PHOTO: Rainsville City Council candidate Marshall Stiefel. (Photo by Tyler Pruett)
By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor
RAINSVILLE, Ala. — Incumbent Joey Graham and Marshall Stiefel will be on the ballot for the Rainsville runoff for City Council Place 1. Joey Graham received 42% (688 votes) to Marshall Stiefel’s 40% (643 votes) and Tina Pike’s 18% (294 votes). If no candidate receives at least 51% of the total votes cast, a runoff is triggered.
The polls will be open on October 4. Stiefel and Graham have had an additional 6 weeks to campaign.
Candidate Marshall Stiefel sat down with the Southern Torch for an exclusive interview on how the campaign is going and his thoughts going into the runoff!
- How is the runoff going for your campaign?
- “Well I took a little break the first two or three weeks to give people a little time to relax from politics. I was full steam ahead for a while and people were kind of burned out. Truth is I was worn out. I knocked on 1400 to 1500 doors. I was just exhausted physically and mentally. Also my wife was pretty exhausted. I’ve started back in the last few weeks. Our big thing is turnout. A lot of people are mixed up about when the election is.”
- How do you feel going into Election Day? Do you feel good about the support you have in town?
- “Turnout, Turnout, Turnout. That’s what it’s going to come down to between me and Joey. Who can get the most people out and if we can get them to come back. Whoever can get the most out. It’s always like that, but this time because it’s so confusing. I’ve talked to a lot who think it’s in November. Half the people think it’s over. That’s why I’ve gotta do my best, by physically going out and seeing people, social media, calls, contact in any way, to get the word out.”
- It’s been a few weeks since the ‘job offer,’ do you have any thoughts on that?
- “I haven’t spoken with Mr. Graham. Which I’ve had a lot of people ask me about it and, I’ve been asked why I did it. I feel like the public had a right to know. I didn’t set out to maliciously harm anybody. I wanted to keep it a fair and honest race, and I felt like the public had a right to know what goes on behind the scenes in some of these races. That this is stuff that really happens, and it’s what we need to get rid of. It’s just business as usual, and this is the good ol’ boy network run amuck. Frankly, I feel like we need someone like myself, who’s trying to not be a career politician, who can get in there and shed some light on it. Some people asked why I didn’t take it to the Ethics Commission, and my response is that I’m not trying to ruin anyone. It’s nothing personal, I just wanted to let the public know what happened.”
- What is your message to the citizens of Rainsville before the runoff?
- “If I could leave them with one thing, It would be, let’s bring some transparency back. We need someone who’s going to do the right thing, and we need to stamp out the good ole boy network. Get out and vote, text people, call people, anything they can do to spread the message.”
Note from the Editor: Councilman Joey Graham was contacted for an interview, but did not respond.
I am honestly convinced that Marshall Stiefel would do a wonderful job as a Rainsville City Council member. He is on target with what our city needs and is ready, willing and able to work and do his best to get our city back on track. It is very frustrating sometimes for many of us when there is absolutely nothing we can do on a national level except vote. Locally, however, we can work to make a difference and then, also vote. Everyone should help in any way you are able in getting the word out about the upcoming runoff election on Tuesday, October 4th. Joey Graham talked Marshall Stiefel into meeting with him after the election in August to speak with him about the scheduled runoff between the two of them. During their meeting, Joey used everything in his arsenal to get Marshall to drop out of the election including a veiled threat and bribery. We do not need a person with the questionable morals and character of Joey Graham on our City Council. Please go to the polls on October 4th to be certain that Joey Graham is not reelected. Vote for Marshall Stiefel – we need people with his integrity working for us. Sonjia Pittman