan Cox - Facebook - Twitter
• Independent D. Michael Collins - Facebook
• Republican Opal Covey - Facebook - Twitter - YouTube (all out-of-date)
• Libertarian Michael Konwinski

D. Michael Collins

Collins now has more content on his website. It was lacking yesterday. It's a basic, text-heavy website that contains a lot of info about Collins. The horizontal menus get right to the point about Collins: News, Meet Mike, Accomplishments, Contact/Volunteer. Collins allow users to receive e-mail updates/newsletters.

The small font on the green background, however, could annoy some readers. Some text pages use a serif font while other text pages use a sans serif font. Maybe the site is still a work-in-progress. Should select one type of font for the text-heavy pages and be consistent with it. And since voters tend to skew toward the advanced age, I would increase the font size a tad even though users can increase the font size within their browsers.

Joe McNamara

Joe McNamara's website looks good. The contribute button is more obvious to me. McNamara's website also contains a lot of personal info and text about Joe's views on the issues. And Joe's site contains more images. It's easier to read. It's more pleasing to the eye. It looks like a serious political campaign website. McNamara's site allows users to receive e-mail updates/newsletters.

Alan Cox

Alan Cox maintains a basic website with key info on the front page and links at the top of the site for additional info on Alan's background, qualifications, and leadership principles. Alan's site contains a page titled City Manager vs. Strong Mayor.

Alan's site does not yet contain a way to donate online, but he states that the feature is coming soon. I don't see a way to receive e-mail updates. It seems all the communication is by e-mailing Alan directly.

Like the sites for Collins and McNamara, Alan's site contains easy to access information that might be interesting to voters.

Anita Lopez

At first glance, Anita Lopez's website looks as lame and non-existent as Mayor Mike Bell's site. The homepage contains a contribute online button. But you have to click the "Continue to Site" button, located in the lower right part of the homepage to access the main part of Anita's website. Once on the main part of the site, you'll see links for news, bio, volunteer, etc.

But Anita's site lacks the amount of information contained on the sites for Collins and McNamara. Considering that Lopez is a major candidate, her site is weak. Alan Cox's website contains less info than Collins and McNamara, but Alan's info is easier to find, and it's better organized than the info on Lopez's website.

Lopez does provide a couple Web forms to use for contacting and volunteering, but I don't see a way to receive e-mail updates, unless that's part of the contacting form. If it is, it's not obvious. I don't understand the reason for the contact form on Lopez's website.

I don't think Anita spent much time planning her website. It's almost a token Web presence. It seems like for Anita, her website is meant to promote contributing to her campaign and to visit her Twitter and Facebook pages.

Mike Bell

Mayor Bell's website is practically non-existent. Obviously, he believes that he will be on the November ballot, and therefore he does not need a Web presence. Bell's site contains a donate button, a link to a volunteer form at Google Docs, an e-mail address, and a link to his 2013 state of the city speech.

I guess the state of the city speech must contain Bell's accomplishments and goals for the next term. If so, that's not easily accessible information.

Is Bell that lazy that he could not post a few simple Web pages of bullet-pointed info about his first term's accomplishments and his views on the second term? Maybe it's just flaming arrogance on Bell's part.

I guess Bell does not consider the remote possibility that someone may actually move into Toledo and will vote for the first time in a Toledo election in 2013, and this person may want to read about the candidates.

Tom Troy said in his blog post

Mayor Mike Bell's Web site is created, but seems to be still in development because the only way I could get in was to give my personal information apparently for the purpose of getting on the supporter's mailing list, which I didn't want to do.

In development? It's mid-May not January. Every candidate should have a fully-functioning website by now, including Alan Cox. The September primary is "only" four months away. But as the current mayor, Bell is not worried about the primary.

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