Yes, Virginia, there was an election last week....
We are apathetic. Only 12.5% of the county bothered to vote on a beautiful spring day. The turnout was greater in Baghdad than Bucks. Explain this to the families of the men and women who have given their lives in the Middle East, and two world wars, to make democracy available to all.
Perhaps this public apathy goes hand-in-hand with a basic reluctance to be a public servant. Not just anyone is willing to put up with the unavoidable pressure, aggravation, and criticism. In fact, it appears that almost no one is! There were 104 municipal races on the ballot this year in Upper Bucks, not including school boards. Some Democrat, some Republican:
Eighty five of those (82%) were uncontested! Only 19 positions were challenged. Either there are a whole lot of people out there who are very satisfied with life as they know it, or a whole lot of people who just aren't willing to make a difference.
Open space is an open question. While 73% of Bucks County voters favored Governor Rendell's $625 million Growing Greener bond issue to purchase open space, the number was considerably less in Richland, 61.5%. And that number gets even smaller (but more significant) if we look a little deeper.
Open space has been the hot button topic in the township for years. It has spawned ordinances, bond issues, lawsuits, and political rhetoric up the wazoo. After all the talk, you would think that residents would be revved up to finally walk the walk, and make sure that Richland gets as much funding as possible for preservation. It didn't happen.
Approximately 800 true believers in democracy made the pilgrimage to the primary polls. The most popular race was supervisor, with 723 total votes. Magisterial Judge attracted 593, and the contest for District Attorney drew 592, the same as Growing Greener. Of those 592, 364 were willing to use their taxes to fund the open space bond.
Do the math. Only 45% of even the hardest-core, most-motivated voters feel that open space is still enough of an issue in Richland to spend additional tax money. And to take that one step further, with 7338 registered voters in the township, less than five percent approved the bonds. Despite their populist rhetoric, the Richland Citizens Alliance's battlecry of "Open space at any cost" is out of touch with reality. The will of the people, as reflected at the polls, is far different.
The Williams factor: Ground zero for apathy was the Borough of Quakertown, where slightly more than 500 people seemed to realize it was election day. But after the dust settled, the most notable statistic was in the tally for Borough Council, where Republicans Ray Fulmer, Donald Rosenberger, and Dan Williams were unopposed. Fulmer and Rosenberger received almost equal support, 290 and 289 votes respectively.
However, of the 290, 13 independent thinkers among the faithful-of-the-faithful made the decision to reject Williams, perhaps because of his questionable ethics in receiving stone for his alley at taxpayer expense. For people everywhere who don't believe that their one vote can make a statement, let it be noted that thirteen hardcore voters in Qtown spoke quite loudly.
The Williams nonfactor: Despite an endorsement from Mike Zowniriw (or maybe because of it), Richland Republican supervisor candidate Ken Williams, Dan's brother, attracted only thirty percent of his party's vote. Craig Staats' margin of victory was the largest in a contested supervisor primary by either party in Richland in at least 30 years.
Last rites for Lamana: Maybe it was his switch from Democrat to Republican just days before filing his nominating petition. Maybe it was his autocratic handling of the firing of former police chief Brian McLaughlin. Maybe it was the retribution some citizens say he took against them for publicly criticizing him. Whatever the reason, Springfield supervisor Peter Lamana was crushed in his bid for re-election after nine years. He drew less than half as many votes as his two opponents.
Patrick Murphy is back: Remember Patrick Murphy? RCA founding member. Zowniriw's good buddy. Vic Stevens campaign staff. Removed as Richland Emergency Management Coordinator by fellow Democrat Governor Rendell at the request of the township's emergency personnel. Filed a spurious complaint with the Board of Elections two years ago that was thrown out. The man whose boorish behavior was the subject of editorials in two newspapers. Yeah, that's the guy.
Patrick was the Minority (Democratic) Inspector at one of the polling places last week when it was discovered that a candidate, Craig Staats was still listed as the Judge of Elections. Since Staats could not serve as Judge, Pennsylvania law states that the Majority (Republican) Inspector appoints a new Judge for the day. But Murphy didn't let the law get in the way of a good confrontation.
He argued that the woman appointed to the position was not properly prepared, and that he should be given the post. Never mind that Murphy had not gone through the classroom process himself. What Patrick wants, Patrick wants. He didn't get it.
But that's not the end of the story, nor the confrontation. Murphy was the only candidate on the ballot in his district for Judge of Elections for the upcoming term. A slam dunk, yes? No. He got only 31 votes, compared to the unopposed candidates in the other three districts who received 100, 113, and 124. And, the woman he objected to received enough write-in votes to get on the ballot and challenge him in the General Election in November!
He is now threatening her personally. Stay tuned. With Patrick Murphy, there's no such thing as a short story.