I don’t anticipate President Donald Trump challenging voting results in Allegan County, so it behooves me to tell readers about a couple of unusual takeaways I’ve had since Nov. 3.
One is the Curse of the School Board President. The other is that State Rep. Steve Johnson’s success in winning a third two-year term mirrors much of what is happening today in American politics.
The Curse of the School Board Presidents
Back when I was struggling to survive as a bottom-feeder substitute teacher, I used to implement an emergency plan when the regular teacher left no lesson plans. I pulled out of my wallet a strange lecture on “Curses” to entertain and perhaps even edify the kiddies, most of whom thought they were getting a day off.
I would present the material and then give a 20-question quiz that I told them would be graded by their regular instructor. That way they’d have to listen and pay attention.
The three main topics for the presentation was “The Curse of Bobby Layne,” “The Curse of the Ninth Symphony” and “The Curse of the Presidents Every 20 Years.”
There were times I would show up others days for other subjects at the school, but many of the kids would greet me by saying, “It’s the curses guy.”
Regardless, I propose I have found a new curse as a result of the recent general election — The Curse of the School Board Presidents.
I’ve seen a pattern over the last 10 years in which three incumbent Wayland Board of Education presidents have been defeated at the polls in just six elections. The process began in 2010, when Board President Robert Wiersema lost his bid for re-election.
Then in 2016, Tom Salingue followed suit, losing a re-election bid while serving as board president. Four years after that, Cinnamon Mellema suffered the same fate.
That begs the question as to what drives school board elections, especially when they’re usually five people seeking four seats or four people seeking three. And you don’t usually see a lot of candidate signs for such races.
There was a fourth president who lost his seat, Jeff Salisbury, who was unceremoniously removed in closed session for not being a team player. The indignity led to him not seeking re-election to a second term.
So do Wayland Union School District voters dislike their school board presidents?
State Rep. Johnson’s success mirrors U.S. politics
Perhaps you’ve heard of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson from baseball fame. Have you heard of “Maskless” Steve Johnson? I have never seen him wear a mask during the pandemic to set a good example, even inside Harding’s Market (see photo).
Mr. Johnson won his third two-year term in Lansing earlier this month, trouncing Democratic challenger Lily Cheng-Schuilting. He picked up 75 percent of the vote in Wayland, Leighton and Dorr Townships and the City of Wayland. However, he lost in Kent County’s Gaines Township and the City of Kentwood by a 51% to 49% margin. So the final tally did not reflect the blowout in rural Allegan County.
We’ve been told there is a significant difference between rural and urban-suburban voting patterns. The Grand Rapids area has been reliably Republican since Hector was a pup, even before Gerald Ford would win by landslides in his runs for Congress.
But Kent County in 2020 went for Joe Biden and there have been rumors it went for Barack Obama in 2008. So this is an example of a reliable red district turning purple.
Further proof is that Democrats in 2016 broke into the 40% of the vote column for the first time with Steve Shoemaker and the final tallies of vote share seem to have grown since then.
Redistricting will take place soon. I wonder how the 72nd District can be gerrymandered for the next 10 years.
