Stunner! "Modern Whig Party" member wins in Philly...

[Keystone Phil]

Sure, it was only for a Judge of Election spot but in the 56th Ward-5th Division, a member of the Modern Whig Party beat the Democrat, 36 to 24.

In ways, this is still is almost as stunning as winning a major office since the 56th is a fairly strong Dem Ward and the party machine usually has such a strong hold on these most local of local elections! See www.phillyelectionresults.com for details.

[DINGO Joe]

uh, Congrats Phil?

[Flake]

uh, Congrats Phil?

[Mehmentum]

Not that big of a feat when you realize that write in candidates won a slew of these positions, while in many of them, literally no votes were cast.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Was that guy a dissafected Democrat or was he just trolling?

[Keystone Phil]

Not that big of a feat when you realize that write in candidates won a slew of these positions, while in many of them, literally no votes were cast.

It isn't a big deal when write ins win in uncontested races, sure, but this was contested.

[Badger]

Heh, Judge of Elections was my one sojourn in electoral politics. I received my absentee ballot in my sophmore or freshman junior year in college, saw there was no one running for the position and wrote myself in. My dad called a few weeks later to advise there was a letter sent to the house from the Allegheny County Board of Elections advising I'd won.

My first job was to find out what the job was. It's an elected poll watcher position, which earned me a bit of cash for a long, long day of work twice a year throughout most of college.

[Mehmentum]

^
That's pretty cool!

[Badger]

^
That's pretty cool!

Thanks man! Now here's Part Two you may like:

The first time I appeared for poll watching I was presented with a loyalty oath to sign. I don't recall the exact language, but I do recall being repelled by it as vastly overreaching. I remember it went WAAAYY beyond promising to defend and protect the Constitution and the USA (which I've always readily and happily sworn to do when called on). So I refused to sign it. The dear little old ladies working the polls weren't quite sure what to do. I think one of them made a call to the Board for instructions and was apparently told something to the effect of "ignore it, he's just a kid". I called the ACLU when I got home to register a complaint. They seemed genuinely interested and had an attorney actually call me back with questions. I never heard back after that and the other poll watchers didn't ask me to sign this offensive oath anymore.

Fast forward to my first summer home from law school. I volunteered at the Pittsburgh ACLU (I needed something on my resume and I refused to let my parents use connections with attorney friends to find me something with a firm, so I delivered pizza nights to earn my cheddar, but my how I've changed my outlook ). They were looking for something for me to do and found the file on the complaint I'd made a couple years earlier! Apparently a volunteer attorney never followed up like he was supposed to. So I researched my own case with the help of another attorney. Lo and behold, the oath I objected to was instituted in the early 50's during the heart of McCarthyism, BUT, the law was subsequently repealed in the late 60's and replaced with a standard "protect and preserve the Constitution" type oath. The well-oiled machine of efficiency that is Allegheny County government still hadn't bothered to update the forms as of 25 years later!!

The attorney wrote a letter to the Board of Elections noting that their current oath forms were grossly out of date. I later heard they'd finally updated them to the new correct language sometime afterwards. Score one for the little guy.

[Flake]

^
That's pretty cool!

Thanks man! Now here's Part Two you may like:

The first time I appeared for poll watching I was presented with a loyalty oath to sign. I don't recall the exact language, but I do recall being repelled by it as vastly overreaching. I remember it went WAAAYY beyond promising to defend and protect the Constitution and the USA (which I've always readily and happily sworn to do when called on). So I refused to sign it. The dear little old ladies working the polls weren't quite sure what to do. I think one of them made a call to the Board for instructions and was apparently told something to the effect of "ignore it, he's just a kid". I called the ACLU when I got home to register a complaint. They seemed genuinely interested and had an attorney actually call me back with questions. I never heard back after that and the other poll watchers didn't ask me to sign this offensive oath anymore.

Fast forward to my first summer home from law school. I volunteered at the Pittsburgh ACLU (I needed something on my resume and I refused to let my parents use connections with attorney friends to find me something with a firm, so I delivered pizza nights to earn my cheddar, but my how I've changed my outlook ). They were looking for something for me to do and found the file on the complaint I'd made a couple years earlier! Apparently a volunteer attorney never followed up like he was supposed to. So I researched my own case with the help of another attorney. Lo and behold, the oath I objected to was instituted in the early 50's during the heart of McCarthyism, BUT, the law was subsequently repealed in the late 60's and replaced with a standard "protect and preserve the Constitution" type oath. The well-oiled machine of efficiency that is Allegheny County government still hadn't bothered to update the forms as of 25 years later!!

The attorney wrote a letter to the Board of Elections noting that their current oath forms were grossly out of date. I later heard they'd finally updated them to the new correct language sometime afterwards. Score one for the little guy.

I like your stories.

[Bacon King]

pictured: modern wig candidates

[Badger]

^
That's pretty cool!

Thanks man! Now here's Part Two you may like:

The first time I appeared for poll watching I was presented with a loyalty oath to sign. I don't recall the exact language, but I do recall being repelled by it as vastly overreaching. I remember it went WAAAYY beyond promising to defend and protect the Constitution and the USA (which I've always readily and happily sworn to do when called on). So I refused to sign it. The dear little old ladies working the polls weren't quite sure what to do. I think one of them made a call to the Board for instructions and was apparently told something to the effect of "ignore it, he's just a kid". I called the ACLU when I got home to register a complaint. They seemed genuinely interested and had an attorney actually call me back with questions. I never heard back after that and the other poll watchers didn't ask me to sign this offensive oath anymore.

Fast forward to my first summer home from law school. I volunteered at the Pittsburgh ACLU (I needed something on my resume and I refused to let my parents use connections with attorney friends to find me something with a firm, so I delivered pizza nights to earn my cheddar, but my how I've changed my outlook ). They were looking for something for me to do and found the file on the complaint I'd made a couple years earlier! Apparently a volunteer attorney never followed up like he was supposed to. So I researched my own case with the help of another attorney. Lo and behold, the oath I objected to was instituted in the early 50's during the heart of McCarthyism, BUT, the law was subsequently repealed in the late 60's and replaced with a standard "protect and preserve the Constitution" type oath. The well-oiled machine of efficiency that is Allegheny County government still hadn't bothered to update the forms as of 25 years later!!

The attorney wrote a letter to the Board of Elections noting that their current oath forms were grossly out of date. I later heard they'd finally updated them to the new correct language sometime afterwards. Score one for the little guy.

I like your stories.

OK, then here's one more.

Fast forward again to this past Tuesday. When I went to vote soon after the polls opened I noticed that there was only one candidate running for 3 open slots on our local educational service center board of governors. I have to admit that I'm only marginally familiar with the position, but thought to myself: "You're a smart guy, Badger. The only question here is can you do a better job at the position than no one doing it at all?"

So I wrote myself in. Surprisingly easy with our touch screen ballots. I figured that while I only had that moment in the booth to vote, if upon further investigation I later determined the job was over my head or I was legally unable to serve I could turn decline to accept the position and the vacancy would remain as before.

I immediately sent a text out to my wife plus some coworkers and neighbors asking for their write in vote and requesting they ask their spouses to do so as well. I thereafter texted them my campaign slogan: "[Badger]? Sure! Why not?" I got to work at the County Prosecutor's office and checked with a co-worker who does the civil stuff. After some research though it was determined we are the legal counsel for the educational service center (we apparently don't get many, if any, cases from them, so it was easy to miss among the dozens of county agencies and boards we represent) and statutorily authorized to prosecute members of the governing board for any malfeasance--an obvious conflict of interest. So I quickly retexted a retraction to my wife, neighbors and co-workers, saying nevermind.

My entire "campaign", from writing myself in to texting my withdrawal, lasted about 45 minutes. That's got to be some kind of record.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

pictured: modern wig candidates

Clearly, they have a scandal they are trying to hide or why would they be covering up?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

The town next to mine has a Green Party city councilwoman who crashed the convention dressed as a vagina.

[Flake]

This story is on Rachel Maddow right now.