Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Pre-Decision 2006: The Results

People have been wandering by the blog all night from Googling various races. Sorry, I've been doing the party scene. You can get results at the Board of Elections, the Secretary of State site or the Beacon Journal.

The Good.

No SMH; Betty Sutton wins the nomination in Ohio 13, 30.5% to 24.9%. Sawyer a distant third. In addition Clair Dickenson wins for Court of Appeals.

The Bad.

Akron School Levy goes down by about 500 votes. God knows how many people just didn't turn the ballot over. Judy Hanna over Kevin Griffith. Hope she doesn't get used to the taste of victory, running as an ultra-liberal in the 27th. Paul Gallagher huge over John Manley.

The Ugly.

Marc Dann 72.9%
Subodh Chandtra 27.1%

_________


So I was 2 for 6 in endorsements. I get it. I'm new at this. It will take some time for you all to trust me. Just wait and see how these people work out.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am also pretty relieved that SMH didn't win the 13th. Her loss proves that possessing the largest bank account of any candidate in the race is still no guarantee of easy political victory.

On the other hand, I'm not especially thrilled about Sutton, who seems more like the "default candidate" than anyone of meaningful mission or purpose in Congress, for people put off by Sawyer's NAFTA vote, and SMH, for whatever reason. I'm going to bet that, as early as tomorrow, there are already going to be candidates lining up to challenge her in '08.

On the APS levy, its' unfortunate failure means major fallout for the district and the city as decimating cuts take their toll. You can kiss all of the extras goodbye, including field trips and most probably the performing arts program at Miller South and Firestone High. Advanced Placement classes in all of the high schools will also be gone. The gifted students who can do so, will flee to the 'burbs.

Also, say hello to pay-to-play sports, which many Akron student athletes will not be able to afford.

Teacher cuts will be severe, very painful and heartbreaking. I know of a few who were hired in as many as 7 or 8 years ago who probably never thought that they would be vulnerable to budget axe at this point in their careers. This won't be helped by the fact that so many experienced teachers are hanging on well beyond their eligibility for retirement because of skyrocketing health care costs. There are probably 10 and even 15 year veteran teachers in some cases who will be shown the door.

My guess is that this levy failure also throws a real wrench into the district's "Imagine CLCs" plan for renovation and reconstruction of schools. With the district spiralling into a massive operation deficit and enrollment still falling (and unlikely to look up anytime soon), consolidation may no longer be a choice, but rather, a necessity.

Which schools will close? If there were ever any faint glimmers of hope about saving Central-Hower, you can surely kiss them goodbye. Buchtel and East could be vulnerable, if only because of their relative proximity to still-thriving Firestone and Ellet. But any suggestions of consolidation or closure will be met with fierce protests from any and all of Akron's affectied neighborhoods. I wouldn't want to be in Dr. Small's shoes.

Anonymous said...

Jesus I never thought about the school levy being on the back...

Anonymous said...

I think any Akron business that did not support the school levy, especially those who actively campaigned against it should be boycotted immediately. Number one on the list: Yellow Jacket T-Shirts at the corner of North Main and York Streets--owned by out-of-towner George (Wolfman Jack) Theodore. See his brilliant quote in today's BJ.

Anonymous said...

Two people had an especially bad night:

1) Alex Arshinkoff. Petro lost Summit, but not by the wide margin we see in other counties. His endorsed candidates for judge both lose. In fact, if Brown wins the Appeals Court in November, he'ss be the only non-Summit resident on nit for a long time. This has been a point of pride to AA.

2) Sheri Bevan Walsh. She attempted to put disciples in elected office and came up empty handed. Bravo, Van Ho, and Manley all get crushed.

Who had a good night:

Kevin Coughlin for reasons Pho has stated. Though he probably wasn't losing sleep over Griffith either.

grandpaboy said...

Sorry to hear the levy failed. Short term, that's going to hurt a lot of kids. Long term, maybe we can take care of this at the state level.

Good point above about blogosphere blinders. I knew Chandra had an uphill battle, but that was brutal. He'll do better the second time around.

Damn, I can't believe I'm down 35 points to "anonymous."

Anonymous said...

Bad nights:

recall McCarthy movement - Two of three McC's slate for Council won the primary.

Kevin Coughlin - Petro lost and kevin has a well funded opponent.

Good nights:

labor showed it still has muscle in the Sawyer/Cafaro/Sutton primary.

dickinson and gallagher: showed that they have strong enough name id to be formidable candidates for jusge.

alex defeated petro in summit county when other NE ohio urban counties and franklin county went for petro.