A Good Year for the Outlaw

Diane and I have only lived here since August, so this was our first city election to vote in. We both did a good job of educating ourselves on the races and issues important to us, and went up and voted. And what a day it turned out to be.

The longtime mayor, two incumbent council members, and a former city manager were all defeated in their election and re-election bids.

A tax hike for Wethersfield school district passed…I can’t remember the last time I’ve actually seen a tax hike pass in this day and age of the no-tax bullies affecting every election, and I think a small library tax will even pass. This town seems to be willing to pay for what they deem necessary, something I’ve seen other cities NOT do. Some cities (that shall remain nameless) won’t vote for ANY tax increase, even the ones that are VERY necessary.

And the most fun result of all…write in candidates got MORE votes than EITHER of the incumbent park board members that were running…one just ran afoul of the law recently, don’t know what the other one did…and we’re now waiting to see which write in candidates, if any, were able to get enough votes on their own to take office. Great stuff!

I can’t say which “side” of the aisle won, these are non-partisan races and you can get a general idea on a person’s viewss from the local candidate forums they’ve had, but everyone in this election seemed pretty moderate on most issues, so it was just a fun time to be a part of it. And obviously, from the results, the people of this town wanted some changes made. And it looks like they got ‘em.