Vermont law (17 V.S.A. § 2810) directs Vermont's Secretary of State to publish a Statewide Candidate Information Publication that contains photos, biographical sketches and position statements submitted by candidates for statewide and federal office. Today's Rutland Herald reports that the position statement by independent candidate for governor, Cris Ericson, in this year's publication (full text) has raised controversy because of anti-Semitic statements in her rambling essay. Ericson, citing verses from the Biblical book of Leviticus, says in part:
Are any of the people, in charge of organizations holding candidate forums and debates, Jewish? Some Jews allegedly discriminate against Disabled Vermonters. Some Jewish Doctors, Social Workers, Police, and Housing Authority Administrators allegedly "talk down" to Disabled People.... Jews have no right to impose their religious Law of discrimination against Disabled People when they receive state and/or federal funding for Police, Housing Authority, Medicaid, Medicare, and organizations holding candidate debates and forums.Before publishing this year's booklet, Secretary of State Deb Markowitz asked Vermont's attorney general whether she could edit out the offending statements. She was told that the law authorizing the publication, as well as First Amendment speech protections, preclude editing of candidates' statements.
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5 comments:
With all the malfeasance committed by secretaries of state around the country, you'd think editing hate speech in an election brochure might pass unnoticed.
Doesn't really matter though, can't imagine a less fertil ground for Chris Ericson's droppings than Vermont. Woodchuck conservatives will be as repulsed as Yankee progressives, count on <1,000 votes for her statewide.
Professor Friedman,
I would like to discuss this with you.
I am candidate Cris Ericson.
I am disabled and have been abused a lot in Vermont, and so have other disabled people I know.
The majority of doctors and housing authority executives
who allegedly have abused me appear to be Jewish, or can be found out to be so by checking Synagogue websites and names and phone numbers.
For example, when I lived in one Housing Authority apartment building, and Governor Howard Dean was still Governor, he lowered the amount of an acyclovir product allowed for Medicaid patients, and my doctor had prescribed 90 pills for my particular contagious disease, and the pharmacist said I could only have 60 because Governor Howard Dean lowered the amount allowed to Medicaid patients. I decided to run for Governor of Vermont, that was my first time running for political office in 2002.
Then the manager of the Housing Authority apartment building did not want me to use the washing machine that everyone used, and he chased me down the hall and slammed his fist on the wall and screamed threats at me, and a neighbor called the police but they did nothing, and I filed a request for a restraining order in the court in Burlington, Vermont and the Judge denied it, and the housing authority lease would not let me have my own small washing machine in my apartment, so I moved out.
The list just goes on and on for years.
The abuse has never ended.
If a child complains that a Catholic Priest hurts them, there are no world wide headlines of anti-Catholic speech.
I did the best I could to raise an issue without naming any doctors names or housing authority names, I did the best I could.
Cris Ericson http://crisericson.com
Cris,
And what makes you think they did these things because they were Jewish, rather than just being jerks?
When you raise the issue of discrimination, you should name names. Martin Luther King didn't say, "Whitey's discriminating against us", and unlike someone like Farrakhan he's recognized almost universally as a great leader.
All you've done here is show how you've become bigoted.
I agree with Crypticlife.
"The majority of doctors..."
"...allegedly have abused..."
"...appear to be Jewish..."
By all the gods! Let's have us a witch hunt based on the allegations of one person on what the majority of offending persons appears to be! You get the feathers and I'll get the tar and we'll have us a party!
"If a child complains that a Catholic Priest hurts them, there are no world wide headlines of anti-Catholic speech."
And where have you been hiding that you don't see those headlines that everyone else sees?
Name names. Get specific. And try finding out the real reasons why these cases of "abuse" are happening.
And try changing your style. I love to read a good rant. But I won't bother reading the same information if it's being presented as a page full of paranoid whining.
And to answer one of the questions you pose on your blog, Cris:
"Jewish" is a culture.
"Hebrew" and "Yiddish" are languages.
"Semetic" is a language group.
"Judaism" is a religion.
"Kosher" is delicious.
Where is the "race?"
HUMAN is the race.
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