Good riddance to Mayor-No More Willie Lantigua. Yesterday we waited in suspense trying to figure out what the corrupt Lawrence mayor would do to try to steal the election from the people of Lawrence who voted him out of office last Tuesday. But, it appears justice may finally be served.
On election night the ballots counted gave Dan Rivera a 60 vote victory over Willie. At first it was reported that an additional 49 Provisional ballots needed to be reviewed…as it turns out, there were actually 54 Provisional ballots cast by people not on the voter list and set aside for review.
Yesterday the authorities began reviewing the Provisional ballots. They got through 47 of the 54. Of those 47 only 19 were deemed legitimate and acceptable ballots. 11 were for Willie L. and 8 were for Dan R. (Willie picked up 3 votes in the overall totals still leaving Dan with a 57 vote LEAD)
They will review the other 7 Provisionals on Tuesday. Also, yet to be determined are the absentee ballots from out of the country…they must be postmarked on or before election day and received in Lawrence by next Friday…there are 7 outstanding absentee ballots in that category…6 from the Dominican Republic and 1 from France…they may or may not ever arrive to be counted.
If every single remaining Provisional ballot (7) and every single absentee ballot mailed from a foreign country (7) cast votes for Lantigua that will STILL GIVE RIVERA a 43 VOTE LEAD over Willie. 43 votes is too much of a lead to be turned around in a full recount with machine voting.
Strike up the band! Hey, Kate Smith…we can hear you singing “God Bless America” loud and clear…even if Willie refuses to get off the stage!
GOOD LUCK, MAYOR DAN RIVERA! You will need it to heal that crippled city and to repair the damage Lantigua has done for far too long.
I always assumed the reference was to Bruenhilde, heroine of Twilight of the Gods. Wagner’s Ring Cycle lasts for 15 hours and doesn’t end until Bruenhilde’s Immolation Scene where she heroically sacrifices herself on a funeral pyre because Siegfried has died. But there could be another explanation.
But it has now entered the English Lexicon as a generic phrase. I learned it well before I had ever heard of Wagner or the Ring Cycle.
tudor586: you are correct…the “traditional” fat lady is from the opera…but, I was looking for a more American and patriotic fat lady…and no one could belt out “God Bless America” like Kate Smith. (Could have called on Jennifer Hudson or Jennifer Holiday to do the honors, but they both lost too much weight on Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig)
which I would expect for a race with a double-digit margin, machines or not.
I haven’t followed Lawrence politics. Have there been serious accusations of stolen votes or rigged elections?
I don’t know specifically about accusations of rigged elections, but this is Willie Lantigua we’re talking about. You’d do well not to trust him farther than you can throw him.
I asked a simple question. What does trusting Willie Lantigua have to do with anything?
I answered your question in all seriousness. If someone were to try to steal an election it would be Willie Lantigua.
He might steal the election because he’s corrupt.
He must be corrupt because he’s trying to steal the election.
Exactly the logic that is used to pass voter suppression laws.
My question is whether Lantigua has been accused of rigging elections or stealing votes. I don’t know the answer but the non-answers I am getting make me suspect that the answer is no.
My point is that in an election this close a recount appropriate, no matter what you think of the candidates.
You started this thread by saying you don’t follow Lawrence politics. That’s fine, but I do to some extent. He is not corrupt because he is trying to steal an election. His reputation for corruption and looking out only for himself is already well-established. There have been multiple well-founded investigations and all you have to do is Google his name to find articles about. He does have a following as evidenced by the closeness of the vote, but so did James Michael Curley. I am not aware specifically of his being accused of vote stealing in other elections in which he has been involved, but his reputation justifies being more concerned that he might than others.
Channel 5 is reporting that he’s requesting one.