The chairman of the Vermont Republican Party called for a Vermont elections worker to be sidelined Friday because of what he called “clear bias” in the official’s online comments. Secretary of State Jim Condos replied that the issue had already been resolved internally, and that he trusted the worker to perform his duties fairly. At issue are social media posts by J.P. Isabelle, an elections administrator in the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office. In one comment on the Vermont Political Observer, a liberal blog, a user called J.P. Isabelle wrote that he attended an event for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Dunne and “left feeling energized.” Isabelle also commented on gubernatorial election dynamics on Twitter. Republican Party Chairman Dave Sunderland wrote to Condos about the online comments.
“Notwithstanding whether it’s appropriate for a member of your elections staff to be commenting on overtly partisan blogs, as an administrator of elections and election law, Vermonters have a right to expect that Mr. Isabelle will be neutral and nonpartisan in all public conduct and engagement,” Sunderland wrote.
Sunderland went on to request that Isabelle have “no administrative obligations, input or influence in elections in which the political parties, unions or candidates for governor may have an interest.”
Full Article: Vermont GOP questions neutrality of election official.