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Village Spillage

Village Spillage is a blog about Whitefish Bay and the surrounding areas. It focuses on Village Government, elections, Silver Spring, and many other topics that aren't covered in the media.

Local Election Predictions

By Kevin Buckley
Monday, Nov 3 2008, 09:13 AM

 While I doubt many of you care what I think about Tuesday's election .. tough noogies.  I'm going to tell you anyhow.

State Rep:  Sandra Pasch will beat Yash Wadhwa easily, and win by 20 points.  Pasch won a long, tough primary battle against 3 tough, solid candidates.  I attended a forum with Pasch and Wadhwa, and two things were obvious:  Pasch was a solid candidate with a great grip on the issues, and second, Wadhwa was not ready for prime time.  In a Democratic year, Pasch wins this race easily.

State Senate:  This is a tough race to call.  Our district knows all about Wasserman and Darling, as both of them have represented us.  Wasserman is a new face in 2/3rds of Darling's district, so he had a lot of work to do to get known.   There's no doubt there are fewer Republicans in Wisconsin than 2-8 years ago, as people flip parties.   That reduction occurs all across the state, which includes those districts which are "solid Republican" areas.  

I've voted for both Darling and Wasserman, so this is a tough vote to cast.  Indeed, Wasserman has a thin resume of legislative accomplishments while Darling has some, albeit not recently.  Why?  Wasserman has spent his entire career in the Republican dominated Assembly.  Darling was a leader in the Republican Senate until the Dems took that over.   Now that Darling is also in the minority, she's also stuck in nowhere land just like Wasserman.

That's why I'm voting for Wasserman.  Having a rep in the minority party does NOTHING for you, as they are powerless, and none of the leadership listens to anyone in the minority party.   Wasserman is a decent guy.  I remember the first time I wrote him, he called me up one night around 8pm, and the two of us chatted about issues for 30 minutes like two guys drinking beer, eating pizza.  He's very likable, and will do well.  -- My prediction:  Wasserman wins by 2 points.

Milwaukee County Sales Tax Referendum:  This won't pass.  It'll lose by at least 10 points.  There are two types of voters who will vote yes.  The first group is those who want to pay more taxes, believing this sales tax increase will improve the parks.  The second, much larger group will vote yes because they don't understand the issue, and are taken in by the poor wording, suggesting a yes vote will somehow magically lower their tax burden.  It will only shift their tax burden from property tax to sales tax, plus add some.  Don't be fooled.

Finally, While I don't live in the City of Milwaukee .. I'm sure their referendum on mandating sick-leave will pass by 10 or more points.  There are far too many people who will look at that as a vote to give them something for nothing, and while I like this type of "Direct Legislation" referendum by the people, this is a terrible example.  Next, we'll see a referendum to give all employees a weekly massage.  Everyone will vote for that, too.  This is a travesty, and I'll bet a lawsuit will be filed by Wednesday morning on its validity.

Sensenbrenner will win by a million points, as well as the dozen other uncontested races that clutter up our ballot. 

Of course, I don't know what our ballot looks like this year, as it wasn't published in the NOW paper, like it is every other election cycle.    Odd.

Make sure you read:

  1. WFB Scam Alert
  2. One less bad guy on WFB's streets!
  3. Silver Spring Blame Game
  4. Solicitors DO NEED PERMITS
 

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Comments

Ted H.   

You overlook one category of voters on the referendum: those who, like me, don't do their homework and vote 'No' thinking the referendum is just another Republican attempt to lower property taxes.  Alas, I voted early and would have voted 'Yes' -- fund the parks! -- had I correctly remembered what the referendum was intended to do.  But I hadn't thought about the issue in months and forgot it was going to be on the ballot.  When I saw that rhetoric about 'property tax relief' I figured the referendum must be supporting Scott Walker's side, the we-pay-too-much-property-tax-already side, so I voted against it.  As soon as I got back online I looked up the issue and saw my mistake.

Alas, just another confused and uninformed voter...

November 3, 2008 7:08 AM

Kevin Buckley   

Wanting to improve the parks is an honest, legit vote.  I respect that.  

But .. just remember, the referendum says it's for $130M, minus $67M in prop tax shifting, which means $63M in new taxes to be spent on "mass transit; parks, recreation and culture; and emergency medical services."  

That's a lot of buckets to pour a scant $63M in to.  And the details are left to our wonderful County Board.

Personally .. I'd like to see the county cede neighborhood parks to the municipalities they sit in. Shorewood should take over Atwater.  WFB should maintain Klode and Big Bay.  (Hmm.  Klode isn't listed on MilwCty's Park map, odd.  www.county.milwaukee.gov/AbTheParkSystemmap10627.htm)  

While "regional" parks, like Bradford, Lake, Mitchell, Washington, all the parks downtown and a smattering of others that have a regional draw .. would remain in the County system.

BTW, TedH .. generally speaking, early/absentee voting ballots are scanned in AFTER the polls close on Tuesday.  That means, you can go and vote on Tuesday and explain that you'd like to cancel your absentee vote.   They should be able to accommodate that request.

November 3, 2008 8:16 AM

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About Kevin Buckley

Kevin Buckley of Whitefish Bay is a native Minnesotan who moved to Wisconsin 20 years ago to attend Marquette University. He is a recovering accountant, now working in the technology field as a webmaster for a company in New Berlin.

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