I haven't commented much on any other part of yesterday's election other than Louisville's library tax. That's due to the fact that it pretty much turned out just like I thought it would. Not exactly the way I would have liked it to turn out. Bridget Bush's comments on the election (Elephants in the Bluegrass) are very similar to my thoughts.
Back to the library tax (See today's CJ article on the tax defeat). Several things to realize and to learn about the tax proposal itself:
1) Those that did not support the tax (like myself) aren't against better libraries, just against the tax itself. Particularly against the part that it never goes away, even after the library system is improved. Note the comments from the head of the organization against the tax:
Chris Thieneman, chairman of Support The Libraries, Not The Tax, spent four weeks campaigning against the proposal. But he said last night that he will work equally hard to make sure the expansion happens, using existing metro government revenue to pay for it.
Thieneman supports an alternative proposal written by Metro Council member Hal Heiner, R-19th District, who wants to pay for the expansion through a series of bonds and annual increases to the libraries' budget from the metro government's general fund.
"We are telling the (library) people, we will not abandon them," Thieneman said. "Now we'll get going and build these libraries. That's my passion now. I'll volunteer my time and services. It is overdue. We are for new libraries, we just want to pay for them differently."
2) Republicans should remember two people the next time Metro Council members are up for re-election. One of those is Hal Heiner, mentioned above. His alternative plan sounds like a very feasible one. According to the article, there are also eight others behind his moves.
The second Metro Council member to remember is Ellen Call.
Council member Ellen Call, R-26th and a staunch tax supporter, said the council will do whatever it can to make the library's master plan a reality. "We will do the best we can," Call said. "Our commitment to the library will remain unflappable."
Those in the 26th district should remember the tax proposal during the next Council election cycle.
3) Note the difference in styles for the election parties that occurred:
About 40 people gathered in a victory party at Thieneman's office suite inside a self-storage warehouse complex on Fern Valley Road, behind a bowling alley. They ate pizza -- some drank cans of Budweiser -- and cheered as the results came in on television. Downtown, the pro-tax campaign held a party in the Fraizer Museum, where people dined on a buffet.
The differences between the two campaigns were as stark as the parties.
Thieneman's group raised just over $20,000, while the pro-tax group had nearly $400,000 to spend.
WOW! But there's an irony here as well. That's $400,000 spent to get you and me to pay for the library. Money that could have been DONATED to support the libraries. This is so typically liberal. And conservatives are the rich ones?
Remember all this for the next elections.
-Colonel Steve
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