Disenfranchising the voters
On another post, a blogger asked about the Democratic Town Committee having some sort of pot luck dinner at the Senior Center. And presumably, since fundraisers are "prohibited"... this must be a free event and not a rehash of the ugly politics of this past summer (where favors were being dished out to the politically influential). Even so... that blogger reminded me of the concerns I raised.
You may recall my concern about benefits being accrued to the two major political parties in town... while others (and half the voters in town are unaffiliated) are afforded no such favors. Well... Cindy Kleist is running for Town Council... and she's not running with either of the two major parties. But has she been offered the use of a town facility for a political fundraiser? No. And her husband asked that very question this past summer!
You may feel this is benign. You may dislike Cindy. But to me this is a willful disenfranchisement of the voters... and it's just not right.
I hope that the policy is revised and an offer is extended... soon.
We're into October and any event is going to take some time to organize. But who knows... maybe disenfranchising non-major party candidates is the goal? Or maybe The-Powers-That-Be simply don't care about fairness and equality?
Tim White
7 comments:
Has Cindy asked and been refused the use of a facility? If not then Tim you are proably wrong about this.
Anyone is free to form their own party and can do so. This idea of disenfranchising is absurd tim.
Seems like tim white listens has turned into tim white misinforms.
Have fun on the last days of your term tim boy cuz ya going down
What reason are they going to give this time? Keep going Tim. The last blogger must be a prophet and we know how accurate they are. Who is your opponent in the 4th by the way?
The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all.
11:13... her husband told me that he asked and was refused. Regardless, the lack of a clear policy may inadvertently act as a deterrent.
"Or maybe The-Powers-That-Be simply don't care about fairness and equality?"
Tim, this is an extremely strong statement for an elected official to make.
Who are you accusing?
9:59...
As I wrote in my linked post from July 11:
Beyond that, I voiced my concern about the TMs proposed remedy to this situation. That is, the TM thought an acceptable remedy would be to extend the offer of a political fundraiser on town property to the Republican Party. And by their silence, it seemed to me as though many Council members also considered this an acceptable remedy. But this remedy doesn't work for me.
See, IMO, that remedy strikes me as disenfranchising over half the voters in town... the voters who are not affiliated with either of the two major political parties. And I don't accept that as fair. And why any elected official would sit silent on the issue of fairness is puzzling to me. Yet that is what most have done since I first raised this issue during the June 12 Council meeting.
If I recall correctly, Elizabeth Esty and Diane Visconti both voiced their concerns.
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