Election: Aftermath

So where did we end up? Here's a round up, and a reminder that the ultimate goal is not to have your "side" win, but to provide good governance and decisions.

I-1033, the latest Tim Eyeman magic pony initiative, went down in defeat hard. Lacking even the basic support of the usual suspects, it was hammered in the polls. This does not mean that there will not be ANOTHER similar Tim Eyeman initiative next time - he has figured out how to successfully monetize the initiative process, and as long as that exists, we will continue to see such foolishness.

R-71 passed, allowing the state to say that "Yeah, we're cool" with domestic partnerships. A triumph for common sense, the Seattle Times is quick to warn that the measure did not carry on the far side of the Cascades (they even have a map to demonstrate it). Pity for the Times that it is people, not land, that votes, and the bulk of those people live on THIS side of the mountains (over 50% of the population in King and its adjacent Puget Sound counties).

Dow Constantine has handily won King County Executive over Susan Hutchinson, and again, the Times, which endorsed Hutchinson and softpedalled here conservative cred, now is filled with morning-after declarations of how she should have been more direct with her political views while seeking a political post. Lost in the noise is the fact that non-partisan conservative Hutchinson did better than the last two official Republicans who ran for the office (and maybe further back - the official King County site is wimpy on archiving old election data).

The charter amendments all passed. The candidates who ran unopposed all won handily. For assessor, Loyd Hara (previously from the Port) won over Bob Rosenberg. And for the Port of Seattle, we split the vote with Rob Holland winning, but Tom Albro beating Max Vekich.

Downballot and local, Tim Clark took our local school district post,Allan Barrie took King County Fire Protection District No 37, Commissioner position No.1 and Alice Marchall is in at Soos Creek Water and Sewer District Commissioner Position No. 5. And Public Hospital District No 1 Position 4 went to Dr. Aaron Heide, which was my "toss-up" vote, so we'll see how we do with reforms at the hospital.

And the Panther Lake area voted for Annexation to Kent. Not sure what happens next, and what changes it will bring. More on that as it evolves.

There were a number of things I did not get to vote on. The big local one is the Mayor's race, which is still "Too Close To Call" (yep, its our winner this year for razor-thin decisions. So the next mayor will either be the pro-enviro with limited big city governance experience, or the business-type with limited big city governance experience. Both have strengths and weaknesses, though I am always suspect when someone states they're going to run a government "Like a business" (given how most businesses are run).

Big blowout in things I did not get to vote on was City Attorney, where the long-term incumbent got crushed by the challenger. That one was a surprise as well.

And nationally, the GOP took two governor's races (which is apparently REALLY BIG NEWS) while the Democrats expanded their House seats in an off-year election (which I understand rarely happens, but is apparently NOT really big news AT ALL). But locally, things worked out pretty well. Now the work, as they say, begins.

More later,