Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Milne who, for all intents and purposes, lost in his campaign against Peter Shumlin is asking the state legislature to vote for him. Not because he won the election, which he clearly did not, but because the Vermont Constitution sets aside any popular win under 50% and turns the decision over to the legislature.
Without going into precedents where losing candidates concede, this candidate will not lick his wounds graciously.While perhaps, as Milne is reported as saying that “Vermonters are fed up with the governorship of Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin” might be true, not enough of them voted to give Milne the governorship.
One has to assume (or even believe) that voters did, in fact, “vote in the best interest of Vermont” but, not enough of them thought Milne represented those “best interests.”
In my view, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Emily Peyton, if she had lost a close race would have had the decency to respect the “vox populi” and graciously conceded. In that sense Ms. Peyton would have put a better face on the Vermont Republican Party. As it is, Mr. Milne is not any better than any other sore loser, and as such, does the Republican Party no great favors.
But the really curious thing about this development is not Scott Milne. Sore losers go with a grain of salt.
The really curious thing is, as the Reformer reports, that “The secret-ballot vote will be held on Jan. 7.” Any legislator who cannot make his vote known to the people of the State of Vermont probably should not be sitting in the position of lawmaker.
There cannot be any logical reason why secret ballots are used in American legislative decision-making. After all, secret ballots at the voting booth make historical sense. But once a candidate sits in the state chambers, employing secrecy to cast such an important decision is a slight to the people where transparency is their greatest safeguard.
All We Want for Chanukah and Christmas is a New Governor?
Published December 18, 2014 in The Vermont Journal / The Shopper
8 High Street, Ludlow, Vermont 05149
LETTER TO THE EDITOR, THE VERMONT JOURNAL
My favorite fantasy is to imagine men in Vermont in the
1770’s riding
their horses across the hills and mountain trails,
splashing naked in
the hollowed gorges and streams, and fighting for their
freedom.
The reality is that they wanted their freedom to write their
own
Vermont State Constitution, and they did.
Is the Vermont Constitution currently being
violated?
Secretary of State Jim Condos admited in a legally official
e-mail to me that the vote counters were tired and that’s
why
my vote count for U.S. Congress was about 800 or more votes
different, after they were less tired, than
before. The same
thing occurred to two other candidates for U.S. Congress.
That amounts to about 2400 votes, the amount that the
Vermont Secretary of State claims Governor Shumlin received
in excess of Scott Milne’s vote count.
The curious thing is, that Jim Condos also claims
that there were far fewer votes for Representative to
U.S. Congress than for Governor. Can
you legally
cut and paste votes from one Office to a different Office?
In all their exhaustion up there in Montpelier, were ballot
votes for U.S. Congress shifted to Governor Shumlin,
accounting for the mysteriously missing 2400 votes total
that Cris Ericson (me), Matthew Andrews and
Jerry Trudell
had deducted from their vote counts for
Representative
to Congress after Jim Condos suddenly stopped counting
at 96%, then took four days later to come up with the “new”
vote count, which took a total of about 2400 votes away
from
Cris Ericson, Matthrew Andrews and Jerry
Trudell?
Consider a forensic acounting of the arithmetic trick
that
Jim Condos pulled, stopping the vote count at 96%,
waiting four days, then reducing the vote count for
three candidates for federal office, and then
mysteriously
taking that amount and stating Governor Shumlin had
just that many more votes than Scott Milne;
but if you were trying to pull this hat trick in a
Presidential
Election, how many years in federal prison would you
risk?
By the Constitution of the State of Vermont, I ask for an
official re-count done by the General Assembly, even if
they have shirked their official name and fancy calling
themselves the State Legislature, because the
Constitution
of the State of Vermont clearly states that the vote count
is to occur “at the opening of the General Assembly”
not before hand, and that means in January 2015;
so the votes counted during Nov. 4th all the way to the
new count on Nov. 8th should be voided and rescinded
as a violation of the Constitution of the State of Vermont.
http://www.leg.state.vt.us/statutes/const2.htm
Constitution of the State of Vermont
AS ESTABLISHED JULY 9, 1793, AND AMENDED THROUGH DECEMBER
14, 2010
§ 47. [ELECTION OF GOVERNOR, LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR AND
TREASURER]
The voters of each town shall, on the day of election for
choosing Representatives to attend the General Assembly,
bring in their votes for Governor, with the name fairly
written, to the Constable, who shall seal them up, and write
on them, Votes for Governor, and deliver them to the
Representatives chosen to attend the General Assembly; and
at the opening of the General Assembly, there shall be a
committee appointed out of the Senate and House of
Representatives, who, after being duly sworn to the faithful
discharge of their trust, shall proceed to receive, sort,
and count the votes for Governor, and declare the person who
has the major part of the votes, to be Governor for the two
years ensuing. The Lieutenant-Governor and the Treasurer
shall be chosen in the manner above directed.
The votes for Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Treasurer,
of the State, shall be sorted and counted, and the result
declared, by a committee appointed by the Senate and House
of Representatives.
If, at any time, there shall be no election, of Governor,
Lieutenant-Governor, or Treasurer, of the State, the Senate
and House of Representatives shall by a joint ballot, elect
to fill the office, not filled as aforesaid, one of the
three candidates for such office (if there be so many) for
whom the greatest number of votes shall have been returned.
Ms. Cris Ericson
879 Church Street
Chester, Vermont 05143
(802)875-4038