PARD TOTALLY DEFEATED!!!!

The Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development turned the 2005 Ward 1 and Ward 3 Pullman City Council races into a referendum on Wal-Mart.

Now, with all precincts reporting, the results are in:

City of Pullman; Ward 1 Pos. 7

BILL PAUL; NP 876 67.17 %

JOSHUA COKE; NP 258 19.78 %

City of Pullman; Ward 3 Pos. 3

ANN HEATH; NP 397 58.38 %

JUDY KRUEGER; NP 278 40.88 %

The results for Gary "The PARD Puppet" Johnson are not listed, but a little math shows his percentage of the vote to be 13.05 % in Ward 1, or 170 votes.

Of the total number of votes cast in Wards 1 and 3, 1,531 were for pro-Wal-Mart candidates versus 448 for anti-Wal-Mart candidates. This reflects a greater than 3 to 1 margin (77.36%) in favor of Wal-Mart and growth in Pullman. These numbers will change slightly as absentee ballots are counted over the next few days, but not enough to make a significant difference. That, my friends, is a mandate.

Embarrassingly for PARD, WSU student Joshua Coke, with virtually no money and no party or organization backing him, polled far more votes than Johnson and only 20 votes less than Judy Krueger. Way to go, Joshua!

Incumbents Bill Paul and Ann Heath have been returned to office. If PARD ever needed proof they have clearly LOST the battle of public opinion, this is it. 10,000 signatures on a petition or not, they could only muster 75 anti-Wal-Mart SEPA comments, and now only 448 votes at the ballot box. For the sake of unity and Pullman's future, PARD should immediately drop their appeals concerning Wal-Mart.