* Happy Thanksgiving !

* A Note to my Former Students and Young Supporters: I'm Stuffed with Gratitude and Joy ! (Letter in Today's Valley News)

806: A Beautiful Number

I want to assure my former students and young supporters, who may think  PK "lost," that 

Winning Isn't Everything.  

Sometimes having folks support you when you came from nowhere and put on a very unusual Un-campaign  means more than gaining office or achieving victory. It means a big pat on the back.

Not many people in the world have been fortunate enough to have  806 people come up to them and say, "I believe in you to represent me." 

I am one of those lucky few. 

Look at these numbers.

 Kevin Christie (D) 2,154

Sheila Vowinkel (D) 1,668

Alex De Felice (R) 1,392

Paul Keane (I) 806

When I see "Paul Keane (I) 806" I don't see fourth place. 

I see 806 votes as  an amazing total.  

It is 

•  one third of the first winner's total of 2,154
•  one half of the second winner's total of 1,668 

Thank you, Thank you,  Hartford voters !

* PK PROUD

* The Longest and Most Joyous Retirement Party in Human History !!

Here are the voting totals according to the Valley News.

Kevin Chistie (D)  2,154

Sheila Vowinkel  (D) 1,668

Alex DeFelice  (R) 1,392

Paul Keane (I) 806

My best wishes to the winners, Ms. Vowinkel and Mr. Christie !  

THE WORLD’S LONGEST AND MOST JOYOUS RETIREMENT PARTY

Five and a half months ago when I announced I would run an Un-campaign as an Independent, I was in my 24^th year of teaching at Hartford High school.  I intended to continue and resign only if I won election.  It quickly became apparent that as a candidate I would be in a potential conflict-of-interest situation since students would inevitably question me about the election and I did not want to try to influence their beliefs, as opposed to influence their command of literature.

So I rertired.

Then the wonderful gifts came:

·        A recent graduate emailed me that she had “registered to vote because of me” (what a wonderful feeling that gave me.)

·        People stopped me in the store and wished me well.

·        My pooper-scooper video went viral and received 2,400 views in one week. link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp3tTnqp_Lk

·        Two distinguished colleagues wrote letters to the Valley News supporting my campaign. Link http://pkvermonter.blogspot.com/2012/11/summing-up-scroll-through-this-post-for.html

• I got the courage to speak out to school boards about the unfairness of testing late-bloomers with standardized testing http://youtu.be/mCKvXgsfht8

In short, THIS HAS BEEN THE LONGEST AND MOST JOYOUS RETIREMENT PARTY  in human history!!

Thanks to you all, and especially the 806 voters who supported me.

PK

* Second Place Wins

I only need to get ONE vote more than third place to win on Tuesday.  

TWO of the four candidates will win no matter what.  

Would you please go to my facebook page and hit "share" on the BIG photo of me with the skeleton with the sign "Vote Keane".  That will send it to all your contacts by hitting "share". 

 That might produce the ONE vote I need to move from third to second.

Thanks,

PK

* Summing Up: Scroll through this post for a brief review of the UN-campaign.

PLEASE ASK OTHER HARTFORD VOTERS TO CONSIDER VOTING FOR ME  THIS TUESDAY.

Thank you.

Final Three Days: 

No PUSH, No Arm Twisting from me , just a "THANK YOU" for the past five and a half months.  I've enjoyed the UN-campaign.  

If you elect me I'll work for you; if you don't I'll still be around making my opinions known. 

 

Special thanks to all those who have quietly asked  another voter to consider voting for me.  

And special thanks to Mr. Walker and Mr. Librot who wrote the Valley News, supporting me.

 

Best wishes to all the candidates on election day.

Twin Noses: Nemo D. Keane (l) 
with Paul D. Keane 

YouTube VIDEOS (PKvermonter)

WINNER (2436 Views) 
The Pooper Scooper




SECOND PLACE  (384 Views) 
Vermont Yankee Fukushima



THIRD PLACE (204 Views)

I Haven't the Slightest Idea

The First Article: Last May

If you Google the word PKvermonter (one word) all of my YouTube videos, my blog, and my facebook page will come up.  Please pass this information to everyone you can !

PK and and Mr.(Bob) Walker at the WRJ main intersection.,
(Note: Mitt Romney's dog is tied to the roof of PK's car. LOL.)

PK and giraffe

aign+PK+1.jpg" width="640" />

Sergeant Pepper Asks for Your Vote

Happy Halloween.  

PK

* Halloween Keane

Sergeant Pepper Asks for Your Vote

Happy Halloween.  

Six days till Election.

 Please ask Every Hartford Voter you Meet

 to 

Consider voting for me

Many thanks,

PK

* Mr. Librot's letter in today's Valley News

* THIS ONE BLOG POST RECAPS MY ENTIRE UN-CAMPAIGN IN A NUTSHELL: Also, Front Page Article Today's Valley News

Don't Forget :

 Register by Wed., Oct 31 if you aren't registered. (Town Clerk's Office)

YouTube VIDEOS (PKvermonter)

WINNER (2436 Views) 
The Pooper Scooper




SECOND PLACE  (384 Views) 
Vermont Yankee Fukushima



THIRD PLACE (204 Views)

I Haven't the Slightest Idea

The First Article: Last May

If you Google the word PKvermonter (one word) all of my YouTube videos, my blog, and my facebook page will come up.  Please pass this information to everyone you can !

* Not Arm Twisting, HONEST !

Between 100 and 140 kind people view every post I put on this blog.  

If each of you asked 

ONE PERSON A DAY 

for the next TEN DAYS 

to vote for me, 

that is a potential 

1400 votes.

* The Promise

I am trying an experiment in this campaign:  To do EXACTLY the opposite of what politicians do and see if I can win that way. 

The only media I will use is free social media: Facebook, Blogger, YouTube.

 (My facebook page is called Paul Keane, Independent).  

It has connections to my Blog (A Cranky Yankee's Un-Campaign) and my YouTube videos (PKvermonter)


Otherwise: 

No money.
No flattery.
No interviews.(I refused interview requests from                        The Valley News yesterday and CATV-8's "Walking Through Life" two weeks ago.) 

No bubble sheet surveys. (I've refused dozens.)

No printed posters (Old box-cardboard only).


My experiment may fail.  

Or it may succeed.

But I won't spoil it by going back on my promise:

 To use social media ONLY.

* Choose Two of these Four on Election Day: Good Luck to All !

Remember, if you have not registered in the past, you must do do by Wednesday, October 31 at the Town Clerk's office, 171 Bridge Street.

YOU WILL VOTE FOR TWO OF THE ABOVE ON ELECTION DAY
(L-R)
Kevin Christie (Democrat);
Paul Keane (Independent);
Sheila Vowinkel (Democrat);
Alex DeFelice (Republican)

* Phone Tree for PKvermonter

It will help tremendously if you text message your "contacts" even if you only send this nine word message: 

Please vote for Paul Keane, Independent  from Hartford

* If You're Just Joining Us: Here Are the Three Top (and Short !) Videos

WINNER (2436 Views) 
The Pooper Scooper




SECOND PLACE  (384 Views) 
Vermont Yankee Fukushima



THIRD PLACE (204 Views)

I Haven't the Slightest Idea

* Apologies to Linda Carbino and The Valley News

With apologies to Linda Carbino the Valley News

My campaign is an experiment: To see if an ordinary citizen can get elected without accepting any donations or spending any money by using free social media only.

I recently turned down a kind invitation from Linda Carbino of the CATV program “Walking through Life” to appear on her show. She devotes a show to each of the local candidates for the Vermont Legislature.

I explained that it would violate my promise to use social media only, but that I would be happy to appear on her show after election. Linda has done wonderful work with mental illness and addiction recovery on her show and I admire her efforts tremendously.

Now I am told  by one of the other candidates that the Valley News will be calling all of the candidates to interview them.

Again, I will have to politely refuse in order to keep my promise to use social media only.  (Note, the original article the Valley News wrote about my candidacy was not “campaigning”.  It was announcing  that I was a candidate but that I was running an “un-campaign.")

My vow is: No money spent, no babies kissed, no interviews granted, no hands shaked.

What about the ten hours I spent this week on street corners holding a sign?

In my letter to Joseph Collea*, Principal at Hartford High School (which is transformed into the polling place on Election Day), I answered his query if I would be  standing outside the school on Election Day with the other candidates.  

“No”, I answered, because my presence would cause  commotion among students which might invalidate the sanctity of the polling place.

I told Mr. Collea that, instead, I would spend that ten hours earlier than Election Day on street corners holding my sign, ten hours which the candidates stand outside the high school on Election Day.  That is what I completed this week( see photo above).

I understand that one of the questions the Valley News might ask is: What committee you would like to be on if elected?

 I’ll serve on any committee, but it might be a terrible waste not to use my 25 years of teaching and 17 years of college experience by having me serve on the Education Committee.

Otherwise, when the Valley News calls, I will keep my promise to use social media only by referring them to this piece and instructing them to "google"  my blog, my Facebook page, and my YouTube videos at:  PKvermonter.

The experiment is to see if the public, not the institutional media,  will spread the word of my candidacy, opinions, and qualifications through free social media.

If that means I cut my own throat by limiting normal campaigning through established media, so be it.

Sincerely,

Paul Keane

PS:

 Aren’t my own letters to the Valley News a violation of my promise?  
No. 
They are written by me, not by the Valley News, and I have been publishing them there since 1989. I have had strong opinions long before I became a candidate and don't feel I need to stop having  them simply because I am suddenly a candidate.


* (Letter to Mr. Collea)

To:

Mr. Joseph Collea, Principal

Hartford High School

From:

Paul Keane,

Independent Candidate for the Vermont Legislature

Date:

September 20, 2012

Subject:

Election Day Polling Place

Hi Joe,

Nice to see you at the joint meeting of the Boards the other night at the Getaway.

In answer to your question “Will you be standing outside on election day?”

let me say I’ve fretted about that.

I stopped in to the Town Clerk’s Office and they told me that a candidate can ONLY stand in the designated area ( ironically in the grassy area 20 feet outside Rm. B107, the room in which I taught for over two decades) and that if the candidate enters the school even to use the bathroom he/she must wear no campaign signs or buttons and speak no words about the campaign. 

The school  has become The Polling Place on that day and it cannot be violated with campaigning, except in the one designated area mentioned above.

Even if school were not in session, this presents a problem for me that other candidates do not have. 

As a recently retired teacher, one student yelling out a window or one team member yelling out of the locker room “Go Keane” or “Vote Keane” would violate the Polling Place and put other candidates at a disadvantage.

Therefore my answer is: NO

I will not stand outside the High School with other candidates on electionday.

This fits my campaign promise.

I will use ONLY social media:  No media interviews, no debates, no arm twisting, no back slapping, no glad handing, no baby kissing, no donations accepted, no money spent, no dehumanizing, impersonal, bubble-sheet surveys filled out, etc.

I will however stand on the crossroad berm for a rush-hour now and then the week before election in the center of town waving a sign and my dog Nemo’s pooper-scooper. (see video above).

Those few hours of waving will be my entire campaign outside of the social media.

This is the first experiment of its kind as far as I know:  Can use of the social media alone win an election?

If it can’t, so be it.

Best wishes,

Paul

Paul D. Keane

(HHS, Ret.)

M.A., M.Div., M.Ed.

cc:

Mr. Riesburg

Mr. DeBalsi

Mr. Frank

Mr. Christie

Mr. DeFelice

Ms. Vowinkel

Blind copies:

* Mr. Walker's letter in today's Valley News

* 2000 VOTES Needed to Win !

 Only in Vermont could two males trying to get elected to the same office stand on the same  street corner together for three hours with political signs and enjoy each other's company.  

Mr. DeFelice thinks it will take 2000 votes for any of the four candidates for Representative from Hartford to the Legislature  to win.

 So,  I need your help asking others to vote for me in the 28 days remaining till election.

* The PK Vermonter hat, a gift two years before elction, from Mr. H.

* Why Have I Been Waving A Pooper Scooper in Traffic for the Last Three Days?

Everybody is asking 

"Why are You Waving a Pooper Scooper at Us"?  Click this YouTube video for the answer.

* The Pooper Scooper , PK and his dog, "Mitt" at the Main Street Intersection Today

Google PKvermonter (one word) 

and my YouTube videos

 will come up.

(Photos courtesy of Breanna Morgan)

Breanna and PK

* Google my Un-Campaign by typing in: Pkvermonter (one word)

If you Google the word PKvermonter (one word) all of my YouTube videos, my blog, and my facebook page will come up.  Please pass this information to everyone you can !

* Main Street Intersection with Mr. Walker Tuesday, September 16, 2012