How far does Oxford County Probate Judge Dana Hanely’s power stretch?

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Remember the post I did about current republican Oxford County Probate Judge Dana Hanley and how the documents he’s filled out over time show him not living in Oxford County, but rather, it appears he actually lives in Cumberland County in the town of Windham? Well, the drama is gettin’ good. Maybe he is skirting around the law…

SIDEBAR NOTE: I’m still getting my ass kicked by the locals in the newspaper. Apparently I’ve riled the neck droolers! They’re frothing mad too. Good. LOL

Anyways…

I got a visit by a little birdie. She calls herself Janet J. (she’s known around town) and I had actually seen her at some of the Democratic events in my area, but had never actually met her formally until the night I was passing out ‘LACKEY’ stickers at the local high school during the “Meet The Candidate” session after Joe Robinson, who is the republican running against the Democratic Clean Election candidate Terry Hayes (she is the incumbent and represents House District #94) called me a ‘lackey’ in his Letter to the Editor response after I pointed out to the locals that Joe’s family, who live outside the District, set up a PAC to give him money (you know, a PAC where the money limits are ‘endless’ and anyone in the country can give to your campaign!). That was the first time I had actually met Ms. Janet J.

Fast forward to Thursday night…

I get a call from Janet out of the blue asking me if I’m the person who does the blogging. I said, “Yep!”. She sounds kind of exhausted and then tells me she’s been trying to get a letter published in the same paper I’ve written letters to (her letters have appeared in the same weeks as mine), but she’s not having luck. She says the letter is about Dana Hanley and how she’s questioning his residential status. My eyes lit up! My voice raised! The neighborhood dogs started barking!

I said to her, “Is the paper not printing your letter? How come?”. Janet describes the dynamics for me (I’m a newbie to the area and have no clue about any of this). She says the Lewiston Sun Journal actually owns our local paper in addition to a few other small newspapers. All of the papers that received Janet’s letter did not and will not publish it. Only one paper did and it’s up in Bridgton, you know, an area where the people don’t give a shit what the hell Dana Hanley is doing or not!

Here’s her letter she brought by my house after we chatted. She wanted me to put it on my blog to get some attention to this matter:

To the Editor,

On October 3, I read with great interest the article regarding the Androscoggin County Commissioner who no longer lives in the town she was elected to represent. The Governor was asking the Attorney General’s Office to look into the legality of this Commissioner retaining her seat on the County Board. This got me thinking of our Oxford County Judge of Probate, Dana Hanley, who is currently seeking re-election. Does the residency law apply to him? I think it does. Might it be a journalistic responsibility of this newspaper in service to its community to look into this matter? Mr. Hanley declares Paris as his residence so as to vote in this community. When questioned in the past by the Town Clerk, he maintained that he an apartment in his Maine Street office building. Since I know of another local attorney who lives in the same building in which he maintains his law office, I decided to look at the property cards on file at the assessor’s office. The cards showed the local attorney’s property is divided into residential and office space. Attorney Hanley’s wife (and law partner) Linda Cohen, lives in Windham where she is a registered voter. Are we being asked to believe that Judge Hanley really LIVES in Paris while his wife lives in Windham? Is he maintaining this facade so he as to retain his elected position? In this case, YOU be the judge! I think I’d be hard pressed to find Dana Hanley “residing” at his office on ANY night of the week. And really, do we want to re-elect yet another person who will say and do whatever it takes to retain their seat?

Sincerely,

Janet J.

Soooooo…..how far does Oxford County Probate Judge Dana Hanley’s power stretch? You’d think being a judge, he wouldn’t be trying to suppress the voice of the people in the area he lives in. Oh wait. We don’t actually know where the hell he’s living in our area, except for his own lawyer’s office he’s listed as his residence, but I can guarantee ya, HE AIN’T THERE TO PASS OUT CANDY TO THE LITTLE TRICK OR TREATERS! I bet he did that that in Cumberland County at his wife’s house in Windham instead, right Dana?

Okay, let’s get back to the power thingy….if you had a secret that was so awesome and you knew if you won your re-election this year, you might not want it to get out, and you being a bonafide judge/lawyer, you wouldn’t want the people of your area to know the guy who presided over your case was not all that ethical!

Nope, you would WANT SOME KIND OF POWER to keep this secret or deceit from getting out there. Would someone give this man a Hail Mary please!

Tah dah! Here’s what I think happened (think Sen. Susan Collins here, because she also has friends in these kinds of places):

AS SOON AS THE LOCAL PAPERS RECEIVED JANET’S LETTER (she doesn’t have a computer, so she types them and either mails them in or brings it to the paper directly) THEY CONTACTED THE JUDGE. And they didn’t contact him to verify what Janet was stating in her letter. Nope! THEY CALLED THE JUDGE TO LET THEM KNOW THE PITCHFORK-HOLDING CITIZENS WERE ONTO HIS LITTLE SECRET! Yep, and this is why ole Dana started making some phone calls to others claiming…defamation! libel! traitors! (just kidding about the ‘traitor’ part, though, he is a republican, so therefore, anyone who points out your misgivings or law breaking or unethical behavior you get this title along with ‘unpatriotic! un-American! America-hater!’. See?).

Ummm, Dana? All we want to know is where the hell you live. If you live in Windham and have a P.O. Box only in a town in Oxford County to give the appearance you live in South Paris and you don’t really live here and are just living a charade to keep your paychecks coming, then we as your constituents NEED TO KNOW THIS. If we are mistaken and you actually do own a budding farm with animals and have the most beautiful mailbox in all of Oxford County, then we will let off. Until then, don’t be surprised if I put a big sign in front of my house asking this question about your residency, okay? I have a right to know. Janet has a right to know. And so do the good people in our area. See?

Some of us here in town thinks it’s very unethical when a judge in town is skirting around the law to benefit himself and then has the local newspapers not print a constituents letter asking him where he really lives. So shame on our local newspapers for not printing Janet’s letter! Suppressing a voter’s questions about the residential legality of local judge who is paid with taxpayer money is VERY UNETHICAL also. Asking questions about members of our local governments is not.

Of course, it’s too late now to print Janet’s letter because Dana Hanley’s re-election bid is taking place next Tuesday, but this is typical of the right wingers all over this country. They’d rather run out the clock and delay, rather than letting the people make their own choices based on ALL information. That said, I hope Attorney Paul Dumas, who is the Democrat running to kick Dana Haley out of his job, does do that. I voted for him on my absentee ballot and I’m hoping others did too along with voters on election day. 😉