* Letter to Mr. Collea: Why I Won't Stand Outside Hartford High on November 6th

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

cc:

Mr. Riesburg

Mr. DeBalsi

Mr. Fogg

Mr. Heavisides

Mr. Frank

Mr. Franzoni

Mr. Christie

Mr. DeFelice

Ms. Vowinkel

Blind copies:(  )

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, all it would take is one student yelling out a window or one team member yelling out of the locker room “Go Keane” or “Vote Keane” to 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 election day.

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 below).

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.