Wednesday, October 31, 2012

* 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






Saturday, October 27, 2012

* 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 !



Wednesday, October 24, 2012

* 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.


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

* 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.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

* 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)


Saturday, October 20, 2012

* 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


Friday, October 19, 2012

* 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


Thursday, October 18, 2012

* 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.



Wednesday, October 17, 2012

* 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 !



Tuesday, October 16, 2012

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






* Did I Break My Promise?





PROMISE KEPT !

I was standing outside the high school with a sign this morning and a friend shouted from his car, "That's NOT SOCIAL MEDIA."  

Well, I didn't have time to explain that I cannot stand in front of the high school on Election Day like the other candidates.

(See my September 20 letter to the Principal, Mr. Collea, explaining that point, below.) 

So instead, to compensate for that ten hours I can't stand in front of the voters on Election Day, I decided I would stand for a few hours at key intersections in town. 

OTHERWISE, my campaign is totally in Facebook, Blogger, and YouTube. and in letters to the Valley News Forum.


PK





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:


Monday, October 15, 2012

* Mitt Romney's Dog Chained to My Roof, and I (Pooper Scooper in Right Hand) Doing the UN-Campaign, at the Big WRJ Intersection September 15, 2012

The brown scarf hanging down below my waist makes my legs look like they are detached from my body, or a giant's legs.


Sunday, October 14, 2012

* IN THE CAMPAIGN CLOSET: Even my Next Door Neighbor Doesn't Know I'm a Candidate, 23 Days before Election!


You Can  Help Build This Bridge


My own neighbor (two houses down) told me today that he had no idea I was running for the Vermont Legislature.

That's because I am using social media and no other media. My audience is in a bubble, and those who do not use social media are outside it.

There are 23 days in which to build a bridge between these two worlds. 

I ask all my followers on Facebook (Paul Keane, Independent) and YouTube (PKvermonter)  and Blogger  http://pkvermonter.blogspot.com to please speak to someone outside the social media bubble  about my UN-campaign.  


This is the only campaign in America that asks the question: Can a candidate get elected using social media and no other tools, spending no money, shaking no hands, kissing no babies, accepting no money?

YOU can spread the message by word of mouth.


* NOW IS THE TIME FOR LETTER TO VALLEY NEWS




If you want to help my UN-campaign by sending a letter of endorsement to the Valley News, NOW is the time to do so.


Here's the email address: 
forum@vnews.com

They want your street address AND your phone number after your typed signature.  They will call to verify you are the person who wrote it.  Max. is 350 words.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

* Retired Teacher Takes His Clothes Off

Paul Keane Does The School Board Strip-Tease