Election Results November 4, 2008

Voter Turnout

Greene County registered voters can stand tall and proud this election season. Their patriotism out- shined the rest of the state 70% to 67.5%. That was the level of voter turnout this presidential election. Ohioans exceeded the historic high of 65% of voter turnout by 2.5% and Greene County voters by 5%.

Presidential Race

In Greene County, McCain and Palin were the winners with 58.8% of the vote. That means only 39.7 voted for the Obama/Biden socialist ticket. Other parties voting received only 1.5% of the total number of votes, which means Democrats had no chance of winning in Greene County, Ohio. We can all be thankful that Greene County voters continue to uphold original liberal principles. We can look forward to another season when more Americans across the nation return to honoring those same principles.

Do you remember the battle between Ohio Democrats and Republicans over giving new registered voters the immediate right to early voting and the issue over voter record discrepancies? If I remember correctly, the number of questionable voters was around 250,000. Isn’t it an interesting coincidence that Obama won Ohio by a little over 200,000 votes? If I were McCain Republicans, I would make certain those 204,156 popular votes were legitimate. Who knows maybe McCain actually won a slight majority of Ohioans hearts and votes, but I suspect many of those votes were for Sarah Palin too.

I also suspect conservative feminists are just getting started.

US House of Reps Plus State Legislative, Executive & Judicial Races

Greene County voters were delighted with the campaigns over one Congressional race and many races for legislative, executive, and judicial offices.

Republicans running for seats in Congress and in both Ohio houses won by similar margins. Steve Austria took over Dave Hobson’s seat in the US House of Representatives. Austria beat Democrat and millionaire Sharen Neuhart 65.3% to 34.7%. Rep. Chris Widener is moving into the Ohio Senate because he won 66.3% of the vote to poor Roger Tackett’s 33.7%. Young Jarrod Martin also did well as demonstrated his gaining 59.8% of Green County votes. The more seasoned Bill Conner earned 40.2%. Was it the Republican version of yes we can change or something else? I’m not sure. Whatever it was. Martin now represents the 70th District taxpayers. Running for the 84th District was Republican Robert Hackett and Democrat Connie Crockett. Hackett hacked off Crockett when he won 62.1% of the votes to her 39%.

Woe, tears, and agony on ….

In the race to win the top law enforcement spot, Republican Mike Crites took 53.8% of the votes for Attorney General to Democrat Richard Cordray’s 41.6%. It’s too bad that Crites did win all of Ohio. A bright spot in the race was the fact that independent Robert Owens earned 4.8% of Ohio votes. I for one hope Owens keeps coming back to eventual win a place in Ohio government.

Let’s not forget how political public education actually is. The winner of the race for a seat on Ohio’s Board of Education for our district was Jane Sonenshein. She won 38.6% of the Ohio vote. Runner-ups were Jeff Hardin with 35.8% and John McHenry with 25.6%. If you know any of those candidates who will make many decisions effecting education in Greene County, you are either an educator, a friend of an educator, or a politician. No one does, but all should.

It would be a crime to forget the races for the judiciary. Given their reputation for activism and making law, it might have been a crime you didn’t. Being serious, Ohioans elected two Supreme Court justices. The lucky women were Maureen O’Conner and Evelyn Stratton, both Republicans thank God.

Wait a minute! Am I still allowed to use the G—word in the public domain. Those pesky ACLU and ASCS troublemakers are always stalking and lurking.

Anyway, O’Conner stole Russo’s thunder by winning by a whopping 67.3% of the Ohio vote to Joseph Russo’s 32.7%. Ohioans overruled Democrat Peter Sikora attempt to gain a place on the Court. The Ohio verdict was in favor of Straton 63.1% to Sikora’s 36.9%.

Unfortunately, Judge George Reynolds (R) got benched (sports term) being outperformed by Jeffrey Froelich (D), who won by a small margin of 52.6% to Reynolds’ 47.4%. I have to admit that my disappointment was not only the result of voting for Reynolds but because one of my grandparents last name was Reynolds.

Ohio Constitutional Amendment Issues

Possibly more important than who were elected to office were the six Constitutional amendment issues this election cycle. Amendments one through three and five won by nearly a 3:1 margin or approximately 70% to 30% while amendment six lost by the same margin. Amendment 4 was removed from the ballot.

Amendment 1 requires earlier deadlines for statewide ballot initiatives. Amendment 2 gives the state the ability to create funds for environmental preservation through bond issues and consequently through higher taxes. Amendment 3 redundantly adds to state law protection to private property owns and adjacent water use rights, but with the same exceptions as before. Amendment 5 places long overdue restrictions on payday lenders who have been bilking the poor to make themselves rich for years. This practice was sanctified by bipartisan politics until the terrible reign of GW Bush. Nevertheless, I still image that even the world’s Supreme Judge is pleased. Issue 6, the last Constitution amendment, was soundly defeated by Ohio voters. Casino gambling, its harm to communities and families, was once again rejected by 63.8% of Ohio voters. Only 37.2% favored it. Ohioans thus gave Providence reason to smile a little more.

Races for Greene County Government Offices

Greene County government is still the provenance rock-solid Republicanism. During This election cycle, most of the incumbents retained their titles and paychecks. Rick Perales defeated newcomer and Democrat Eddie Baumann, otherwise known to some young adults as professor. Perales earned 64.3% of Greene County votes to Baumann’s impressive 35.7%. Sorry, Eddie we like your religion but not your party. Like George Patton, I’ll be back Marilyn Reid is indeed back in office. She won a smiling 54.7% to Democrat Jerry Sutton’s respectful 45.3%. It’s good to have someone who cares about the common good back in county government–not that the one she replaces was not. After all of the trouble, Republican Eric Sears still won the County Recorder position by 19.6 points. After the party was over, Sears was showered with 59.8% of the votes and Democrat Mary Taylor received 40.2%. Then there was race for County Treasurer. It’s true. It is all about the money and incumbent James Schmidt gets to keep counting it. Schmidt defeated Democrat Corrina Grooms to the County gold by count of 65.3% to 34.7%. What amazes me is how Republicans can win even without any competition. I won’t name names, but you can read about them by going to the Greene County Board of Election website.

Greene County Levies & Bond Issues

Three out of four countywide issues passed. Greene County Children Services Board Operating (Issue 21) levy increase was passed by 51.6% of voters to 48.5%. Greene Memorial Hospital Operating (Issue 22) renewal was favored by 58.4% of Greene County voters to 41.6%. Greene County MRDD Operating (Issue 23) renewal was approved by 61.3% to 38.7% of voters. The last issue was the Greene County Mental Health and Recovery Board Operating (Issue 24) levy increase that was opposed by 56.4% to 43.6 of Greene County voters.

Local School Levies & Bond Issues

Almost all schools in the county had either a levy or a bond issue on the ballot. Beavercreek’s bond issue was approved by 53% of the voters. Seventy-one percent of Cedarville voters passed their school improvement levy. Jamestown voters once again rejected efforts of their school district to increase funding. About 50.1% of voters said no to an income tax proposal. So did Bellbrook voters. Sugar Creek School District’s proposed income tax was rejected by 58.8% of their voters. Wayne Local Schools current operating levy was opposed by almost 73% of voters. Last but not least was the Xenia Community City Schools Income Tax & Bond Issue (Issue 20). Fifty-eight percent of Xenia voters turned the opportunity to increase taxes on two fronts.

Booze Wins Big In Greene County : A Puritan Perspective

I’m not certain about this but it appears that the boozers won big throughout Greene County. All but one business seeking approval to sell liquor was favored by their local patrons—I mean voters. I almost wrote saints. I refrained, however, for one simple but profound reason. Saint Paul encourage boozing for health purposes—like Tylenol or Nyquil, but not for pagan partying nor for mixing drinks with tears of self-pity. I recently read that Puritans, who were also Paul’s disciples, liked rum. They liked fermented molasses a lot. This sheds some light on the debate about whether the early church disciples consumed real wine like Lutherans and Catholics believe. Just keep in mind though that back in those ancient times people didn’t have cars and trucks. No, they were lucky to have a donkey. Only the rich had real horses or chariots to loose control of and to harm themselves and others.

Remember that the next time you are tempted to mix your blue tears with some modern liquid painkiller after another partisan election.