Commentary

Klar: Vermont legislator involved in voter fraud – but House panel says nothing

By John Klar

Dismissing any conservative claims of voter fraud as conspiracy theory, Democrats surely do not want the citizenry to become aware of their active effort to subvert the voting process and then cover it up – right here in Vermont! Vermont Democrats hate voter fraud so much that they object when theirs is exposed. 

As I wrote here last November, Representative Carolyn Partridge solicited out-of-town residents to vote in a local school vote while she was on the school board. In an email to me on November 19, Ms. Partridge wrote “The short answer is that the allegations are completely false. Thanks, Carolyn.” That appears to be less than forthright, and now is the time for a longer answer for voters.

Carolyn Partridge didn’t just involve herself in voter fraud – she actively solicited it with apparently no fear of accountability. By persuading other people to vote in her town’s election, Partridge embroiled them as the named defendants in the lawsuit challenging the vote. The Town and others did all they could to hide her emails from the citizen plaintiffs: Superintendent Bill Anton dragged his feet and objected to their records request language; the Vermont League of Towns and Cities had no opinion to offer on the records request; and then the Town through legal counsel has repeatedly tried in court to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that the plaintiffs had not moved faster

Vermonters, here is what actually happened. On September 7, 2021, the Town of Windham voted to close the Windham Elementary School, and at least three non-residents voted. Per the 12/20/21 Amended Complaint, “Almost immediately after the vote was confirmed, Defendant Carolyn Partridge, began a campaign for a re-vote.” The same three non-residents participated in petitioning for a revote, leading to a revote on November 2 in which they again voted. 

Concerned that they lived in Peru and that their only connection to Windham was that they owned an “uninhabitable” property there (that was for sale), one of the nonresident voters emailed Carolyn Partridge with her concerns. As stated in the Amended Complaint:

24. On October 13, 2021, Ms. Beshay, in an emailed addressed to Partridge, Ms. Beshay stated the following “If I own property in Windham but reside in Peru, can I not vote in Windham? I thought I could vote in Windham because we own property but Alexis just told me Crystal is going after me for voting illegally.”

25. Partridge replied by email: “She would! If you intend to return to your house/land eventually and have not registered somewhere else, you may vote in Windham. You might say that for health reasons you have had to rent elsewhere but it is your intention to return. That’s all you need to say. If she goads you, remain silent. Maureen Bell has a brother who lives in Montreal and votes in Windham. And he knows nothing about the school!! As long as you’re on the checklist, you are a legal voter.”

This email appears to coach a nonresident to commit voting fraud – this is called subornation, and is generally condemned when non-elites do it. When the surrounding facts are assessed, there is no other way to view this. Instead of protecting voters or the voting process, however, the Town of Windham and its lawyers have committed all possible energies to defend the out-of-town voters and Partridge, repeatedly attempting to dismiss the case on technicalities. 

Per the Court’s latest (July 1, 2022) Order denying the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, Superior Court Judge Katherine A. Hayes observed:

The Town also argues that the plaintiffs’ argument that the election result should be set aside due to fraud must fail, because even had the three voters not voted in favor of the school remaining open (which it is not clear that they did) the outcome of the vote would have been tie, and therefore the school would have remained open. They disagree with the plaintiffs’ argument that a tie would have left the prior vote in place, requiring that the school be closed. Therefore, the town argues, even if the voters’ participation was in fact fraudulent, it was insufficient “to change the ultimate result,” and was therefore not a basis for a valid contest of the election under 17 V.S.A. § 2603(b)(2). ….The parties have made these arguments before, and the court has ruled on them. ….Accordingly, the court again denies the Town’s motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims.

This is why Americans have a third branch of government to oversee the other two – without a Court of integrity, every bureaucratic abuse available would ensure the truth of Carolyn Partridge’s perfidious betrayal of law and voters would still be unknown – statewide liberal media are not reporting on this brazen fraud, and will likely just keep hoping it goes away! 

But perhaps that too is a story to be shared widely – the House Ethics Panel has investigated this case and ruled that Representative Partridge did nothing wrong!:

The House Ethics Panel considered your complaint against Rep. Carolyn Partridge in accordance with the House Ethics Panel Procedure for Handling Ethics Complaints. ….After considering the circumstances related to your complaint, including the above-described BCA and Court review, by this memorandum, the Panel is closing your complaint. However, pursuant to the Panel’s Procedure, the Panel reserves the ability to reopen this complaint in the future, if necessary. Also in accordance with its Procedure, the Panel is providing a copy of this notice to Rep. Partridge.

How nice and cozy for Partridge and the bureaucrats who cover for her! Vermonters can see in plain view just how corrupt all of these people are, and just how far they will pervert truth and process to rule over others very undemocratically for their own power. If there is no accountability at the polls in November, they will continue with the same shameless impunity they exhibit in this lawsuit, while scoffing at anyone who questions the voting process.

(Editor’s note: Rep. Partridge, a longtime committee chair and leader in the House Democratic caucus, declined to run for re-election this year. A search of the House Ethics Panel on the Vermont Legislature webpage shows no information about any meetings or decisions. The panel members are Reps. John Gannon, Chair, Brian Cina, Lawrence Cupoli, Kimberly Jessup and Laura Sibilia. Responses by any of the representatives mentioned above will be published as they become available.)

The author is a Brookfield resident, farmer, lawyer, and candidate for state senate from Orange County.

Categories: Commentary

18 replies »

  1. Republicans love cops-until they kill them.
    Republicans love veterans-until they let them die from service-connected cancer.
    Republicans love women-until they doom them to a life of involuntary servitude.
    Republicans love black people-until they demand equality.
    Republicans love Hispanics-as long as they stick to mowing their lawns and picking their lettuce.
    Republicans love the Chinese-until they refuse to work for slave wages.
    The reality- republicans hate everyone.

    • Rhetoric and as hominem attacks. Obama invaded Libya. Biden is supporting a repressive regime in Ukraine. Democrats do underhandedly what Republicans do openly.

    • Rhetoric and ad hominem attacks.
      Obama invaded Libya. Biden is supporting a repressive regime which has eliminated opposition parties.
      Democrats do underhandedly what Republicans do openly.

    • Hey look another New Yorker telling us how to live and who to vote for. Do you hear that?

      That’s white plains calling you back!!!

    • My, that sounds quite hateful. Stereotyping and lying — not very tolerant; pretty darn hateful. I guess you hate that I exposed the truth about the contempt these people show for Vermont voters — the issue of the piece.

  2. Good rundown, John! This is a PERVASIVE problem in Vermont. We saw the similar case in Victory VT where people from Connecticut as well as other towns in Vermont were voting in the local elections illegally. We almost had a LT Governor candidate in Garrett Graff who was living in Washington DC and voting illegally in Montpelier (? – a Washington County town…) for ten years — no consequences or even recognition by election officials that he was doing anything wrong! Sec. of State Jim Condos does everything he can to cover this up and perpetuate a clear misunderstanding of our election law regarding “intent” about residency.

  3. Anyone else think it’s funny that John Klar is trying to care for the sheep in his picture while showing the sheep what’s happening?

  4. This is all out of a Graham Greene spy novel or something or other…here in the hinterlands of VT. ‘Cause if it happens here, it spreads like wildfire. Peru—really? How ‘bout if we all get together and organize a trip to Antarctica; where the rubber meets up with the Great Lebowski?

  5. John again told a truth and upset the liberal commies who commented on his post. we need to ship them back to where they all came from.

    • As I remember from history, the only party that enslaved people was the democrats who also formed the KKK to kill republicans and freed slaves. Even John Wilks Booth who assassinated Lincoln was a democrat.

      • You remember incorrectly – no party enslaved anyone. White individuals enslaved (or bought previously enslaved) black individuals. Not that I attended any of the many slave auctions held in America, but I am guessing that there were very few instances of someone saying, “on behalf of the Democratic Party of White Plains, NY, I bid $10 for that slave”.

        Also, it’s a ‘Prius’ not a ‘Preis’ – unless you actually intended to use the German word for ‘price’, in which case, why?

      • Whatever else it was, the antebellum southern wing of the Democratic Party was the political arm of the slavers.

      • Thanks for clearing that up, Christian. Because I spelled one wrong word in a hurry and didn’t write a novel about southern democrats and the KKK and the history of slavery, I guess you got me. I won’t get triggered though even if you never got the history lesson on the party you apparently belong to. Since you missed it, here’s a refresher course for you. PS, there isn’t an edit button here so errors cannot be corrected.

  6. Reminding everyone on this thread that criticism of ideas is always welcome, but profanity and personal criticism of other commenters is not.

  7. Luke 12 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.