While standing on the sidewalk (a public place) for the Brookline July 4 parade (a public event), a public figure (Melanie Levesque) participating in the parade extended her arm and pointed her index finger at me. She said, “THERE’s my stalker,” presumably because I was holding a sign reminding the voters of her record on a totem with 2 Councilor Wheeler signs. Feel free to look up what counts as stalking on your own. I happen to disagree with her accusation, but hey, free speech is for everyone, even its haters, like former Alderman Jan Schmidt.
If that’s stalking, Is Elenore Casey Crane (ECC) stalking Lily Tang Williams?
In recent days and weeks, ECC has been distributing cheap leaflets (black and white prints on printer paper) with cheap shots against Lily. One of them made it into the hands of a local Lily volunteer, and I’m disappointed to learn that it was distributed by another local on behalf of the ECC campaign (who will probably eventually see this article). Good luck campaigning to half the state like that, but let’s get back to the operative word in the title: stalking.
Any candidate can participate in any parade, but I was amused to see ECC at the Swanzey Old Home Day parade yesterday. I won’t get into great detail on each political figure present because that’s available to anyone interested and willing to poke around online for a few minutes. What I found amusing was ECC’s serial name-dropping of Councilor Kenney as some supposedly plausible reasons to vote for her. Keep in mind that Swanzey is in the southwestern corner of NH, and Kenney’s district is furthest from there. If I had to guess, most of the parade spectators don’t even know who Councilor Kenney is, but that’s free speech and certainly not stalking.
Lily has 12 opponents in her primary. The only serious and well-funded threat, Vikram, was represented by a big float and a group of uniformed volunteers, though I never saw him there. As for the 11 others, ECC was there with her Subaru decorated with signs and balloons, flanked by a very small group of volunteers. There’s a finite number of weekends to spend in a geographic area of more than half the state before the September 10 primary and I know Pittsfield also had their Old Home Day yesterday. Perhaps Vikram was there, or maybe not, but he certainly has the deep pockets to send his emissaries, equipment, and materials to multiple events at the same time. ECC does not. Therefore, of all places to spend the 8th Saturday before the primary happened to be the same event as Lily.
No, two candidates for higher office being in the same place at the same time for a public event is NOT stalking, but Nurse Terese regularly refers to something called “watchful waiting” in patient care. Though it’s not within the purview of nursing, I encourage readers to pay enough attention to observe how often ECC appears at events Lily attends. Will ECC soon earn the diagnosis of “stalking?”
