Posts Tagged ‘state representative’

Hardy Machia goes on the offensive by pointing out the incumbents ads of wanting to work for lower taxes are just not true. This PDF of Can’t Afford These Taxes postcard shows how much new spending the incumbents approved last session, and highlights how the Vermont state budget has doubled in the last eight years, but what we are getting in services hasn’t.

Andrew Thomas sent out a similar mailing for his race, but the incumbent in his race voted for budgets in excess of 15 billion dollars in new spending since she took office….Andrew’s mailing.

October Fundraiser Cocktail Party

David will be holding a Fun-raising event in October. Here’s the details as best as I know them:

Location: Three Stallion Inn, Stock Farm Road, Randolph
Date: Oct 18, 2006
Time: 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Tickets: $15

Description:
Casual meet the candidate gathering with appetizers, sweets, and coffee. Door prizes including a framed and signed print of an original watercolor landscape by renowned Vermont artist Bunny Harvey. Ms. Harvey will be on hand in support of Dave and to sign the winner’s print.

About Bunny Harvey:
Bunny Harvey has been a part time resident of Randolph Center since 1949 when her parents first came to Vermont. A Rome Prize winner, Bunny has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally, with works in public and private collections. She is represented exclusively by Berry-Hill Galleries, in NYC and has taught painting at Wellesley College in Massachusetts for thirty years. She now lives and paints in Tunbridge, where the natural landscape of Vermont has been the starting point for many of her works. One critic has described these paintings as attempts ?to discover the essence of the place….with a dreamlike quality that make them seem more like landscapes of the mind, rather than actual places..?

For additional information call: 802-728-6598
http://www.davidatkinson.org

Today is the 138th anniversary of the passage of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.

Libertarians see the protection of individual liberty and the guarantee of equality before the law as among the principal and legitimate?responsibilities of government. We recognize the 14th Amendment as the instrument that allows an equal and uniform enforcement of liberty and equal rights throughout the country

Prior to the 14th Amendment, the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution was applicable only with respect to the federal government. In cases involving one’s rights with respect to a state or locality, Americans had to avail themselves of differing state constitutions for guarantees of their rights. There was no enabling clause to allow the national government to enforce a uniform guarantee of individual rights throughout the Union.

The 14th Amendment was most explicit in remedying the foregoing weakness. “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. . .The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” Thanks to the 14th Amendment, the federal government has?been able to curb significantly?the abuse of our individual rights in countless instances, from local governmental establishment of religious beliefs, to the failure to apply due process of law, to mandatory racial discrimination, and to many similar instances of the unequal treatment of our people.

The 14th Amendment is one of the most libertarian provisions that govern national policy, because it exemplifies the proper purpose of government power, which is to protect our rights. But?be wary against any misuse of the 14th Amendment to justify interference in the internal affairs of the states in areas that transcend the Amendment’s explicit language.

My thanks go out to Christopher Costanzo for his help in drafting this article.

Congratulations to Hunter Melville for his appointment to Town Grand Juror in Woodstock.

Just before town meeting in Woodstock Hunter noticed no one was running for Grand Juror. He mounted a quick write-in campaign and got 29 votes. He needed 30 votes to win a write-in election, so he had to be appointed by the Selectmen for the position, which they did last week.