Putnam seeks correction of his voting record

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PUTNAM SEEKS CORRECTION OF HIS VOTING RECORD

(Falmouth, MA, March 22, 2008) – Candidate for Falmouth Selectman Brent Putnam has called on the Cape Cod Times to report all of the facts relating to his personal voting record, labeling their March 16 article, “Political candidates have spotty voting records,” “misleading.”

In a sidebar associated with the article, the Times wrote, “Brent Putnam voted 21 times since 1996, missing a host of elections including the state and presidential primaries in 2004.” The Times failed to report that all but one of the “host of elections” Putnam missed were primaries.

The one local election that Putnam missed was ten years ago and due to a last minute business trip to Chicago. He noted that because of a daily commute to Boston and the haste to make travel arrangements, he overlooked the idea of getting an absentee ballot.

“I consider voting to be a responsibility,” Putnam stated, “but I'm not Superman. Occasionally, the responsibilities we have as individuals trump the responsibilities we have as citizens.” He added that he has changed jobs since then, to one with less commuting and travel.

As for the primaries he missed, Putnam was unapologetic, “Primaries are party elections.” An unenrolled voter, he observed that local elections – such as that for selectman – are completely non-partisan, “If I'd missed a host of local elections, I'd probably agree with the point the Times was trying to make.”

Rather than investigate whether candidates vote in general elections, Putnam stressed that more attention needs to be paid to how they voted while in office. Putnam noted, “there are 246 representatives in Falmouth Town Meeting, yet I am the only one to publicly and voluntarily post my votes.” Putnam started a blog in late 2006 and began posting his town meeting votes the following spring.

During a controversial vote last all, Precinct 1 representative Peter Clark exclaimed that his constituents could toss him out of office if they disagreed with his vote. Putnam said that everyone knows how Mr. Clark voted on that particular article, but there is no record of how the other representatives of town meeting voted. For that matter, there is no record of how the selectmen – past and present – voted on any of the articles over the years.

“How do you keep elected representatives accountable if you don't know how they voted?” Putnam asked, “That's where the light needs to shine.”


Contact:
Brent Putnam, Chair
Vote Putnam Committee
P.O. Box 2031
North Falmouth, MA 02556
(508) 444-0222
Brent@FalmouthLocal.com
www.FalmouthLocal.com

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