Gore Should Get the Presidency

As I write this column, election officials in Florida are recounting that state's ballots from yesterday. When I went to bed at 2 a.m. early this morning, George Bush led Al Gore by approximately 1,200 votes in the Sunshine state. Whoever wins Florida gets the 25 electoral votes that come along with the state and wins the Presidency.

However, regardless of the outcome in Florida and the Electoral College results, Al Gore has won the popular vote, by approximately 200,000 votes. I think he should be President.

I voted for Mr. Bush, and don't look forward to a Gore presidency, but I think the majority of the American voters should decide who becomes president, not the outdated Electoral College system.

If Mr. Bush ends up winning Florida, and becomes President based on the Electoral College results, we will have a situation where the man who didn't get the most votes won the seat. Democrats would cry out that they were cheated, and they'd be right.

It's too late to change the Electoral College system for this election, but it should be changed for 2004. The President of the United States should be elected by a direct vote of the citizens of the United States. Plain and simple.

Lodging Tax Passage

The lodging tax supporters certainly didn't get a mandate with the taxes narrow passage by Sublette County voters on Tuesday. All of south county and a lot of north county voted against the proposal. The Pinedale votes carried it through.

Lot's of eyes, including mine, will be on the board or committee that's formed to decide how the money the tax brings in is spent. I urge whomever gets on the committee not to forget that the tax was promoted as a way to increase visitors and tourism to Sublette County during the shoulder and winter months, not the already busy, and in the opinions of some, crowded summer.

Pinedale School Board

Congratulations to Jim Malkowski, Kim Shaul and Bernie Holz on their election to the Pinedale School Board. However, in a way, I think both the voters, and Lynn Grassell and Trinni Jensen got cheated in the election. All of the Pinedale School Board seats should be At Large seats. This is the way it's done in Big Piney.

As a voter, I would have liked to have all five candidates campaign for the three open seats on the board. Instead, Bernie Holz was able to run unopposed, and didn't face the scrutiny the other candidates did. Nothing against Mr. Holz, but this isn't fair.

I urge the Pinedale School Board to change all their seats to At Large seats as soon as possible.