Comments

• On the article Die-Hard Packers Fan to Miss Big Game to Serve Country

  

  

  Jim Price

  8:21 pm on Friday, January 21, 2011

  Nate, a big salute to you from your old editing instructor. Congratulations on making officer training!

  Reply

• On the article Open Election Fraught with Complications

  

  

  

  Jim Price

  10:46 pm on Saturday, January 8, 2011

  Liz, it's very complicated, and even Chris Jaekels, the village attorney, said he was going to have to review village ordinances and the state statutes to gear up for this one. But essentially, if anyone wins a seat by write-in, and there's nothing obviously wrong with his or her personal record, then the village would probably have to seat that person. Still, a challenge or complaint to the state elections board that showed improprieties – the person had conducted a campaign but hadn't filed with the state, for example – could result in an investigation and possibly a penalty or even disqualification. But there are many gray areas, and how do you prove someone really conducted a "campaign." If I said I was interested in serving and was going to write myself in, and you told several friends about it and they did likewise, would that constitute a campaign? Who knows? You are right to be concerned. I spoke to outgoing Village President Kathleen Pritchard, too late for the article, but she said what you're thinking: This is why we have an election process, so that people who are really interested in serving the whole community can put themselves out there for scrutiny and show who they are and what they are about. They would have to willingly face a vetting process on many issues. The lack of candidates allows for a write-in process that for all purposes may let anyone with a single-issue agenda or no agenda take an office that will shape the course of village policy.