(An update to the coverage we’ve been providing of this grassroots campaign. – promoted by Jack McCullough)
…it may be “legal,” but it did NOT win the day!
The Ward 5 St. Albans election results are in and Ryan Doyle beat Joe Luneau, 224-147! Seems to be a victory not just for Mr. Doyle, but for ethical election practices in general.
_____________________________________________________________________________
I’ve just gotta say that, if this disgraceful display of bold-faced political amorality doesn’t bring an end to politics as usual in St. Albans, I don’t know what will!
Today, Sam Hemingway’s painfully detailed exposure of the absentee ballot shenanigans related to tomorrow’s Ward 5 do-over election made this St. Albans resident cringe.
It came on the heels of some really masterful coverage of the unfolding story by the Messenger’s Michele Monroe. Last week, the paper published a list of the 100+ voters who have requested absentee ballots for tomorrow’s vote. Reacting to the list, candidate Ryan Doyle is quoted as being concerned that candidate Joe Luneau is considerably over-reaching in his effort to “get out the vote.”
“Some of these people don’t live in the ward anymore or the city,” Doyle said. “Several of them live in other communities like Colchester and Burlington, and even other states.”
For his part, Mr. Luneau, who piously demanded the revote to cleanse the process for the sake of voter confidence, seems quite sanguine about the ethics of recruiting non-residents to vote in tomorrow’s election:
Luneau, in an interview last week, acknowledged he has encouraged people to request absentee ballots who he knows are on the checklist but don’t live in Ward 5, a move he said was entirely legal.
“If they’re comfortable voting in this race, I certainly wouldn’t tell them not to do so,” Luneau said. “My focus is to get my supporters out.”
As regular readers of GMD may know, I have been a supporter of planning commissioner Ryan Doyle for Ward 5 alderman; and Ryan Doyle did indeed defeat incumbent Joe Luneau in the close Town Meeting Day vote.
No one was surprised that Mr. Luneau wanted a recount since it was such a close race; but when several subsequent recount efforts never varied from the Doyle win outcome, and no deliberate effort at undermining the process was revealed on investigation, we were very puzzled that a district judge would order a new election.
Of course, as is noted in the Freeps article, the Luneau family is a powerful political machine with significant resources. Doyle, who was trained as a civil engineer but currently must support himself and his civic volunteer activities on the salary of a factory shift-worker, could not afford to hire an attorney in order to appeal what seemed an unsupported decision on the part of the judge who vacated the election.
This small town election melodrama is playing out as a classic allegory of the power imbalance and wealth bias that is reflected throughout American politics today.
When Ryan won the election despite Mr. Luneau’s having outspent him roughly four-to-one, I was momentarily buoyed by the notion that the 99% ultimately might also have their day. That fantasy of equity was quickly disabused when the heavy hand and purse of Luneau influence went about undoing the election.
But I had no idea then how unashamedly unprincipled Mr. Luneau could be! It’s dumfounding even to a gal from Daley’s Chicago!
That what he is doing isn’t even technically illegal just makes my blood run cold.
is Mr. Okeefe when we need him.
Read that quote this morning in the Freeps, snuggled in between the sports sports sports sports and AP feeds.
Sad, really, that this is allowed to happen.
Good luck to Mr. Doyle.
to the extent I’m just speechless. If I seem unconcerned @ times it’s is only b/c I’m up to my eyeballs by even more surreptitous bs on a daily basis. Voting ‘irregularities’ seem to be on the increase everywhere, a death threat to the democratic process.
If one is on the checklist, he or she is a legal voter. One is only removed from the checklist if he/she asks to be removed, another jurisdiction sends notice to St.Albans that the individual has registered in that jusrisdiction or the name is purged by the BCA. The BCA has a specific set of standards it must meet prior to purging a name. Sue and others may not like the effort being made by Mr. Luneau to attract absentee ballots, but there is nothing illegal about those actions. Furthermore, no one knows who the absentee voter is voting for. As far as the political power of the Luneau clan goes, we all need to remember that all votes are equal; thus, the Luneaus each have one vote, just like the Prents.
Whether you like the idea or not, or even if you like the Luneaus or not, there is nothing wrong, corrupt or disrespectful in using perfectly legal means to try to win an election. Having worked on mnay elections in multiple states, working absentee ballots is always one of the first orders of business. Mr. Luneau’s opponent has the same voter list to work. Whether he has or not is not the definitive question here. The question is simple, Is Mr. Luneau opperating within the law? The answer, yes. End of story.
This election will be won by the candidate who gets the most votes. A judge threw out the previous election for perfectly good reasons. There were legal irregularities in the process. Encouraging absentee ballots is not an election irregularity.
If you don’t want to see Mr. Luneau elected, stop bitching and work to get out his opponent’s votes. Elections are won by votes not by accusations. Attacking a successful St Albans’ family because you don’t like all their business decisions will never win an election.
I would want someone who takes this approach as my representative:
He spent good money for it!
If Doyle isn’t a millionaire and can’t afford to buy his own election he shouldn’t withhold that election from the person that did buy the election.
But seriously, folks. Why did that judge throw out an election? Just because the bigger spender didn’t win? How is that legal?
As I said:
“…no one knows who the absentee voter is voting for.”
“This election will be won by the candidate who gets the most votes.”
Hopefully the next election in St Albans will climb out of the sewer of uncalled for and nasty accusations, shrill claims of unethical conduct and ridiculous charges against the “rich and famous”. The voters do elect the people they want.
By a lot. 224 to 147.
http://www.samessenger.com/nod…
I suspect a case can be made that Mr. Luneau was soliciting a crime. Which may be a crime itself.
Looking at the statute, 17 VSA 2122, QUALIFICATION AND REGISTRATION OF VOTERS, Residence; special cases; checklist
So someone who is not a resident by these criteria, but on the checklist (in error) is not a qualified voter.
17 VSA 1974. Voter omitted from list, voting in another town (emphasis added)
Section 2111, 2112, and 2114 seem applicable in a similar vein. And finally, and most damning for Mr. Luneau:
17 VSA 2016. Aiding unqualified voter to vote
Not that I expect him to be charged, unfortunately…but the statute certainly doesn’t support the claim that non-resident voters can vote legally just because nobody got around to purging them yet.
…never prosper!
Well, mostly. Congrats to Doyle and St Albans. Glad unethical/illegal behavior was repudiated so soundly.
that ends well. Nice to see some good news once in a while. Clink.