In 2022, Pennsylvania State Representative Tony DeLuca was re-elected despite the fact that he had died a month before the election. While some voters may have cast their ballots for him to honor his memory posthumously, it is likely that many may have had no idea that they were voting for a dead man. Last year, Mark Edgington, a state rep candidate in New Hampshire, ran for office even though he was a convicted murderer. He eventually dropped out of the race when word spread about his crime, but if he had continued his campaign, he no doubt would have received some votes from some of those residents who hadn’t heard the news.
In just a couple of weeks, town elections will be held throughout the state. Many voters will go to their polling locations to fulfill what they consider their civic duty, but upon entering the voting booth and looking at the ballot, will have no idea who to vote for. Many will randomly vote for a name that has a nice ring to it or for the candidate who posted the most signs. Considering the anecdotes I shared above, however, it seems imperative that you find out something about the candidates before you vote.
If you live in Raymond, for example, it is crucial that you know the truth about library trustee candidate Jill Galus, who is running for re-election. The public records regarding my lawsuit against Galus for violating my First Amendment rights are available online, including the federal court decree that declares her Constitutional infringement.
You can read all about this case in a previous article I wrote for Granite Grok, “The Dudley Tucker Redemption,” which details how Galus was involved in firing me as assistant library director because of my political activities outside of work. This lawsuit is especially egregious because Galus is running for a position to continue her oversight of an institution that should revere free speech—the public library. Also available as public information online is the New Hampshire Attorney General’s cease and desist order (see page 43) against Galus for violating electioneering laws, hypocritically engaging in the sort of activity she fired me for. In 2023, she had advocated for townspeople to vote a certain way on warrant articles by filming a video in the library that was posted on the library’s Facebook page.
After the federal decree against Galus was released back in June, the Raymond Board of Selectmen voted to petition the Rockingham Superior Court to have her removed from office. Galus clearly violated the oath that she took when she swore to uphold the Constitution as a library trustee three years ago. New Hampshire law states that those elected officials who violate their oaths “shall be forthwith dismissed from the office involved” (RSA 42:1). The mechanism for implementing this removal is a petition of the Rockingham Superior Court. This petition was ultimately not pursued by the Select Board due to the legal fees that such a case would entail, and Galus refused to resign despite requests that she do so. Now, the town itself has the opportunity to remove Jill Galus from her office on election day.
So, when you vote on March 11th, make sure that you do your homework. While you might not help elect a dead man or a murderer, if you don’t, you might still make a very bad choice, just as some voters in Raymond will unintentionally do if they vote for Jill Galus. Having violated her oath once, how can Raymond voters ever trust her again?
We’d like to thank Arlene Quaratiello for this Op-Ed. As a reminder, authors’ opinions are their own and may not represent those of Grok Media, LLC, GraniteGrok.com, its sponsors, readers, authors, or advertisers. Submit Op-Eds to steve@granitegrok.com
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