It is nearing the big day for the 2008 spring election on Tuesday, April
1st. True, it is April Fools Day, but this election is no joke. There is a lot
riding on the ballot this day, for one thing, a $62.2 million dollar school
referendum.
Add an important State Supreme Court race and half of Brookfield's Common Council too, throw in a
Constitutional Amendment and a few other races and I hope it adds up to a good
turnout.
I will start with the biggest ticket item first. My picks are in bold and
marked with an X. I live in the 7th district, but I will also include my picks
for other districts as well. As always, familiarize yourself with the
candidates and issues and make an intelligent choice.
My policy is to only vote for those I support. Unless I am reasonably
familiar with a candidate's stance, I do not vote for them. If a candidate is
unopposed and I don't support them, I don't vote for them. I may vote for a
write-in instead as a protest vote. (My comments are in parenthesis.)
HERE IS TUESDAY'S BALLOT (Thanks Fairly Conservative for the tip
on looking up your area's ballot.)
AUTHORIZING GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS (A.K.A. Elmbrook's
$62.2 Million dollar referendum )
_ YES
X NO!!!
QUESTION 1: Partial Veto (A.K.A. Frankenstein
veto)
X YES
NO
Non-Partisan Races:
JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT
X MIKE GABLEMAN (Endorsed by Cong.Sensenbrenner, Ryan, Wisconsin
Right to Life, and more info)
LOUIS BUTLER (Endorsed by Sen. Feingold, Kohl, AFT & WEAC, Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender
Center Advocates)
COURT OF APPEALS JUDGE, DISTRICT 2
X WILLIAM GLEISNER (Endorsed by Paul Bucher, who's ads state Gleisner
is pro-life, gun rights, and voter ID)
LISA S. NEUBAUER (Gov. Doyle appointee, more liberal than
Gleisner)
COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISOR
THOMAS SCHELLINGER (Tom will make it for this one without my vote, remember
2006?)
Former alderman JIM HEINRICH is also on the ballot for another area.
ALDERMEN, City of Brookfield
My picks if I could vote in every district. My district 7.
DISTRICT 1
X DAN SUTTON* (Hands
down my favorite here. Dan has great instincts. I hope to see him as
council pres.)
DICK BRUNNER (My impression: Voted with mayor's agenda for every development
and against neighborhoods.)
DISTRICT 2
X TERRY HALMSTAD (Seems to be everything
I would look for in a candidate, he would be an asset on the council.)
RICK OWEN (Seems he votes with mayor's agenda for every development and
against neighborhoods--including ours. Will
the real Rick Owen please stand up?)
DISTRICT 3
X RON BALZER* (Ron often votes independently of mayor's
agenda. I would vote for him if I lived in 3.)
JACK SHAW
DISTRICT 4
STEVE PONTO (I can't remember a vote of his that wasn't the mayor's agenda.
Drives a cute red VW convertible though.)
DISTRICT 5
SCOTT BERG* (His votes sometimes surprise you--not always with the mayor's
agenda--he also is surprising.)
DISTRICT 6
X CHRISTOPHER BLACKBURN* (I am so
glad he is running again and has no opponent. He is very pro resident.)
DISTRICT 7
X RENEE' LOWERR (Very energetic, hard worker, and I think
will be sensitive to neighborhoods regarding development since she had her own NIMBY experience.)
TOM SCHELLINGER*, AGAIN.
(Nice enough guy, but a neighbor refers to him as Mr. Roll-a-dex,
because when he called Tom about an issue, Tom got the neighbor a phone number
to call to solve for himself. Position never known on an issue until
vote.)
*The star denotes the aldermen who voted with our
neighborhood to preserve our little Kinsey
Park woods from an
unwanted, paved, bike road. We barely squeaked a victory and would not have won
had Gary Mahkorn not been on vacation.
Oh, I almost forgot...
SCHOOL BOARD: all unopposed
X TOM GEHL (Tom and I don't see eye to eye on everything, like the
referendum, but he made the hard decision to vote NO to 4K because it did not
show academic merit. He is very prompt and polite in his response time to email
questions.)
DAVID MARCELLO (David is also pro referendum and will probably get in unless
enough people write in CINDY KILKENNY as I will do. Then maybe we can
start maintaining our schools.)
GARY JONES (He will get in, but this is another chance to choose your ideal
candidate with a write-in. Gary seemed nice enough at the forum, but again, he
is pro referendum.)
Correction:
C G SCHMIDT Cost summary of Referendum
ACADEMICS, NOT ATHLETICS AND AIR CONDITIONING!
Tomorrow is MILLIONS OF DOLLARS Tuesday!
Links: Brookfield7, Betterbrookfield, Vicki Mckenna
