Election 2012: the results
I spent Tuesday night at Bobblehead’s (aka, “Cigar Central”) watching live election results. CNN gave us updates regarding the US presidential and congressional races while we kept tabs of state and local elections on our laptops, all while enjoy a couple brews. I am not a fan of cable news and had never watched any of the networks’ election coverage before Tuesday, but I have to admit it was pretty exciting. It was annoying at times — especially when the analysts spent an hour discussing nothing but Obama’s re-election — but exciting nonetheless. After midnight I headed home and listened to NPR for another couple hours while Iowa’s state results trickled in.
I thought I would highlight a couple noteworthy results from Tuesday night. Bobblehead covered the ramifications of the presidential election (here and here) as well as the complicated “Puerto Rico thing,” but I want to focus on the state and local level.
Justice Center bond fails
As expected, Johnson County citizens rejected the bond measure funding a new justice center. Though it received 56 percent, it needed a supermajority of 60 percent to pass. (I have no clue why it needed 60 percent. Because it was a bond issue? Maybe.)
I assumed voters in über liberal Iowa City doomed it, but the results were consistent county-wide: more voters approved the bond than not. Which has to be a good sign for Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek and justice center proponents. Right now they seem to believe voters will approve the measure (basically the exact same thing, albeit with minor tweaks) when given a second chance. Opponents, however, believe the numbers will flip given more time to relay their criticisms to the public.
As I said Tuesday, I would like to see proponents develop a better plan. I want a damn good reason to build a new jail in downtown Iowa City and renovate the very outdated courthouse. I recognize the need (or at least demand) for more court space and jail cells, but real estate in the vicinity of the current facilities is limited and expensive. There are accessibility and parking issues as it is, so how will those problems be addressed? We certainly do not need anything grandiose or fancy, at least nothing like the glass building Lonny & Company envision. Utilitarian will do. Also, were engineers and architects consulted about the project? Perhaps we should explore the option of vacating the courthouse in favor of a combined justice center built elsewhere.
Board of Supervisors: incumbents sweep
Pat Harney, Terrence Neuzil, and Rod Sullivan all retained their seats on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. Their challengers, John Etheredge and David Kimm Fesler, only garnered 14 and 12 percent of the vote, respectively. Both were true to style in the wake of the results: I read somewhere that Etheredge did not respond and Fesler said the numbers “seemed a little strange.” (No, you seem a little strange.)
Despite this, the board will need to fill another seat soon as Sally Stutsman won the race for Iowa House District 77.
Loebsack destroys Archer
This was quite a surprise — to me. I assumed Archer was going to give Loebsack a run for his money in the newly drawn 2nd District. However, Loebsack prevailed with 55.4 percent of the vote. Needless to say, Archer underperformed with 42.5 percent.
What amazes me most is that Arizona resident Alan Aversa earned 8,238 votes, enough for 2.2 percent. I am curious to know whether or not those who voted for Aversa knew who he was (and where he lived).
Aversa truly was a curious case. His limited campaign (namely his two TV commercials) did not promote himself, his platform, or smear his 2nd District opponents. Instead, he targeted President Obama. Essentially, Aversa was a fake candidate.
The Iowa Legislature remains split
Democrats retained control of the Iowa Senate and Republicans kept their majority in the House. Basically, I think Iowans sent this message: “We do not want to be spendthrifts and do not want discrimination enshrined in the constitution. Shut up, deal with it, and work together.” However, the Democrats picked up seats in both chambers so perhaps Iowans are getting more fed up with the narrow-minded social agenda of state Republicans.
Wiggins retained
Iowans voted to retain embattled Supreme Court justice David S. Wiggins, along with every other judge on the ballot.
The Wiggins retention has political analysts scratching their heads, wondering what the different was between Tuesday and 2010, when three justices were ousted. Perhaps calmer heads prevailed since so much time has passed since the Varnum v. Brien decision. Unlike in 2010, there was an effort to educate Iowans about the retention process, the importance of an independent judiciary, and the state constitution. The fact this was a presidential and not a midterm election may have played a role, and there could have been a regret factor. “Oops! We screwed up last time! Sorry.” As I said, the post-Varnum apocalypse predicted by evangelicals has not materialized — even Bob Vander Plaats is still married — so arguments against same-sex marriage are even less sensible. Needless to say, the retention results in 2014 (I think) will provide more food for thought and should give us a clearer picture of what exactly Iowans are thinking.
Also interesting about the Wiggins retention is the result in Woodbury County, home of Sioux City: 55.3 percent in favor of Wiggins. The politics of Western Iowa is commonly considered immovably conservative, often extremely so, so the result of Woodbury County and Sioux City was a shock.
