Pro-wind group made a mockery of voting

Pro-wind group made a mockery of voting
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2011


In a recent letter, Harold Wiley attempted to justify the intent of a petition he circulated in Cape Vincent claiming voter fraud by newly registered voters. His letter did little to justify this claim or the subsequent actions of the town board to address the issue. This is because they (voters for wind) have produced no evidence of voter fraud, and it is the basic premise of his argument that is flawed and unfounded.

Harold claims the 200 or so petition signers agreed that it is unethical and immoral to attempt to influence an election based on one issue. This is simply not true, quite the contrary, many elections are decided by a single issue. In fact a great deal of people vote on an issue rather than a candidate. There are no rules pertaining to this.

I can’t believe Harold, a veteran politician, doesn’t understand this, which leaves me to conclude his intent was merely to intimidate potential voters by urging the town board to enact a ridiculous, illegal voter ID law.

Either that or he saw this as a means to cleanse Don and Marty Mason of their own unethical actions by giving the appearance of attempting to protect the community from voter fraud (which by the way no one would condone), when in fact the action they took was a far worse infringement on legal potential voters constitutional rights.


This petition and the actions taken by Don and Marty Mason are a clear example of the convoluted logic displayed by the pro-wind faction of this community and are a painful reminder of just how far this group is willing to distort the laws and long established principles of ethics to attain their goal of industrializing Cape Vincent for their own personal gain.

They have made a mockery of government and now the democratic process of voting. This should serve as a warning to all other communities as to the danger of tolerating conflicts of interest in their government. Avoid it at all costs. Mr. Wiley encourages everyone to vote for experience in government. Thanks just the same, Harold. I’ll vote for integrity and no to industrial wind development.

David LaMora

Cape Vincent