Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 5

www.herald-review.com WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2006 DECATUR, ILLINOIS ELECTION A5 VOTE2006 nd era wmwme REFERENDUM lax rate increase Mount Zion Fire Protection District Shall the tax rate for the Mount Zion Fire Protection District be increased from 30 cente to 40 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation? Yes 1,487 No .964 CHICAGO (AP) Illinois Democrats swept all the statewide offices and one congressional seat on Election Day, part of a nationwide surge by the party to try to take control of the U.S. House and governor's mansions around the country. Gov. Rod Blagojevich got past Republican Judy Baar Topinka and voters' worries about the federal investigation of corruption in the governor's administration. All the other statewide Democratic incumbents were re-elected, and so was Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, a Chicago banker who won the state treasurer's job Topinka gave up to run for governor.

In a key congressional race, Democratic Rep. Melis sa Bean held on to the seat the GOP lost in 2004 when she upset Republican Phil Crane, who had held it for 35 years. The Democrats' only disappointment was their failure to capture the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Rep. Henry Hyde, who is leaving Congress after more than three decades. Republican Peter Roskam, a conservative state senator, defeated Democrat Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who lost both her legs in combat.

With 80 percent of precincts reporting unofficial returns, Blagojevich had 49 percent to about 40 percent for Topinka. Other statewide incumbent Democrats re-elected were ELECTION CLINIC r-xV" I Equipment purchase Bethany Fire Protection District Shall the Bethany Fire Protection District issue $350,000 in bonds for the purchase of a firetruck and ambulance? Yes 491 No 263 Public safety tax Shelby County Shall Shelby County impose a 0.5 percent public safety tax to be used for crime prevention, detention and other public safety purposes? Yes 3,206 No 3,747 Public safety tax Moultrie County Shall Moultrie County impose a 0.5 percent public safety tax to be used for crime prevention, detention and other public safety purposes? Yes 2,075 No 2,616 Tax rate increase AtwGod-Hammond Public Library District Shall the tax rate for the Atwood-Hammond Public Library District be increased from 25 cents to 40 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation? BYes .482 No' 418 Sales and service tax City of Villa Grove Shall the city of Villa Grove impose a sales tax and a service tax, both in the amount of 1 percent, for infrastructure improvements or property tax relief? Yes. 370 No .435 Firehouse construction bonds Lincoln Rural Fire Protection District Shall the Lincoln Rural Fire Protection District issue $1 .3 million in bonds to construct and equip a firehouse? Yes 850 No 736 Alcohol sale prohibition Summit Township, Effingham County Shall the prohibition of the retail sale of alcoholic liquor other than beer containing not more than 4 percent alcohol be continued in Summit Township? Yes 951 No 617 Herald ReviewKelly J. Huff Old King's Orchard Community Center had a flurry of activity on Election Day, serving as a satellite office for the Macon County Democratic Committee and pit stop for flu shots. Parish nurse Linda Boles coordinated with the Macon County Health Department to provide flu shots for people in the neighborhood.

"It was a way to get people in the community to stop by and get their flu shots on Election Day," she said. Amber Holthaus and Annie Haubner, registered nurses, administered the flu shots at the community center. survives ethics woes In the race for attorney general with 80 percent of precincts reporting, Madigan had 71 percent to 26 percent for Republican Tazewell County State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz and 3 percent for Green Party candidate David Black. In the race for secretary of state, White had almost 62 percent with 80 percent of precincts reporting to 34 percent for Republican state Sen. Dan Rutherford of Chenoa and 4 percent for the Green Party's Karen Young.

In the race for comptroller with 80 percent of precincts reporting, Hynes had 63 percent to 33 percent for Republican state Sen. Carole Pankau of Itasca and 4 percent for the Green Party's Alicia Snyder. Legislature turns more Democratic Veto-proof majority possible if trend continues CHICAGO (AP) Illinois Democrats headed toward strengthening their control of the General Assembly on Tuesday, gaining ground in the Senate and House against strong Republican challenges. Many Democratic incumbents easily won re-election and some were leading in races for seats previously held by Republicans. Senate Democrats could gain enough seats to have a veto-proof majority, which would allow them to pass measures despite opposition from Republicans or the governor.

Even though only a handful of seats were considered real races and Democrats were expected to keep their majority in both chambers, the parties spent huge wads of cash to influence the outcomes. Ten or more legislative campaigns were on track to spend more than $1 million, shattering records set just two years ago. Republicans had fought to narrow the political gap Democrats have enjoyed in the House for the last four years. Their campaigns seized on downstate discontent with Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Chicago Democrats who control the legislature.

Ads and mailers emphasized how local Democrats have too often voted for Chicago's best interests, not those of the rest of the state. But Democrats were buoyed by their party's success at national and statewide levels, winning races where Republicans thought they could make up ground. Democrats in the state Senate were picking off seats now held by Republicans, according to unofficial results. With all 169 precincts counted, Democrat Michael Bond had 52 percent to 48 percent of the votes for Republican Suzanne Simpson. Bond will replace longtime Republican Sen.

Adeline Geo-Karis, who lost to Simpson in the primary. Democrats were leading in races for two suburban Chicago seats held by Republicans, and Republicans Judy Myers and Cheryl Axley were trailing in their bids to hang onto two other Republican seats. In a rare bright spot for Republicans, Sen. Dave Syver-son comfortably beat his Democrat challenger 55 percent to 44 percent, according to unofficial returns. In the House, Democrats were winning back seats they already controlled and were making strong runs at several seats previously held by Republicans.

Only Rep. Kurt Granberg was in a neck-and-neck race among downstate Democratic incumbents. Rep. Mike Boland had a 51 percent to 48 percent lead over his Republican challenger with 91 percent of precincts reporting in unofficial results. Republican Rep.

Terry Parke was losing to his Democrat challenger in a race the GOP had expected to win, while two other Republican-held seats were in tight bat-tleis. Attorney General Lisa Madi-gan, Secretary of State Jesse White and Comptroller Dan Hynes. In the battle over statewide races, the campaign to replace Topinka as treasurer produced fireworks. Radogno has questioned the judgment and honesty of Giannoulias, who has taken campaign donations from people borrowing money from his family's bank, which also made loans to a convicted bookmaker. Dan Rodriguez-Schlorff was the Green Party candidate in that race.

With 80 percent of precincts counted in unofficial returns, Giannoulias had 53 percent to almost 43 percent for Radogno. Rodriguez-Schlorff had almost 5 percent. low voter turnout. She wouldn't reveal who she chose in the governor's race, but she said the corruption scandals weren't a factor. "I think (corruption is) a problem that's never going to be fixed," Parmenter said.

Blagojevich got more than half of the female vote, compared to slightly more than a third for Topinka. He had a slight edge among males and received strong support from blacks and Latinos. The governor did well among all age groups, and he did especially well with young people. Blagojevich was also favored by those with incomes below $75,000, those without a college degree and union members while splitting the nonunion vote with Topinka. Topinka had a slight edge among white voters.

She was favored by college graduates and got strong support from those who approve of the job President Bush is doing although that was only about a third of voters. Vic Henson, 48, a Bloomington office worker, said his vote for Topinka was swayed in part by a televised endorsement from former Gov. Jim Edgar, "who I really trust." ally explicit computer messages to teenage congressional pages. Hastert repeatedly has denied learning about Foley's conduct until late September, when the scandal became public and Foley resigned. But Hastert, a popular head-liner at GOP campaign events in years past, has severely limited his public appearances.

Before the Foley scandal broke, Hastert planned more than 30 trips to districts with tight races, but he made less than a third of that. In an exit poll of Illinois voters, about half of the voters expressed an unfavorable opinion about House Speaker Dennis Hastert. About a third said they had a favorable opinion of him. First-time voter Courtney Ilerr didn't recognize the names of all the candidates listed on her ballot Tuesday, but the 18-year-old said she associated Hastert's name vith the Foley scandal. Nursing home tax Piatt County oievich CHICAGO (AP) More than 85 percent of Illinois voters said the issue of corruption and ethics in state government was extremely or very important to them in their vote for governor Tuesday, according to an Associated Press exit poll.

Yet that concern did not appear to hurt Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose administration is under federal tigation. He won a second term in the governor's office over opponents Judy Baar Topinka, a Republican, and Green Party candidate Rich Whitney. Federal prosecutors are investigating the Blagojevich administration's role in alleged hiring fraud and a kickback scheme in the teachers pension program. His predecessor, former Gov.

George Ryan, is scheduled to report to prison in January on a federal racketeering and fraud conviction. Blagojevich has not been accused of wrongdoing, but Topinka the state treasurer tried to lay the scandals squarely on the shoulders of the man who four years ago promised "reform and renewal." Yet Blagojevich received Shall Piatt County levy and collect a tax not to exceed 0.1 percent to maintain a county nursing home? Yes 4,242 No 2,299 Cemetery tax Sangamon Township, Piatt County Shall a tax not to exceed 0.20 percent be levied to control, maintain and purchase land and construction of necessary buildings for cemeteries? Yes 427 No 570 Tax rate increase Dement Public Library District Shall the tax rate for the Bement Public Library District be increased from 15 cents to 30 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation? Yes 387 No 396 Open primary, Mount Auburn Township, Christian County Shall Illinois eliminate the requirement that voters publicly declare their party during primary elections? BYes 345 No 57 Road bond issue Humboldt Township, Coles County Shall bonds for road purposes be issued in the amount of $1 BYes 296 No 56 Road bond issue North Okaw Township, Coles County Shall bonds for road purposes be issued in the amount of $1 BYes 229 No ...42 support from about half of those who viewed corruption and ethics as extremely or very important in the gubernatorial race. Topinka received about four in 10 of those voters, and WTiitney picked up the rest, according to the poll of 1,896 Illinois voters conducted for AP and television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, higher for subgroups. Lana Randolph, speaking after casting her ballot in Collinsville, said she voted for Blagojevich.

But the 62-year-old accountant said that "I wasn't too thrilled to vote for him," saying she had questions about his administration's ethics. "Of the two (candidates), he was the choice," she said. "From what I had, I felt more confident with him. I put my vote in a person, and he seems like someone who's really for the people." At an election poll in Bloomington, Pat Parmenter, 70, said she wasn't inspired by the gubernatorial candidates but voted because she didn't want to contribute to said during a brief appearance at his election headquarters Tuesday night. "We're going to continue to watch that the rest of the night.

I'll have a statement for the press tomorrow as far as the House of Representatives." Hastert had won nearly every election in two decades by better than a 2-to-l margin. With 543 of 561 precincts counted in unofficial returns Tuesday night, Hastert had 60 percent, to 40 percent for Democratic challenger John Laesch. John Jackson, a political science professor at Southern Illinois University at Carbon-dale, said it would "be a loss for Illinois" if Hastert were to lose his position as House speaker. "Illinois as a state will lose its influence and miss his influence," Jackson said. There had been calls for Hastert's resignation since the revelation that former Rep.

Mark Foley, sent sexu Hastert faces loss of speaker's gavel ST. CHARLES (AP) Rep. Dennis Hastert, whose seven-plus years of continuous service as speaker of the U.S. House has been longer than any other Republican's, faced a rare uneasy election night. Hastert has had strong support in the 14th Congressional District and won an 11th term Tuesday against relatively unknown challenger, but with scandals tainting the GOP's image and waning public trust with the lagging war in Iraq, the months leading up to Election Day were tumultuous for the 20-year incumbent.

And on Tuesday, Democrats won more than enough Republican-held districts in nearly every region of the country to move within striking distance of retaking control of the House and claiming the speaker position for California Democrat Nancy Pelosi. "We've watched some of the House races it's been kind hf tough out there," Hastert ikik Judicial Elections Appellate Court, 5th Judicial District (Gordon E. Maag vacancy) Bruce Stewart (D) 157,986 Stephen P. McGlynn Effingham County resident circuit judge (Steven P. Seymour vacancy) Edward C.

Deters (D) 5,957 Kimberly G. Koester (R) 6,473 Jasper County resident circuit judge (Michael Weber vacancy) Daniel Hartigan (D) 2,057 Kevin Parker (R) 1,926 PIATT COUNTY Circuit Clerk (Unexpired term) Charles A. Barre (D) 3,720 Ray Spencer (R) 2,760 Treasurer Lori L. Spicer (D) 3,186 BTim Pankau (R) 3,353 SHELBY COUNTY County Board, District 6 Dustin Lee Probst (D) 311 James A. Warren (R) 417.