Thursday, November 5, 2015

The constable was called because of me

The night before every election, Foster School drags two large bulletin boards out of storage.  Facing the entrance, the "Republican Board" is placed on the left hand side and the "Democrat Board" is set up on the right side of the entrance. When I arrived at 6:45 AM at Foster School, signs had already been posted on the Republican board. Since I spent no money on signs or posters, I recycled a 11"x17" poster from my campaign in 2011. Steve McLean's signs and door hangers took up most of the space. Fortunately, my small sign with "Write In" handwritten in the upper left hand corner could squeeze in the remaining space. Steve was really nice about it when he warned me that the committee may take down my sign, but personally, didn't have a problem with my sign being posted. [Queue the Imperial March music, Darth Vader's Theme.] Then Tommy Dunn, head of the Mt. Lebanon Republican Committee showed up and said that my sign is not to be posted on the board.

Republican Board 
I was ready for Tommy. Back in 2011, Tommy pulled the same crap on me. See my May18, 2011 post, I'm tired. Jim Cannon and I were not permitted to post our signs on the board because we were not endorsed candidates. As I wrote on May 18, 2011, the boards belong to the school district and are stored on site. I told Tommy that I was a Republican and had every right to be on that board. I was a write in candidate and will have little impact on the election. Tommy had bigger problems, I told him. In Ward 1, Dan McNichol didn't have contact information on his website. No email address. No contact form. Nothing. I tried to contact him and couldn't. I told him that there were residents of Ward 1 who couldn't reach him. Both he and Temp Smith pulled out their phones and pulled up his website. They were quiet. (John Bendel crushed him at the polls.) Then I asked Tommy what the official color was for Republicans. Red. What's the color for Democrats? Blue.

Democrat Board
What color is Steve McLean's sign? Blue. They cringed. I said to Tommy, "You are really threatened by me, aren't you? You need to choose your battles."

By this time, the Judge of Elections stepped in. He had no idea how to call it, so he called the constable. The first call, the constable said that there are no other locations permitted for signs. Tommy was going to "let it go for now." The second call to/from the constable was that if the signs are owned by the Republican Committee, then they had the right to do that, but since an agreement was reached, it's OK. In the future, he suggested a third board for Write-in or Independents. 

Here are my questions. 
  1. Where does the third board go?
  2. Who pays for the third board, if the parties allegedly bought their own boards?
  3. Can the parties prove that they bought the signs?
  4. If the Republican board only posted signs for endorsed candidates, where was sign for the only Republican running for school board?
  5. Does this violate my civil rights? 
The Mt. Lebanon Republican Committee is nothing but a bunch of good old boys. Their website is an embarrassment. LeboGOP See the empty blocks on the left? Until recently, they listed Sue Rose as a Republican school board director. Ms. Rose, who switched parties and became a Democrat, missed most 2011, her last year in office, due to illness. The list of Republican elected officials has been removed from their website since there are few remaining in office. Do you see anything on the bulletin board for Matt Kluck, the only Republican running for School Board? Neither do I.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who helped me with my write-in campaign. I had to keep reminding them that I would not win, but we were taking a stand. Thank you to the voters who took the time to write in my name. I'm not going away. I am not upset. I am here for the long haul.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

They want us to go away. Their worst fear is that we stay for the long-haul. Losing teams play for the first quarter; the best teams play for the 4th quarter and pull away at the end.

I will see you at the final 2-minute warning.

Lebo Citizens said...

Thanks, Jason!
Elaine

Barbara S. said...

Elaine Gillen, YOU ROCK! I'm so glad to be in this battle on your team. We ARE in this to the end, and those folks are C-R-A-Z-Y if they think otherwise!

I believe it was in the documentary about the Civil War that some general was quoted as having said something like this...in every battle, there comes a point where either side could be losing. It's the side that fights through that and past that point that wins!

So...as I was saying, they (those Biddies) only THINK this thing is settled and over!

Oh, and as someone else said, ""There are no atheists in foxholes." Those of us who are people of faith can first and foremost fight this battle on our knees!