Election 2006, A Call To Serve. Part I

The 2006 election is already beginning to take shape even though the primary is eleven months away. With twelve County offices up for grabs, nine of which are presently held by Republicans, the next election could very well turn out as one the most critical in the history of local politics. A measuring stick of this next election will be whether or not Republicans can change the trends of the last couple local elections. A key component to this will be the Republican challengers for the three State Representatives seats in districts 46, 60 and 61. With the Republicans slogan 56 in 06 it will be interesting to see what strategies unfold as they attempt to achieve their goal and solidify their command of the House. If Republicans can gain four additional seats in the 06 elections they will certainly be in the drivers seat during the next redistricting opportunity in 08.

Let's take a closer look at each of these races. Vern Tincher the State Representative from District 46 is certainly no shoe-in in his district, one that he lost and then regained in this last election. In our County Tincher serves only the Bean Blossom Township, which does tend to support Democratic candidates however, it is unlikely Bean Blossom alone will have a significant impact on the outcome of this race. Serving a larger part of Monroe County is District 60, which is tightly in the grips of Peggy Welch. It is said that Welch commands 75% name recognition throughout her district, something that will obviously be difficult to overcome. On the other hand, her past voting record puts her squarely at odds with some of the core Democrats in the County, however she can usually pull a significant number of crossover votes to bolster her margin of safety. With Baron Hill’s announcement that he will be challenging again for the ninth district congressional seat, that pretty much rules out the rumor that Welch might be up for a congressional run. Since she has been virtually unchallenged in recent years it would be nice to see someone come forward that could really give her a good run for the money. It will require a significant challenger from the Republican Party to have any hopes of reclaiming her seat, one that was gained out of the Bales / Ellington primary debacle. Matt Pierce has had a cakewalk in recent elections but hopefully those days are numbered, as I understand pressure is being exerted to avoid any uncontested races next fall. This is another one of those races where it will be imperative to have a quality Republican challenger, one that will adequately represent our county and be able to work with the Republican leadership at the State level. To date, no contenders have been announced or even hinted for these three offices other than Kurt Van der Dussen of the Herald Times goading Jeff Ellington back during the waning days of the last legislative session, which would obviously not be in the Party’s or Ellington’s best interest. As for the rest of us, consider this a call to serve.