Pike Punches Down

Some bizarre choices by the Eagle mayoral challenger

Eagle Council President Brad Pike has reason to be confident heading into the December 5 runoff election against Mayor Jason Pierce. As he points out, 65% of voters cast their ballots for someone other than the incumbent. It raises the question, then, why he has chosen a strange social media strategy of not only attacking his opponent, but fellow council members and even private citizens.

For a while it was rumored in Eagle conservative groups that Pike had outsourced his social media to someone on his campaign, perhaps April Wilke. However, he seems to have become much more active this month. When Kayli Doyon, a prominent supporter of Mayor Pierce, reported that she had been blocked from Pike’s campaign page on Facebook, the council president made a point of singling her out as deserving to be blocked:

I’m not sure if Pike created the graphics himself.

Pike has also made clear his feelings about his fellow council members. This is not necessarily out of line, as Helen Russell, Melissa Gindlesperger, and Charlie Baun have each publicly called out claims made by Pike during the campaign. However, the accusations appear to be projection at best. Here he insinuates that Russell changed her position for political expediency. This is deeply ironic, considering how many positions Pike himself seems to have changed.

Pike went after Councilman Baun as well, accusing him of being owned by Avimor developers. Anyone who has followed Charlie Baun over the last four years knows how important conservation and open spaces are to him, so to accuse him of trading his integrity for developer dollars is pretty disingenuous.

Ok, this next one is funny. I’ve developed a thick skin after being on the internet more than half my life, and I’m able to laugh at myself.

Nevertheless, it is concerning that a candidate for executive office would target private citizens like Kayli Doyon or me. It makes you wonder what he might do in office. Would critics of a Mayor Pike find themselves facing extra scrutiny when engaging in business with the city? Would they be held up to ridicule when making public comment before the council?

Councilman Pike has also adopted a disrespectful tone with both his opponent and his voters. Rather than referring to the incumbent as “Mayor Pierce” or even “my opponent” he calls him “Jason” in a condescending manner. Maybe this plays well with his most outspoken supporters, who have despised the mayor since he was elected four years ago, but it just seems crass to me. I decided when I started this publication that I would do my best to be respectful to all people, even elected officials with whom I disagree. I would think a longtime public servant like Brad Pike would act with the same sense of decorum.

Pike continues to insist that he will not accept any invitation to debates or joint appearances with Pierce. In another post he says that doing so would give Pierce a “platform” for more “misinformation”. While this is probably the rational thing for Pike to do — it’s quite unlikely that he would outshine Pierce in an unscripted forum — it still seems to be a disservice to voters in Eagle. Pike is following the Biden campaign playbook of avoiding any interactions with voters that might pull him out of his comfort zone.

On Monday night I assisted Mayor Pierce with a livestream in which I spent forty minutes throwing unscripted questions his way. He answered each one in turn, drawing on a tremendous amount of knowledge about city government and the various projects that have been underway in Eagle for the past decade. He then stepped up to a podium to speak to the Ada County Republican Women’s Club and spent another hour answering even more questions from the moderator and from an audience of more than one hundred people.

Brad Pike declined the invitation, which was probably a rational decision on his part. I cannot imagine him showing the same breadth and depth of knowledge as Mayor Pierce. It’s unsurprising, then, that he has chosen to focus his campaign on social media and small friendly events. It might be the rational thing to do, but voters should take it into account as they decide who has the chops to lead Eagle for the next four years.