AREN'T THERE LAWS AGAINST THIS SORT OF THING?
Not exactly.
Some states have anti-nepotism laws, but most places rely on murky toothless
"ethics" recommendations. Others provide exclusions as big as the Hatfield family -- for example, in Texas first cousins don't count as nepotism.
The Missouri Constitution requires public officials to forfeit their office if they employ anyone up through a fourth degree relationship by blood or marriage
(more in full report). But in Kentucky, county elections boards can include
family members and convicted felons as well. I guess you can bring in the James
Gang to run your local elections board, if you're in Kentucky. It's legal.
No state has nepotism laws that contemplate the unique risks of computerized
voting systems. Nepotism laws generally only deal with hiring your family in
your own department. If you are a Sheriff running for reelection, and your son
is the elections division IT computer guy, that's not prohibited unless you can
contort an ethics rule to fit and find someone willing to enforce it.
Nepotism laws don't affect dynasties. One family member can succeed another, and indeed this is often used to keep control within one family in situations where there are term limits. In 1966 Governor George Wallace dealt with his own term limit by helping his wife Lurleen succeed him, frankly admitting that he planned to make the decisions. Family dynasties can help protect corrupt locations from having the next guy find their dirty laundry, keep the kickbacks in the family, pass secret recipes for fraud from generation to generation.
Nepotism laws generally don't put any restrictions on family members who
volunteer to help around the office -- or help with vote-counting, as the case may be.
MOONSHINE NICKNAMES
Clearly I'm a Yankee, or a left-coasty, or something, because when I went
looking for who has the same last name in the moonshine territories the
nicknames on the ballots stopped me before I could even get to the last names.
Three candidates who go by the names Bugs, Hossfly and Chigger ran for
magistrate in the 2007 Kentucky primary election. That election also provided
candidate comfort food: challengers named Buttermilk, Puddin, Apple, Peanuts, Hot Dog, Big Mac and Bun, along with Chubby Ray, Heavy Duty, Chunk, Tank and Slim.
WHAT WILL STEALING ELECTIONS GET YOU?
Two industries have a real stake in moonshine elections counties: Drug-running
and coal mining. The next article in the moonshine series will go into the
drug-running side of things. Here, let's take a look at how the coal industry --
and the family stakeholders in coal -- have a powerful interest in elections.
The vast majority of America's 3,142 counties are rural, and in most states,
elections are administered by counties. In rural areas, a limited number of
industries control the economy, provide the jobs, and consider themselves
stakeholders in election outcomes. Many Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee,
Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wyoming counties are
heavily vested in mining.
WHAT AN INDUSTRY CAN GET OUT OF ELECTIONS
Sometimes it's all about who'll let you dump the most in the creek.
You may think that coal was just something your grandparents needed, but in fact, coal-fired power plants supply roughly 50 percent of the America's electricity and more than 40 percent of the nation's emissions of the leading greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.
Not exactly.
Some states have anti-nepotism laws, but most places rely on murky toothless
"ethics" recommendations. Others provide exclusions as big as the Hatfield family -- for example, in Texas first cousins don't count as nepotism.
The Missouri Constitution requires public officials to forfeit their office if they employ anyone up through a fourth degree relationship by blood or marriage
(more in full report). But in Kentucky, county elections boards can include
family members and convicted felons as well. I guess you can bring in the James
Gang to run your local elections board, if you're in Kentucky. It's legal.
voting systems. Nepotism laws generally only deal with hiring your family in
your own department. If you are a Sheriff running for reelection, and your son
is the elections division IT computer guy, that's not prohibited unless you can
contort an ethics rule to fit and find someone willing to enforce it.
Nepotism laws don't affect dynasties. One family member can succeed another, and indeed this is often used to keep control within one family in situations where there are term limits. In 1966 Governor George Wallace dealt with his own term limit by helping his wife Lurleen succeed him, frankly admitting that he planned to make the decisions. Family dynasties can help protect corrupt locations from having the next guy find their dirty laundry, keep the kickbacks in the family, pass secret recipes for fraud from generation to generation.
Nepotism laws generally don't put any restrictions on family members who
volunteer to help around the office -- or help with vote-counting, as the case may be.
MOONSHINE NICKNAMES
Clearly I'm a Yankee, or a left-coasty, or something, because when I went
looking for who has the same last name in the moonshine territories the
nicknames on the ballots stopped me before I could even get to the last names.
Three candidates who go by the names Bugs, Hossfly and Chigger ran for
magistrate in the 2007 Kentucky primary election. That election also provided
candidate comfort food: challengers named Buttermilk, Puddin, Apple, Peanuts, Hot Dog, Big Mac and Bun, along with Chubby Ray, Heavy Duty, Chunk, Tank and Slim.
WHAT WILL STEALING ELECTIONS GET YOU?
Two industries have a real stake in moonshine elections counties: Drug-running
and coal mining. The next article in the moonshine series will go into the
drug-running side of things. Here, let's take a look at how the coal industry --
and the family stakeholders in coal -- have a powerful interest in elections.
The vast majority of America's 3,142 counties are rural, and in most states,
elections are administered by counties. In rural areas, a limited number of
industries control the economy, provide the jobs, and consider themselves
stakeholders in election outcomes. Many Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee,
Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wyoming counties are
heavily vested in mining.
WHAT AN INDUSTRY CAN GET OUT OF ELECTIONS
Sometimes it's all about who'll let you dump the most in the creek.
You may think that coal was just something your grandparents needed, but in fact, coal-fired power plants supply roughly 50 percent of the America's electricity and more than 40 percent of the nation's emissions of the leading greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.
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