Politics

Bratteboro’s Town Meeting Representatives are having a special meeting today to discuss and vote on the possible move of a police station to the north end of town. Just over 100 representatives are there, and voting begins at 10 am. Results later today.

Sanders can’t win in the south! Clinton can’t win in the north! Cruz is considered a sane alternative to Trump! Kasich just needs Ohio! Rubio will win if he comes in 5th better next time! They’re all nuts!

Our strange election year continues, with polls being terribly inaccurate at times, traditional efforts to stop opponents backfiring, and major media following rather shaping results.

Up is the new down. And quite a few states have yet to weigh in.

A new thread to talk politics through the next big round of primaries.

Brattleboro Town Selectboard will hold a pre-town meeting information forum on Wednesday, March 9 at Academy School beginning at 7:00 PM. At 6:30 p.m., town meeting members of each district will be available to meet with constituents to offer residents an opportunity to share their views and discuss articles to be voted on at the annual meeting.

Also, at that time, district 2 will be accepting nominations to fill a town meeting member vacancy for 1 year. Any District 2 resident interested in being considered for this position should be present at Wednesday’s 6:30PM caucus. Classroom locations at Academy School for each caucus will be posted in the school lobby that evening. The public is invited to attend their district’s caucus and stay for the information meeting.

As the primary process rolls on, the media has tended to focus on the simplest form of result, declaring winners and losers in the tightest of races. But there is more to the aggregate numbers than simple winners and losers, state by state. A closer look at who voted for whom and where reveals some interesting things about both parties, not least of which is the power of the combined anti-Trump, about which more later.

First, the Democrats. Hillary Clinton has won a fair number of states so far, but not all of them were landslides. For instance, she “won” Massachusetts by a mere 1.4%, not exactly a mandate-making majority. She won Iowa by an even tinier margin of 4 votes, which translates to less than a third of one percent. Even in Nevada, her margin of victory was only 5%. These states are outside the deep south.

All write-ins have been counted. There were no write-ins for Selectboard 1 year. The final results are the same as the unofficial results. All results in this email are the final, official except a few write-ins for presidential primary that we have not yet recorded.

Voter turnout

Total registered voters 7979

Total local ballots 3467, 43%

My name is Cassandra Holloway and I am running as a write-in  to be a town rep for District 3. Please consider voting for me (March 1st in the Municipal  Building 7A-7P). There is a list outside of the voting area with all the information about who is from each district including write-ins (my name will be there). It was suggested that a phone photo be taken of the list so to have the info needed when voting. 

Every voter should read this  

 The Clintons and Wall Street: By
/ February 26, 2016

The banks have earned hundreds of billions of dollars in practices that were once prohibited—until the Clinton
Administration legalized them. For twenty four years the Clintons have orchestrated a conjugal relationship with Wall Street, to the immense financial benefit of both parties.

Trump and Clinton have won decisive victories in conservative South Carolina. It’s all over! And both sides are making the wrong decision!

Or maybe it is not over. Most of the country hasn’t weighed in yet.

Some, like Vermont, will get their say on Tuesday. Others will be told on Wednesday that again, it’s all over! And everyone’s making a mistake!

S.241 Vermont marijuana Bill does NOT make marijuana legal like alcoholic beverages: (1) because you can brew your own alcoholic beverage at home in Vermont, and this bill does NOT allow you to plant a seed in the ground and grow your own marijuana at home; (2) because the state government does not raid your home and count your cans of beer, but in the new Bill, S. 241, the state will raid your home and count every single seed you have, or have planted, and send you to prison if you are not one of the chosen few to pay a high price for and receive a license to commercially grow and sell marijuana.

S.241 was written for the express purpose of making the rich even richer, and sending the poor to prison for the benefit of the private-for-profit prison industry.

BURLINGTON, Vt., Feb. 25 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made the following statement after the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation determined several residential and commercial wells in North Bennington contained elevated levels of the chemical, Perfluorooctanoic (PFOA), a possible carcinogen.

“I am very concerned that Vermont environmental officials have found high levels of a possible carcinogen in several North Bennington wells. The state must continue to aggressively investigate the well water situation in North Bennington, keep families informed, and ensure Vermonters have access to clean and safe water. Moreover, the state must hold the polluters responsible for their actions.”

Contact: Dan McLean: (802) 862-0697

I got one of these calls last night. The man making them is clearly unhinged. Apparently he targeted Vermont.

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Did other iBratters get this robocall lunacy?

Brattleboro Town Selectboard will hold a pre-town meeting information forum on Wednesday, March 2 at AcademySchool beginning at 7:00 PM to discuss the upcoming special representative town meeting scheduled for March 12 regarding the question of relocating the police department headquarters.

Prior to the 7pm forum, each district will caucus beginning at 6:30 PM to allow town meeting members of each district to be available to meet with constituents. Also, at that time, districts will be accepting nominations to fill town meeting member vacancies.

In my lifetime of participating in and out of the political process, one of the demographics painfully missing in the process has been and still largely is young people. The notion that young people have no or little experience in office should not be an impediment to young people’s candidacies nor a reason why not to vote for them. [(R-L) Christophe Gagne and Avery Schwenk]

For too long all levels of politics are denied probably the most important voices needed to understand the present and prepare for the future. As Spoon Agave wrote in the February 22nd edition of the Reformer, “The world is never going to be like most old-timers thought it would be and are still trying, laboriously, fruitlessly and wastefully, to make it become.”

Serving on Brattleboro’s Selectboard has been one of the greatest honors and privileges of my life. Government is a fundamental public trust, and I am humbled to have been elected to represent and work for Brattleboro’s citizens in providing oversight and direction for our Town.

I am running again for Selectboard because I want to continue the important work we are doing. As a member and chair of the Board, I have many priorities. Our government should be responsive, open, and transparent. Everyone should be able to have a voice in the process, and we should listen to and hear competing views thoughtfully and respectfully. Municipal services need to be provided in a safe and effective manner that meets the needs of our community and our ability to pay. Decisions should be made after careful consideration of all available information, with sufficient time for reflection, based on what best serves the public good.

As we watch the primaries unfold (a process that continues until early June, if you can believe it), I thought I would finally take a few minutes to figure out how the primaries actually work these days, and where the candidates stand.  Here’s what I discovered.

 Goldwater Girl  in 1964

This one ought to be easy.

Below is information that might be helpful to know for March 1st elections.

In addition to local elections, the Democratic and Republican Primaries will be held.

Attached is a sample ballot from each of Brattleboro’s three districts.

Polling place for all three districts in Brattleboro is the Selectboard Meeting Room, second floor of the Municipal Center from 7:00 am until 7 pm.

Who is this guy???

Hint: He’s not running for president.

Let’s see. We’re approaching Super Tuesday. Vermont can weigh in on the primaries in March.

A Supreme Court Justice has died, leaving a puzzle of sorts. Republicans appear willing to gamble that they’d get a better appointement under President Sanders, it seems.

Trump continues to do a Don Rickles impersonation, trying to become more popular with each insult. Rubio is sweaty! The amazing thing isn’t so much his insults, as the inability for those insulted to respond.