It occurs to me I could put a little more current events in my Blog. To correct that, I'll let this Blog post be about this year's mid-term elections.
First, Claude was on the ballot as Mayor of Sadieville. He was not opposed. We both voted for him. He won the election. Yeah Big Guy!!
Then there was the contest for U.S. Senator from Kentucky. Mitch McConnell again Alison Lundergan Grimes. Big contest here in Kentucky and noised about in the country. Mitch McConnell has been a senator since January 1985. He has been the Senate Minority Leader since January 2007. Lots of experience there. I have heard him speak several times and always been impressed with his understanding of how things were working in Washington DC. Alison Grimes has been the Secretary of State of Kentucky since 2012. Claude and I sat with her at a dinner once. She seemed like a nice person. I voted for Mitch. I have serious concerns about things in our country and feel a man with Washington know-how is the best guy to vote for at this point in our nation's history. Mitch McConnell won and will now be the Senate Majority Leader.
My amazement with this piece of the elections was the millions of dollars spent by just this race. Millions I tell you, millions. It just seems so excessive to me that elections cost that much. We tire of the incessant ads, the negative ads, the calls requesting donations, the calls requesting your vote, the calls wanting you to participate in a poll. I don't know that the answer to those things. It just seems every election get more expensive, more intense with regard to calls and ads.
I did hear on NPR that the negative ads give you a better feel for what the candidate has done and will do than the positive ones. I found that logic interesting. They said the positive ads are usually telling you what a good family person the candidate is or someone gives a testimonial about some nice things the candidate did for them. The negative ads tell you what the candidates opponent sees wrong in the things the candidate has voted on thus telling you more helpful information to help you determine who to vote for. Wouldn't it be great if all the candidates published a list of their voting records (I know we can get those ourselves) if they are or have served as an elected official. And if that document also contained what they wanted to accomplish if they were elected and where they stood on the issues. We could study that out, listen to them speak, and then we would know how we wanted to vote on election day. Much simpler, less expensive (all that money could go to so many other causes), less advertising and not all those phone calls. It just doesn't work that way.
Papa gave us a chuckle as they pestered him regarding the election. Someone came to his door to talk with him about how he was going to vote and persuade them to vote for someone in particular. I don't know who it was and Papa can't remember. But Papa told me he just stopped their pitch at his door and told them, "Look, I don't know who any of your people are. But my son-in-law and daughter do. They will tell me who to vote for and that is how I will vote!" Whoever it was, Papa told them Claude Christensen was his son-in-law and this person knew Claude. Claude and I did get a chuckle out of it.
Claude was sworn in, in October as the 2nd Vice President of the Kentucky League of Cities (KLC). The Mayor of Bardstown was sworn in as the President. The Mayor of Williamsburg was sworn in as 1st Vice President. The Mayor of Midway was the current President. To be an officer in the Kentucky League of Cities you must be an elected official. The swearing in took place before the election. The new President, 1st Vice President and 2nd Vice-President each had to be re-elected to continue in their sworn in positions. The Mayor of Bardstown was not elected meaning there was now not a sworn in President. Claude and the Mayor of Williamsburg were elected. The past President was not running for another term. Needless to say, as the election results came in, the staff at KLC was busy sending out texts to Claude and the Mayor of Williamsburg. He would now be the President, serving a longer term, and Claude was bumped up to 1st Vice President. That was a little bit of surprise and excitement.
Our city commissioners all had to run for their offices. We have four city commissioners and a Mayor that form the total city commission. Claude was unopposed. We had five people running for the other four city commission seats. The two ladies that previously served were re-elected, Detta and Judy. Kim was also elected and has never served on the city commission before. The two men that served previously ended up in a tie. I asked Claude today if it had been determined which of them would be the remaining city commissioner. He said it hasn't been determined yet. There was talk that the proper way to do that would be a coin toss. I couldn't believe that. A coin toss. That would sure solve my frustration with all the money spent to campaign. Everyone puts their name in and we just toss coins to see who wins. Quick, easy and practically painless!! Goodness.
That is enough on politics for 2014. It is an interesting process. Most of the people Claude and I wanted in were voted in. There were a few exceptions. Now, we can just pray for those who were elected that they will use wisdom and good judgement as they serve.
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