The Primaries are Coming

[XLFD]

The first round of this year's elections are coming up this next Tuesday.  Whether it be the county commissioners, state or federal senators and representatives, or the governor's race, is there any candidate(s) you feel strongly about enough to air your support in this forum.  Or is there any candidate you feel strongly against to voice your discontent here.  Either way, let the rest of us know and tell us why you feel like you do.

[Willy]

Sheila
I have to disagree with you on that. I am neither a Democrat or Republican and have always voted libertarian or independent but not this time around. I'm voting for all Republicans. If we split our vote among the independents and alternative parties then the Democrats will win again. And I want them out office. If the Republicans fail to clean up the mess then I will again vote independent. Don't split the conservative vote. That will only keep the Democrats in power.

[Edie Lindsey]

Let's worry about the D, R, G, I, T, L, C, S parties when November comes around. If you see the word "re-elect", consider what they have to show for it. Cleanse the system, go for Snyder and those who got motivated to run because they did not like what they seen happening in Lansing or locally.

I looked at today's paper and glanced at the political ads: they maybe have a candidate picture, their name and what office they're running for, and maybe a meaningless qualification or slogan. I read the Saturday's paper political insert, and saw mostly the same stuff. Let's get some more beef by November people.

[Willy]

Don't forget to check out the county commission races. These folks will have a big say in the industrial wind generators that will probably be polluting Lake Michigan in the near future. I noticed one district in particular where all candidates supported those towers being put in the Lake. Check these folks out.

[XLFD]

I think that many of the new candidates have been motivated by that issue, as well as the anal-retentive county zoning policies, the helter-skelter ORV issues, not to mention the fear of the out-of-touch, monolithic, dinosaurs that mostly inhabit the commission. If an election wasn't coming up and they saw no opposition in their re-election, some of these commissioners may not have noticed that most of the public is against the lake-winds project.

I looked the section over and saw no incumbent that had any energy or direction rather than advocating the status quo-- Edie is right again; clean the table.

[Willy]

I wouldn't "clean the table". Each candidate, whether they are the incumbent or not, must be closely looked at. There are to many important issues coming up to just vote everybody out. [ I'm referring to local offices]. On the State and national level all the Democrats need to be sent home along with any Republicans who support Obama's agendas.

[XLFD]

Good point, RJE; change for change sakes got us Clinton in 1992 and Obama in 2008. But after looking at what they've done and what they stood for, there's only one incumbent commissioner I would have voted for, and they were running unopposed. If the newbies stood as good on the issues than the incumbent, I gave the tie to the fresher of the two, and using that rubric I would have cleant the table if I had any kind of mind control over the Mason County electorate.

[Dave]

Hopefully most if not all of you have already voted or are on your way to vote. I just returned for voting myself a short while ago. With a little luck, those that I voted for will first win in November and then will actually do what they say are going to do. Not real easy to trust politicians these days so we'll see what happens.

[XLFD]

I went and voted and actually picked a couple of winners in Snyder and Huizenga. I was surprised that the Hackerts were 0 for 3 on their bid to get on the commission, but happy that at least two incumbents were upended there. All the 4 millages up for renewal passed, which only goes to show you that the people will renew millages if the service is worthy of it.

[AQUAMAN]

Which incumbents got fired? I know of at least two that needed upending, maybe four altogether. Thanks.

[XLFD]

In District 2, Susan Boes beat board chair Mike Schneider handily (187-120) and in District 8, Curt Vanderwall crushed Ron Sanders (382-122), who will face David Fonnesbeck (D) in November.