How I Will Vote Tomorrow

I may need more practice at this...

Some of these results probably will come as little surprise, others may come as a bit of a shock, but I thought I would continue my opining about this election cycle by announcing my voting decisions with a small amount of justification and insight. For those who live in Linn County Iowa, you can obtain a sample ballot here. The specific ballot I will be discussing can be found here. I'm big on getting everyone out to vote, just try and do a little bit of your own research before you do so, thank you.

President of the United Stated of America - Mitt Romney
If anyone is surprised by this then they haven't read this.



U.S. House of Representatives, Iowa District 1 - Gregory Hughes
When it comes to an election, you like to have a clear and concise choice, and if in however many years that choice has not worked out the way you want, you want to be offered a new alternative. This is not what is happening in this re-runoff between Ben Lange and Bruce Braley. Who already faced each other in 2010. Now with new districts they are recasting the same messages out hoping to either have the exact same outcome, or the outcome that was rejected two years ago. This seems a bit idiotic in my mind, so I gave a good solid look at Greg Hughes, or at least as good of one as I could find. He appears to be very proactive as far as holding members of the Judicial Branch accountable, and has spent a good amount of his time helping people and families in less fortunate times battle against the system. Nothing that effects me personally, but he offers some interesting stories and obviously very passionate about defending individuals.

State Senator District 34 - Liz Mathis
Perhaps a surprise to some, it's a bit of a de-facto pick, her original opponent Randi Shannon, dropped out, leaving Ryan Flood to try and put a campaign together with less then 3 months before the election.

It's not going so good...

The one flyer I received to even let me know of the change didn't have a website, I extrapolated it from the email address domain to find this, (and believe me, a Google search will not find it easily) his entire platform fits on a single sheet of paper. No real surprise as far as outcome here. But I did take some time to review Liz's voting record, and nothing stood out to my as absurd  I am curious to see how the commercial zone property tax argument will progress now that the state budget is looking much better. I also feel that a split legislator (house being Republican, Senate being Democrat) will result in a more agreeable reform that will limit impact on local school districts budgets while still getting some relief pointed toward locally owed businesses. Final thought, she also knocked on our door in person and spent several minutes discussing tax reform with me.

Call it an agreeable vote for the eventual winner, but I'm satisfied with my state senator.

State Representative, District 68 - Nick Wagner
As in depth as any election for a state house member can get, I actually feel like we have a pair of good candidates, I watched a replay of a debate and must say I was impressed by both of theirs knowledge and passion. Though I can not find a transcript of video upload online (very disappointing, but expected). I recall one point that was made about shifting power of the state universities budgeting more towards the legislature. Though not thrilled by the idea of it becoming a a battle between politicians and bureaucrats.  I am not a fan of our board of regents, something about how a school with lower enrollment and a higher endowment gets about 25% more per student then my alma mater, but I digress. Lundby believes that an appointed board is a better decision maker then an elected panel. What I've seen tells me otherwise. I don't feel like there is a 'wrong' decision in this race, but my vote is going to Nick Wagner.


Linn County Board of Supervisors, District 4 - Brett Olsen
I've had the opportunity to meet Brett on a couple occasions, once during a public session for rebuilding the City after our epic flood of '08. He's generally considered a practical guy with libertarian tendencies. I am a little disappointed that he's running unopposed as it prevents a candidate from holding as many open houses or going on the record for their plan and vision as much as I would like.

Linn County Auditor - Garth Fagerbakke

I'm envoking my knowledge of public Information Technology that tells me that Joel Miller is hiding something, you don't take a laptop from your employer and have some expectation of privacy on it. Regardless of the exact wording of the law. Add this to hiring an old buddy through a temp agency at $40/hr for a term of several months just rises my ire and makes me feel that we can try someone know in this posisiton.

Linn County Sheriff - Brian Gardner
Another unopposed election, I had heard rumblings of a write in effort for a Tim Pugh, but have not heard much other then that. Again, always feel a little disappointed when someone runs unopposed, but what can you do at this point.

Soil and Water Conservation and Agricultural Extension Council - Whoever wants it.
I'll admit it, I have almost no idea what these people do or why we are voting for them, but three people are running for three spots on one and four people are running for four spots on another, if you want the title, that's good enough for me at this point.

---TURN THE BALLOT OVER!---

Judge Retention - Yes, to all

Using a highly scientific process of typing in "Should <judge name> be retained?" into Google and reading the first non-generic link that comes up, if the story warrants further investigation, investigate further. Suffice to say this process bored the crap out of me, with the exception of Wiggins. For those of you not in the know of Iowa, we are one of very few states that allow same sex marriage, due to a ruling a few years back by out state supreme court that decided that any ban on same sex marriage was unconstitutional, ipso facto, they are legal. I understand a lot of people don't believe in life time appointments and will vote no regardless, my fear is the wrong message is being sent if Wiggins joins the 3 not retained judges from 2010 and our court will be horribly slanted towards the disposition against same sex. Read the opinion here, and remember that this decision was unanimous between all 7 justices at the time. The only thing that I have considered is voting no on the other three republican appointed judges, and yes on Wiggins, but I feel that would be a bit petty considering they just got appointed last year.

E911 Public Measure - ??
A measure to fund our 911 services with an additional $.25 surcharge to land lines monthly fee. I'm actually very opinionated, but for reasons that I won't get into here. Suffice to say my current job has offered me some insight into this measure, I strongly suggest my fellow Linn County residents to learn what you can and decide accordingly.

There you have it folks, the 2012 General Election ballot as filled out by yours truly, and once again, get informed and make your own decision. For those who are interested, here is my party scorecard.

Republican - 4
Democrat - 2
3rd Party - 1