Daily Archives: November 4, 2008

2008 Campaign

Losing faith

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I have lost all faith in the voters of Central Illinois. No, not because Obama won. Not because Dick Durbin got reelected. Not even because Kevin Lyons got reelected, although that did push me to the brink. But the thing that pushed me right over the edge was this election result:

Jehan Gordon (D) 18,829 53%
Joan Krupa (R) 16,390 47%

I consider myself pretty open-minded. I can totally understand why people would vote for Obama, Durbin, Schock, Lyons, etc. I may disagree with many of those choices (and I do), but there are logically defensible reasons to vote for them nonetheless.

But Jehan Gordon? Seriously? I can’t think of one single solitary reason to vote for her. Not one qualification. In fact, she’s easily the most unqualified candidate I’ve ever seen in my life. I have a number of Democrat friends who voted for every other Democrat on the ballot, but couldn’t bring themselves to vote for her. Yet 53% of voters cast their ballot for her.

For the love of Mike, why? Have you people completely lost your minds? Did you do even the most rudimentary research on the candidates before casting your vote? Like reading their bios, for instance? Or are you so partisan that you would vote for any name with a “D” behind it, no matter how unqualified they are?

I honestly cannot believe she was elected. IT BLOWS MY MIND!!! What is wrong with 53% of you voters?

2008 Campaign

Election Results ’08 (Last Update for this post)

3 Comments

UPDATED 9:30

Okay, I’m tired of typing this stuff out. If you want more updates, you can click on these links for the latest:

County results
City results

Happy election night!

— 76 of 93 precincts counted in CITY of Peoria —

(Totals include early voting numbers)

President of the United States
Barack Obama (D) 23,996 (59.59%)
John McCain (R) 15,765 (39.15%)

U.S. Senate
Dick Durbin* (D) 25,601 (65.75%)
Steve Sauerberg (R) 12,097 (31.07%)

18th Congressional District
Aaron Schock (R) 21,018 (52.82%)
Colleen Callahan (D) 16,875 (42.41%)
Sheldon Schafer (G) 1,898 (4.77%)

92nd District
Jehan Gordon (D) 12,215 (57.28%)
Joan Gore Krupa (R) 9,110 (42.72%)

Peoria County State’s Attorney
Kevin Lyons (D) 21,725 (55.41%)
Darin LaHood (R) 17,483 (44.59%)

Constitutional Convention
No 25,247 (66.31%)
Yes 12,828 (33.69%)

City of Peoria Non-Partisan Election
Yes 20,064 (55.03%)
No 16,394 (44.97%)

— 45 of 53 precincts counted in Peoria COUNTY —

President of the United States
Barack Obama (D) 15,324 (50.85%)
John McCain (R) 14,281 (47.39%)

U.S. Senate
Dick Durbin* (D) 17,437 (59.73%)
Steve Sauerberg (R) 10,551 (36.14%)

18th Congressional District
Aaron Schock (R) 17,502 (58.37%)
Colleen Callahan (D) 11,126 (37.10%)
Sheldon Schafer (G) 1,359 (4.53%)

92nd District
Joan Gore Krupa (R) 5,538 (55.89%)
Jehan Gordon (D) 4,370 (44.11%)

Peoria County State’s Attorney
Kevin Lyons (D) 16,254 (52.61%)
Darin LaHood (R) 14,640 (47.39%)

Constitutional Convention
No 21,117 (69.48%)
Yes 9,275 (30.52%)

–ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS–

Peoria County early voting results:

President of the United States
Barack Obama (D) 6,139 (54.4%)
John McCain (R) 4,997 (44.28%)
Ralph Nader (G) 61 (0.54%)
Bob Barr (L) 40 (0.35%)

U.S. Senate
Dick Durbin* (D) 6,563 (60.35%)
Steve Sauerberg (R) 3,908 (35.94%)

18th Congresional District
Aaron Schock (R) 6,031 (53.82%)
Colleen Callahan (D) 4,701 (41.95%)
Sheldon Schafer (G) 474 (4.23%)

City of Peoria early voting results:

President of the United States
Barack Obama (D) 9,218 (67.94%)
John McCain (R) 4,222 (31.12%)
Ralph Nader (G) 42 (0.31%)
Bob Barr (L) 40 (0.29%)

U.S. Senate
Dick Durbin* (D) 9,334 (71.09%)
Steve Sauerberg (R) 3,441 (26.21%)

18th Congressional District
Colleen Callahan (D) 6,999 (52.28%)
Aaron Schock (R) 5,836 (43.59%)
Sheldon Schafer (G) 552 (4.12%)

92nd District
Jehan Gordon (D) 4,737 (64.59%)
Joan Gore Krupa (R) 2,597 (35.41%)

Peoria County State’s Attorney
Kevin Lyons (D) 8,412 (63.81%)
Darin LaHood (R) 4,770 (36.19%)

City of Peoria Non-Partisan Election
Yes 6,857 (56.03%)
No 5,381 (43.97%)

Constitutional Convention
No 8,310 (65.33%)
Yes 4,411 (34.67%)

*Incumbent

Full election results are available from PeoriaVotes.com.

2008 Campaign

Election Day 2008

29 Comments

The campaign is finally over, and all the citizens who haven’t already voted early go to the polls today. By tonight at 9 p.m. or so, we should know who our next elected representatives will be.

While we’re waiting, anyone want to venture a prediction on any of the races? If you really want to show off your prognosticating skills, tell us what the percentage spread will be, too.

City Council, City of Peoria

Secrecy the order of the day at City Hall

15 Comments

The City of Peoria’s liquor commission can’t even get information on what’s happening with Big Al’s plans to move, resulting in a “no decision” Monday on whether to grant them a liquor license. Via 1470 WMBD radio:

[A] NO recommendation was forwarded to the City Council concerning a change in liquor class for the former EuroJacks and an application for a liquor license at 414 Hamilton Boulevard by the owner’s of Big Al’s. The Commission cited the owners could not produce enough information at this time on specific plans for the properties.

But apparently some city officials know what’s going on, as evidenced by these quotes from a recent Journal Star article:

“They are basically moving to make way for what could be a wonderful development,” city attorney Randy Ray said, declining to discuss specifics. “At this point, it’s just a tremendous opportunity to develop the Downtown.”

Added 1st District City Councilman Clyde Gulley Jr., who represents the Downtown, “we need to move (Big Al’s) because of another project.”

Others involved at City Hall and Zuccarini remained tight-lipped about what they have planned.

The city attorney, first district councilman, and unspecified “others involved at City Hall” all know what this “tremendous opportunity” and “wonderful development” is all about. The rest of us, however, will just have to wait to find out — probably until after it’s a done deal.

Secrecy fever has found its way into the budget process as well. At a special City Council meeting Monday night, it was announced that staff had cut the budget deficit from $2.2 million to half a million dollars. When Councilman Gary Sandberg asked how they accomplished that, he was told he’d have to come in tomorrow and talk to interim City Manager Holling in private to find out. In other words, they weren’t going to divulge that information on the council floor where citizens might hear.

Of course, the sad truth is that most citizens wouldn’t have heard since the meeting was on a Monday when there’s no radio or television coverage like on Tuesday nights. Interestingly, some council members (Van Auken, Manning, Nichting, Mayor Ardis) seemed to know what was going on, while the rest of the council was in the dark about this budgeting miracle.

And it was only a few months ago that the Journal Star reported, “City officials decided in June that this year, the budget process would be more open to the public, transparent, and easily communicated between city staff members and the council.” So much for that plan.

Peoria Park District

Some of the oldest oak trees in the city may have to go for Family House

11 Comments

I knew Family House was going to build a new home, but I had no idea it where it was going to be. That is, not until I read PeoriaIllinoisan’s post today. It looks like it’s going to be built on land that was once purchased specifically to prevent it from being developed — land near Glen Oak Park that was once eyed for acquisition by the Park District. Land with some of Peoria’s oldest oak trees, according to a 1998 Journal Star article. Very interesting story!