Clinton County candidates look to future after election night

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By Steven Martens | Thursday, November 9, 2006 1:36 AM CST | () comments

CLINTON, Iowa — Candidates in Clinton County elections had a late night Tuesday waiting for election results to be tallied but were looking forward to the future Wednesday.

District Judge Charles Pelton of Clinton, who won retention despite the efforts of two fathers’ rights groups to oust him, was approved by a wide margin in every county in the five-county 7th Judicial District except Clinton County, where he received 4,735 “no” votes to 4,760 “yes” votes. His total ended up to be 39,267, or 64 percent, in favor of retention and 21,952 votes against. All other judges on the ballot also were retained by generous margins.

On Wednesday, Pelton thanked his supporters.

“The good citizens of our district rightfully rejected an attack on me by a handful of angry men,” he said. “These men tried to intimidate me and other judges into ruling their way in family law cases. Justice requires that judges apply the law without fear or favor. Voters did the right thing by voting in favor of an independent judiciary.”

Elsewhere, Democrat Dennis Starling of Calamus won a spot on the Clinton County Board of Supervisors. He was the top vote-getter with 8,497 votes. Republican incumbent Jill Davisson won re-election with 8,371 votes, while fellow Republican incumbent, Lewis Todtz, lost his re-election bid by coming in third with 7,806 votes.

Todtz said he was proud of what he has accomplished in his 12 years on the board. He said he was elected as part of a wave of Republicans who swept into office across the country 12 years ago, “and now the tables have turned.”

“The tide that took me in is the tide that took me out,” Todtz said.

Todtz said he now will spend more time with his family and his farm and was grateful for the opportunity to serve Clinton County.

“It’s been an incredibly wonderful experience working for the people of Clinton County,” he said.

Starling said he thought higher property taxes and county budget problems were a factor in his win.

“I think basically the voters decided it was time for a change,” he said.

Another Democrat who rode the wave of Democratic victories nationwide Tuesday night was Rep. Polly Bukta, D-Clinton, who easily won re-election over former Clinton police captain Les Shields, with about 60

percent of the vote, 5,478 votes to 3,577 for Shields.

Bukta said she is excited to go back to Des Moines now that Democrats have a majority in the Iowa House.

“I’m really looking forward to being able to set some policy in this state along with my colleagues,” Bukta said.

Shields said he was spending Wednesday picking up his campaign yard signs and had not decided whether he would seek public office again.

“I’m not throwing (the signs) away until I do decide,” Shields said.

Clinton Mayor LaMetta Wynn, who lost her bid for Iowa Senate to incumbent Sen. Roger Stewart, D-Preston, said she has no more political plans beyond finishing the last year of her current term as mayor.

Clinton County Auditor Charles Sheridan said vote tabulation was delayed Tuesday night by problems with the paper records generated by the touch-screen voting machines used by handicapped voters. Final unofficial results were not posted until Wednesday morning.

Sheridan said the county’s 52 percent voter turnout was unusually high for a midterm election.

Steven Martens can be contacted at (563) 659-2595 or smartens@qctimes.com.

Clinton County

Here are unofficial results as updated Wednesday:

Governor/lieutenant governor

Chet Culver (D)

(Patty Judge)

10,188

Jim Nussle (R)

(Bob Vander Plaats)

6,216

Wendy Barth (Iowa Green)

(Richard Johnson)

130

Kevin Litten (Libertarian)

(Mark Nelson)

88

Mary Martin (Socialist Workers)

(Kevin Dwire)

23

U.S. House, District 1

Bruce Braley (D) 9,448

Mike Whalen (R) 6,760

James Hill (Pirate) 181

Albert Schoeman (Nominated by petition) 119

Iowa Senate, District 13

Roger Stewart (D) 6,480

LaMetta Wynn (R) 3,854

Iowa House, District 25

David Kendell (R) 519

Thomas Schueller (D) 660

Iowa House, District 26

Polly Bukta (D) 5,478

Lester Shields (R) 3,577

Iowa House, District 83

Reg Kauffman (D) 2,526

Steven Olson (R) 3,729

County treasurer

Rhonda McIntyre (R) 11,115

County recorder

Stephen Mangan (R) 10,455

County attorney

Mike Wolf (R) 9,105

Bruce Ingham (D) 7,407

County board

(2 seats)

Jill Davisson (R) 8,371

Lewis Todtz (R) 7,806

Dennis Starling (D) 8,497

Extension service levy

Yes 8,973

No 5,420

DeWitt hotel/motel tax

Yes 1,166

No 592