Brocato wins second mayoral term in landslide win over Smith

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato handily won a second term in office on Tuesday, capturing 76 percent of the vote in a contest with Council President Gene Smith.

Brocato received 9,969 votes, compared to 3,147 for Smith, and won at all 13 polling places, plus among the absentee ballots.

Meanwhile, the four council members who faced challengers this year — Curt Posey, John Lyda, Mike Shaw and Casey Middlebrooks — also won by wide margins Tuesday, capturing anywhere from 77% to 79% of the vote in their respective races.

In Council Place 2, Bluff Park residents Sam Swiney and Robin Schultz worked their way into a runoff, and in Council Place 7, Steve McClinton narrowly avoided a runoff, gaining 50.63% of the vote over Carin Mayo and Alli Nations.

The final but uncertified vote totals ensured an all-male council once again, and Councilman Derrick Murphy, who was unopposed this year, will remain the only Black member of the council.

Brocato, at an outdoor election-night party at Aldridge Gardens, said he was very gratified that Hoover residents were happy enough with his job performance to give him four more years.

The city has gone through some difficult times the past four years, but city leaders have been able to negotiate those difficult times gracefully and have grown from it, he said.

Brocato said he, the City Council and the team at Hoover City Hall have been able to accomplish some wonderful things, from getting a comprehensive plan approved to supporting the Police Department and Hoover school system with additional resources and paying attention to the needs of neighborhoods.

“The city and City Council were very aggressive in addressing those issues,” he said.

He has been a full-time mayor, spending lots of time visiting schools, residents and businesses over the past four years, and he believes that paid dividends, he said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to keep going.”

Brocato said he has tried to be a mayor for all the people of Hoover, “no matter which side of the railroad tracks, as they say, you come from,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what color your skin is. I think that is why Hoover is really a model city … I’m proud to represent a city that is diverse. That’s what makes a good city.”

A lot of people have tried to paint a different picture of Hoover, but he thinks the city is doing things the right way in terms of diversity and equity, Brocato said.

“Can we do things better? Yes, we can, and we’re going to reach out to the community and just talk about those things,” he said.

The best place to start is to make sure the city has a solid education system that helps children who can’t speak English or have economic challenges, he said.

“It gives them an opportunity to break out of that cycle of poverty, and that’s where you’re going to make a difference, and that’s where we’ve made a difference,” he said.

Some voters at the polls said they didn’t like negative campaign ads put out by Smith.

David Lawson of the Willow Trace community in Trace Crossings said he was unsure which mayoral candidate he would support at first but voted for Brocato because he was so turned off by Smith’s negative ads.

“Instead of telling people things he wanted to do for Hoover, I think he took too much time attacking the current mayor,” Lawson said. “I think he just pushed it a little bit too far.”

Anthony VerMeer of the Willow Lakes community also didn’t like Smith’s negative campaign tactics and felt Smith was dismissive of residents’ concerns and not good at engaging people in discussion.

Meanwhile, he felt Brocato delivered on his campaign promises from his first campaign four years ago, and “I have no reason to think he wouldn’t continue to do what he said he would do.”

Smith, whose campaign manager predicted Smith would either win by 5 percentage points or lose by 20 percentage points, said things may have turned out the way they did because of the way he delivered his message, but “you can’t make bad news look pretty.”

He’s sorry he wasn’t able to deliver information in a way that people truly understood his campaign and why he was running, he said. After decades of service to the city, he’s disappointed in the loss but not heartbroken, he said.

“I feel bad for those that were counting on me to win. I feel like I let them down more than I let myself down, but it is what it is. I feel like I left everything on the table. The people decided the direction they want to go.”

Smith said he hopes Brocato and City Administrator Allan Rice will include the council more so than they have the past four years. “With the lean times they’re looking at, everybody needs to rely on everybody.”

Brocato said it’s his goal to work with the council. “We really have done a lot wonderful things that I could not have done without the City Council,” he said. “It’s not what I accomplished. It’s what we accomplished.”

Brocato also said he and his campaign staff set out early on to run a clean campaign, and it paid off.

“There’s just so much dirtiness in politics. I just wasn’t raised that way,” he said. “We just want to be positive people. We had a good record to run on.”

There was some dirt thrown in the campaign, but he holds no ill will toward anyone, he said. “My focus is on moving the city forward.”

MORE VOTER REACTIONS

Polly Walton, who lives in The Overlook on Riverhaven condominium complex in Riverchase, said she was among the many who voted for Brocato.

“I wouldn’t have anybody else,” she said. “I think he’s conscientious. He knew the ropes when he got in, and I feel like he’s done a good job. … He’s not an egotist. He just does the job. He’s genuine.”

She also liked the way he handled the tragic shootings at the Riverchase Galleria and the way he has supported the Hoover Police Department, she said.

Lawson said Brocato articulated a plan to deal with traffic congestion in Trace Crossings. Smith criticized Brocato for not acting quickly enough to deal with it but never explained what he would do to correct the problems, Lawson said.

Chip and Mary Vice of the Southpointe community off South Shades Crest Road said they liked the work Brocato has done the past four years and felt Brocato was really working to solve traffic issues along South Shades Crest.

Lissa Hines of Willow Trace said she liked Brocato’s long-term support for the Hoover school system, the new universal playground his administration helped get built at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex and how he handled all the social unrest in the city.

Dr. Leland Eaton of the Kirkman Preserve community said Brocato is a public servant.

“He’s not a professional politician, just a good guy.” Dr. Eaton said. “He is an honorable man. He’s not running for his own personal gain.”

Leighton Harbuck of the Kirkman Preserve community said she voted for Brocato because a lot of her friends and neighbors were supporting him and she was thankful for the job he has done the past four years. He also attended a neighborhood fundraiser in her community, which made her feel he really cares about people, she said.

She also believed his character came through in how he dealt with the COVID-19 crisis and racial unrest in the city, she said.

SMITH SUPPORTERS

Valerie Jones of the Wood Meadow community said she voted for Smith.

“Mayor Brocato is not strong enough for me. I need a stronger voice,” Jones said.

When shootings happened at the Riverchase Galleria, she liked that Brocato had empathy for the victims, “but he was flip-flopping all over the place for me,” Jones said. “He just had a lot of uncertainty.”

She questioned whether police really had to resort to shooting E.J. Bradford at the mall on Thanksgiving 2018. Bradford had a gun in his hand but was not the person who fired the shots to which officers were responding.

She didn’t feel Brocato did enough to address the situation, she said.

“I think the police need better training,” Jones said. “I just want somebody to look at — Are people of color and blacks dealt with more harshly just because our skin is of a darker tone?”

Rosie Parrish, who lives off Lorna Road, also voted for Smith, saying change is good. She felt Smith was more focused on safety and protection for everyone in the community and would be more likely to make sure that police treat everyone fairly.

“I have experienced unfairness with police — profiling,” she said. “That’s not right. We’re all equal.”

Timi Young, who lives off South Shades Crest Road, said Brocato seemed too willing to “raise taxes every chance he gets.” She also was not happy with crime at the mall and didn’t think enough had been done to address traffic problems, she said. “It’s getting very congested here.”

OTHER VOTER COMMENTS

Alan Paquette, a resident of the Chace Lake community and general manager of The Offices at 3000 Riverchase office tower, said after voting that, regardless of who won, he hopes and prays that the mayor and City Council over the next four years can have a cohesive relationship and work together to make Hoover a better place to live, work, play and worship.

“It seemed to me the last four years have been combative,” he said.

Walton said the most important thing she was seeking from council candidates was a conservative vote. She felt there were some candidates from “the new left” that were running, and she wanted to make sure Hoover elects people with conservative American values and Christian principles such as honesty, she said.

She also wants elected representatives who will support education and who won’t defund the Hoover Police Department, she said.

“I don’t want to see anybody in there who’s going to be a disruption,” Walton said. “They’re there for their agenda and not for the city of Hoover.”

Colin Campbell, who lives off Caldwell Mill Road, said he supported Brocato and incumbent council members because he thinks they’ve done a good job, particularly being quick to control spending and make budget cuts when the COVID-19 outbreak hit.

He also supported women in the races that did not have incumbents, saying the council could use some female perspective and balance. He chose Eaker because he knows she is a person with solid character and Nations because she seemed honest and doesn’t seem like a typical politician, he said.

The runoff between Swiney and Schultz in Council Place 2 is set for Oct. 6. Winners are scheduled to be sworn into office Nov. 2.

Here are the complete, yet uncertified, vote totals:

MAYOR

Frank Brocato — 9,969 votes (76%)

Gene Smith — 3,147 votes (24%)

COUNCIL PLACE 1

Curt Posey — 9,456 votes (78.5%)

Leah Siefka — 2,590 (21.5%)

COUNCIL PLACE 2

Ron Brown — 2,368 votes (19%)

Mitzi Eaker — 1,760 votes (14%)

Robin Schultz — 3,113  votes (25%)

Dina Shunnarah — 1,770 votes (14%)

Sam Swiney — 3,346 votes (27%)

COUNCIL PLACE 3

Michael Jeffries — 2,679 votes (22%)

John Lyda — 9,620 votes (78%)

COUNCIL PLACE 4

Nathan Reed — 2,840 votes (23%)

Mike Shaw —9,472 votes (77%)

COUNCIL PLACE 6:

James “J.D.” Deer — 2,479 votes (21%)

Casey Middlebrooks — 9,538 votes (79%)

COUNCIL PLACE 7

Carin Mayo — 2,217 votes (18%)

Steve McClinton — 6,131 votes (51%)

Alli Nations — 3,761  votes (31%)