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President: Barack Obama
US Senate: Al Franken
US House Third District: Ashwin Madia
US House Sixth District: El Tinklenberg
Minnesota Supreme Court and Appeals Court
Seat 3: Anderson
Seat 4: Gildea
Appeals Court judge
Seat 16: Stoneburner
Other Judges: No opposition, so no vote from me.
Constitutional amendment: Increase state sales tax by 0.375% to pay for environmental and cultural programs.: YES
(Please note, not voting in this is a "no" vote (in case that matters to you).
Minnesota House District 47A: Denise R. Dittrich
District Court races (contested)
Seat 14: Maybe Luke R. Stellpflug. Anybody want to talk me out of that? I'm open.
Seat 39: John P. Dehen vs. Robert B. Varco... flip a coin? vote out Varco because he was appointed by Jesse? Vote for Varco because he fishes and so do I???? Anybody know? Anybody care?
Soil and Water Supervisor Seat 2: I think I'm going to support he incumbent, Kim Kovich, because ... well, I have no information about the person running against him.
Anoka County commissioner: Dan Erhart
Coon Rapids Council: Scott Schulte, only because the individual opposing him has provided no information.
I list no unopposed races because I wont' vote in any of them this year.
For contrary opinions worth looking at regarding the sales tax, see Almost Diamonds. Here you have two identical opinions leading to slightly different conclusions leading to distinctly different votes. We must be Democrats.
Reasons: Avoid or vote against fundamentalist Christians at all costs. Vote for DFL where possible. That sorts most of these folks out. Other reasons indicated above where appropriate. Please feel free to comment as you see fit.
Comments
I think that the difference on the sales tax amendment is that the anti-tax idiots have mismanaged us into a truly ugly spot and that none of the solutions that fall anywhere short of getting them all out of the way are terribly appealing. I know plenty of other people who aren't voting with me on this one--and one person who is seriously considering flipping a coin tomorrow at the polls. None of us seriously disagree.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | November 3, 2008 3:07 PM
I urge you to vote for Hedlund over Gildea.
Gildea is a Pawlenty appointee, and says :
"Justice Gildea knows that the main purpose of Minnesota�s courts is to enforce promises - - promises to individual people, to businesses, the bodies of government, and to society as a whole. She knows that the first promise which Minnesota must keep is the promise of freedom to law-abiding citizens. She knows that the second promise which Minnesota must enforce is the promise of public safety for our citizens."
This strikes me as a `we must protect society from the TERRORISTS!' kind of position, coded a little more carefully than Bachmann.
From what I can find about Hedlund, she seems much more progressive than Gildea.
Posted by: --bill | November 3, 2008 4:29 PM
--bill, seen this? It's a bit more than coded.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | November 3, 2008 4:35 PM
Thanks, Stephanie, I hadn't seen that.
Gildea is endorsed by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life ; she doesn't quite come out and say she's `pro-life', but...
they both seem pretty nasty....
Posted by: --bill | November 3, 2008 4:56 PM
Hey Greg,
I'm looking at my Minneapolis ballot and see there are School Board elections. Do you know if these seats have any real power to instate ID in schools either in MPLS or MN? I am afraid I'm unable to find any real info about any of the candidates online, and have heard almost nothing about them locally. They are listed as non-partisan, and there is no info about their stance on ID or creationism. What's a guy to do to make sure I don't accidentally vote in IDiots? Is it a crapshoot or is there a way to figure this out? I all of a sudden regret not doing some earlier research.
Evan Henke
Posted by: Evan Henke | November 3, 2008 9:28 PM
Evan, if you follow the Almost Diamonds link in the post, you can find my choices for Minneapolis School Board. They have solid backgrounds that suggest they're not loons coming out of nowhere. They're DFL endorsed, so someone else has also vetted them.
There is another incumbent on the list who is also not an IDer. I just haven't been terribly impressed by her performance.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | November 3, 2008 10:40 PM
Evan, there are no school board people running in my district, so I haven't looked into this
Yes, the school board members in Minnesota can do bad things. What school district are you in? Anybody go any info on school districts out there?
It is very easy for a creationist to get themselves elected to a school board. You could try calling them in the morning and asking them point blank what their positions is on science teaching and ID. Assume an evasive answer is a creationist. (maybe)
Posted by: Greg Laden | November 3, 2008 10:48 PM
Evan... right, now I am reading more carefully and I see that you are in the city. Right, Stephanie has good info on that.
Going to bed now....
Posted by: Greg Laden | November 3, 2008 10:53 PM
Good stuff, although I wish I could have known a little more. Dem endorsed members sound like a safe bet.
Posted by: Evan Henke | November 3, 2008 11:10 PM