1. Failure to have an meaningful platform until two weeks before November election. The new charter set an expectation of the new strong mayor having more meat to his platform.
2. Lack of presence at polling places on Nov. 2.
3. Negative whisper campaign and personal attack ads hurt Wiggins. From “Finding Ashton Hayward” to the Sunday, Oct. 31 ad in the PNJ, voters rejected the negative ads. They helped to galvanize Hayward supporters.
4. Lack of action on BP claims for local businesses. Wiggins was all over the TV in June pushing tourism, even jumping into the Gulf while on air. However, he did little to help locals who were having problems with their claims -once the cameras went away. The Orange Beach mayor had Feinberg on his cell phone and had the head of the claim process come there for a meeting.
5. Lack of support from Police and Firefighters. People wondered why they backed his opponent.
6. Weak support from African-American and PYP voters. He thought Jerralds, Townsend, Blackmon and McKenzie could deliver the black vote. He saw Charles Bare as a rising, important young professional leader. They didn’t deliver.
7. Not backing the new charter in 2009. People kept asking how could he run for strong mayor when he was against it. Wiggins’ answer was good, but the voters didn’t accept it.
8. Lack of technology and use of social media. It takes more than a few months to build a good presence on the Internet. Wiggins was one of the council members that never had a blog that he could use to connect with the voters. To date, Wu, Jerralds, Townsend and Cannada-Wynn are the only ones without them….and they are the ones who always vote for the status quo.
9. Lack of strong leadership in his two years as mayor. No one could name one exciting, progressive idea from Wiggins. Instead we got occasional coffees with the mayor, lawn of the month and a golf tournament. Maritime Park: He should have taken on Marty Donovan and Jack Nobles about the petition. He should had a stronger hand in getting resolution on the problems that have delayed the park construction. Pensacola Promise: He should have helped figure out how to make it work. Even if public dollars weren’t the answer, he should have helped develop some alternative funding. West Side Plan: He should have had some funds in the budget to jump-start this. It has been sitting on a shelf for three years.
