In a previous post I listed my reasons for opposing the two Jefferson County school district's tax and bonding election measures.
Both issues were indeed defeated. A majority of the voters on November 4 exercised some common sense even if the Jeffco school board did not.
Let me restate this clearly for the benefit of the board: we are in a recession. Businesses and families are going to be tightening and re-prioritizing their budgets -- the school district needs to do that to their budget.
I'm frankly surprised that these tax increases were even put on the ballot under the current circumstances.
Here are the results of the mill levy increase and the bond issue measure:
3A: Mill Levy Hike
331 precincts reporting - 100%Votes - Percent
Yes - 131,867 - 48.1%
No - 142,059 - 51.9%3B: Bond Issue
331 precincts reporting - 100%Votes - Percent
Yes - 128,218 - 48.3%
No - 137,454 - 51.7%
Now, to the Jefferson County Commissioners races.
I could not be more proud of the campaign staged by fellow Green Party member Scott Zulauf for commissioner in district 2. Scott adhered to Green principles and ran on issues, did not take contributions from special interests, and spoke out truthfully and unassumedly at all of the candidate forums.
I heard great admiration for Scott's campaign from many people ... this certainly explains why he did so well with so very little money.
Of course, the losing Dimocrat, Jason Bane, is whining about being denied the votes Scott received -- like somehow he had a claim on those ballots. The Jefferson County Mile High newspapers report that Bane said:
"Now I know how Al Gore feels," he said. "I lost by 1 percent of the vote or so, because the Green Party got an unprecedented number of votes. Were there no Green party candidate, I would have won by thousands of votes, but that's the way it happens."Bane is a little mixed up. Al Gore had the Florida 2000 presidential electoral college votes stolen from him; cheating and election fraud unconstitutionally denied the presidency to Vice President Gore -- Gore got the most votes in Florida in 2000, Bush stole the election. So, the situation in Jefferson County in the 2008 commissioner's race is not comparable at all in spite of Bane's whine.
The Jeffco newspaper reported this about Scott:
Zulauf, a charter school instructor, distinguished himself from Bane and McCasky by coming out as "100 percent opposed" to the metrowide beltway connection.Zulauf said that although he didn't win the election, he was pleased with the number of votes he garnered.
"I was honored to give a voice to thousands of Jeffco voters," he said. "We more than doubled the Green turnout in Jefferson County. It's fantastic."
And that is the primary point -- Zulauf gave people a principled position to vote for on an issue that neither of the two major party candidates would dare accept. Americans have a right to vote for whom they please based upon issues that are important to them. When the big party candidates take essentially the same stance on vital questions, third parties will rise to the challenge and give voters a real choice. This is why my candidacy for U.S. Representative-CD7 in 2002 was so critical -- both major party candidates supported Bush's rush to attack Iraq -- I did not -- I gave voters an important choice on a life and death issue.
So, huzzahs to Scott Zulauf!
Finally, I was also gratified that Republican Faye Griffin was elected Jeffco county commissioner from my district. Unlike her opponent, I find Faye to be reasonable, open to new ideas and decidedly not as partisan and as ruthlessly political as is Ms. Windels.
District 1
324 precincts reporting - 100%
Candidate - Votes - Percent
Faye Griffin (R) - 134,908 - 51.9%
Sue Windels (D) - 124,805 - 48.1%
District 2
324 precincts reporting - 100%
Candidate - Votes - Percent
Kevin McCasky (R) - 121,410 - 47.4%
Jason Bane (D) - 114,784 - 44.9%
Scott Zulauf (Grn) - 19,705 - 7.7%
Rocky Mountain News Election Results
