Academy of Local Politics

I have been an election worker. I have sat there and had potential voters "state your name and address.

"I totally (100%) agree with the idea of requiring voters to have a government issued photo ID.For those who cannot afford one...one will be provided. Somehow, we will work out that detail.

We are staring in the face, another barn burner. There will be extremely close races across the nation. With Congressional  approval rating at 10%, there are many disgusted voters going to the polls.

Who will be these voters?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports...

Workers from a second activist organization have been implicated in falsifying Milwaukee voter registration forms, bringing to 15 the number of voter registration workers who could face scrutiny for trying to sign up dead, imprisoned or fictitious voters, according to the Milwaukee Election Commission and the organizations that paid the workers.

It's the tip of the iceberg.

Sometimes I am just so naive. Even though I have participated in politics for over 30 years and think I have seen it all...I haven't.

I have never seen real fraud and corruption.

It isn't because I live in a rural area either. Fraud and corruption can happen anywhere.

JudicialWatch.com reports...

Three Alabama counties are under federal investigation for voter fraud amid reports of citizens openly selling votes, casting multiple ballots and exchanging votes for a load of gravel in the recent primary election.

Last month Alabama’s secretary of state  launched a probe into one county (Lowndes) after reports surfaced that absentee voters traded votes for a load of gravel for their driveways and other absentee ballots cast from former residents living as far away as Chicago.

The probe quickly grew to include two other predominantly Democrat counties—Perry and Bullock—where the fraud seems to be rampant and nothing new. Residents interviewed by a national newspaper proudly admitted that they have been paid for their vote for years and that they have seen votes openly bought and sold by local officials.

One 23-year-old man admitted has been paid by local officials to use an absentee  ballot ever since he became eligible to vote. The last time he voted, he got paid $30, saying its “pretty common” and “nothing new.” Another man said he’s sold his vote for $100 and $50 a pop.

Now, I would never sell my vote for a load of gravel. No way.

But, if I needed a load of gravel and was going to vote for the person anyway....????

Might be tough to resist.

 

I have said it over and over the best way to campaign for office is to knock on doors. A time tested method of campaigning.

Then there is Joe Reed of Trion, GA...

he's apologizing to an entire class of high school graduates and their parents, and hoping they'll vote for him anyway.

On May 24th, Trion High School graduates attended their ceremony and opened their diploma packets, and, along with the sheepskin, each graduate found a little something extra: a card of congratulations from a would-be BFF, a candidate for Chattooga County Commissioner named Joe Reed.

Reed's card had the school's Bulldog mascot printed at the top, and he wrote:

Dear Trion High Graduate:

Just a note to say congratulations on your Graduation. This is a very important time in your life with many choices and decisions to be made. I wish you only the best for your future.

Joe Reed, Canidate (sic) For Chattooga County Commissioner"

How did that happen? Campaign literature with a diploma?

Trion School Superintendent Richard Lindsay told 11Alive News that a school secretary is the one who mistakenly placed the campaign card inside the diploma envelopes after a Reed supporter handed her the cards asking her if she would get them to the students.

"It was five minutes before the graduation ceremony was to start," Lindsay said. "So the secretary put the card in each packet" in her rush to have the packets ready as soon as the ceremony began.

 

Needless to say this has turned into a big mess with numerous apologies and ample finger pointing.

Here is my tip for graduates.

Never vote for a candidate for office that doesn't know how to spell candidate.

  

 

Everyone who runs for local office has a skeleton or two, or more in their closet. Stories from their past that they would just as soon not be made public.

That is why I enjoyed this column by Chuck Avery.

He tells the story of going to his class reunion with his classmate who grew up to be Mayor of his hometown.

One of my best friends stayed involved in local politics, eventually running for mayor of our hometown. Together we attended a reunion of our high school class. During the evening's festivities I told a story about a weekend adventure the candidate and I had shared when we were young, single men just out of the Army.

After a Reds double-header, we visited several strip joints, gambling dens and other assorted disreputable establishments in Newport. When we started home the next morning, each of us discovered the other was broke. At the Indiana line we ran out of gas and had to call another friend who brought us enough money to get home.

I thought the anecdote was funny and well received by the group.

Everyone seemed amused. When we left, however, my friend the candidate, began to scold me. He said that my story had probably cost him at least 40 votes. I apologized, but I couldn't take back what I had said. In spite of it, he won the election.

It would be difficult for some and impossible for others to be on guard every moment about our every utterance.

And 40 votes lost over a decades-old wild weekend.

I don't think a political career would be any fun at all.

I remember scolding a couple of my friends for telling stories at the wrong time.  

Like Yogi said... "This is like deja vu all over again."

Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors. Chosen by a majority of the County Board Supervisors to be their "Leader". It is quite an honor.

Many times there is no competition to the incumbent. The election is over very quickly. Other times it gets a little sticky. Then there is Milwaukee County.

According to a release by WisPolitics.Com...

Lee Holloway was re-elected chair of the Milwaukee County Board Monday night after almost eight hours of debate and 45 votes.

The marathon session began after supervisors were sworn into their new terms Monday afternoon and ended with Holloway besting Supv. Jim “Luigi” Schmitt on a 12-7 vote.

Eight Hours!!!! Forty Five Votes!!!

This is how it worked. There were five candidates. The members of the County Board each voted by secret ballot for their choice. A majority is need for selection. If no candidate reaches a majority, the candidate with the lowest vote total is out of the competition. If there is a tie for the lowest vote, a secret runoff vote is taken to break that tie. It is cumbersome with five candidates, but even then really shouldn't take more than hour at the most. So, what happened?

During the process, numerous calls were made to change the rules in the hopes of speeding up the process, some members abstained from voting – even when it was against the rules -- and several run offs were held to narrow the field.

Abstained from voting? Deliberate acts of sabotage.

There has to be a reason, right?

Holloway was at the center of an ethics controversy over accusations that he failed to disclose properties he owned. Holloway settled the case by paying a $3,000 forfeiture.

Ahh... an ethics controversy. Of course, it's Milwaukee.

But still...Eight Hours!!!