Consolidation Crashes and Burns by 2 to 1 Margin

11

When the votes were all counted the CORE group that opposed consolidated government prevailed convincingly over YES which had the backing of prominent local politicians including Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, former Mayors Jonathan Weinzapfel and Russ Lloyd Jr., and Sheriff Eric Williams. Several other local elected officials including County Commissioners Marsha Abell and Joe Kiefer openly supported the consolidation plan.

Democrats Commissioner Stephen Melcher and Mayoral candidate Rick Davis were vocal opponents of this plan. The actual votes are as follows.

YES . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,948 33.05%
NO. . . . . . . . . . . . . 46,494 66.95%

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

11 COMMENTS

  1. Finally, we’ve made a sensible decision.
    But I bet that it does not deter “the powers that be”.
    They are on a mission to save us from ourselves because they have the answer.

  2. This was predictable. I consider it a serious referendum on the proponents of Reorganization as much as a rejection of the plan itself. I think the overwhelming majority of Vanderburgh County voters distrust the folks who made up the most visible front in the “Yes” crowd.

    On an unrelated note… Just as I predicted on the Huffington Post back in August, spitting in the faces of Ron Paul supporters cost Mitt Romney and the Republican Party the White House. As far as I’m concerned it was punishment due. Now the Party better take a long hard look at itself and RETOOL.

    Mourdock lost by the same margin Andrew Horning raked in. Hmmm… Kinda makes you wonder.

  3. Also, Colorado and Washington legalizing pot signals a major sea change in US drug policy. It cannot come soon enough. The drug war is costing us untold billions punishing, rather than treating, drug addicts and innocent pot smokers.

    Anyone who still thinks it should be a crime to smoke a naturally existing herb whose worst side effect is a little laziness and some munchies is a fool, so hurrah for those two trail-blazing States! I don’t even smoke pot and I already want to move.

  5. The YES! proponents ran their campaign just like they run the city. They disregarded the public input, ignored their questions regarding substance and long term effects of the “plan”, and acted as if spending lot’s of money on slick advertising would get the job done.

    Supporters like the C&P, ONB, Vectren and the State Chamber of Commerce were a big turnoff to the voters and taxpayers, and boosted the CORE2012 campaign which asked too many questions that YES! could only answer with, “We don’t kNOw!”.

    Too bad Joe Kiefer ran unopposed. He would have been the first to fall. Winnecke/McC and Williams, you are at the top of the list to be voted out of office, any office, followed by any others who supported this insult to the local population.

    Country people carry grudges, have long memories and are patient. Your day will come.

  8. Keep listening–You will hear the voice of the Mayor saying the word “vibrant” as if that will eventually sway the uninformed, and casual voters. Vibrancy is the new slogan that is ‘too vague’ to have meaning, or to prove with numbers. It’s supposed to convince us that if Yes had won or will will next time then we’ll get the ‘vibrancy’ of fancy city life.
    No matter that paying for the shiny stuff instead of the infrastructure is how we got into this mess. Short term thinking, blindly following what bigger cities and consultants suggest based on re-selling to us their second hand master plans and consultants ring binders. It’s just so obvious that the community doesn’t win, just the special interest elites who get the subsidized contracts, and special information.
    It’s our tax money, it should be spent the way the taxpayers decide, not the way that a super mayor who can force their point of view into being decides.

Comments are closed.