April 2011
21 posts
5 tags
The Initial Salvos Against Morgantown's Vote By...
If you want to criticize Morgantown’s Vote By Mail program, there are definitely ways to do so:
-You could hit hard at the program’s lack of clear instructions for voters. There was, as is to be expected during a trial run, considerable confusion amongst voters who were wondering how exactly to vote.
-You could hit hard at the program’s lack of technological accomplishment....
3 tags
Nelson France Just Keeps On Giving
I said the other day that we ought to be done with Nelson France. I fully intended to stick to that. Then The Daily Athenaeum published France’s jaw-dropping tribute to himself. It deserves a response.
In spite of the result, I am proud of my campaign and appreciative of the voters who took time to cast their ballots for me. Seven hundred ninety five Morgantown residents made the...
4 tags
Vote By Mail Works. There Is No Argument...
In 2009, when there were five contested elections for City Council, an average of 1371 voters per challenge. In response, the City Council decided to try Vote By Mail, a pilot program in which residents would be mailed their ballots, fill them out, and return them. This produced much gnashing of teeth amongst candidates, voters, media members, and even lowly bloggers. Before I write what I am...
3 tags
Morgantown Election Results (Down Goes France!...
Let’s do this bullet style, using the numbers available here:
-The 3rd Ward’s open seat was won by Wesley Nugent. He almost tripled up his opponent Nelson France. This has to be considered good news for that Ward. That ward’s only protection against the city’s desperate attempts to run roughshod over it has been its city councilor: Frank Scafella, then Charlie Byrer, and...
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Responding to George Papandreas
It dawns on me that I can’t write a proper response to George Papandreas tomorrow because I’ll be writing about the election itself. So here’s my response to the comment he left here:
Mr Wilkinson
I’ll never get used to being referred to as Mr.
First, let me say that I find your blog to be very interesting.
Thank you.
I’m glad that you were able to attend the League...
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Morgantown's Vote By Mail Program and The Response...
Apologies to George Papandreas, who left a comment here last week, and who yesterday I promised to respond to. I’ll do it tomorrow.
The Situation
We’re less than eight hours away from the end of our god-forsaken election cycle. After tonight, we’ll have seven city councilors, including at least one entirely new name (owing to Charlie Byrer’s retirement). The dominant...
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Morgantown City Council Elections Are Mercifully...
Fortunately, we’re now a day away from the end of the city’s godforsaken elections. This is merciful in the extreme. The signs are starting to get incredibly old. The end result will almost certainly be disappointing. Given the candidates running, how can they not be? That said, let’s get into an entirely unscientific predictions game, in which I make guesses based upon nothing...
1 tag
Closed for Easter
This impossibly amuses me despite the fact that I have to explain the following:
1. Yes, I’m 30.
2. Yes, I understand sexually liberated people can also be Easter celebrating Christians.
I am who I am and this made me giggle. “Hey, we’ll sell you whatever it is we sell in here, pretty much whenever you want it, but on the day of Jesus Christ’s recognition? Woah there...
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Asking Nelson France A "Loaded Question"
Update:: the portion I’m referring to begins at the 40:49 mark.
Update 2: Jim Stallings was describing my question as loaded in regard to it biasing toward Nugent. That wasn’t the intent. I had loaded it to make France look bad by forcing his ridiculous answer. Mission, as far as I’m concerned, accomplished.
This morning, WAJR held a candidate’s forum on the radio....
A Miserably Rainy Day
The following conversation happened this morning.
“How’s your day?”
“Beside the weather? Not too bad.”
“Gonna be bad for the rest of the week.”
“That’s true, but I’ll take the warmer temperatures if the cost is rain. Anything other than the godforsaken cold.”
I woke up to the rain pounding down on the roof, which is pleasurable...
4 tags
City Documents Conflict With City Employees
I wrote Friday about my experience voting. However, in that post, I noted a peculiar moment in which I was told that envelopes containing ballots would not be counted if they had not been properly addressed. I wanted to more fully flesh out the problem with that.
When I went to the right department to cast my vote, I saw a box on the floor and nobody in the office. I looked around before finally...
2 tags
I Voted in Morgantown's City Council Elections...
Last Saturday, I received my ballot for Morgantown’s City Council Elections and, with one hand holding my nose, I filled it out. Then it sat on my couch for six days because I didn’t have a stamp. I finally decided that today was the day to go and turn my ballot in. I’d wanted to go to Wiles Hill Eleme…err Senior Center, but I wasn’t sure when they opened, and since I...
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Four Brief Essays About Morgantown's Vote By Mail...
-I had heard a fair number of criticisms about Morgantown’s Vote By Mail project before talking to John Gaddis, the city’s 2nd Ward Councilor. Gaddis’s argument against Vote By Mail was that for many Americans, the simple act of going into a voting booth and pulling a lever had been secured only by prolonged political activism on the part of excluded groups. Gaddis wanted to vote...
1 tag
We Don't Do Endorsements...
…we do un-endorsements.
Anybody who reads this website can probably tease out where my support is aimed politically, although I do make some effort to thinly conceal by contempt for the local political scene. That said, it is remarkably pretentious to assume that my positions on anything are anything more than those of a locally grown entirely disenchanted voter but I did receive...
9 tags
Why Bill Byrne and Jennifer Selin Advocate for...
The following needs to be noted: at least two of our sitting City Councilors, including the city’s mayor, have been helping and advising Nelson France’s campaign. There is no question of this truth. Bill Byrne admitted as much when he endorsed France yesterday and Jennifer Selin acknowledged her own logistical support a week ago at the candidate’s forum. The question voters ought...
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What is Bill Byrne Doing?
Bill Byrne, Morgantown’s esteemed mayor (and a friendly enough guy), took to Facebook this morning to post this plea for votes. In it, he makes some radically ridiculous assertions that need to be specifically addressed.
just “suggested” this page to a bunch of folks…here’s the deal…the election for City Council in Morgantown has started…ballots were...
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A Correction Of Sorts
Jim Manilla has gotten in touch with a comment on this post about Wednesday’s awful Candidates Forum performances. I had written the following:
Manilla recognized me last night, which was odd. He said he liked this website, which was nice. Then he got the mic and growled about Morgantown’s flat-budget for two hours, rightly pointing out that Sunnyside Up was an utter waste of money (he’s...
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The Morgantown City Council Candidates Forum (Was...
I made the huge mistake of attending last night’s League of Women Voters City Council Forum. I could have been doing literally anything else, including watching the grass in my backyard emerge from the earth, and accomplished more good. The performances, which we’ll run down in a minute, were absolutely terrible. But before getting there, this:
The Problem
I’m not ignorant. I...
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Making The Democratic Process Easier, Morgantown...
This year, Morgantown will be voting for its City Councilors by mail, a radical change. Here is the entirety of the information that the city believes you need to know. Maybe that’s not fair; there is also this, but it is a page that links directly do the .pdf file I linked to first.
This is underwhelming. There is so much more that the city could have, and should have, done to create a...
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If He Wants To Be Elected, Nelson France Shouldn't...
When I realized that Nelson France wasn’t going to interact with voters via his Twitter feed, I took it upon myself to figure out another way to communicate with France about his highly questionable campaign for city office. It didn’t take long to find his Facebook page. You can see it here if you’re so inclined; the version you’re looking at though is very, very different...
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The Daily Athenaeum Does Right By Nelson French
A thousand compliments are owed to today’s April Fool’s edition of Daily Athenaeum for its article murdering so-called candidate Nelson French. Find a copy around town. It’s also available here. Here’s my favorite part:
His experience with WVU SGA and City Council has adequately prepared him to run a state, he said. “How hard can it be? I’ve lived here for like more than...
