Republican Probate Judge Dana Hanley & my absentee ballot

Whew, what a morning I had yesterday! Something happened that has made me rethink my immediate future.

A couple weeks ago I got my absentee ballot in the mail and I actually didn’t fill it out until this past Monday, because life got a little busy, I was feeling like crap for part of that time (fever, head cold, chest cold etc), and I was indecisive on whether to fill it out or just show up on election day to cast my vote, which is what I love to do. The high energy on election day is addicting! I absolutely love it!

Anyways…

The first stop yesterday morning before leaving town to work for the day was the town office to bring in my absentee ballot for them to record as being received.  What seemed like a lifetime, I stood behind this young couple who were itching to get married, were applying for their licenses, but since the groom was from Russia (though his accent sounded British to me) and had been in our military here, there were more documents etc. for them to fill out, so it took longer than usual. After it was all sorted out to best of everyone’s ability, it was my turn to hand over my first absentee ballot in my lifetime. I stepped up to the counter and handed her my ballot sealed in it’s envelope. As soon as she saw my name on the outside of the sealed envelope, she said…

“Whoa. You’re the woman who wrote the letter to the paper”.

Giggling, I said back to her, “What letter? Oh that letter! Yep, that was me. Did you like the letter I wrote?”, and she said back to me, “I was so happy to read it because it’s something that had to be said, even if you didn’t call him by name”.

What was supposed to be a few seconds of having the office clerk record my absentee ballot ended up being a nice little discussion in the building about local politics. Yep, there we all stood talking about our town’s long time dirty little secret. At one point, I was asked if I had filled out a ‘Talent Bank Application’.

“What the hell is a Talent Bank Application?”, I asked and then I heard a woman say to me, “It’s to apply for a local town committee position. You would be great in heading one and there are openings right now. In fact, right now there’s an opening…”

The next thing I know I’m holding a Talent Bank Application.

Apparently I’ve become the local ‘rock star’ because of the letter I wrote to our local paper. They want me to head up all the local town committees now! LOL I had no idea my cute little letter had made such an impact and people were talking about it until this morning! I told one woman that I’m very opinionated and outspoken and maybe this is not the kind of attitude to have leading one of these committees, and she said back, “Are you kidding? We need you!!!”.

Curious as to what I wrote? Here’s the whole entire letter (the original was much longer but I opted to send the shorter version because most newspaper readers don’t want to read a long one):

Dear Editor:

Joe Robinson is the republican running this year against the incumbent Democrat, Rep. Terry Hayes (a Clean Election Candidate) and I don’t know much about him, except for the palm card he sent around District #94 (Buckfield, Hartford, Paris, Sumner) this past summer.  Because I spend a lot of time online and know how to find the money trails of our local politicians, I was taken aback by what I found out about Joe and who is supporting him. I wonder how the people of District #94 would feel if they knew most of the money going to Mr. Robinson is from himself, a few local businesses, and from his family who are outside the District but who have set up PACs (Political Action Committee) to give him money? None of this is illegal, however, but how would the townspeople feel if they voted him in only to find out individuals from our area weren’t the ones who were supporting him? I don’t think they’d like it. In fact, it would be no different than finding out a local politician actually lived in Cumberland County and is using a P.O. Box here in the area to give the appearance he actually lives here. Again, they wouldn’t like it.

Haven’t we had enough deceit in our lives in the last 8 years? I know I have. This is why for the first time in two decades I’m voting a straight Democratic ticket because I want real change and because I’m tired of the same ole political song and dance coming out of republicans.

It’s kind of a loaded letter and very direct to the point, but the part that the people in the town office were talking about this morning was this part:

In fact, it would be no different than finding out a local politician actually lived in Cumberland County and is using a P.O. Box here in the area to give the appearance he actually lives here. Again, they wouldn’t like it.

Ya see, our town/county/district has a “dirty” little secret and from what I’ve learned over the course of a year living here in this beautiful part of our state is most of the town governments or those in prominent positions are republicans. Their control of the towns has made it so local Democrats don’t feel comfortable in speaking up against the injustices or deceit they see and know of. In fact, one woman said to me at the Norway branch of the Oxford County Democrats this past summer….“because of Barack Obama and the excitement he’s brought to Democrats this is why for the first time in a long time I am so proud to be a Democrat and I am not afraid to yell it in public either”. I love that! But…

…there’s that dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about that was still hidden in the ‘back 40’ for years until I brought it to the barn with the backhoe!

Here goes…

(picture credit)

Republican Dana Hanley is the current Probate Judge at the Oxford County Courthouse. The Register of Probate for the courthouse is Tom Winsor. Both Hanley & Winsor are up for re-election this year and there are Democrats (Attorney Paul Dumas & Attorney Bruce Rood respectively) running to unseat them both.

What republican Dana Hanley is not being honest with the people of Oxford County is that he actually lives in Windham, Maine which is in Cumberland County. In fact, on his candidate application he filled out in March of this year, he gives us the following information:

1) A cell phone number with a Windham exchange as his HOME number
2) A P.O. Box in South Paris, Maine as his HOME address

Hanley has used this information on financial reports after the filing of his candidacy application. In fact, on a Paris voting list, Hanley lists this as his physical address:

1) 43 Main Street, South Paris, Maine which is his LAW OFFICE address

It gets better. Hanley is married to a woman named Linda. Guess where his wife lives? Windham. Yep! Apparently (am I’m using a very lispy sarcastic voice here), Dana & Linda don’t live with each other and haven’t since 1996 when Dana became the Probate Judge for Oxford County! I wonder how Linda feels about this!!!! If they have kids, how the hell did that happen!

Shhhhhhhhh, nobody tell, okay? Spit.

I don’t know for sure if any laws have been broken with the Oxford County Probate Judge living in Cumberland County, but the fact this man doesn’t live in South Paris nor Oxford County (and because he never seems to be ‘home’ if you know what I mean) TO ME IS DECEITFUL AT THE VERY LEAST and the great people of our area deserve the truth! Could it be fraud? Could be.

This is the kind of crap the locals have told me has been going on for years by republicans. There seems to be this unspoken rule where no one is supposed to say a thing. Yep, you just have to buck up and say nothing.

Say nothing? Nothing! Are you kidding me? Which leads me to this….

Maybe I should join some of my local town committees? Yeah, yeah, in fact one of the committees is the Cable TV Committee and I got thinking today what a wonderful way to get the voice of the locals out there (all political affiliations, of course) than to be on the committee who oversees it! I’m thinking what a great idea!

The Democrats of my area have been suppressed long enough. It’s time for REAL CHANGE and real change begins with someone speaking truth to power even if their voice cracks. If we have to kick out the “Dana Hanley’s” of our area because they lack honesty, integrity, and morals, then we will!

See? This whole thing has made me think about my future. I’m going to think about joining a local town committee, of course, but I’m not going to forget the people I’ve talked to for a year now who have felt their voice had no meaning and that they had no right to talk or ruffle any feathers. In other towns I’ve lived in I’ve gone to the town meetings and ruffled some feathers. Why not now? As Barack Obama keeps saying, “Change begins at the bottom”. Yes it does, Barack!

Take the poll…