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Political notes from Free Press staff writers Terri Hallenbeck, Sam Hemingway and Nancy Remsen


2.09.2007

 

Pink stinks

You've heard of email and snail mail, but how about pink mail. That's an inter-office system in state government that uses pink envelopes.

It seems that Rep. Rachel Weston, D-Burlington, put her letter requesting inclusion on the list of legislative candidates for University of Vermont trustees in pink mail at the Statehouse on Tuesday -- sure that it would travel down State Street and up the hill to the office of the Secretary of State by the 5 p.m. Thursday deadline. It didn't. It arrived Friday morning.

As a result, Weston's name isn't among the candidates listed on the ballot that will be handed out to the House and Senate Thursday when they choose three new legislative trustees. Ouch! She's not the only lawmaker whose paperwork didn't arrive on time. Rep. Carolyn Branagan, R-Georgia, also missed out.

The names of four other lawmakers will be printed on the ballots: Rep. Donna Sweaney, D-Windsor, Rep. Mary Peterson, D-Williston, Rep. Harry Chen, D-Mendon and Sen. Jeannette White, D-Windham. Peterson said Chen carried their letters to the Secretary of State's office and handed them to the staff. Smart.

David Crossman on the election staff at the Secretary of State's office stayed late Thursday waiting for last-minute letters. Friday, when Weston's and Branagan's arrived, he said them too late. "A deadline is a deadline."

Weston chalks this up to a freshman mistake. She is serving her first term in the Legislature and is still learning the ways things operate.

"I'm still running," she said Friday, despite her disappointment. Both she and Branagan can run as write-in candidates.

Guess we won't be able to say if pink mail cost either candidate the election, but it certainly didn't make running any easier.

--Nancy Remsen

Comments:
Weston and Branagan should go to the Washington County Courthouse first thing Monday morning and file a petition asking a judge to order their names printed on the ballot. They have a reasonable case, and there is time for their names to be added to the ballot before Thursday.
 
Just goes to show if you want something done right, do it yourself. Seems like there's a lot of that in Montpelier these days, get something started let someone else finish it. Maybe the whole of the statehouse ought to learn from this one, and see something through to the end. Like for instance reducing the tax burden instead of just talking about it. Wake up golden dome inhabitants! It's time for some of you to stand up and really make a difference in the lives of some Vermonters instead of just more talk. Wages go down while costs of living rise and Montpelier debates more laws. Fix what we've got before going onto more. The real loser here is your average Vermonter living paycheck to paycheck while their supposed representation stands idly by oblivious to the needs of the people.

Rednalsi
 
Did any reporter ask why she waited so long before sending it in?
 
If she cared emough about it she should have walked it over there!
 
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