Just as the two-ton burden of lethargy brought on by chemotherapy lifted enough for me to feel up to blogging again, the recent election results brought on another sort of downer. Why did the best candidate for Mayor, Olga Diaz, lose so badly to that little autocrat Sam Abed?

The answer, of course, is the same answer that allowed a Republican sweep nationally, low voter turnout. Who did turn out to vote?

First, the Escondido Country Club homeowners who were so vehemently against Prop. H. They were not going to vote for someone who favored the measure. When Diaz came out in favor of that proposition, I thought at the time, “There goes the election.” But, Diaz is not the type of person to tailor her opinions to what will get her the most votes. She took the position that she felt (rightly, I think) would best serve Escondido.

Second, as indicated by the results of the elections for the Escondido school boards, were the parents, alumni, friends, etc. of the Heritage Charter Schools run by the great advocate for keeping prayer in schools, “Coach” Dennis Snyder. Many of us were very upset when what was once a branch of the Escondido Library was leased by City to the Heritage Digital Academy, especially when we learned that Snyder had been seen in the Library with a measuring tape before the Library was shut down by the City Council. Our protests fell on four pair of deaf ears at the City Council, so we also took our protests to two meetings of the Escondido Union School District Board of Trustees. We had looked at the Heritage School enrollment, and determined that it did not meet California requirements to reflect the demographics of the Escondido School System. Pat Mues wrote an excellent report of the second tumultuous meeting here: http://escondido2014.com/2013/06/14/eusd-board-meeting-degnerates-into-shout-out-for-heritage-charter-schools/. Those pro-Snyder voters most likely voted for the Snyder-endorsed Abed.

I can explain the mayoral race. Our loss in District one is more difficult. Yes, again, low turnout. But, it is hard to believe that the residents of District One were that concerned about the Escondido Country Club, or the Heritage Charter schools. It comes back to the problem of midterm elections—progressives don’t turn out, conservatives do. Changing people’s behavior is very difficult. What can we do to convince the Democratic leaning people of District One to vote in a midterm election? A ballot proposition to raise the minimum wage, or legalize marijuana? Don’t know. But, think that the Democratic Party needs to give it serious attention.