Liam Madden, the kid who couldn’t shoot straight – As I sit here pondering Vermont’s 2022 Election process, I really question how Vermonters can possibly believe in the integrity of the ballot processing. The rules have been rather fluid with weeks of opportunity to stuff the ballot boxes. It seems to me that town clerks should have a process to keep track of voters and be allowed to purge the names of the deceased and those who have moved. We live in the electronic age. The town gossips know what’s going on; ask them. After all, second homeowners shouldn’t be voting here; what’s the catch? That’s a serious question. Town Clerks have done the job legally and accurately in the past without being hacked. What’s new? Why, in this election cycle, did towns have to scrap their voting devices for Dominion machines that are notably insecure and easily hacked?
Then there’s the process that Political Parties are supposed to follow to set up a primary with valid, vetted candidates. Well, good luck with that. We’ve got Liam Madden, US House of Representatives candidate, who’s like the kid who couldn’t shoot straight. It’s been reported that he didn’t run as a Democrat because there were too many actual Democrats running. Oh, that’s interesting. So, he ran as a Republican with a plan to ditch the GOP, leave them with no candidate and run as an Independent; but there are those pesky rules. Whoops! There are rules?!? He missed the rules! OK, so he is back running as a Republican. Of course, his plan now is to lose and make sure that a Republican won’t be elected. Speaking of rules, how about campaign finance rules? Looks like Liam has done it again. Rules, what rules? My question is who is really in charge of elections? The Secretary of State, Jim Condos? You mean the guy with the voting machine mandate? Oh, right!
We know Secretary Condos’ record when it comes to election integrity. He’s the guy who let Representative Robin Chesnut-Tangerman manipulate the opening of sealed ballot bags in Middletown Springs during the 2020 Election. Yes, the Secretary was aware; I notified him myself in writing and he answered my correspondence. Did Candidate Chesnut-Tangerman violate election law by not only engineering the exercise but being present, witnessing and assuring that the Progressive vote count for David Zuckerman changed overnight by one vote? Yes. Robin was the first one to publish it in the local Front Porch Forum dated September 1, 2020. Total vote counts were changed overnight by 10 votes to prevent Candidate Cris Ericson from requesting a recount of the Progressive Votes for Lieutenant Governor. I was never able to find out what other towns’ elections were violated. By the way, there is a legal process to validate the counts; but that takes time. Both Robin Chesnut-Tangerman and David Zuckerman lost in the 2020 election.
Secretary Condos is not running for re-election. Vermonters have a choice of candidates. Democrat Sarah Copeland Hanzas and Republican H. Brooke Paige. I’m sure there will be much discussion of the State of Vermont’s new voter process and tallying of the votes. There is already an attempt to round up redundant ballots and erroneously addressed ballots. Unfortunately, the ones thrown in the trash are lost forever. My vote for Secretary of State will be cast for H. Brooke Paige. Don’t let the top hat fool you; I know Brooke and he is honest. Please join me and vote for Election Integrity. – Dolores Luebke, West Pawlet
Scott’s not doing enough – It is not sufficient for a governor to stand up to former President Trump.
It is not sufficient for a governor to leave leadership on a pandemic to the cities and towns.
It is not acceptable to veto public pension reforms that were passed unanimously by the state legislature.
It is not acceptable to veto the 15 bills in the last legislative session that deal with opioid overdose response, minimum wages, criminal justice reform, charter amendments to the cities of Burlington, Brattleboro, Montpelier, and Winooski, the possession of firearms in hospitals, Act 250 and rental housing health and safety. We elected our legislators. Our governor needs to respond to the will of the voters as expressed by the legislature.
Vetoing so many bills implies that Gov. Scott is not responding to our will. There are other candidates who can listen better to the will of the people. Let’s take a chance on one of them. – Dvora Jonas, Montpelier
Dems and Progs screwing up childcare, energy costs – I have seen a number of posts calling for the re-election of our current representatives in Montpelier, the most recent citing the lack of affordable child care. I would like to remind people of a few facts.
A few years ago, the Dems and Progs said we needed to have more regulations for day care facilities, and unionization of day care workers. Republicans and better educated people tried to warn that this would drive up child care costs and drive many out of business altogether. They refused to listen, and we were proven right. So now the parties of big government that caused the problem to begin with want you to trust them yet again to fix the problem they caused. Only a fool would allow them a second chance.
I would also like to remind people that our local dem and prog reps attempted to put the screws to all of us, and especially those with lower incomes who are already struggling to make ends meet by trying to pass a carbon tax that would make it significantly more expensive for people to drive to work and heat their homes. And when people tried to tell them the financial harm it was going to do, often making people to chose between paying their bills and putting gas in their tank to get to work, they didn’t give a darn. They had an agenda, a religion that put their cause ahead of working Vermonters.
To make matters worse, they tried to do it in a way that they could claim it wasn’t their fault. They tried to put an unelected, unaccountable board in charge of the rates that people would have to pay. This is the REAL “threat to Democracy.” From closing Vermont Yankee, to Shummy care debacle, the current crime wave and drug addiction, and horrible school proficiency scores, nearly every ill that has befallen Vermont over the past quarter century can be traced back to one party rule following disastrous Progressive policies.
If you want things to improve, I urge all Vermonters to vote straight Republican this year (with the exception of the phony Liam Madden). – Brett Gaskill Essex Junction
Categories: Opinion
What in GOD’S NAME does former President Trump have to do with Vermont’s lack of election integrity and organization??? Why do so many purported republicans feel so obsessively compelled to interject President Trump into every dang equation. With every voter they believe they are assuaging, they are ticking-off just as many – who have NO issues with Trump and who never bought into the lamestream media’s chronic thrashing of the President – executed to the sheer delight of both parties stuck in the muck in the D.C. swamp!!!
So Mr. Gaskill, other than your general, righteous message urging Vermonters to vote for republican candidates with but one exception – PLEASE tell us precisely what Scott was “standing up” to the former President for doing? Was it for keeping worldwide peace earning him Nobel Peace Prize nominations as a result? Was it for making the US energy independent? Was it for initiating Operation Warp speed? Was it for directly confronting the fake news and the deep corruption in D.C.?
And for the remainder of republicans & conservatives who have a you-know-what stuck you-know-where about a man who hasn’t served in public office for just about two full years now? Please seriously consider extracting it. Pick on somebody who deserves it – like Joe Biden and his Communist cohorts.
And my apologies – the writer of the above comments criticizing President Trump was Dvora Jonas, NOT Mr. Gaskill.
Liam Madden, the kid who couldn’t shoot straight:
I believe that elections are very much cheated in, but the misinformation in this article just isn’t right:
“It seems to me that town clerks should have a process to keep track of voters and be allowed to purge the names of the deceased and those who have moved.”
The town clerks do have the ability to remove those that are deceased as long as they are notified. The town clerks also have the ability to remove those who have moved providing that they respond to a “challenge letter”. If they don’t respond then they must wait 2 years or a full election cycle to remove them. This isn’t a VT law, this is a federal law. Each town has it’s own process as the list for the town is maintained by the town clerk.
While I agree that the lists are bloated and not taken care of properly in a lot of towns, there are a lot of towns where it is handled the best that it can be. Tell me how do you handle renters when they move? How do you know that someone has moved out who rents? What mechanism is there? Tell me why we need to wait per federal law for 2 years before we remove someone if we know that they don’t live there. Tell me how a town of 5000 people is supposed to be accurately tracked by one or two people who get paid 20 – 25 an hour?
Now don’t get me wrong I think a good chunk of VT’s election problems start with the voter rolls, but it’s mostly a legislative problem or a problem of good town clerks vs. bad town clerks. If you want to fix the problem go and talk to your town clerk, as them questions, be polite and try to figure out their process and where it’s lacking. I say good and bad town clerks because historically there have been a few town clerks that have been charged with embezzling.
“Why, in this election cycle, did towns have to scrap their voting devices for Dominion machines that are notably insecure and easily hacked?”
This was ordered by Jim Condos and likely urged by LHS. LHS runs the machines and therefore our elections, this is another flaw in our system. The reasoning behind ordering the machines is because the former hardware (accuvote machines) were using an ancient and proprietary card of which getting new ones is near impossible. So either Jim would have had to have town hand count, which he could not due to legislation, or he had to order new machines. Why Dominion you ask, it’s simple, it’s what LHS supports and sells. I’m not sticking up for Jim at all but these are the facts.
If you want to fix the problem, you have to first understand the problem, not just point the finger.
If I were to point the finger today, I would point it at Jim for having our election results site (https://electionresults.vermont.gov/) down since the primary, for allowing LHS to manage our elections instead of having Vermonters do it, then I would point an even longer finger at the legislation surrounding our elections that allow for this and give nearly no mechanism for citizens to verify the elections.
I totally agree with you about Liam. Liar and a cheat. Vote for Ericka
Vote for H. Brooke Paige, he knows these issues quite well and intends on fixing them and has come up with some great ways to mitigate the legislative flaws without changing the laws. I’ve spoke to him personally and he knows what he’s talking about.
Scott’s not doing enough:
Scott DIDN’T VETO ENOUGH, but I’m not voting for that liar either, I can’t in good conscience do it again.
Dems and Progs screwing up childcare, energy costs:
Brett is spot on, keep electing the same people that create a problem through legislation then attempt to fix the same problem through legislation but when they fix it they make sure to charge the public more for it so that they think you are doing something about it. Meanwhile pocket the difference, fleecing Vermonters of their hard earned money.
While “woke” people condemn “voter suppression” the integrity of the voting process is more damaged than ever before in the history of this country. With such proliferation of mail-in ballots there is simply no way to insure legitimacy.
Laim Madden, Republican candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, has stated he would vote to do away with the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote. He would be representing the small state of Vermont. This would mean that states with large populations, think California and New York, would forever control the outcome of elections. Amazingly none of the other candidates or the Republican Party have called him out on this!
When can we end the government subsidy of the farm industry? Bloated, wasteful and wildly unnecessary. If they are good at their business, they will survive.
This article? Uses too many words and thoughts mixed with attacks to cohesively follow?
Fixing Vermont is easy……leave it! As a lifelong Vermonter, I have had enough. IMO, Chittenden County calls the shots for the rest of us. Sadly, I won’t miss this place.