PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s top election official, who’s running for U.S. Senate, has a message to critics who want him to step down as secretary of state during the campaign.
“They want me to resign and I’m not going to do it,” Charlie Summers said Tuesday after criticism from the Maine People’s Alliance and Maine Democratic Party.
The secretary of state’s office administers Maine elections, and the Maine People’s Alliance says Summers, a Republican, should resign because of a conflict in overseeing his own election. The group also called on him to step down for alleged voter intimidation for sending a letter to college students telling them to register their vehicles in Maine and get Maine driver’s licenses if they wanted to continue voting in the state.
The Democratic Party, meanwhile, came out with its own criticism over a shortage of voter registration cards in recent weeks.
Summers brushed aside both complaints, saying his deputy, Julie Flynn, will oversee the November election as she has for the past 18 years, and that there’s no conspiracy with voter registration cards. The supply of cards simply ran out, and revised cards are being ordered, he said.
Besides, Summers said, others have held the same job while running for higher office.
Maine’s constitutional offices — secretary of state, state treasurer and attorney general, all of them elected by the Legislature — often serve as a springboard to elected office in Maine.
Democrat Ken Curtis was secretary of state when he won election as governor in 1966 and Democrat Bill Diamond of Windham was secretary of state during his losing bid for Congress in 1994. Democrat Joe Brennan was attorney general when he ran for governor and won in 1978.
As secretary of state, Summers oversees the state archives and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in addition to elections.
He said he has taken steps to eliminate any conflict in elections. As for the voter registration card complaints, he said they seem especially petty since updated cards will be available within weeks and computer users can go online to print their own cards.
“It’s much ado about nothing,” Summers said. “The fact is people can still register to vote today. They [critics] are just trying to make an issue where there is none.”
The Maine Democratic Party maintains that the shortage of voter registration cards was egregious. “We should never run out of voter registration cards in the middle of an election season,” Maine Democratic Party Chair Ben Grant said in a statement.
Similar criticism has been leveled in Ohio, where Republican Treasurer Josh Mandel is seeking to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. Democrats have taken to referring to Mandel as the state’s “absentee treasurer.”
Maine Attorney General William Schneider, who lost to Summers in a six-way Republican primary, had said he’d give up his job to devote his full attention to the Senate race, if he had won the nomination.
But Summers said that through time management he can continue his full-time state job while campaigning for the Senate. He said he still has initiatives that relate to teen driver safety and revising the driver’s education curriculum that he wants to see through.
Neither of Summers’ most prominent opponents in the race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe — independent former Gov. Angus King and Democratic state Sen. Cynthia Dill — is asking him to step down.
Diamond, who’s now a state senator from Windham, never confronted questions of whether he should resign because he lost his primary campaign and wasn’t on the November ballot. He said he used some vacation time for the primary campaign in the 1st Congressional District.
Further complicating Summers’ position is that his wife is running for state Senate and that politics are far more partisan than they were a decade ago, Diamond said.
Ultimately, Summers has to decide whether he can hold a full-time job — and provide a solid accounting of his hours to critics — while campaigning for U.S. Senate. “If he thinks he can, then that’s fine but the proof will be in the pudding, as they say. This is a long campaign,” he said.
OK – if he’s not going to quit then we need to stand up and demand that he be removed.
Good luck, he is horrible. He will not win this election if i can help it
Who is we
The other 2 people that dont like Charlie…LOL
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I’d love to reply to many, but at least one has the juice in BDN to get me censored
I know that the BDN is a liberal publication, the nasty LePage comments never get censored, but if someone so much as questions why a certain congressman’s relationship preferences are not talked about, or questions the past indiscretions of certain congresswoman they automatically get censored….
Yup, if the incumbents stay in, then selective censorship will remain
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I hope yours stays
People that recognize him for what he is!
Charlie, the Lockstep Monster!
Better Charlie than King & Dill, bought and paid for shills for the greenies and Quimby.
OK – if you are not going to quit then we need to stand up and demand that you be removed.
I think you should get your posse together and picket his offices! That way I can bring my kids by to laugh at you and to learn more about why they need to stay in school to get a good education and a good job. (Just like we did with the Occupier fleabags.)
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The Democrats who ran for their offices didn’t step down why should he. Double Standard here. If these Liberals can do it and get away with it he can’t. Oh that’s right he’s a Republican and LePage is in office. Liberals don’t like neither one.
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Well, if many complainers on these boards have their way, he’ll have no job at the state or Fed level come Nov.
Ouch, bad job AP. Those constitutional offices are elected by vote of the House and Senate, not appointed by the Governor.
Where did it say that?
Why pick on Charlie? All the state sec. of state have continued to hold their jobs. This is merely a democratic inspired noise maker.
We pick on Charlie because he is a dishonest jerk.
don’t forget incompetent too
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why make charlie step down when bruce was double dealing he is still in his position of the govs management team that does nothing for the pay they get.one more on the gravy train is not going to matter to the middle class taxpayer we are carrying a lot of them now. I still say theres is the best part time position that a person could have
It was a conflictof interest for past Democrats and it is a conflict for Charlie Summers. There is no way to avoid the potential impropriety of fraud when the person responsible for carrying out fair elections is a candidate for office.
For example, the alleged shortage of voter cards may or may not be true; but given the track record of the current administration – a Maine Speaker of the House of Representatives who manipulated the system to defraud the State of Maine’s taxpayers of over $1,000,000.00 and a Governor who is a compulsive liar who has no problem manufacturing claims of massive fraud (contrary to statistical evidence) in groups that he opposes in order to promote his ideological agenda, why should Charlie Summers be given any benefit of the doubt?
Democrat Ken Curtis was secretary of state when he won election as governor in 1966 and Democrat Bill Diamond of Windham was secretary of state during his losing bid for Congress in 1994. Democrat Joe Brennan was attorney general when he ran for governor and won in 1978.
reformedbipartisan said it was a conflict of interest regardless of the party that does it.
I know what he said, yes.
Do you bother to read something before you comment about it? Do you comprehend what you read? Read (for the first time?) the FIRST (for emphasis, not yelling) sentence in my post.
Yes, as in your handle, reformed bi partisan, that can be quite an analogy in itself. Yes I do read evcerything that is written, one problem is liberals like to comment on a lot of things and forget that they do it themselves. It should not happen for either party. If it was a conflict of interest for those past Democrats, then it should of been changed not to allow this. We know it has the appearance of inpropriety, so why are the Liberal Democrats in such an uproar; when they so easily use it.
I have no interest in a “back-and-forth” diatribe with you because your comment to which I am responding is civil and you did imply that you recognized that I stated that Democratic Maine Secretaries of State, as well as Charlie Summers, had a conflict of interest by holding that office while running themselves. Even more, his wife is running for the State Senate.
We are in agreement that, as you noted, “It should not happen for either party.” Unfortunately, one of the seamy sides of politics is that various factions act similarly and then point fingers at the other. It is the nature of the beast.
I don’t believe that everyone who holds a particular office should automatically be disqualified for continuing in it while they run for elected office. But the Secretary of State is directly responsible for the elections and should not concurrently hold that position and be a candidate for office in the general election. There should be a law against that, but there probably won’t be unless the party in power at some point is reform-minded enough to pass legislation that might affect them. Don’t hold your breath.
Since you commented about my pseudonym, “reformedbipartisan”, I will clarify its meaning for you – not because of any compulsion to explain or justify myself, but because it reflects in many ways my view of the direction our State’s and nation’s politics have taken. I have no problem with conservatism in general, but the current Republican Party has taken an extreme right turn and that concerns me. I also don’t support extreme left views, but, despite the rhetoric from the “new” right, that really isn’t where we are.
Despite my political party registration, I have always voted as an independent – voting in every State and national general election since I was old enough to vote. Never once did I vote a straight party ticket for its own sake. In fact, I have probably voted for as many, if not more, Republicans than Democrats. I have been a moderate bi-partisan, being within a few notches left or right of center on most issues, with the exception of those for which I am passionate.
However, as the GOP has moved to the right, anyone who is not with them is labelled as a “Lib”, “Leftist”, “Socialist”, “Communist”, etc. I am none of those, except relatively to those on the far right who make those accusations. As a result, I will not support any Republicans at this time, even those with whom I may share some of their philosophy, because they are too willing to take what might be a good idea and push it to the extreme. Moderates in the GOP are castigated as traitors, being shouted down, purged, branded as ideologically impure, and co-opted. However, the alternative doesn’t mean that I will support every Democratic proposal or vote for every Democratic candidate, either.
The current GOP ideology excludes compassion, empathy, and tolerance while touting that we will all be better off if big finance and business is given free reign. History, past and present, has ample examples to refute that latter philosophy.
If my values for ethical practices, justice, and human decency make me a “Lib” or a “Leftist” to those who haved moved the center farther to the right, so be it. These are concerns about which I am keenly fervent.
I respect what you are saying, on the same thought the Democrats have moved convincingly to the other end of the spectrum. They also say some of the same things about those who do not choose to endorse what they stand for as intolerant, lacking that compassion. I do not say this as a dispersion of you, but the fact if one has an opinion oposite they are castigated. It is becoming more evident that those who say they are conservatives, tend to be more moderate or liberal; while in the same instance trying to keep a conservative moniker. The thing I would say though, that I did not consider it diatribe discussion, if you felt it was an attack on your opinion I appologize.
The left isn’t moving. There is a diverse bunch of Democrats who are elected currently, from far left, to moderate to even some who maintain conservative positions on certain issues. The same is absolutely not true for Republicans who have increasingly become polarized as a whole. They are edging further and further right and there is limited diversity in the party. Notice all the pledges they’re forced to sign? Refuse to compromise? Etc.?
Would you repeat that, please.
I could not have said it better, I was a Republican and most of my life and voted that way but in the last few years what they have done is way beyond anything that I could sign onto. This Citizens United case decided by the Supreme Court will be the demise of democracy as we have known it in the past. The rich and corporations are in the process of buying our government if full, they do own quite a chunk of it now but by the end of the year they will certainly own the majority. Common sense is in process of dying, we soon will be attending its funeral.
The R’s keep trying to say they’re better than the D’s. If that were the case, Summers would step down to prove he’s better than D’s who were in his position in the past. Instead, he just proves that the R’s are no better than the D’s.
None of their spouses were running for a state legislative offices, Bill Diamond lost in a primary election and accounted for his time, I’ve yet to see Summers even attempt this.
You should be careful who you libel.
Apparently Charlie is taking the adage, “Don’t quit your day job” seriously!
He must have read the poll numbers.
Still haven’t seen a single credible threat to the second amendment. Nothing but crazed RWers frothing at the mouth over unsubstantiated FOX fabrications.
And where were you when GWB cut veterans housing by 1.5 billion, medical benefits by 2 billion, cut 172 million from funding for educating veterans’ children, as just a few examples of his “support”?
Really Cynthia Dill was with Democrats trying to get guns banned in Maine during the final session that Democrats were in control of the Legislature. Ethan Strimling and other Portland area Dems were behind these gun bills. Alot of opposition came from Sportsman Groups, Hunters and Local Citizens who had gun permits who thought the bills were overstepping their rights.
From Dill’s website:
“I support the Second Amendment and favor responsible gun ownership for hunting and protection of property.”
Got a link to any of the gun bills you mentioned?
You won’t hear back. More Tea Potty lies.
Dill is a long known anti-gun loon- when she states that she will in no way alter or amend the 2nd Amendment then I will listen. The other two big ones are Quimby Land & ObamaCare; also on Kings top three.
Lets face it, both King & Dill are pro-Quimby, anti-gun, and pro ObamaCare.
Political hack empty suit Teabully.
“Democrat Ken Curtis was secretary of state when he won election as governor in 1966 and Democrat Bill Diamond of Windham was secretary of state during his losing bid for Congress in 1994. Democrat Joe Brennan was attorney general when he ran for governor and won in 1978.”
So it’s cool for the dems and a big no-no for the republicans?
…..more democrat hypocrisy, ayuh
How do you know democrats didn’t want them to step down back then? Typical Republican, if everyone is doing it that means it must be okay.
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Thank for your continued dedication and hard work Mr. Summers’……….
So true, he is a pillar of the community like Mr. LePage
Big Paulie and him should resign, along with their other cronies.
On what grounds?
To “spend more time with their families” would work for me.
Maybe Mardens needs stockboys.
So tired of these professional suckfish politicians like Summers who are constantly grasping and climbing their way from one position to another, leapfrogging ahead to another more prestigious more powerful better paying position, which will serve as yet another springboard to some even more grandiose pedestal. It’s like a sickness with them, and we’re all enabling them, by continuing to stand for it.
Fearmongering, ridiculous unsupported blather.
Yes, I hear it every time Obama gives a speech, that & the blame game.
Its interesting that no President since Johnson has ever blamed the previous administration than Obama has. And the debt keeps rising….
If you look back, you will see that the economy started tanking almost to the day when Dubya’s tax cuts took effect! Maybe you would like to explain who took the power to spend away from the Repubs in the House and gave it to Obama. I don’t recall a Constitutional Amendment. That’s just more Repub lies that they think people are stupid enough to believe. Apperently you believe it?
Then why is the economy keep getting worse,,, ????? Bush..? thats getting old
If you want:
*Quimby Land
*a collapsed military
*no 2nd Amendment
*less jobs
*more debt
*more spending
*higher taxes
*forced governmental healthcare
*more welfare
Then by all means vote for Obama, King or Dill, and keep up the decay of the US
Boy, is that twisted! Kind of like having your neighbor’s dog come in a dump in your living room . Then blaming your wife for not cleaning it up fast enough. We are paying for 2 wars started by Dubya over a direct lie to the American people, paying for the tax cuts he gave to his benefactors, and the interest on top of that! You say you want a stronger military presence without more debt. How would you do that? Pay the soldiers minimum wage with no benefits? As far as jobs, mine tanked along with everyone elses when your Good ole Boy was in there. Job market is comming back now. I have no idea what you are talking about with the second amendment. I still have all my guns . As far as the Quimby land goes, why don’t you buy it u can do what you want with it
Yes, I guess you are twisted-
What do you know about a soldiers pay…?
I got my second job at the beginning of GB first term, and “if” you had paid attention 98% of the Democrats in office wanted immediate bloody payback the day of 911— but I guess you must of missed that one-
As far as GB causing the war….. really,,,, and what about Obama’s quick pull out, hows that working out…?
Oh yeah, hows our thriving economy working for you…?
What I know about soldiers pay doesn’t apply now. I can tell you though that I had my second job back when LBJ was in office, but I am sure you can’t relate to that either. Maybe you missed it, but there was nothing to be found in Iraq but a lie, 40000 dead Moslims, and the loss of a whole lot of good Americans. I think it was on Obama’s watch that BinLaden was killed with a handful of good men. Correct me if I’m wrong, so the Dems got their payback only after Dubya and Chenny miolked the system for all it was worth. Oh and yes, the economy is working for me. If it isn’t for you, maybe you should adjust your proirities! I just want to see that there is a world left for my offspring so they don’t have to worry about the air they breathe or if they can get their next meal without begging it from some Trustfund baby that doesn’t know what real work is.
What I remember about LBJ was that my slightly older cousin came back from an undeclared “misunderstanding” and to this day hasn’t received any medical care for his participation.
My time in the service was interesting, and I don’t regret anything, but I do have some health issues that have never been compensated.
I have gotten to know Charlie over the years, and I can honestly say that the comments left by some uninformed liberals holds no weight with any conservatives I know.
One Charlie Hides the Vans and his other brother from another mother —–
Charlie The Lockstep Monster hides the Registration cards!
What A Team!
To be fair, they only lied about hiding the vans. The college kid (surely on his own and not abetted by his neighbor up the street) said they hid the vans at WalMart, then somewhere else and then a third story and then the college said none of the vans were signed out by anyone and were in their parking places the whole time. And Webster grinned, and even Walter Gooley backed him, and the rest is history. They outright lied.
Yeah , I quess your right!
They Didn’t (Hide ) the registrations, they just conviently ran out!
They are getting better at it!, If something is hidden it can be found!
Better if they don’t exist at all!
* Will work to suppress votes
* will work to keep citezens united
* will work to create Tax Breaks for the rich and powerful
* will work for Grover Norquist above all else!
Who,,, King?????
I would refer you to my previous comment, but I see that you had it censored
I don’t flag for any reason!
If you didnt, I’m sorry, but some liberal crybaby did…!
Amen well stated. Charlie is a good man who wants our state to do well. He like most Mainers don’t like the condition it’s in thanks to the Democrats 40 years of misery and tyranny . He would go their to do job that is desperately needed to done and make the cuts that will help our country and this state. It’s time to end all of these useless entitlement programs people will be “hurt” but who cares most of these folks shouldn’t be on these programs to begin with. They should be out working a job. It’s time to end NOBAMA CARE too once and for all. End all of these bailouts, handouts. Time to bring real change and prosperity to America. Charlie is the right man to do it. The other two are bought and paid for by special interest who are also tied to NOBAMA and would be a rubber stamp for theirs and Nobama’s agenda.
I liked the last 40 years!
It was good to me and Yes, I did work and pay my Taxes without the whining and crying!
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Careful, that kind of pro-American thinking might get you censored
I wish somebody had worked against cuts to Maine retirees like me. Thanks for less than nothing, friends and neighbors.
Progressive liberals have selective code of ethics.
Unacceptable!
Ok, but will he still keep his department store manikin job too?
I think he needs to step down for two reasons, and neither are because of the D’s/People’s Alliance silliness:
It is inappropriate for the elephant to be in charge of the counting of the peanuts. Other SoSs who didn’t step down in the past should have, too.
I’d like to think that Secretary of State’s office is a full-time job that won’t just run itself. If it does, I know where we can save some money right now.
More Dem sour grapes. It seems the only strategy left for their failed party is to whine often.
Because Obama is campaigning for the same exact job. He is trying to get a new job.
It’s called, “One foot on the boat and one foot on the dock.” He could get wet!
He wants power. That’s why he’s running for the Senate. As a general rule, people who want power and have it don’t give it up without a fight . . .
This applies to all parties.
I am not sure why the Dems care. It’s not like he would be replaced with a liberal. In order to stop the whining, he should just take a leave of absence.
It’s funny what bothers liberals. This is bad, but when Obama tramples on the constitution by telling his government to ignore laws that they deem inappropriate or when he invokes executive privilege as a way to cover-up his botched gun running operation, that is just fine.
Sounds like you watch too much Faux News :S
Maybe. He probably gave up looking for Olbermann, who is MIA yet again.
Nov 6
Voter Suppression Charlie needs to keep his day job – he’ll need that paycheck after November.
Yessah
You read from the cue cards very well.
Gee, isin’t it funny that right before an election that ‘suddenly’ there’s a huge shortage of voter registration card’s that’s revealed by the guy who has made it his publicly avowed goal to reduce voter registration’s, and voter participation, at every turn to further a segment of his Party’s agenda on the basis of ‘Well I don’t think your eligible’. Now call me a bit naieve but at what point in Russian Roulette with a .45 Auto does one realize that your chance’s of winning are ZERO ? Charlie, everytime you try to get ‘cute’ you just make the arguement more evident for all to see that Maine is rapidly becoming a more needy State when it comes to being able to govern itself. Florida had Kathleen Harris the ‘hanging chad’. Now we got Maine and a ‘sudden’ shortage of voter registration card’s. This keeps up much longer and someone is gonna start asking ‘Official’ question’s about just how long this voter registration card shortage was known, forecast prior or even known about before this whole thing began. The need, indeed, the requirement for Same Day Registration has now been publicly made for all to see and decide. November is coming, tick, tock, tick, tock ……………………
Pengree is married to a billionaire who she writes laws for. (-; and would guess passes on insider trading memos to.
Along your reasoning, all of the US House of Reps and one third of the US Senate should also step down as they’re running for reelection.
This election is different in that there is a stated objective by Teapublicans to suppress voter registration and thereby the right to vote – the most fundamental Constitutional right any of of us have. And not just in the state of Maine or by Democrats.
He should step down and/or be aware that if he stays, he and his office will be under the strictest of scrutiny by his many opponents.
According to SCOTUS rulings through the years, the right to keep and bear arms is the fundamental right. It has come through every challenge whereas the others have been allowed to be modified.
He knows he can’t win so he wants to hold on to his job, I suggest a leave of absence until he** freezes over.
Charlie has a lot of faith in his chances for election. Doesn’t want to give up his spot at the trough.
Should a non-elected employee of the state have to give up his job to run…?
Should Obama, and Michaud…?
Its strange that someone that has proven that he can do his job and run is questioned, but two already elected individuals that have proven that they cant do their jobs even on non-election years get a pass on that,,,, funny that..!