2011 Election Results

[Lex]

Selectmen
Jennie Joyce 225
George Curran 204

Tax Collector
Bonnie J. Haubrich 252
Peg Emslie 179

Budget Committee (1 year)
Sharon "Ivy" Walker 142
Scott D. Smith 216

Budget Committee (3 years)
Jeremy Olson 134
Brad Grange 128
Catherine Mulholland 135

Library Trustee (2 years)
Tina Pope 195
Peg Emslie 202

Library Trustee (3 years)
Elaina R. Bergamini 314

Treasurer
June Burrington 384

Trustee of the Trust Funds
Cynthia Mogan 343

Police Chief
William Walker 50
John Dodge 20
Russell Poitras 298

Cemetary Trustee
Tom Ploszja 37

Planning Board (1 year)
Jay Boucher 285

Planning Board (3 years)
Robert Hull 274

[MTPorcupine3]

Grafton Town Vote, 8 March 2011
The Numbers

I can't help but be discouraged by the sheeple's apparent willingness to enslave themselves, even in Grafton.

First some of the good news:

One Free Stater each ran unopposed for the Planning Board One-Year and Three-Year positions...and won. That means the Planning Board is overwhelmingly dominated by pro-liberty members.

One Free Stater, for whom cemetery care is a family tradition, ran an unopposed write-in campaign for Cemetery Trustee...and won.

The townsfolk voted overwhelmingly to lower the overall town budget from $955,833 to $897,818.

Street lights not essential for public facilities or dangerous road intersections will be turned off and removed to save money.

Now the bad news. And I'll present the losses for greater freedom, less government, lower taxes in ascending order by the number of votes it would have taken to be victorious (not a tie).

Two more intelligent votes would have put Free Stater Jeremy Olson on the Budget Committee. Instead, we got Free Stater Hater Catherine Mulholland, a socialist immigrant from England via Taxachusetts, notorious for devising clever ways of raising taxes.

Nineteen more intelligent votes would have blocked a tax hike to pay the salary of the librarian to expand the hours of the Grafton 'Free' Public Library.

Thirty-five more intelligent votes would have blocked a tax hike to pave roads, and it would have created one Overseer of Public Welfare position, which would have investigated welfare fraud.

Sixty-six more intelligent votes would have repealed the prohibition of the consumption and open containers of alcoholic beverages on town property. (The town rec field has fallen to disuse since the 1994 ban. How ironic that we celebrate Independence Day with out-of-town cops watching over us to make sure we don't have too much fun.)

Two-hundred forty nine more intelligent votes would have elected Free Stater Bill Walker as the new Chief of Police.

I've known Bill for nearly five years. He's well versed in the US Constitution and New Hampshire State Constitution.

He has stated his intent to:

•uphold his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitutions;
•encourage the community to learn and practise self defence and safety to minimise the need for policing;
•teach firearm safety and marksmanship to anyone considering keeping and bearing arms;
•to leave people alone, teach people to understand and exercise their Rights...and so on.

While admitting that he wouldn't go to jail for something someone else did, he would not make any effort to enforce malum prohibitum laws, or any law contrary or repugnant to the Constitutions.

Instead, we got a sycophantic 'go-getter' police veteran who has stated (on camera) that:

•the law is the law;
•if the Fugitive Slave Act were still in effect he would enforce it;
•it's not up to us to 'interpret' the Constitutions;
•he will enforce marijuana laws (of course), including growing it on one's property because, after all, he's got three kids and he doesn't want people pushing pot on them;
•if we don't like the laws it's up to us to elect legislators that will change them;
•more money is needed to expand the police budget.

He is incapable of or unwilling to acknowledge or understand that prohibition never has and never will produce desirable results.

And apparently it doesn't matter if he did. To his credit, he opposes the concealed carry permit scheme, acknowledging that people who want to carry concealed will do so anyway; however, he will enforce violations of such laws so long as they exist.

Also to his credit, he has stated his intent to carry on Merle's tradition of basically leaving folks alone. After all, he wants to remain on good terms with the inhabitants of the town he was born and raised in...and keep his job. How well he does so remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, if you're a pro-liberty voter there's a place for you in Grafton. One vote can and has made a difference. This time around one vote would have made for a tie, which would have likely changed the outcome for the Budget Committee.

Now what are you waiting for?

[CJS]

I went for the thank you button twice ,,, loll

[Lloyd Danforth]

Thanks Rich, but I've never, before seen Mulholland and clever in the same sentence.

[Russell Kanning]

how can the cop want to leave people alone ...... and want a bigger budget? .... he wants to take their money
maybe the planning board can plan to end the select board or the budget board

[Free libertarian]

Misty the Cat finally got elected.  Purrrrsaverence pays off.