IS IT TRUE the elections for 2014 are now over and before we start paying attention to the 2015 elections when the governance of the City of Evansville is up for election we would like to reflect a bit on what happened on Tuesday?…from a 30,000 foot level the local and state elections provided few surprises and will result in little if any change in the way things are done with one notable exception?…that notable exception was the election of Bruce Ungethiem to the Vanderburgh County Commissioners?…though Ungenthiem ran as a Republican and was strongly opposed in the Republican primary he brings to office an ability to analyze problems, formulate solutions, and implement those solutions at a level that this area hasn’t seen since last year when CORE successfully ran a campaign to repudiate the good old boy land grab of Vanderburgh County by the City of Evansville and its Mayor?…running a project with little money that is long on brains and execution is something that local government needs at every level and the CCO expects Ungenthiem to keep up his excellent ways even if the Mayor starts another land grab program called annexation?
IS IT TRUE the school board race results emphasized the aversion to change that the voters of Vanderburgh County often have and endorsed the status quo?…even though the EVSC did release some good news with respect to some performance improvements the majority of the old board is back and will keep things the same?…we hope that the highly paid brilliant ones at the EVSC can continue to improve the schools in spite of keeping the the majority of the same old board?…the fact that the EVSC has 5 failing schools this year and the locations of these 5 failures is getting very specific with the perennial failures of the Glenwood Leadership Academy, Washington Middle, Caze, and Lodge all located in the parts of town that are dealing with gunfire, neighborhood blight, high unemployment, violence, and drugs?…statistics would support a conclusion that these four schools along with the Academy for Innovative Studies are handed children that come from households that could use major improvements in parenting skills?…fixing such schools is difficult but there are models out there for success and we hope to see something other than the names of the schools changed to raise the failing grades?
IS IT TRUE the City of Evansville did get a piece of good news yesterday in finally announcing that Fisker Dynamics will be establishing an auto parts manufacturing business out behind the old Whirlpool building that will employ 169 people?…the workforce they seek is here and is hopefully willing to work for $19.61 pew hour so this can happen on schedule?…when the tally do government incentives were added up the hand out is only about $15,000 per job which is a good deal in a world where numbers upwards of $200,000 are not uncommon?…congratulations go out to GAGE, Mayor Winnecke, the Coalition and to Fisker Dynamics for choosing Evansville?
IS IT TRUE the national election was anything but an endorsement for the status quo?…the Republican Party that a scant 6 years ago looked like it was dead and buried under the euphoria of hope and change is now in control of both houses of congress?…this was no surprise as the polls had predicted this but the margins of victory indicate that nearly every undecided voter must have broken for the republicans?…it now looks like the US Senate will go from a 55-45 democrat majority to a 54-46 republican majority when all the votes are counted?…this was not because people have changed their ideology, this happened because people are sick and tired of words without the ability to back them up?…exit interviews stated that the do nothing senate is what people voted to change?…some blame this on Nevada Senator Harry Reid for clamping down on votes to keep President Obama from being forced to flame up his base by voting for some popular bills like the Keystone pipeline or tax reform, while others blame Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell who will most likely take Reid’s job as the head of the senate?…the buck will stop where Harry Truman put it in the next congress and that will be with the President of the United States?…it will be interesting to see how the President reacts to having to make tough decisions on issues that have broad support but are not popular with the democrat base?…we can expect bills for corporate tax reform, repatriation of offshore cash, and keystone early next year?…these would have all won at the ballot box yesterday but not in Berkeley and Santa Monica?…President Obama has two years to cement his legacy as either a partisan or as a person who is willing to collaborate to make good things happen?…he said today he would do the later, but this writer will believe it when he sees it?…it is no coincidence that 28 of the 60 democrat senators who voted for Obamacare will be gone from the next senate?
IS IT TRUEÂ in an election in Coachella, CA the value of a single vote was driven home last night when a sales tax initiative for capital projects and economic development failed by a vote of 979 – 978?…Coachella is economically similar to Evansville but only has 42,000 residents?…complacency won with less than 2,000 votes being cast in a city of that size on a referendum of much interest?…the price will of course be paid in crumbling infrastructure and the loss of several growth initiatives?
