<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
All:<BR>
<BR>
Much of the opposition (or at least a number of voters that if they had voted for the levy instead of against, it might have passed) to the bond/levy came from very motivated fundamentalist Christians in Moscow who, in the final analysis, would oppose the bond/levy regardless of how perfect it was in planning, financing, etc. They oppose all tax supported public education. And of course there are a very large number of Republican and/or anti-tax advocates in Moscow who easily can swing against a raise in their property taxes, again, even if all of the objections to the levy/bond were blatant nonsense. All anti-tax advocates need is a threat to their income status, like the surge in gas prices, to make them vote down a bond/levy for schools. And even moderates who want to support public education might balk when they are being squeezed by worries about rising fuel costs and doubts about the U of I's future status as Moscow's main employer.<BR>
<BR>
I think this levy would have failed if Roberta, Janice and Jim Prall had spent the past two months sitting on the beach in the Caribbean!<BR>
<BR>
I would be curious to discover what the levy vote would have been if gas had dropped to $1.50 a gallon instead of going up to $2.50 a gallon, and the U of I was hiring more employees rather than firing them. I suspect these two variables alone would have altered the percentage breakdown of the vote, though the levy might still have failed.<BR>
<BR>
Mark Solomon's post on the broader financial/tax issues involved gets us closer to the truth of the overall agenda involved in our society in the attack on tax supported education, both higher education and public K-12 schools.<BR>
<BR>
For a deeper look, consider Chomsky's recent lecture at WSU, available on the web here:<BR>
<BR>
<A HREF="http://experience.wsu.edu/Default.asp?s=no">http://experience.wsu.edu/Default.asp?s=no</A><BR>
<BR>
I don't know for sure if the question and answer session after Chomsky's lecture is also included in this online version of his WSU lecture on the WSU website, but his comments during the question and answer session regarding those who "polish the boots of the wealthy" are relevant when considering the broader agenda in the attack on tax supported education in the USA. <BR>
<BR>
Ted Moffett<BR>
</FONT></HTML>