The recall effort was failing by 50 votes when the early votes were tallied. But the voters in favor of the recall turned out in force on Saturday, carrying the election day vote by a margin of more than 2-to-1.
"I was really kind of surprised, since I was ahead by 50 on early voting," Valentine said. "It was a phenomenal switch."
Valentine was the council's leading proponent of controversial rules aimed at taming the rowdy, drunken behavior that has bothered riverfront residents for years.
He helped persuade a majority of the council to ban Jell-O shots and beer bongs, adopt one of the country's strictest noise ordinances and prohibit alcohol in riverfront parks.
But the measure that caused the biggest backlash limited the size of coolers allowed on the rivers.
That-Ken-I-Hate and his supporters are boo-hooing about this, and he hasn't ruled out running again for his now-vacant seat. The media is fixated on the banning-alcohol-on-the-river angle, and Ken's playing it up, but that's smoke and mirrors. The restrictions he championed were so draconian that families couldn't take soft drinks with them in little Igloo coolers. He pushed a lot of stuff that discouraged people of all walks of life from tubing the river--not just rowdy drunkards. And he was confrontational, arrogant and dismissive in council sessions, rejecting popular sentiment out of hand because "he knew best." He absolutely refused to compromise on any issue. He was a jerk who tried really hard to screw up New Braunfels for all residents, not just those in his district. Boy, I'm glad he's gone. Now all we have to do is knock out the remaining three compadres of his on the council and life will be so much the better.
Now Playing: nothing
No comments:
Post a Comment