I offer up front that because of the mail in vote delays, many of these races are not actually certified, so there is a possibility that some results may shift.

I am not betting on it, but it is possible.

I posted my thoughts on Elections in general yesterday, and I still remain somewhat disgruntled.  I was reminded that moving to an adjacent county would offer me my ballot again, and I admit it is tempting, but I do like the area I live in, so no.  And that county also practices Instant Run Off Voting, which I also oppose, and of the two, mail in ballots is the lesser evil.

This election there were sever contentious matters on our local ballot which bear further reflection, because frankly the results were a bit of a surprise.

One of the bigger surprises was Dan Satterberg who appears to be winning the King County Prosecutor.  Dan was the 'protégé' of late King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, and has been serving as interim prosecutor pending this election.  The reason this is a shock?

He is a Republican, and a Republican getting elected in notoriously liberal King County is quite a surprise…well anywhere except the prosecutors office I suppose, in which a Republican has held for the last 60 years.  It is interesting in a county that openly disdains conservatives, a conservative is acceptable for the Prosecutor.

I don't know if it is significant, but it is interesting.

Considering the fiasco our 2004 Governors election was, it is no shock that one of the measures in King County concerned elections.  Initiative 25 would place a charter amendment on the November 2008 general election ballot that would make the position of county director of elections an elected nonpartisan office.  

The back story here is that of the 39 counties in Washington State, only King County has an appointed elections director, and as Sound Politics has chronicled, former director Dean Logan has a slew of complaints and accusations about his ineptitude, and alleged suborning of fraud. For an eye opener, go to http://soundpolitics.com and search for Dean Logan.  Regardless, this is a good thing and with any luck, soon King County will have an elected representative who is accountable to the people for his actions, not just to the County Executive.

The biggest victory however is the solid defeat of Proposition 1, the Raping Taxes Roads and Transit Initiative.  This altruistic sounding measure was in fact an almost open ended tax measure to to address transportation issues without actually doing anything about traffic in King County.  What was interesting is that where you lived in King County determined which of two initiatives you could vote on, if you could vote on them at all.  Some in rural areas who would be bound by the sales tax increases were not eligible to vote on it at all.   The Gerrymandering of the boundaries made no sense at all.

Most of what it did do was geared to adding more Light Rail which like the present lines, would not operate in any of the high use corridors and would not offer any congestion relief, and what road projects it claimed to fix wouldn't even be started for years, nor completed for decades.  It also ignored the 520 floating bridge and the viaduct, those two traffic hazards that liberals screamed were imminent safety threats when they used them to scare people into a gas tax a few years ago.  I-912 will cost lives said one.  No, the gas tax which passed did nothing about them either.   But I guess no one died, so all good?

Liberals don't get it.  People are sick of the taxes in this state and this county, not because they do not support necessary taxes, or the projects that benefit from them, but because the legislature bypasses  the will of the people at every opportunity.  Numerous tax restrictions have passed overwhelmingly and every time the legislature bypasses, loopholes or overrides them to find new ways to take our money.

We also object to how they are spent, and if there was less waste and stupidity, people might accept them, with better grace, but I digress.

Many of those initiatives were filed by political thorn Tim Eyman and this election he passed another attempt to force the state to treat taxes a bit more seriously.  I-960 was built on the skeletal remains of I-601, a previous tax initiative that the state has reduced to rubble.  Eyman claimed this would reenact parts of that wildly popular initiative. 

It reestablished the two-thirds vote requirement for tax increases, required a legislative vote on all fee increases. require a yes-or-no public vote on all tax increases (to force legislatures to disclose their voting records), requires that when a tax bill has an emergency clause (which prevents a referendum on it) the state would have to hold an "advisory vote" on the matter in the fall, and would create a new way to track tax bills, in which the state would have to send out multiple public e-mails on the bill's progress and include the names and telephone numbers of legislators involved.

Yea its a big prospect, and despite a vicious campaign it is passing.

Oh well, the legislature will just tie it up in court until they can dismantle it.  They always do.

One disappointment was the passage R-67, a Referendum that is essentially Lawyers versus Insurance Industry waste of time.  It penalizes Insurance companies who deny valid claims, which sounds good, and authorizes triple penalties and such.  The problem is that it was already illegal to deny a valid claim, all this did was open the door for tort lawyers to file more suits. 

The fact it was sponsored by lawyers and opposed by the insurance industry meant that no matter which way you voted you felt dirty.  Well for ill or nil, it passed.  Time to see if the nay sayers were right, and see if my insurance rates go up.  Someone call John Stossel.

But the big surprise, and a happy one, was the failure of Resolution 4204 which could Amend the Constitution to let School levies pass with a simple majority, where they require 60% now.  I opposed it because if you open the door to an easier process you open the door to more levies.

Now I don't take issue with the schools needing money.  But while Ken Schram may see that as the central issue, he is wrong.  The issue was continuing to make sure taxes are assessed with a strong mandate.

Ken and his ilk do not understand the simple realities of education and spending.  Not counting the levies, we already spend more on education then ever before, even adjusting for inflation.  The problem is NOT funding it is spending.

Consider that we raise spending consistently year after year and consistently the schools offer less and less.   We do not get a reasonable return on our money and until that is addressed throwing more money at it will only make the problem worse, the unions richer and the administrators more strident in their demands for more money.

Ken blames it on the legislature, again ignoring the reality of the funding:

To me the issue is a simple one: Do I continue to assume an ever increasing responsibility for funding public education, or does the legislature ultimately step up to the plate and do the job?

..

I understand why PTAs and teachers and school administrators are so gung ho on the issue. They've given up on the state ever meeting its obligation to fully fund public schools.

And while my "no" vote on this measure is not a reflection of trust in lawmakers, it is a statement of resolve.

Do your damn job instead of asking me to do it for you.

He also makes this absurd statement:

I'm tired of bake sales and auctions and carnivals as way to raise money to hire math teachers or buy new school library books.

I don't buy it, but maybe it's true.  Maybe somewhere around here they actually managed to sell enough cookies to pay a teachers salary.

That better be some cookie.

But that has nothing to do with this.  

My challenge to Ken:  If I join your outrage over the legislature, will you share mine in demanding that schools show some fiscal responsibility?

Will he hold the districts feet to the same fire to justify where the money goes and why they cannot show a better product? 

What other business would you continue to frequent that charged you more, gave you less and then blamed you for being a cheapskate?

No, I am betting he wont.  The schools are the victims, the legislature the enemy and the homeowners the collateral damage.

He is wrong.  The enemy is the unions that keep striking, the bloated administrators and the outright malfeasance in responsible spending and priorities in too many schools.

And the only victims are the kids who we educate but never actually teach.

OK, rant off.

So overall, a somewhat happy election result, and few surprises.

Could be worse, they could be closing all polling stations….oh wait…they are.

Well at least my last election was a good one.

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