(August 26th, 2014)

Hi, all,

As Chair of the Bennington County Democratic Party, I want to make sure that you know that we have several contested House Seats in Bennington that we ask you to make decisions about.

In District 2-1, for two house seats, there are three candidates: Incumbent Tim Corcoran, Jr, new candidate Jackie Kelly, and new candidate Rachael Fields. There are no Republican opponents for those seats.

In District 2-2, for the two House seats, there are four new Democratic Party candidates who will face off in the Primary on August 26th. They are, in alphabetical order, Jim Carroll, Joann Erenhouse, Kiah Morris, and Brandy Reynolds. They are vying for the seat that Anne Mook is retiring from. There will be two winners in the Primary. They will face off in November against Republican incumbent Mary Morrissey.

In the race for the two Bennington County seats in the Vermont Senate, Brian Campion and incumbent Dick Sears are running as a team. Brian decided to vacate his House seat to run for a Senate seat when Senator Bob Hartwell, Junior Senator from Bennington County, announced that he would not run again. Their sole opponent for the November election is Warren Roaf.

We ask you please to vote in the primary. To do so, you must make sure that you are a registered voter. Then please also vote in the November election. For each of these elections, you may if you so desire vote early or vote absentee. Call or stop into our Town Clerk's office in downtown Bennington. You will receive your early voting ballot, which you can fill in right there in complete privacy, or take it with you and drop it off before Primary Day on August 26th.

One last point: please be an informed voter. Understand the issues, ask the candidates their positions when you see them campaigning on the streets or at your door. You may also visit the VT Secretary of State's website, elections/ campaign finance section, and you can find out which candidates have accepted money from contributors, how much they have accepted, and where they have spent their campaign money. You may find candidates who are receiving money from both out of town and out of state contributors. In some cases, the contributors are family members. In other cases, contributors are from organizations that have nothing to do with Bennington and these elections. That should make you wonder. In some cases, candidates spend their money for signs, cards, banners, etc., in Bennington County. Keeping the money local is a good thing, I think. In those cases where candidates spend money far away from Bennington, for example, in the Burlington area or out of state, that should raise a question about why the candidate isn't spending the money right here.

Whatever you do, please register to vote, if you're not already registered. Please vote in the August 26th primary for the candiidates that you want to see on November's general election ballot. I have already done so. Won't you please also do that?

Thanks.

There is a lot at stake in this election, even if it is a so-called "off year."