Election results
Results in a handful of off-year state elections were a mixed bag.
In Oregon, voters succumbed to a withering campaign by Democrats and their allies in the public sector to roll back a property rights initiative they had passed just three years ago.
And in Utah, residents overwhelmingly turned down a school voucher proposal. It’s another in a long line of electoral setbacks for supporters of public school choice.
It would be tempting to blame the Utah result on the millions of dollars spent by the National Education Association to defeat the voucher measure. No doubt it was a factor.
But of greater importance, it’s an interesting fact that most parents — particularly those in suburban areas and well-to-do states such as Utah — are happy with their own public schools, whether or not they’re actually producing children with the basic skills necessary to succeed.
Such a reality makes it extremely difficult for supporters of school choice to succeed on a widespread basis.
On the bright side, voters in both Oregon and New Jersey highlighted their reluctance to green light major new spending programs.
Oregon residents killed an effort to jack the state cigarette tax by more than 75 percent to fund health insurance for children. And in New Jersey, voters turned down a plan promoted by Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine to borrow $450 million to finance stem cell research.
We’ll have to wait 12 months to find out whether Nevada voters are in the same mood, as they’ll likely be confronted next November with at least one ballot proposals to raise the state gaming tax.