Well, public schools got a nice reassuring boost in state-wide Wisconsin with the re-election of Tony Evers for State School Superintendent. On the other hand, Gov. Scott Walker's anti-education, anti-worker class war agenda was kept in place with the election of incumbent Supreme Court Justice Pat Roggensack.
Early on watching the Rock County vote tallies showing Fallone running 50/50 with Roggensack was a sure sign that Fallone wasn't going to overcome the heavy opposition from the state's GOP strongholds no matter what. This despite Rock County coming in a strong 70/30 for Evers.
Rock County generally leans strong democratic, but not landslide democratic just to make that distinction. Even with that forgiving quality, it doesn't make sense why Roggensack would pull to a draw here. Granted, she did not have the psychological baggage or the deeply partisan mean streak that Prosser carried, so perhaps it was that less damaging quality for Roggensack that made all the difference against Fallone. But the split support for Evers and Roggensack in Rock County doesn't make sense knowing the stakes are so high.
On the local scene for public schools in Janesville, the news was even better with the election of newcomer and teacher Cathy Meyers to the Janesville School Board. Meyers was also the top vote getter of the candidates.
School Board incumbent Karl Dommerhausen was also re-elected. Dommershausen, it should be noted, is somewhat of a pleasant surprise for local public school supporters. A self-described independent conservative who tends to favor republican causes, has recently made strong statements in opposition of voucher schools being advanced at the expense of public schools. That one clear message may have earned him his re-election in Janesville. Dommershausen and Meyers will join incumbent winner Kristin Hesselbacher to round out a strong defensive mix for the betterment of Janesville's public schools. Simply put, these three winning election is very welcome news.
The election news for the Janesville City Council was much less promising in my view. Two incumbents, Sam Liebert and Duwayne Severson will return to their respective seats on the council. They will be joined by newcomers Douglas Marklein, who by the way was the top council vote getter, and Brian Fitzgerald.
I wish I could say that at least one of the winning candidates will make the difference that is absolutely necessary to move Janesville into a 21st century economy. Unfortunately, I can't.
It is my view that the seven member Janesville City Council has fallen flat with mostly Forward Janesville/Rock County 5.0 collectivists splitting the decisions with tea party cutters, and its' only gotten' worse. The city has no leadership and no vision and it won't change anytime soon. It's off the rails and a real shame.
Former council member Yuri Rashkin made a last minute effort to return to the city council, but he ran as a write-in candidate and those campaigns, as valiant as they are, are unforgiving and extremely difficult to win. Rashkin came up short, assuming the 826 votes at 3.51% were all his.
SOURCE - Rock County Election Results
Post-election viewpoint from Yuri Rashkin.
4 comments:
Thanks for your wrapup! Good news indeed for public schools!
Evers was re-elected with a larger vote majority (175,562) than Walker ever was (171,105 in the recall election).
Boy, You are so wrong on your take on at least one of the City Council newcomers. Just watch
I'll go out on the limb here that you're referring to Marklein. I liked what he has to say but many of his remarks are generic PC. Only time will tell to see if any one of them stand out from the worn out formulas and tired status quo and that seems to drive the city council. Honest. For the good of city, I hope I'm wrong on at least one.
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