* 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

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