Norm Wallen on Prop 100 Outcome

Once upon a time, in the beautiful land of Aridzone, there existed a lovely place known as Specialtown ( actually a small city but to those who lived there 'town' seemed nicer ). Townfolk prided themselves on being different - a caring communuty free of the harsh influences of greed, crime, corruption and bigotry ( well, almost ); valuing nature and their unique character.

Then came the Battle of the Monster Warehouse. The elected Council of Elders had, after much anguish and soul searching, enacted the 'Edict of Enough' - decreeing that there were, indeed, some limits to the monster warehouses being built by uncaring foreigners. The Edict caused great consternation among some locals whose concept of government is limited to roads, fire and police. These tended to be those whose small fortunes depended upon land development and associated enterprises. Their outrage found a home with the largest of all warehousers , the Dickensonian Empire of Stuff with its launching pad in far away Bentonmore.No limits on their exploitation of workers, taxpayers and real producers BY GOLLY.

It soon became evident that the Evil Empire had a secret agent in town known as the Slippery Earl of Rove. Under the guise of 'only wanting to give the people a voice' he led a successful effort to put the Edict to a public vote AND THEN led the campaign to repeal the Edict ( disinterestedly, one must suppose ). Opposing the Earl and his mostly silent partners was the citizen Band of Preservationists led by Rebecca the Cubist. They rallied the citizenry in unprecedented numbers and were thought to be winning until the final tally showed they had lost by a hair.

There was much sadness among the Band and much analysis of the outcome. Despite the many campaign arguments pro and con, the conclusion was inescapable; they were simply outspent. They had raised over $50,000 locally compared to half that by the opposition which included the Chamber of Commerce. But they had received only $85,000 from 'outsiders' ( one of those terrible unions ) compared to almost $400,000 given by the Evil Empire, spent mostly on TV and full page newspaper ads so simple minded as to be laughable, including one so disgusting it resulted in a public apology. All this after public reaction to a previous assault on a city elsewhere had led the King to publicly proclaim that the Empire would no longer intrude in local governance. Of course, no-one believed him.