Getty Cactus Garden

What better time is there for a political post than the night before an election? We have our little election tomorrow and if you were to say that tomorrow’s election has gone down the toilet, you would be right. This special election is all about the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD). The EPA is after Saint Louis to clean its doo-doo up and to stop dumping it into the Mississippi. I’m sure the good people of Memphis and New Orleans are in complete agreement. To maintain some measure of local control and stave off a Federal fiat, MSD has proposed a bond issue that will result in a doubling of sewer rates. The Sewer District proposes a ‘gradual’ rate increase schedule, over several years. The alternative is the all at once approach. I have consulted my political advisor, who unlike President Obama’s is not named David, but Anne. I will be voting yes on Y.

Anne will be working this election as an election official. Since, it’s a special election on a not particularly controversial issue [we’re going to end up paying whether it passes or not], voter turnout should be low. I predict that lots of knitting will be done, all on the taxpayer’s dime. Our good friend, Gina Mitten (D) is running for election as State Representative for the 83rd district. While this is not our district, Anne usually works the polls in this district. Gina will run for nomination in the August primary and Anne will be back to work that election too. [maybe] 😉

Gina Mitten

Anne voted absentee today. She bicycled over to the election commission and then did a tour of the park to get a total of 18 miles. Anne and I biked in the park yesterday and got 17 miles. It seemed like everyone who owned a bicycle was out riding it yesterday. ‘Bicycling Magazine’ had a list of the top fifty bicycling friendly cities in America, in its current issue. Seattle, a perennial in such lists was present. Of personal note, Ann Arbor cracked the top fifty. Its attributed claim-to-fame is the border-to-border trail. Saint Louis was wait listed in the wannabe top sixty. When we are next in Ann Arbor, we’ll have to checkout this trail.

Wisconsin with its Governor Scott Walker (R) recall election will be center stage tomorrow. Campaigning in this election has been fantastically expensive, with the Republicans vastly outspending their Democratic opposition. For this fact alone, above all others, I hope and pray that Walker is recalled. His defeat will show that at least in this one instance, an election cannot be bought. Otherwise, come November it will be business as usual.