We got to Yuma, AZ on election day and stayed up late watching the results on TV. Late for me, anyway, since I usually crawl into our sleeping loft at sundown to read.
Jim and I voted by mail before we left Salt Lake City in late October. Since we’d spent most of the last 14 months out of state, I knew I wasn’t up to date on local issues. But I was still really surprised to discover that my congressional district had changed, and the name of the man who’d been my congressman for six terms wasn’t on my ballot. Instead, my choices included a congressman who'd leg wrestled Stephen Colbert on TV.
When I researched my school board candidates, I discovered one of them was a convicted sex offender. I’m thinking, well, maybe it was a bad decision a long time ago between two teenagers. Instead, it happened when he was in his late forties and involved an eight-year-old girl. I’m all for second chances, reinventing yourself, paying for your mistakes (he spent five years in prison) etc. But I could’t get past the crime. Not to mention the fact that as a convicted sex offender, he would not be able to enter the schools he’d oversee without special permission.
The sex offender didn't win. My former congressman did, barely, and my leg-wrestling rep won big time.
When I researched my school board candidates, I discovered one of them was a convicted sex offender. I’m thinking, well, maybe it was a bad decision a long time ago between two teenagers. Instead, it happened when he was in his late forties and involved an eight-year-old girl. I’m all for second chances, reinventing yourself, paying for your mistakes (he spent five years in prison) etc. But I could’t get past the crime. Not to mention the fact that as a convicted sex offender, he would not be able to enter the schools he’d oversee without special permission.
The sex offender didn't win. My former congressman did, barely, and my leg-wrestling rep won big time.
It's funny, because anywhere else in the U.S. Jim Matheson (Bev's former congressional representative, now mine) would be a Republican. He won despite some serious gerrymandering by the Utah Republican party. Go blue dogs. I guess.
ReplyDeleteWeird, huh? I really was surprised, though, when I looked at my ballot and didn't see Matheson's name. What the heck? Also: glad to see you got back safely with Logan and his huge truck o' stuff.
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