The races are on, but the ponies are few

Three races in May, and only four candidates. An interesting turn of events.

One-term incumbents Paul Stone and Laurie Long didn't draw a single challenger, which means they'll be serving two more years. Only Mayor Jody Smith has an opponent, Jim Lang, the town's former staff Economic Development director. But we knew that a few weeks ago.

Conclusions:

• I guess people in town are feeling a lot like me -- general satisfaction with the way Town Hall is being managed today. Jim Lang may try to stir up some dissent, but I don't think he'll find much. I think Jim is running more out of ambition than with any great dissatisfaction with the way things are managed at 2121 Cross Timbers Rd. Ambition is not necessarily a bad thing for a candidate, but I'll be interested to see how Lang tries to differentiate himself from the mayor, who by all accounts seems to be well-liked and respected. I'm a big fan of Mayor Smith, by the way. She earned my vote a long long time ago.
  
  
• Voters United is done as a political force in Flower Mound. I guess we could have written this statement last year, when they were all but silent in the May races. But even with the Master Plan review this year (a subject VU leaders know better than any other group in town), VU has kept quiet. Since there's probably still no love lost between Laurie Long and the once-mayor-turned-council-candidate Lori DeLuca, I wouldn't have been surprised to see an old VU supporter rise up to take on Long this year. But seeing nothing to support that notion, I think VU has had it. They're still filing regular campaign finance reports with the Texas Ethics Commission (though on paper only -- boo! -- instead of their previous electronic filings). It appears VU has about $175 in the bank, according to their filings, enough to keep the beast breathing, but not much more. It's hard to believe it's been two years since the VU machine self-destructed. I'm still not writing them off totally. There's a lot of open land in the western stretches of town, and it won't be long for one of the landowners to try to build houses where they aren't allowed. Then we'll see VU again.