Referenda results -- November 2002 to June 2010

With the capital budget here, I've been wondering if there were any trend lines in referenda results over the past few years. So rather than wonder, I went to Town Hall and compiled the actual results that you can see here:Couple things:

- I chose 2002 to present because that particular data was all in one book in the Town Clerk's office. To go back further, I would've needed to find the second book. And I wasn't inclined to do that.

- The descriptions are a bit haphazard, but that was the easiest way for me to dissect them to identify any trendlines... on which I'll share my thoughts in the next week or so. Regardless, I'm confident you'll be able to recognize each of the projects.

Hope this is interesting. And I think it's fair to say that for some stuff, voter support hasn't changed. But for some other stuff, voter support has waned... while nothing has increased support over the past few years.

Tim White

My political advertising

I promised to try to include some of the GOP literature that was being distributed during the campaign... so here's one piece I found:I'll look for more.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

District 4 statistics

Here is a quick recap of the numbers for the 4th District Council seat:43 people "blanked" (cast no vote) my race this time.

In 2003, about 2000 out of 2100 people cast votes (100 blank votes). In 2005, about 2000 out of 2200 people cast votes (200 blank votes)... so blank votes were down this year in the 4th district Council race.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

Some political advertising

For keepsakes... here is some of the literature that was distributed during the campaign... thought you might be interested... this is just some Dem stuff... I'll see if I can find some of the GOP stuff, but I've got stacks of paper scattered about right now and need to tidy up a bit. Until then... here is some stuff on the Council (enlarge images by clicking on them):Here are some claims made by the PZC candidates:Here is some BOE literature:And finally, here is some general Democratic info:

Feel free to parse! I think some of this stuff is quite fair, but some... well... I'm still wondering how one claims that increasing our bond rating to AA is "fiscally responsible," if you don't have a cost/benefit analysis.

And while all of these things were mentioned during the campaign... did anyone notice the absence of discussion of the Senior Tax Freeze? Don't politicians usually talk of their accomplishments? hmmm....

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

Election results

Council: 5-4 Dems

Hall - 4000 (D)
Ecke - 3600 (D)
Altieri - 3500 (D)
Slocum - 3400 (R)
Sima - 3300 (R)
Esty (D), Ruocco (R), DeCaprio (D), White (R)

Congratulations to the three newcomers: Laura DeCaprio, Jimmy Sima & Tim Slocum! Anyone notice... no Council incumbents lost? Although... the Dem domination of '05 was clearly gone this year with the two parties being on a much more even keel.

BOE: 4-3 Dems

Massey (D) & Sobol (R) were reelected. Dixon (R) returns to the BOE. Brittingham (R) was elected for the first time.

PZC: 6-3 Republicans (MRJ, by Leslie Hutchison)

Flynn-Harris (D), Maidelis (R), McPhee (R)

All five referenda passed.

Any thoughts on the election? I wanted to win a Council majority, but am not too surprised with the Council remaining 5-4 Dem. Nor am I surprised with the BOE results, but... I find the PZC quite interesting.

Why did Rich Levy (Dem incumbent) lose, while Patti Flynn Harris (Dem incumbent) win... with the most votes!? Rich and Patti both voted in favor of the ND zone text change.

It's also worth noting that Tim Slocum (PZC) and Jimmy Sima (BOE) were the most vocal opposition to the ND on their respective boards... and they both got elected to the Town Council.

Our much-maligned Town Clerk, Carolyn Soltis, had a resounding victory. Good job Carolyn!

Joe Bartoli (R) and Vin Lentini (D) were reelected to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Ken Wilson (R) was elected, while receiving the highest number of votes.

Compliments of Leslie Hutchison at the MRJ, here are links to the MRJ election night photos from both the Dem and GOP headquarters.

And as for the only vote totals that I remembered exactly (excluding absentee ballots)... I won 1197 to 666. Again... to the voters of the 4th District... thanks so much!

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

Thank you for your support!

Here's a 53-second clip of my closing comments from Oct 25 LOWV forum:

I thank you, the people of the 4th district, for letting me serve you for the past four years. I hope that I can continue serving the district on issues, such as potholes, sidewalks, road repaving (on Brentwood and Towpath) and drainage (on North Brooksvale) among the many district issues that arise.

I also hope to continue serving the town by offering new ideas, such as using biodiesel in our public works department and uploading Council meetings to the internet.

And, of course, I'll continue advocating other issues of town wide concern, such as a cost/benefit analysis for the Rainy Day Fund and decisive action on the pool and the bubble.

I hope that I, and the new Republican team, can have your support on Tuesday.

thanks,
Tim

Any new ideas for the pool?

Believe it or not, the race for control of the Town Council on Tuesday could come down to which of the town's two political parties has properly gauged the mood of voters concerning the future of the Community Pool.

Republicans and Democrats agree that something needs to be done, but the candidates differ on potential solutions. The Democrats hold a 5-4 majority on the nine-member council.

For example, Republican incumbent Tim White has advocated in the past either closing the pool entirely or having it operate seasonally.... "There's a lot of people who are just really upset with the costs related to the pool," White said. "I think they want decisive action taken." (NHR, by Luther Turmelle)

Democrat Michael Ecke, who is the vice chairman of the council, contends that Republicans on the council have primarily criticized the Democratic majority without offering any real solutions of their own.

"When they were in charge, they offered the exact same ideas," Ecke said.

But Republicans haven't been in the majority for two years. And during that time, (along with operating a summer facility) I've also advocated using "performance contracting" to finance a permanent structure for the pool (this would take the $400,000 annual energy budget and use it to finance a permanent structure, rather than simply letting the heat escape through the bubble)... therefore, to suggest that "Republicans on the council have primarily criticized the Democratic majority without offering any real solutions of their own" is to suggest that I've been mum on this issue for the past two years... and since Councilmen Schrumm and Orsini have been highly supportive of maintaining the pool, as is, I'm not sure who the "Council Republicans" are who complain, but offer no real solutions.

On the contrary, if you watch the pool consultant video from November 28, 2006... most of the concern seems to come from the majority. Although, this WRA article on the pool consultant still makes me wonder why we spent $20,000:Regardless, while I've been offering new ideas... perhaps the best remedy for this situation is electing some new people who will bring a fresh perspective to the table.

Tim White

WRA Council endorsement

Since the Democrats won control of the Town Council in 2005, they have exhibited erratic leadership. Though they have supported development near Interstate 691 and imposed reasonable (by Democratic standards) tax increases, they pushed through a tax break for senior citizens that unjustifiably punishes all other property owners. Republicans offer a better option, though they give voters reason for concern by insisting public safety — a big issue these days in Cheshire — could be improved simply by paying police officers more.

Tim White

Council candidates forum

I enjoyed tonight and really do appreciate everyone getting involved and running for office. We all had a chance to share our views. Interesting thing to me though was what I heard from people afterward... people were saying that the candidates all seemed to agree. I didn't think so. At least... not on everything.

Here's my version...

I think there were six questions asked. And from my perspective, two questions received very different responses from various candidates.

Q1. Should we close the pool? My answer... the problem is not the pool. The problem is the bubble. We have three options to address it:

1) summer facility,
2) maintain the status quo or
3) build a permanent structure.

For two years now, I've advocated a summer facility to save money and energy. And more recently, I've advocated erecting a permanent structure (financed using the wasteful energy budget of $400,000/yr).

But how did other Council members respond?

We're "paralyzed." We're afraid of "big, bold ideas."

Frankly, I found it astounding to hear "leaders" utter those words. I mean... this is a recreational facility. Heck... agree with them or not, Congressman Chris Murphy has advocated defunding the war in Iraq. Congressman Chris Shays has advocated the surge. And Congressman Charlie Rangel has gone so far as to advocate reinstating the draft.... yet this Council is "paralyzed" over a recreational facility? For me, those had to be the most disappointing comments of the night.

Q2. What's an appropriate size for the rainy day fund? My answer... As a CPA and a member of the budget committee... I don't know, because I have yet to see the cost/benefit analysis that I've been requesting for several months now.

The response from others seemed to be to simply dismiss the reality that if $2,000,000 is collected in taxes, then the taxpayers deserve to know the benefits related to those taxes.

And to suggest that 8% is a good number because it is "one month of bills" is simply absurd. Any CPA would recognize that you're answering a "balance sheet" question with a "cash flow" answer. And since the town doesn't collect one month of "revenue" each month... that argument is simply bogus... now don't get me wrong... cash flows are a concern... but to suggest that 8% is "a good number" because it covers "one month of bills" is ridiculous. Any CPA would dismiss that argument out of hand... or at least ask for a cash flow statement for the town to further understand the cash flows of the town... since everyone knows the town gets the majority of its cash in January and July of each year.

And of course, I also mentioned my belief that tax dollars belong to the tax payers... not to government. On this, I did sense strong philosophical differences... largely along party lines... though that may have been the only issue where people could determine party affiliation based on candidates' answers... hence, I'm not surprised to hear people say "it seemed liked everyone is in agreement on everything."

Anyway... if you're a bit lost on this topic, but still trying to follow it... here is an analysis I compiled a few months ago... it gives some highlights of the "rainy day fund," including the costs related to both the "existing" rainy day fund and the "maintenance" of the rainy day fund. I think it's self-explanatory:

Your thoughts on the candidates forum?

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

Open space referendum

As I mentioned in a previous post, it was unclear to me why two of five referenda included "aggregate" dollar amounts, but the $1,000,000 open space question did not include the $250,000 from three years ago. And while I specifically addressed this during a recent Council meeting, I hadn't received an update. So today I called the "decision maker" myself.

I'd never spoken with "Bond Counsel" before, but I called today. I spoke with one attorney and he clarified the Charter rules for me. Basically, if a referendum question relates to a specific item, then it must be aggregated. But open space questions are never (as far as I know) related to specific land parcels. Therefore, the $250,000 may be "exempt" from being aggregated... or more precisely... the Charter is vague on this. Therefore, it's a judgement call that could appropriately go either way... too bad the Council never opined on this.

Bottom line on the wording of the question... since the referenda had to be filed with the SOTS 45 days prior to the election, the open space question is already set in stone.

Nonetheless, this offers another place I'd like to revise the Charter...

1) separating the school and town budgets,
2) adopting tax limits that require a certain per cent increase to obtain voter approval at referendum,
3) enacting term limits for elected officials,
4) moving some authority from our (FOI-resistant!) WPCA to the Council, and
5) clarifying the rules governing referenda.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th district

Letters to the editor

Blogging has its benefits... such as allowing you to speak out in a more immediate way, with an ongoing discussion. But for all the benefits offered by blogging, I'm sure you're not reaching as wide an audience as is reached by the newspapers. So I encourage all of you to start adding your names to your comments and sending in some LTTEs. I think those letters would have a greater impact on the upcoming election than any anonymous comments on TWL.

Whether you're pro-D, pro-R, or pro-write-in... whether you support or oppose a particular candidate... I encourage you to write a letter to the editor this weekend. It shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes. Perhaps you can start getting involved here:

news@cheshireherald.com

And if you want a bit more advice, feel free to drop me a line (439-4394). I'd be happy to help.

Tim White

The Enlightenment

Is this a claim to be living in the 18th century?? lol.

Seriously though, about the public hearings... that was Mike Ecke's idea and it was a good one... but as for the creative problem solving, I'm still waiting to hear the creative solutions for the pool and its energy budget.

Maybe some answers will be provided at next Wednesday's meeting between the Council and P&R? No word yet on when and where that meeting will occur, but I hope the Energy Commission gets invited. After all, the bubble (and its costly energy consumption) is more of a concern than the programs that are being provided. And it would be an ideal opportunity to ask the EC about how the town and pool could benefit from performance contracting and the possible construction of a permanent enclosure for the pool.

Tim White

Campaign finance reports

Today was the deadline for reporting campaign finances through September 30. For me, I spoke with the State Elections Enforcement Commission and they told me (in a nutshell) that since I neither raised nor spent more than $1,000, I didn't have to file anything.... that was nice to hear.

It would be interesting to see what others raised though... and to see who is giving to whom. And if any of you are interested in doing your own research on this... don't forget to check the Town Committee reports... I'm guessing those are the only PACs (if you can call them that) that exist in Cheshire... though there may be more.

Tim White

The new ballot

I understand that the above is an example of the front of the November ballot... notice that there is a space for "write-in" candidates.

And below is an example of the back:I'm not sure why the "open space" question (#1) for $1,000,000 doesn't mention the $250,000 that was appropriated three years ago. Only last year (and again this year) I asked if dollar amounts must be aggregated for items to go to referendum and was told that is the case... and that is shown quite clearly in question #3 where the sewers had a multi-year project aggregated.

To me, that additional $250,000 seems important because, unlike many other open space appropriations, this quarter million dollars was never approved by the voters. So I hope that this ballot gets amended between now and the election.

Tim White

Disenfranchising the voters

On another post, a blogger asked about the Democratic Town Committee having some sort of pot luck dinner at the Senior Center. And presumably, since fundraisers are "prohibited"... this must be a free event and not a rehash of the ugly politics of this past summer (where favors were being dished out to the politically influential). Even so... that blogger reminded me of the concerns I raised.

You may recall my concern about benefits being accrued to the two major political parties in town... while others (and half the voters in town are unaffiliated) are afforded no such favors. Well... Cindy Kleist is running for Town Council... and she's not running with either of the two major parties. But has she been offered the use of a town facility for a political fundraiser? No. And her husband asked that very question this past summer!

You may feel this is benign. You may dislike Cindy. But to me this is a willful disenfranchisement of the voters... and it's just not right.

I hope that the policy is revised and an offer is extended... soon.

We're into October and any event is going to take some time to organize. But who knows... maybe disenfranchising non-major party candidates is the goal? Or maybe The-Powers-That-Be simply don't care about fairness and equality?

Tim White

Campaign finance

Yesterday was the "cutoff" for Q3 fundraising. Bill Richardson seemed to have gotten quite a few headlines for having raised $5,000,000. Barack and Hillary reportedly raised $20,000,000 each in Q3. I understand Mitt raised $10,000,000 and added another $7,000,000 from his own personal fortune... I'm not sure about anyone else, although Ron Paul raised $1,200,000 online in the past week alone.

Chris Murphy had raised $780,000 through Q2 of this year, but his fundraising may start to go dry now... among all incoming freshman in the 110th Congress, Chris received the most money from MoveOn.org last year. Then last week he tattooed MoveOn for their "General Betray Us" ad... so many MoveOn supporters are fuming right now. Chris' likely GOP opponent, state Senator David Cappiello, had raised over $200,000 through Q2... regardless, no word yet on the fundraising for either of them.

Perhaps more interesting to many of you though will be the local fundraising reports that had their "cutoff" yesterday. For me personally, I'm not yet sure if I need to report anything. The reason for that is my intention... I intend to spend less than $1,000. So I may not need to file any reports. For anyone spending more than a grand though, they'll need to file. And I expect most people will be spending more than a thousand bucks.

Why spend more $1,000? Easy... with 9,000 or so households in Cheshire... a postcard to every house in town could easily cost $3,000 (cardstock / postage / photocopying)... for a district, call it $750. A lawn sign costs about $8. And I think there are about 400 streets in town. So to have a lawn sign on 1 of every 4 streets would cost $800... and on and on. You can exceed $1,000 very easily.

Anyway... I imagine the press will be looking at those local campaign finance reports when they get filed with the Town Clerk, Carolyn Soltis, in the next week to ten days. So maybe there will be some reporting on them... or... perhaps you'd like to do your own reporting! If not here, then write your own post at Cheshire Town Post. I'd be happy to give you a blogging tutorial... and I imagine (if he has the time) Craig Houghton would also be happy to help with the endeavor.

Tim White

Kleist for Council

Cindy Kleist is running for Town Council as a "write-in" candidate. Anyone know if she's running "at large" or in the 3rd district?

Tim White

GOP fundraiser

If you're free on Tuesday between 5-7pm, please stop by the Bartoli household (754 Devonwood Drive). The suggested donation is $75, but if that's too high (or too low!) you shouldn't be too concerned... please still consider stopping by to speak with Gov. Rell.

GOP fundraiser

Marilyn and Joe Bartoli are holding a GOP fundraiser at their house (754 Devonwood Drive) on Tuesday from 5-7pm. Gov. Rell is expected to attend. I hope you consider attending.

For more info, call the Bartolis at 271-2497 or Steve Carroll at 272-9503.

Also, keep in mind that the Governor has called for a special session for this Wednesday... a special session on school construction bonding... and I believe the turf is included there. So you'd have an opportunity to speak directly with the Governor about the $850,000 for the turf and what it means to you.

Tim White

BOE budget process

I don't have the article handy, but the NHR (by Luther Turmelle) ran an interesting article on Thursday's BOE meeting. From what I recall, Peter Massey began asking for a more "collaborative process" during the creation of the Superintendent's budget proposal. Alan Sobol seemed to have taken issue with Peter's request. Alan was concerned about the public being excluded from the budget process.

I wish I had the article. But if you're interested on how the BOE race is taking shape... you may want to stop by the library and check out Friday's paper.

Tim White