Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from November, 2016

CWI ELECTIONS? SIMPLY STATED, THE NEED FOR SKILLED/READY WORKFORCE DOES NOT GO AWAY

A lot of people have been asking me about the CWI elections including my race and the CWI Bond Election. Before I comment, here is some background. At CWI’s inception in 2007, Boise was the last metropolitan area in the country lacking a community college. According to the publication “Inside Higher Ed,” in 2007, “J. A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation led an effort called “ Community College Now! ”  an awareness campaign. At the same time, leaders in the Treasure Valley including prominent businesses such as Micron Technology Inc. and the Chamber of Commerce ’s , began a campaign that raised more than $300,000 for voter registration, mailings and advertisements in various media. Proponents of the new district knew what they were up against: a state with a significant aversion to additional taxes. But the campaign emphasized the proposed college's benefits to the local economy, as well as the educational opportunities it would open up to new high school graduates,

Disenfranchised disabled voters, strokes, and aphasia

I voted early. I have always voted on Election Day since I cast my first vote for Ronald Reagan when I was 18 years old.  That was the 1980 election. I could not stomach another four years of Jimmy Carter's inept presidency and "malaise."   I wanted to vote early this year for several reasons. I voted for myself for another term on the Board of the College of Western Idaho. I am unopposed. Tough race! My second reason is to support the CWI Bond Election. It will be a tough race because state law requires a 2/3 rd   vote. Despite the compelling need, the reactionary anti-tax voters will be voting against us. I voted early to change my luck! Third? Well. Our horrifying presidential candidates. At the voting booth, I thought I would get a vision about who is the best of the worst candidates in our history. No vision came to me. I voted begrudgingly and held my nose. The early voting at my county was crowded. The handy cardboard temporary voting booths d