[Vision2020] Bond

Wed, 05 Feb 2003 09:43:41 -0800

--------------01F5B7FE32213A6530DDA63D
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Dale asks why the courthouse bond failed so decisively.
I am sure that for many voters, just the higher taxes in a recessional
period was enough to make them vote no.
But for me, the main reason I did not support that bond is the devious
means the county officials used to try to pass the bond.
First, they scheduled a special February election.  That was very costly
for the county taxpayers, but I assume the officials thought that would
result in a relatively small turnout (I recall that the Tribune placed
the turnout at 12 % of voters), and would mean that the core support
voters would have a chance.  A February vote would also be before any
school bond elections etc that might have been scheduled for May or
later.
Second, they spent $20,000 of taxpayer money on a propoganda campaign to
pass the bond (plus assigned one of the county staff to a quarter-time
position coordinating that effort).  Though they tried to disguise it as
an "educational, get out the vote" campaign, I think the voters saw
through that and voted no in disgust.
BL

Dale Courtney wrote:

>  Walter told me that the referendum failed. It seems to have failed by
> 35%Any ideas why?Dale CourtneyMoscow, ID
>
>      -----Original Message-----
>      From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com
>      [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com] On Behalf Of Dale
>      Courtney
>      Sent: Wednesday, 05 February, 2003 06:49
>      To: vision2020@moscow.com
>      Subject: [Vision2020] Bond
>
>      Does anyone know the status of the bond referendum
>      vote? Dale CourtneyMoscow, Idaho
>

--------------01F5B7FE32213A6530DDA63D
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
Dale asks why the courthouse bond failed so decisively.
 I am sure that for many voters, just the higher taxes in a recessional
period was enough to make them vote no.
 But for me, the main reason I did not support that bond is the devious
means the county officials used to try to pass the bond.
 First, they scheduled a special February election.&nbsp; That was very
costly for the county taxpayers, but I assume the officials thought that
would result in a relatively small turnout (I recall that the Tribune placed
the turnout at 12 % of voters), and would mean that the core support voters
would have a chance.&nbsp; A February vote would also be before any school
bond elections etc that might have been scheduled for May or later.
 Second, they spent $20,000 of taxpayer money on a propoganda campaign
to pass the bond (plus assigned one of the county staff to a quarter-time
position coordinating that effort).&nbsp; Though they tried to disguise
it as an "educational, get out the vote" campaign, I think the voters saw
through that and voted no in disgust.
 BL
Dale Courtney wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>&nbsp;Walter
told me that the referendum failed. It seems to have failed by 35%Any
ideas why?Dale
CourtneyMoscow,
ID
<blockquote dir=ltr 
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<div class="OutlookMessageHeader" lang="en-us" dir="ltr">-----Original
Message-----
 From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com
[<A HREF="mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com">mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com</A>] On Behalf Of Dale Courtney
 Sent: Wednesday, 05 February,
2003 06:49
 To: vision2020@moscow.com
 Subject: [Vision2020] Bond
 &nbsp;</div>
Does anyone
know the status of the bond referendum vote?&nbsp;Dale
CourtneyMoscow,
Idaho</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</html>

--------------01F5B7FE32213A6530DDA63D--