Voting with your eyes closed

So last November, the people spoke and spoke loudly with their democratic right to vote. The problem is, too many people voted with their eyes closed. This is what you get when an uninformed electorate votes without comprehension of what/who they are voting for. You see, Margaret Keliher, was by ALL accounts doing a great job at her post of County Judge, even earing the respect of her partisan counterparts. But, because she had an (R) next to her name, she got thrown out of office and allowed Jim Foster to get elected - a man clearly inexperienced to tackle the major job of running the County. I think over the next few years, we will see more of this as more of the inept, unqualified newly elected Dallas officials show their true colors. For those of you that think this is merely whining from a steadfast GOP'er...you are right. I am whining because our city/county has been dumbed down. Leaving our County in a legally vunerable position is dumb....remember Terrell Bolton?

Comments

[Alex]

boo hoo, move to Plano

[Rick Casner]

Your well thought out reply qualifies you to also be County Judge and call in sick when the going gets tough and possibly postpone employee and vendor payments....

[Jeff Siegel]

Ordinarily, Rick, when you write something silly I let it pass. But this does seem a little odd, even for you. One of the first rules of politics is that it makes no sense crying over spilt milk. Move on.

Margaret Kelliher lost for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that her stand on the Cowboys stadium (which I happened to agree with) cost her votes among her core supporters. She also ran a crummy campaign, not taking Jim Foster seriously (much as Ann Richards overlooked the former owner of the Texas Rangers).

Local elections around here are rarely about political party, no matter what you may have heard lately. Jim Bowles didn't lose because he was a Republican, but because he had corruption problems. Tom Leppert didn't win because he was a Republican, but because his opponent alienated so many of his core supporters. Kelliher isn't judge, and calling everyone who voted for her stupid is kind of counterproductive.

[Rick Casner]

Come on Jeff. You really beleive Foster "earned" his victory. His winning was one of the more shocking results and he had no background or eason to win and quite frankly NO ONE was calling for Kelliher's head before the election from EITHER party.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2006-11-16/news/accidental-victors/

[DK]

The only reason I ever heard of Margaret Keliher was because she effectively blocked the stadium proposal from going to the voters. Regardless of how you would have voted on that issue, it's was just as important of an issue as the Trinity River debate and should have been addressed properly. For that alone, sorry, you deserve the boot.

[Rick Wamre]

As far as I'm concerned, why Margaret Keliher lost and/or why Jim Foster won is old news. What seems pretty pathetic is the guy calling in "sick" when something important obviously had to be handled. The Morning News (or perhaps John Wiley Price) make a pretty impressive circumstantial case that perhaps Foster wasn't sick; or more likely, maybe he is getting sick of the political pressure of running the county government. Foster probably wasn't planning on actually winning the election in the first place, given the way Democrats had fared prior to the last election, so I'm sure he's still in the adjustment phase. Hopefully, for all of us he is "governing", he'll get over his sickness quickly and be able to get back to work.

[Farinata X]

Let's see. Two Republican commissioners are "on vacation," so it's the Democrat's fault they couldn't have the meeting? How does that happen?

[Michael Mosteller]

Keliher got ousted along with all the other Dallas Republicans because the North Dallas Republican voters who are so disgusted with the President, the war and the current state of the party stayed home. Keliher and the other Republican commissioners blocked the stadium vote so they didn't have to worry about all the people (read African Americans and Hispanics) coming out to vote for the stadium who might not have voted for Republicans. They all deserved the fate they received in 2006. I voted specifically against Keliher because not letting people vote on the stadium for fear you might lose your job because people might vote straight party is beyond cowardly. People love to use Laura Miller as the punching bag for why the Cowboys are in Arlington. Yet everyone conveniently overlooks the real culprits who killed the only true chance the thing had to be won. Not to mention, whether you agree with the stadium or not, it would have actually made people give a damn about investing or spending money in South Dallas. This incompetence has set South Dallas even further back than it previously was. Hopefully, the DART Line running to Fair Park and the new Bexar Street district can bring some prosperity to South Dallas.

[Alex]

The City of Dallas voted for Gore and Kerry (it's true, look it up) that trend spread to the rest of the county, that's why the R's lost-- not because of turnout. I bubbled one circle on my ballot, I didn't think about, or care, who the people were. If the were good enough for the party they were good enough for me.

I'm sure as a nuance appreciating Republican Mr. Casner had the time to study who each and every candidate was, maybe in 2008 he can spend us all flyers telling us who to vote for and why.

[Kyle Rains]

Hey I'm still angry that Keliher barely beat Harryette Ehrhardt...