cville_skeptic Says:

May 4th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
cvillenative says: “If [the elected school board] referendum had been in May, it would not have passed.” Given that it passed with 73% of the vote, I don’t see on what basis cvillenative makes this assertion. More likely, it would have passed handily in May, as it did in November.


-- Look at the top vote getters last 3 May election cycles.

Norris received 3,945 votes, 66% of 26% who turned out, and 17% of registered voters.

Kendra Hamilton received 3,465 with 65% of the 27% turnout in '04.

Blake Caravati 2,528 with 58% of the 22% in '02.

Elected school board referendum results.

YES 7,106
NO 2,597

The Democratic leadership fought against the new school board every step of the way leading up to and even after the referendum. The number of voters who have actually kept this political machine going is now at most 4,000. 1,500 sometimes disagree with the other 2,500 loyal partisan voters.

In the referendum 9,703 people voted. This May it was 5,993. If the referendum had been this past May, the referendum might have been close but probably lost because both Democratic candidates opposed an elected school board.

What is your basis that the elected school board referendum would pass handily in a May election? The next test may come as a referendum to preserve the 4 ward/3 at-large school board composition that Council now says was a total fiction. A switch to a completely at-large school board was not under consideration in last November's referendum.

You're right to be skeptical. And it's not unusual for people to revise history after they've been on the losing side of an issue.

Cville_skeptic was responding to this:

cvillenative Says:

May 3rd, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Norris and Taliaferro were on Charlotessville Right Now in the 4:30 segment. In response to only 2 questions from callers– Meadowcreek Parkway is a low priority and a ward system is history. If the government were responsive, you wouldn’t have to have referendums to force popular changes. Waldo has said that the ward system favors Democrats. The purpose of wards is to improve representation and responsiveness, not to favor a political party. Wards is another issue where Dems are not monolithic.

One more statistic: voter turnout 26%. 17% of those who could have voted actually voted for Norris, 11% for Schilling. Voter turnout was twice that for the elected school board. If that referendum had been in May, it would not have passed. Moving elections to November should bring a little more change.

And another colorful excerpt:

cvillenative Says:

May 2nd, 2006 at 9:05 pm
“piss myself”

What caliber and quality that passes for civil discourse. And a bigot against people who have done wrong and paid their debt to society. Should they be permanently banned from political participation? What’s with this fixation on Jackson and the need to stereotype black men as a violent threat? Waldo still doesn’t know why there’s a stark racial divide in the city? If Jackson were a Democrat, Waldo would see redemption and give a second chance. Where was the NAACP tonight? Standing with Rob Schilling at Lord Hardwicks, standing for civil rights and therefore against the Democratic candidates.


The entire thread and context.