Final Results

Here are some final election results and some comments:

West Bend Alderperson D3

LuAnne Salmon - 44.27%
Ed Duquaine - 55.73%

Congratulations to Mr. Duquaine.  He’ll be a good addition to the council. 

West Bend School Bd

Lynn Corazzi - 20.93%
Kathy Van Eerden - 21.85%
Randy Marquardt - 29.01%
David Weigand - 28.02%
Write-in Votes - 0.18%

This was an overwhelming victory for the two conservative candidates.  I was heartened to see it.  This is a clear mandate from the community that they are unhappy with the current direction of the school board and want to see a change. 

Personally, I thank both Corazzi and Van Eerden for their work on the board.  Although I have disagreed with their methods, I think that both of them have worked for what they thought were the best interests of the district.

New Election Results

Okay, the hail seems to be moving on…

With 86% of Washington County reporting:

West Bend School Board

Lynn Corazzi   2435
Kathy Van Eerden   2542
Randy Marquardt   3375
David Weigand   3259

Other item of interest:

Alderperson District 5

LuAnne Salmon 386
Ed Duquaine   486

And I’m going to go ahead and call it for District 1 Alderperson Tony Turner. With 316 votes and no opponent, I think the guy is going to pull this off. I’m pretty sure the attack ad on the person named “Write-In” who got 11 votes is what put Tony over the top.

Election Results

The first election results appeared about 50 minutes ago, and nothing has been updated since.

With 47% of the county’s precincts reporting:

Paul Reilly 1949
Linda Vandewater 2403

In the School Board race:

Lynn Corazzi 492
Kathy Van Eerden 508
Randy Marquardt 842
David Weigand 793

The house is shaking right now, and it’s hailing. Hope to have more election results before the house tips over.

Fullerton Pleads Guilty

Shameful. 

A political activist and unsuccessful candidate for public office in Waukesha has pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of cell phones worth $1.2 million and reselling them, according to federal court documents.

Troy Fullerton, 34, of Waukesha pleaded guilty to one count of fraud. Sentencing guidelines call for about four years in prison. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will recommend no more than 33 months in prison to U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa, according to a plea agreement filed last week. No sentencing date has been set.

According to court documents:

Fullerton worked for Verizon Wireless, handling government cell phone accounts from July 2006 until he resigned last year. He ordered 5,010 cell phones from Verizon, purportedly as replacement phones for clients. Instead, he sold them through a side business to other companies.

When confronted by an FBI agent, Fullerton said, “There is no good excuse for this,” according to the plea. Fullerton told the agent he bought lake property and a used Cadillac with money from the sale of the phones, it said.

Obama’s Quite the Sox Fan

lol

Topless Women

Hey, I’m a big fan of topless women, but this story made me chuckle. 

About two dozen women marched topless from Longfellow Square to Tommy’s Park this afternoon in an effort to erase what they see as a double standard on male and female nudity.
The women, preceded and followed by several hundred boisterous and mostly male onlookers, many of them carrying cameras, stayed on the sidewalk because they hadn’t obtained a demonstration permit to walk in the street. About a thousand people gathered as the march passed through Monument Square, a mix of demonstrators, supporters, onlookers and those just out enjoying a warm and sunny early-spring day.

After the marchers reached Tommy’s Park in the Old Port, some turned around and walked back to Longfellow Square, but most stayed and mingled in the park. Some happily posed for pictures.

Police said there were no incidents and no arrests – nudity is illegal in Maine only if genitals are displayed.

Ty McDowell, who organized the march, said she was “enraged” by the turnout of men attracted to the demonstration. The purpose, she said, was for society to have the same reaction to a woman walking around topless as it does to men without shirts on.

There’s a reason that topless men are entirely different from topless women.  It has to do with the small fact that men and women are different and have substantially different bits & pieces.  It’s laughable to me that the organizer is so “enraged” that men ogled a bunch of topless women walking down the street.

Have You Voted Yet?

Go vote.

Judge Rules Against FCC Controlling Internet

Excellent. 

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Federal Communications Commission lacks the authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks.

Tuesday’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is a big victory for Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable company. It had challenged the FCC’s authority to impose so called “net neutrality” obligations.

I get the motivation behind the Net Neutrality movement, but I think it is misguided.  It’s far better to let the market work than to have the government enforce arbitrary restrictions.

Woman Shot Over Jean Shorts

Yikes.

Police in Ohio say a woman shot her cousin to death during an argument that started because one woman didn’t think the other was dressed properly for Easter dinner.

Columbus police say 19-year-old Danielle Pickens showed up Sunday night at the home of Evelyn Burgess wearing a T-shirt and jean shorts. Detective Steven Eppert says 42-year-old Burgess told officers she thought the outfit was inappropriate and disrespectful.

The women fought. Police say Pickens walked outside to leave and Burgess shot her in the head with a handgun. Pickens died at a hospital early Monday.

On the scale of “disrespectful,” I’m pretty sure murder is further down the line than jean shorts.  Although, I admit, it may be close.

Double Down

Hummana, hummana, hummana...

The new KFC Double Down sandwich is real and it’s coming April 12th! This one-of-a-kind sandwich features two thick and juicy boneless white meat chicken filets (Original Recipe® or Grilled), two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese and Colonel’s Sauce. This product is so meaty, there’s no room for a bun!

Paternal Instinct

An emailer says, “Oh look… good to see that the paternal instinct has been around us in Wisconsin for more than 100 years…” about this:

1903 - Legislature Considers Banning Sale of Cigarettes

On this date the Wisconsin Legislature considered a bill to ban sale or manufacture of cigarettes in the state. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Indeed.

Fire Update

Wendy and other folks are organizing for a pickup for a wider effort to help the people who are now homeless because of the recent fire in West Bend.  Here are a couple of stories from the Daily News regarding the fire. 

Charges sought in fire

Church leads effort to help displaced families

Couple thoughts… it is great to see how the good people of our community have come together to help our neighbors.  It’s truly heartening.

Loans to Government

Heh.

The size of state income tax refunds swelled to $1.86 billion last year, in part because the state for years didn’t update how it withholds taxes, a new report says.

The increase means taxpayers got more money back - $749 each on average last year - but that in doing so they provided the state with a large, interest-free, short-term loan, the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance says in the report released Monday.

“For those who welcome large refunds, this could be good news,” the report says. “For those who realize they are giving state government 10-figure, interest-free loans, these facts might be more unsettling.”

Refunds last year on average were equal to 28% of the amount taxpayers had withheld from their checks throughout the year. Through much of the 1990s, refund checks on average were 15% of withholdings - about half the size they are today, according to the taxpayers group.

This will become an even bigger problem if the state doesn’t have the money to issue the refunds - as has happened in some other states.  I’m usually pretty happy when we end up owing instead of getting a refund.  This year we owe a bit more than I would have liked, but that’s better than giving the government an interest free loan.

Stop SB 640

My column for the Daily News is online.  It’s called, “Stop SB 640.”

Go Vote!

It’s election day!  Get out there and vote!