It's a Missoula Life

The Queen's English

It's Not Just the Lovely Accent

Sometimes I wish I were a Brit. They do the darnedest things.  Could it be that they're really more advanced than us? Could it be that universal health care creates a different perception of bad habits that are funded by the state?

Junk food to be banned in schools

Ruth Kelly and Tony Blair attended a school breakfast club in Brighton Foods high in fat, salt or sugar are to be banned from meals and vending machines in English schools. The ban, from next September, has been announced by Education Secretary Ruth Kelly at the Labour Party conference. Vending machines in schools will not be allowed to sell chocolates, crisps or fizzy drinks, Ms Kelly announced.

This is a Parliament debate I would love to see on PBS.

Bye Bye Badenoch

He only needed three votes -- two to tie, the third to win. The recount did change three votes -- but all three went the wrong way. Party's over. Congratulations to Lou Ann for a clear second-place victory. I'm glad I've had ten days to get used to the idea of Crowley versus Engen. I'm not sure who I'm going to support -- but I do think I'm going to challenge John on the sign ordinance issue. Maybe I'll even write an op-ed for the Missoulian . . . .

Interior

To Bozeman Tomorrow

I'm off to Bozo tomorrow for a meeting of the Judicial Nomination Commission on Monday. We are one of several volunteer boards/commissions that do a variety of work on behalf of the public. The JNC's sole job is to nominate 3-5 lawyers for vacant judgeships.

Montana judges are elected, as a general rule, but when a judge resigns, or dies, or decides to run for a different office, his or her replacement is appointed. In this case, the Legislature funded a third judge for Gallatin County.  The JNC accepts the applications, accepts public comment, "investigates" the applicants (meaning we can talk to whomever we like about the person), and then interviews them. That's what we're doing Monday -- interviewing five men who would like to be judge.

Our power is limited, of course -- we are required to send 3-5 names to the governor (or in the case of the Water Court, to the Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court). After that, it's the governor's choice. And after that, it's up to the voters. This judge will start work January 2, 2006, and have to run for office in November 2006.

This is the first time the JNC has met since Gov. Schweitzer took office. We are a seven-person commission -- one judge, two lawyers (one from eastern Montana and one from western Montana), and four non-lawyers. The judge is elected by fellow judges; the lawyers are appointed by the Montana Supreme Court; and the non-lawyers are appointed by the governor.  We are appointed for four-year terms, and limited to two terms max. So there is holdover from one administration to the next -- three of the non-lawyers currently on the committee were appointed by Governor Judy Martz, a Republican.

I'll report more after I return.

Aaahh

It's Down to Two Votes

So the Missoulian clarified things for me this morning. Apparently a canvass is when the election officials compare the voting logs (the book we sign when we vote) with the actual number of ballots to be sure they match. They're not looking at the ballots, or counting them -- just making sure column A matches column B.

As you may have read, the columns didn't add up -- and when they went searching as to why, they found an absentee ballot voted for Geoff Badenoch. So now it's down to two . . . . and Badenoch will request a recount.

A Sliver of Light

A Recount or a Canvass?

Next Friday, September 23, Missoula County commissioners will convene as the county canvassing board and count by hand all 8,043 ballots that were voted in the mayoral primary. After this "official canvass" is complete, any candidate may file for a "recount" if the margin of defeat is either one-quarter of one percent (that's .0025) or less than 10 votes, whichever is greater. As of right now, of course, Geoff Badenoch has lost by only 3 votes. According to my calculations, 1/4 of 1% in this election is about 20. I suspect that even if the numbers change, the loser will still be within this margin.

My question is this: Does the loser then get to request a recount? After each vote has already been "canvassed"? What's the difference between a canvass and a recount? I know that next Friday's recount is paid for by government, but what about after that?

If you thought I had the answers, you're wrong. If you think I might find them -- well, I hope you're right.

Making Sense of Things