Election 2006 Commentary

Well, I'm glad that's over! No more annoying calls on my home and cell phone numbers! Maybe it's time to amend the Do Not Call Registry to include political pitches.

Overall, I'm quite pleased to see the results of yesterday's election. I was tickled to see that Joe Lieberman won the Senate race in Connecticut as an independent. Yes, he's technically a Democrat - but he's one of the good ones.

Here in Arizona - to nobody's surprise - our Democrat Governor Janet Napolitano easily won re-election (the AP and ABC news projected her as the winner as soon as the polls closed!). I like Janet. If she has a personal agenda, she hasn't really projected it. She's one of the few who ran a positive campaign, focusing on her accomplishments as governor. She has a clear understanding of the issues facing our state and has really taken good care of it.

John Kyl won re-election over Jim Pederson. This was a rather negative campaign on both sides, but I think Kyl shows his true colors better, and comes off as a much more confident leader.

The big upset was Harry Mitchell's unseating of J.D. Hayworth in one of the congressional races. This one probably came down to personality. Mitchell is a nice guy. Hayworth sometimes comes off as a big jerk. That probably lost it for him. Personally, I don't think either one can address the true issues. As I said in my previous post, I consider Mitchell an incompetent ass. We'll see. At least he's not my congressman.

Then there were the ballot initiatives - 19 in all.

Four of them dealt with the illegal immigrant problem - all passed with at least 70% approval. And when you consider that the [legal] population of the state is roughly 50% Hispanic, it certainly makes it a mandate that Arizona as a whole is tired of the whole illegal immigrant mess. Granted, I felt a couple of the propositions were mean-spirited and I voted against them. But the people have spoken. We move on.

On the other end of the spectrum, two propositions went down in flames in rather spectacular fashion. Arizona will not do voting exclusively by mail, nor will one lucky voter be drawn in the lottery to win a million bucks just for showing up to vote. I thought these two measures were excessively stupid and I'm glad to see that the vast majority of Arizona voters agreed with me.

The gay marriage ban was defeated not because Arizonans support gay marriage, but because this measure went too far in making people believe that certain benefits would be denied if it passed. It was a badly written measure that even faced a court challenge before it went on the ballot. But I'm not worried - Arizona law already prohibits gay marriage, and unlike liberal hot spots like Vermont and New Jersey, I don't think a judge here would be stupid enough to overturn that law.

We also passed the initiative that thumbs our nose at eminent domain. Want my property? Pay me a fair price.

I was undecided about raising the minimum wage until I heard concerns that our privacy was at stake and we would be more prone to identity theft should it pass. So I voted no. It passed anyway.

I was surprised and delighted about the two non-smoking propositions. One of them would still ben smoking except in restaurants and bars that allowed it. This measure was defeated. The other was a stricter ban - no smoking in public places - period. It passed.

Two initiatives dealing with state trust land were defeated. Property taxes can only be raised at a 2% level each year. Pigs and calves raised for meat have to be able to move around in their cages. Children's health will benefit from a hike in cigarette taxes. Cities and towns can better finance civic services such as police and fire protection. First-time meth users will no longer get mandatory probation - they might have to go to jail (what a concept!). And no surprise here - our legislators aren't getting a raise.

On the national scene, perhaps Democratic control of one or both houses of Congress is what's needed to move our country forward. There is definitely a lame-duck mentality amongst Republicans since they seem too absorbed with their own interests. Now they'll all have to talk. President Bush will have have to work harder and be more flexible to push his policies. This might even be the best thing for his presidency.

As for the Democrats, they have stirred us up with a lot of hopes. You thought the campaigns were tough? Now comes the tough part. It's time for the Democrats to put their money where their mouth is. Lest we vote 'em out in two years!

I'm Paul, and I approve this message.