District 54 Results No Cause To Celebrate

Because the district is one of the state’s most diverse, I had hopes that this runoff would transcend gender and racial issues, but I don’t think it did.

Patricia Todd is gay, and Gaynell Hendricks made sure the voters knew that a vote for Hendricks was a vote for “family values.” I joked about it yesterday, but I think we all know what she was really saying.

Joe Reed introduced race by telling blacks to vote for Hendricks because Hendricks is black.

Todd appears to be innocent, however the B’ham News provides a clue about some ugly voting patterns:

Todd received 1,173 votes, or 51 percent, compared to 1,114 votes, or 49 percent, for Hendricks. Hendricks led much of the night, but county officials discovered a problem with the tabulations from a computer card from the Crestwood box. Once the results from Crestwood were re-tabulated, Todd’s vote total passed Hendricks’ total.

Crestwood is where all the white people in the district vote. Crestwood is also home to a large number of gay people.  So, Hendricks led until the white votes and gay votes were properly tabulated. In other words, it sure looks like all the white folks voted for Todd while all the black folks voted for Hendricks. Depressing indeed.

I’m not saying the black people ruled out Todd on the basis of race, or that the white folks rejected Hendricks because she is black, or that the gay community equated gender with merit, or that the black community equated sexual orientation with incompetence. But I’m not going to celebrate the outcome as a win for diversity and equality, either.

That said, should Todd win, Mac has this suggestion in a comment to Kathy’s post on the race:

I think we should have a pool. First legislator to denounce Todd from the floor. First legislator to say he’s afraid Todd will give him AIDS. First legislator to say that Todd shouldn’t be allowed near children. I say Gerald Allen, Gerald Allen, Gerald Allen.

My money is on Hank “As Punishment For The Sins Of New Orleans God Caused Hurricane Katrina To Destroy New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary And The City’s Poorest Neighborhoods While Skipping The French Quarter” Ewrin.  

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