Midwest Voices

Yael T. Abouhalkah

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Take a look at the people who turned out to be political winners - and political losers - on Tuesday. Voters made the right calls in many races. But not all, alas.

WINNERS

James B. Nutter Sr.: The mortgage banker bankrolled an important victory for Crystal Williams in the Jackson County Legislature. Nutter again showed he can stand up for good government when the need arises.

Crystal Williams: And the first-time candidate rode a wave of antipathy toward Henry Rizzo to get him out of office.

Ed Eilert: The former Overland Park mayor had a lot more positive name recognition than I thought he would as he trounced two-term incumbent Annabeth Surbaugh in the Johnson County Chair primary. Both advance to the general.

Fred Arbanas: He spent a ton of money - reportedly more than $100,000 - to beat back an aggressive challenge by Kansas City Council member Terry Riley to retain his Jackson County legislative seat. In the end, the victory was a relatively strong 5,000-vote margin, all of it in eastern Jackson County.

Kansas voters: With the disgustingly dirty race between Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt over, they won’t have to hear any more of the ridiculous and insulting ads between the two men. Now Moran advances to almost sure victory this fall as a new U.S. senator from Kansas. Frightening.

Cities with tax renewals: In Independence, Raytown, Grandview and Greenwood, voters easily extended sales taxes for local projects. So much for all those ultra-conservatives out there calling for people to stand up and cut taxes.

LOSERS

Louie Wright: The Local 42 fire union president and his crew strongly backed Rizzo. Now, what happens to Local 42’s influence at the Jackson County courthouse? Do other legislators start standing up to Wright?

Annabeth Surbaugh: She polled far worse than I thought she would in the Johnson County chair primary, indicating voters aren’t convinced she deserves a third term. Still, the Eilert-Surbaugh race will be closely watched this fall.

Clay County Republican voters: What were they thinking? They narrowly chose William James Norris over Jay Jones as the winner in the auditor primary. Norris’ resume has all kinds of holes, with questions about whether he graduated from William Jewell College and has ever been a CPA. Meanwhile, Jones was quite well qualified for the job.

Terry Riley: After more than 10 years on the Kansas City Council, Riley could barely muster a slim margin of victory among Kansas City voters for his race against Fred Arbanas. So when Arbanas won big in eastern Jackson County, it was all over for Riley.

Supporters of Obamacare: Missouri voters overwhelmingly rejected a mandate of the new federal health care law. It won’t matter in the end if the federal courts properly uphold the U.S. law as trumping the state law endorsed by Missourians on Tuesday. It’s a sad day nationally for the state, making us look like a bunch of dunces when it comes to needed overhauls of the costly health care system.

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