Politics & Government

Whitefish Bay Goes Solidly for Romney in Primary Election

With 38 percent voter turnout, Bay voters also chose Phillips and Grady in judicial elections and favored a decrease in size and salary for the Milwaukee County Board.

Whitefish Bay has traditionally enjoyed strong election turnouts, and despite the lack of contested local races, 38 percent of voters went to the polls Tuesday for county races and the presidential primary election.

Out of the 2,691 residents that voted in the Republican presidential primary, 66 percent voted for GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney, 22 percent voted for Rick Santorum, 7 percent voted for Ron Paul and 3 percent voted for Newt Gingrich.

On the Democratic side, 843 Whitefish Bay residents voted for President Barack Obama, who is uncontested.

Find out what's happening in Whitefish Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On his way to vote at Whitefish Bay Village Hall Tuesday afternoon, Whitefish Bay resident Dan Sabin said he was voting for Mitt Romney because he likes what the former Massachusetts governor stands for.

"He may not be the Tea Party favorite, but he's a middle-of-the-road conservative, and that's not all bad," he said.

Find out what's happening in Whitefish Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

All Whitefish Bay residents voted for a new Milwaukee County supervisor in the election, as County Supervisor Joseph Rice's seat was eliminated under a redistricting plan approved by the board last year.

The majority of Whitefish Bay will be represented by incumbent supervisor Gerry Broderick from Milwaukee, who was uncontested in his re-election. The southwestern corner of the village had , and Whitefish Bay voters narrowly chose incumbent Johnson with 51 percent of the vote. Johnson kept his seat in the overall election.

In the hotly contested judicial race for Branch 17 of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, 53 percent of Whitefish Bay voters chose , who was seen as the 'pro-Walker' candidate, and 47 percent chose , who was seen as the 'anti-Walker' candidate in the race. Stark, an administrative law judge for the state Department of Workforce Development, went on to win the race.

In the Branch 23 race, Whitefish Bay voted consistently with the rest of Milwaukee County in electing  (61 percent) over  (39 percent). 

Whitefish Bay voter Michael Braun said one of the more important issues on the ballot for him was the two-part referendum question asking voters whether they would support cutting the size and salary of the Milwaukee County Board — a change he said is "long overdue."

The majority of Whitefish Bay voters agreed, with 83 percent voting for the full-time position to be cut to part-time, and 84 percent voting to cut the board in half, from 18 supervisors to 9 supervisors.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Rice thanked municipal leaders in 18 communities for placing the referendum on the ballot. The County Board refused to place the questions on a county-wide referendum.  

“Despite the board’s refusal to allow voters to be heard throughout the county, these referenda results send a loud and clear message that reform is favored,” said Rice. 

In the uncontested local races, Whitefish Bay Village Board incumbent Richard Foster was re-elected, and newcomer Garry Davis will join the board. On the Whitefish Bay School Board, attorney Anne Berleman Kearney will join the board. Incumbent School Board members Kathy Rogers and Pam Woodard also won re-election in the uncontested race.

In the county comptroller position that was made an elected position last year by the legislature, appointed comptroller Scott Manske retained his post. In Whitefish Bay, 61 percent voted for Manske and 39 percent voted for accountant Kristie Bunting.


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