How'd I do?
The election is over, the votes are (mostly) counted, and it's time to take stock of how well my recommendations did.
Overall, I recommended a NO vote on 13 issues. Seven of these passed and six failed. I recommended a YES vote on 7 issues. Of these, four went down and three passed. I suppose a monkey throwing darts in a pub would've done better, but I'm sure the monkey wouldn't have felt so smug.
My biggest disappointment? Not being chosen to attend CNN's bloggers' party on election night. I blame this totally on my not self-identifying as either liberal or conservative. However, the fact that I admit to living in Boulder should be good enough for them.
The biggest positive? I learned that if you actually put something on your site that people are interested in they will find it. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I had more hits than in the entire previous history of my site.
Some thoughts on specific races:
The voters wisely rejected three of the biggest insults to our system of government, Amendments 38, 39, and 40. Unfortunately, they did not reject the fourth insult, Amendment 41, the so-called ethics in government amendment. This change to our state constitution prohibits almost any gift to almost any government employee. The supporters claimed that the preamble's statement of the purpose of the law overrode the actual language in the measure. I'm eager to see either another election or a court case to clarify that we will not be penalizing government employees with no influence for gifts that are not meant to influence public policy.
Amendment 42 passed, putting an increase to the minimum wage in our constitution. Interestingly, this was probably a symbolic measure, given the new democratic control of the state government and the U.S. Congress.
We once again showed that we are not ready to recognize the rights of gays in passing Amendment 43 (defining marriage as between a man and a woman and declaring the invalidity of gay unions) and rejecting Referendum I (domestic partnerships.) The only consolation is that this has no affect, other than emotional, since the definition of marriage already exists in both state and federal law.
Was anybody surprised that Amendment 44 (legalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana) failed? Although I voted for it, I admit it was a bit silly, given that possession would still be a federal violation, and it would also still be a crime to grow or sell pot making it about impossible to actually obtain your legal reefer.
Referendum E, property tax relief for disabled veterans, passed easily. As I argued, this is a federal issue that we should not have to solve at the state level, and it only helps a small percentage of disabled vets, but I guess I can't begrudge a few vets this small benefit.
I was kind of puzzled that Referendum F, adjusting recall deadlines, went down. It seemed to me to be a simple case of adjusting the deadlines to fit with reality. But I guess people felt nervous that someone was trying to take advantage of them.
Referendum H, eliminating the state income tax deduction for wages for undocumented workers, passed narrowly, and I voted for it. However, I don't see it being more than symbolic, as few employers are liable to actually admit they hire undocumented workers.
Referendum J went down, mirroring Amendment 39. Voters wisely determined that these were just sneaky ways to cut school spending.
Referendum K passed, mandating the state to file a lawsuit against the federal government to enforce immigration laws. As I stated, this is nothing more than a waste of money, and makes people feels like they did something on the issue.
Local Issues:
Boulder County Issue 1A, Transit and Trails tax, went down. Too bad. We have good trails and transit here, but there is lots of room for improvement and providing leadership for the rest of the country. I hope the county commissioners make good on their promise to try and fund as much of this as possible without this new tax.
Boulder Issue 201 passed, allowing the fire training center to proceed. Let's hope the city can make good on their promises to do it right this time.
Issue 202 also passed, allowing the city to set a national standard for dealing with the issue of climate change.
Boulder citizen initiatives 2A and 2B both were flawed and both went down. Does it say something that of the nine citizen initiatives on the state and local ballot I only voted for one (and that in spite of its flaws)? There's obviously a reason we have a representative democracy.
Boulder Valley School District got its massive capital funding bond issue passed. I hope they make wise us of this money, because I can't see them passing another bond issue for quite a while unless they do exactly what they promised on this one, for the amount of money they promised, in a timely manner.
To everybody reading this, I hope you voted, and thanks for indulging my rants!
Overall, I recommended a NO vote on 13 issues. Seven of these passed and six failed. I recommended a YES vote on 7 issues. Of these, four went down and three passed. I suppose a monkey throwing darts in a pub would've done better, but I'm sure the monkey wouldn't have felt so smug.
My biggest disappointment? Not being chosen to attend CNN's bloggers' party on election night. I blame this totally on my not self-identifying as either liberal or conservative. However, the fact that I admit to living in Boulder should be good enough for them.
The biggest positive? I learned that if you actually put something on your site that people are interested in they will find it. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I had more hits than in the entire previous history of my site.
Some thoughts on specific races:
The voters wisely rejected three of the biggest insults to our system of government, Amendments 38, 39, and 40. Unfortunately, they did not reject the fourth insult, Amendment 41, the so-called ethics in government amendment. This change to our state constitution prohibits almost any gift to almost any government employee. The supporters claimed that the preamble's statement of the purpose of the law overrode the actual language in the measure. I'm eager to see either another election or a court case to clarify that we will not be penalizing government employees with no influence for gifts that are not meant to influence public policy.
Amendment 42 passed, putting an increase to the minimum wage in our constitution. Interestingly, this was probably a symbolic measure, given the new democratic control of the state government and the U.S. Congress.
We once again showed that we are not ready to recognize the rights of gays in passing Amendment 43 (defining marriage as between a man and a woman and declaring the invalidity of gay unions) and rejecting Referendum I (domestic partnerships.) The only consolation is that this has no affect, other than emotional, since the definition of marriage already exists in both state and federal law.
Was anybody surprised that Amendment 44 (legalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana) failed? Although I voted for it, I admit it was a bit silly, given that possession would still be a federal violation, and it would also still be a crime to grow or sell pot making it about impossible to actually obtain your legal reefer.
Referendum E, property tax relief for disabled veterans, passed easily. As I argued, this is a federal issue that we should not have to solve at the state level, and it only helps a small percentage of disabled vets, but I guess I can't begrudge a few vets this small benefit.
I was kind of puzzled that Referendum F, adjusting recall deadlines, went down. It seemed to me to be a simple case of adjusting the deadlines to fit with reality. But I guess people felt nervous that someone was trying to take advantage of them.
Referendum H, eliminating the state income tax deduction for wages for undocumented workers, passed narrowly, and I voted for it. However, I don't see it being more than symbolic, as few employers are liable to actually admit they hire undocumented workers.
Referendum J went down, mirroring Amendment 39. Voters wisely determined that these were just sneaky ways to cut school spending.
Referendum K passed, mandating the state to file a lawsuit against the federal government to enforce immigration laws. As I stated, this is nothing more than a waste of money, and makes people feels like they did something on the issue.
Local Issues:
Boulder County Issue 1A, Transit and Trails tax, went down. Too bad. We have good trails and transit here, but there is lots of room for improvement and providing leadership for the rest of the country. I hope the county commissioners make good on their promise to try and fund as much of this as possible without this new tax.
Boulder Issue 201 passed, allowing the fire training center to proceed. Let's hope the city can make good on their promises to do it right this time.
Issue 202 also passed, allowing the city to set a national standard for dealing with the issue of climate change.
Boulder citizen initiatives 2A and 2B both were flawed and both went down. Does it say something that of the nine citizen initiatives on the state and local ballot I only voted for one (and that in spite of its flaws)? There's obviously a reason we have a representative democracy.
Boulder Valley School District got its massive capital funding bond issue passed. I hope they make wise us of this money, because I can't see them passing another bond issue for quite a while unless they do exactly what they promised on this one, for the amount of money they promised, in a timely manner.
To everybody reading this, I hope you voted, and thanks for indulging my rants!
Labels: Boulder, Colorado, election 2006
posted by insomniac | 3:44 PM
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