GOP Hopeful Missed Reagan Vote (NY Senate race)

[brooklynite]

March 20, 2006 -- ALBANY - Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Kathleen Troia McFarland, who repeatedly skipped New York elections, failed to vote for President Ronald Reagan even while working for him in Washington, newly acquired records show.

McFarland, a Park Avenue matron who says she drafted Reagan's "Star Wars" defense proposal while serving as a high-level Pentagon official from 1982 to 1985, didn't vote in 1984, when the president was seeking re-election, records obtained by The Post show.

...snip...

"There is no record of her voting in 1984," said William O'Field, spokesman for the Washington Board of Elections.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/61249.htm
- - -
I guess the butler couldn't vote for her...

[Renew Deal]

1. The NY pukes are trotting out loser after loser

for Governor and Senator. They should just Draft Alan Keyes and get it over with.

[warrens]

2. I hear Alan has time on his hands

*cruel snicker*

[AlCzervik]

3. sheesh, but truth be told it was way more fun watching Pirro implode

[Lerkfish]

4. FWIW, how someome votes should be private.

now, how and what they donate to, or which campaign they work on, no.
but a person's vote should be private.

[Doctor_J]

5. TOTALLY agree

this kind of information is completely private. Maybe her sister had emergency appendectomy on election day. Who cares?

[bunkerbuster1]

6. Think you're missing the point.

The vote itself is private. (The news story was somewhat poorly worded--it assumed that the vote would be cast for Reagan.)

However, the fact that you voted or didn't vote in an election or primary is a matter of public record, and it probably should be.

(unless I'm misunderstanding your post.)

[brooklynite]

8. This was not an assumption...

I left the following out for space reasons:
McFarland initially insisted through a spokesman that she had voted to re-elect Reagan.

[Mithras61]

7. They don't track WHO you voted for...

just IF you voted, unless you vote in Primaries, in which case they track which Primary you voted in. I think IF you voted can be a legitimate campaign issue.

How many times have you heard things like "if you didn't vote, you don't have the right to complain" or other similar statements?

How about some of those lunkheads that go on & on about being a lifelong conservative, but the records show that they could only be bothered to vote in a couple of the last 25 elections in which they were eligible to cast a ballot?

Setting all that nonsense aside, though, if we don't keep track of who voted, how are we supposed to have anything close to an accurate count of votes? Or are you simply advocating that election records, as property of the state and public record, should be exempt from FOIA?

[Lerkfish]

9. my sister, a democrat, works in a republican official's office.

she keeps her democratic voting private for obvious reasons.
I would not think it appropriate to make how one voted public record.

[Mithras61]

12. It's easy enough in states where you don't register...

a party affiliation... don't vote in the Primaries. In other states, you have to register a party affiliation anyway, so keeping which primary you voted in secret is silly. None of this, though, shows for WHOM you voted, only that you DID or DID NOT vote. That sort of information is needed for record keeping by the state (for recounts and such), and is therefore a state record. Unless you can provide a valid reason for not keeping that sort of record, I will have to stand by my support of keeping it.

As for keeping Primaries information, down here they use that sort of information for fundraising and contacting party loyalists when a job needs filled (like precinct chair - a partisan position). If your sister's employer is using voting records to screen staff, that may be a problem unless there is a specific reason to link the position to partisan loyalty. Funny thing is, in a political office, it just MAY be relevant...


At any rate, the story says that the candidate claims to have voted for St. Ronnie the Raygun, and the voting records show she didn't cast a ballot. If she didn't cast a ballot, she couldn't have voted for Raygun. That goes directly to the campaign issue of personal integrity and honesty, don't you think? I mean, when was the last time you were working on a candidates campaign and simply forgot to vote for them?

[The_Counsel]

10. -- just shakin' my head... --

Why don't these GOP-ers just give up?

Hillary's gonna win (and serve out) a second term. There's no use fighting it--especially when you're putting morons like Jeannine Piro and K. T. McFarland against her. They'd be better off runnin Guilliani again. Heck even Lazio!

Okay, maybe not Lazio... :evilgrin:

[BlueManDude]

11. seems like a bit of a loon. n/t