NH Govt. Threatens Julia Miranda!

[FTL_Ian]

Julia has offered to give away her City Council paychecks if she wins to randomly chosen voters in Keene's Ward 4.  It looks like someone snitched her out to the Attorney Genital. 

Please review the attached PDF and post your comments below.

Keep in mind that she at no time ever said that only people who voted for her would get the money.  She will be randomly choosing from all people who vote which means that people that vote for her opponent could potentially win.  Do you think the Attorney Genital has overlooked this fact?  Do you think it matters?  What would you do if you were in her position?


I have OCRed the PDF file, and here's the text:

Dear Ms. Miranda:
On October 30, 2007, this Office reeeived a eomplaint eoncerning a eertain eomment you
made in your capaeity as an offieial eandidate for Keene City Couneil during an interview of you
on "Free Minds TV" on Oetober 26, 2007. The eomplaint alleged that the eomment you made,
in your eapacity as an offieial candidate for eity eouncil, violates RSA 659:40. As a result ofthis
complaint, this Office eondueted an investigation.
This Ofliee reviewed your October 26, 2007 Free Minds TV interview of you as a Ward
Four (4) Keene city eouncil eandidate, on "YouTube." During the interview, you stated that if
eleeted you would give up your $2000.00 per year salary and conduet sixteen (16) separate
$500.00 prize lotteries, eomprising of your sixteen (16) paychecks you would receive over the
eourse of your four-year term. You stated, the lottery would be restricted to the voters on the
voter checklist in Keene's Ward Four (4), the Ward in which you are running as a city eouncil
candidate. In essenee, you stated to the voters in Ward Four (4), that if elected, they have an
opportunity, on sixteen (16) separate occasions to win $500.
Please be advised that engaging in this type of voter solieitation is prohibited under RSA
659:40. RSA 659:40 provides in pertinent part:
No person shall directly or indirectly bribe ... any voter ... to vote for
... any ... candidate for oflice at any election. Whoever violates the
provisions of this seetion shall be guilty as provided in RSA 640:2 or RSA
640:3.
Offering Keene's Ward Four (4) voters, sixteen (16) separate chances to win $500, via a
lottery, if you are elected as a city council member for that Ward, constitutes a direct and/or
indirect bribe of any voter to vote for you during the upcoming election. For your information,
"bribe" is defined as "[aJ price, reward, gift, or favor bestowed or promise with a view to pervert
the judgment of or influence the action of a person in a position of trust." Blacks Law
Dictionary, 152 (Seventh Ed. 2000).
Based upon the foregoing, this Office concludes that your October 26, 2007 statement on
Free Minds TV, to offer sixteen (16) $500.00 lottcries to Ward Four (4) voters, if elected,
violates RSA 659:40. Accordingly, you are hereby ordered to Cease and Desist from making
this statement or any other statement to the voters of Ward 4 which violates RSA 659:40.
Moreover, we encourage you to immediately Rescind your October 26,2007 bribery comment,
via public notice in a newspaper or other publication of general circulation to the voters of Ward
Four (4). Failure to comply with this Order may result in an enforcement action and/or
prosecution in New Hampshire Superior Court.
Thank you for your immediate cooperation.
Sinjlprely,
1/
/~I
/c;~~
/ /James W. Kennedy
/ / Assistant Attorney General
V CIvil Bureau

[error]

I don't think it matters to them. And they'll probably pursue criminal charges.

If criminal charges aren't in your planned future, I would suggest perhaps reading the letter on-air and publishing it generally, and then doing something different: say, refusing the pay outright, or donating it to 16 local charities instead.

[Porcupine_in_MA]

Or give it to some "undisclosed supporter in another state" *hint* *hint*...

[Pat K]

  Jackasses, but yes you have to take seriously.

I would publish their letter and a scathing humorous
retraction of  the "bribe".

[Russell Kanning]

widely publicize and march onward .... do you have a short article for the paper?

[dawn]

I think it is obvious that Julia's comments were not intended as a bribe. OTOH, it is clear to me that her intention is to give up her stipend. I would assume her purpose in such an action is to show that she's not doing it for the money and would prefer to see the money go back to the voters.

I do find it interesting that no where in the letter to Julia does is state that she ever linked giving this money away to voters (any voter) to a vote for her. I am having trouble figuring out how that is considered a bribe for someone's vote. Of course, even if Julia was trying (which she's not) to tie the $ to a vote for her, since we have strict voter privacy, Julia could never know for certain how any voter actually voted (which is a good thing).

I think I would want to know how they see this as a bribe when no talk of "vote for me and you might win" happened.

It may be possible to figure out a different way to give away this money, that won't cause one of your antagonists to run to mommy.

You could refuse to fill out the paperwork to get the money, thereby leaving the money in the general fund since it would be budgeted, but not spent on your stipend.

You could fill out the paperwork and donate your money to various local charities. If you want to prove that you are not keeping any of the money for yourself, you could always scan your "paychecks" and then the receipt you get from the various organizations you donate the $ to.

You could fill out the paperwork and spend the money on a project to improve the city of Keene.

Just a few ideas - I'm sure there are other, better ones, as well.

[Porcupine_in_MA]

widely publicize and march onward .... do you have a short article for the paper?

What the Russ-meister said.

[Kat Kanning]

When you sent me this letter, I almost wrote back and said They're going to interprete this as a bribe, but then I just figured you knew what you were doing....

[Lex]

I guess one would ask how that is any different than if an opponent was saying that they will create new welfare programs, is that not essentially the same thing?

Simplest thing would probably be to rescind the statement otherwise you should probably consult a lawyer. Maybe instead of doing a lottery she can select a group of people to donate the money to? To single mothers, for example? Have a period in which single mothers can write Julia a letter explaining why they need the money, then after the period ends, Julia can count the number of letters, divide up the money and send it out.

One angle you can have is that, "While the other candidates make ambigous promises to help single mothers, my plan is guaranteed to work from the start!"

[OnGard4Liberty]

From the letter, it appears that the AG is interpreting the CHANCE to win the money as a bribe, not the actual money.  So even though a person who voted against Julia could win, a person voting for Julia would be getting a chance to win money in exchange. 

It's a gray area, but I doubt you want to spend the next 3 years fighting it in court.

[FTL_Ian]

widely publicize and march onward .... do you have a short article for the paper?

I will work something up but Julia has not yet even come home from work so she doesn't even know what the situation is.  I will not move beyond this discussion phase without her approval.

The Attorney Genital called her at work today and she is pretty scared. 

[FTL_Ian]

A class B felony can result in between one and seven years in state prison. 

[Ogre]

Doesn't appear to be any doubt -- if the offer isn't rescinded, they're going to arrest her.  They'll make the charges stick, quite easily, I think.

[FTL_Ian]

Who are lawyers on here?  Spencer and who else?

[MengerFan]

"I will take stolen money that is forced upon me and return it at random to some of the individuals from who it was originally stolen" = bribe.

"I will steal money from your neighbors and spend it on x and y programs that you may or may not be in favor of" <> bribe.

WTF?