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8/14/2004 |
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BJP Candidate update Since I am running against two BJP candidates in my district I thought it would be good to take advantage of the early opportunity to study the party's techniques as being used in the county commissioner runoff in District 4. (Should've been paying closer attention to the District 7 primary I know, but I thought Mary Rakestraw was secure in her seat.) Thanks to sources deep in the 4th district, I have at least a fax copy this morning of yesterday afternoon's mailer from Eddie Souther, who as the heading reads next to the photo op with his benefactor, "BJ Barnes and other Republicans are endorsing." I know all is fair in love and politics, but it is disconcerting that the people who hope to represent you in office are not against misrepresenting the truth...and this is BEFORE they are even elected! In the case of Mr. Souther's mailer the the distortions are on the flip side: "Eddie Souther won the primary election but his opponent (That's Carl Allen) has called for a runoff. A runoff that will cost the taxpayer over $15,000. Unless you come back out to vote on August 17th, he may steal the election." 1) Actually, per North Carolina election laws (page 108 of the .pdf file), when no candidate garners at least 40% of the vote in a primary, a runoff between the top two voter getters is a common result - particularly when the support of the 3rd place finisher is likely to be transferred to the 2nd place finisher in the subsequent primary.* 2) As there are other typo and grammatical errors in the mailer, I will assume that Mr. Souther did not mean to imply that the individual "taxpayer" is going to be billed "over $15,000" to allow Mr. Allen the legal privilege of a second shot at Mr. Souther. Even if we add the "s" though to "taxpayer(s)," we are still left with an incorrect statement. Due to a state wide Democratic second primary for superintendent of public education all the polls in NC will be open and paid for by taxpayers on August 17th with or without Mr. Souther and Mr. Allen. 3) It is not "stealing" the election when you follow the election laws. District 4 members of the GOP might want to confirm with Mr. Souther whether he is a fan of Michael Moore, who is sure President Bush "stole" his election --- by following the rules of our country. *As a Libertarian, let me point out to taxpayers that we could save everyone a lot of time and money if we simply eliminated the primary system, which is really just a taxpayer subsidized process of polling the membership of two private political parties. Why not let the Democrats and Republicans spend their memberships own money to hash out who they want to offer to the general electorate in November. In the case of the Libertarian Party, we have arranged for our chosen candidates to be on the November ballot without asking taxpayers to pay for our deliberation and selection process. It is also noteworthy to mention that our party's Presidential candidate Michael Badnarik, in a tight three-way race, finished 2nd on our first non-taxpayer financed ballot (in convention in Atlanta) before winning (not stealing) the nomination on the 2nd ballot. 11:15:21 AM
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