The Difficulty in Doing the Right Thing - My Personal Story

[CT_Progressive]

I was recently involved in some local political drama, and I thought I would share the short, but interesting story here on DU.

First, you should know that I live in CT in a small town (16,000 residents, 9000 registered voters, 3500-4500 regular voters at the polls). We have a First Selectman form of government. There are two Town Committees, a Republican and a Democratic. I am the Vice Chairman of the Democratic Town Committee.

State Election Law dictates that any campaign literature must have a byline that reads: "Paid for by the (name of town committee or campaign committee), (treasurer's name), Treasurer." Leaving this byline off of campaign literature carries a small SEEC Fine, usually around $100.

A member of the Republican party had a friend send out a campaign email to members of the town's PTA, endorsing this Republican. The friend used their work email, and did not include the required byline. Because it was the email system of a company, according to SEC rules, that counts as an in-kind donation to the Republican's campaign, and would have to be valued, and then declared on financial disclosure forms.

We (The Dems) found out about it.

First, ask yourself "What would you do?" Think about it a little, then read on.








The Republican running for office is not a neocon. They are a very nice person, who is the incumbent, and has been a volunteer around town for many years. The friend who sent the email is not political/involved in politics, and simply sent the email as a favor for their friend. This person is also a very nice person, and is friendly with many Democrats as well as this Republican.

First off, reporting this violation to the SEEC (State Election Enforcement Commission) would get the friend in a lot of trouble with their employer, since the employers email address was used without their knowledge. The person could lose their job.

Secondly, there isn't enough time for this to have a political impact on the election (11 days away). If anything, it might have a negative impact on us, if we cost a person their job.

Now, clearly, the "Right Thing" is to report them. Logically speaking. But just as clearly, the "Right Thing" to do, is follow our hearts and not get a really nice person fired over a simple mistake they made, which has virtually no real impact on the election.

What we decided to do, was contact the Republican and let them know that we are seriously considering reporting this incident to the SEEC, and give them the opportunity to apologize and offer to make things right by themselves, or at least promise to never repeat the errors again.


Having gone through the arguments on whether we should report them or not, I was personally affected by this incident. Because we decided, as a group, to do something that, until today, I always yelled at the Congressional Dems for doing - being "weak", and letting the "Repukes" "get away with violations." Yet, knowing the facts of this story, I know we did the truly "Right Thing" in the end, even though my sense of "justice" feels somewhat unfulfilled.

I hope this story helps people gain a better understanding of "politics", and I hope it will make people really think twice before generalizing all Republicans as "the enemy".