Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Local levies fail
Someone said to me, who voted in South St. Cloud last night, "I knew the levies were going to fail when I was easily the youngest voter in the polling place." He's in his forties.
Maybe that was it, but the failure of the levies in St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids-Rice are also to do with some other events. I was watching the City of St. Cloud returns come in, and in the city the first levy -- to renew an expiring levy and extend another -- was ahead by about 300 votes out of over 7000 cast. But the votes in Waite Park and St. Augusta came in very negative late in the evening and turned the tide.
The Sauk Rapids-Rice vote was a little more expected. The district had not asked for money for years, but some campaigning against the levy seemed to be helpful, and the late announcement that teacher contracts were waiting to see what happened with the vote could not have been helpful.
Meanwhile, there were a few interesting St. Cloud city council elections. Experience won out in Ward 1, where Dave Masters defeated Garner Moffatt. Moffatt's friends on this campus put up illegal signs in school hallways (our young DFLers can't seem to understand this part of the law), but there was little campus turnout. In Ward 3, John Libert won handily over Karen Langsjoen. People will wonder if this was the result of the debate last Friday -- I don't know if it made a difference or not, and we never will. In Ward 4, two long-time popular incumbents squared off in our new boundaries, and Bob Johnson defeated Mike Landy -- really, the only defeat of a conservative in the election. And Sonja Berg lost the at-large seat to John Pederson. If I was Dave Kleis, I think I'd be pretty happy this morning.
Gary has more.
Maybe that was it, but the failure of the levies in St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids-Rice are also to do with some other events. I was watching the City of St. Cloud returns come in, and in the city the first levy -- to renew an expiring levy and extend another -- was ahead by about 300 votes out of over 7000 cast. But the votes in Waite Park and St. Augusta came in very negative late in the evening and turned the tide.
The Sauk Rapids-Rice vote was a little more expected. The district had not asked for money for years, but some campaigning against the levy seemed to be helpful, and the late announcement that teacher contracts were waiting to see what happened with the vote could not have been helpful.
Meanwhile, there were a few interesting St. Cloud city council elections. Experience won out in Ward 1, where Dave Masters defeated Garner Moffatt. Moffatt's friends on this campus put up illegal signs in school hallways (our young DFLers can't seem to understand this part of the law), but there was little campus turnout. In Ward 3, John Libert won handily over Karen Langsjoen. People will wonder if this was the result of the debate last Friday -- I don't know if it made a difference or not, and we never will. In Ward 4, two long-time popular incumbents squared off in our new boundaries, and Bob Johnson defeated Mike Landy -- really, the only defeat of a conservative in the election. And Sonja Berg lost the at-large seat to John Pederson. If I was Dave Kleis, I think I'd be pretty happy this morning.
Gary has more.
