First, it needs to be said that Amy McMullen has served both the town of Windsor and the School Districts with distinction for the better part of two decades. She joined the local School Board at the time when Vermont was restructuring its educational funding architecture and merged Windsor with the surrounding towns under a single school district. That transition was difficult for Windsor, which was the only town in the district operating a high school, by continuing to allow the surrounding towns to retain school choice and have an equal say in education governance. Amy stayed with the school district all through those difficult times and helped navigate some semblance of a unified school governance. Her dedication and service to the town of Windsor during difficult times should be acknowledged and commended.
Secondly, the real issue during the March elections were entirely political and were not addressed in your article (“Windsor election complaints lead to resignations by winner,” April 1). While Amy admittedly exercised poor judgment by being present during the voting (it is her milieu, after all, as town clerk), the complaints that were raised a bit too loudly after the fact had everything to do with the fact that their preferred candidate lost the election and recount. The implications of all the complaining citizens (and noncitizens, it should be pointed out) suggested a completely unproven (and wildly absurd) conspiracy on behalf of Amy by persons unknown to “rig” the election. The pinnacle of absurdity during the presentation of this “MAGAesque” conspiracy theory was the complaint of a large man being intimidated by the presence of the soft-spoken librarian standing behind the ballot box as he placed his folded ballot into the box.
The real story here wasn’t the lapse in judgment by a wonderful person who has dedicated nearly 20 years to the town, but rather the actions of a loud minority of malcontented citizens trying to take control of a situation that they have no idea how to fix.
Jim Bennett
Windsor
I have known Amy McMullen professionally for a long time. We worked on the Windsor School Board for a number of years as well as the Supervisory Union Board and attended a number of Vermont school board conferences over the years. I have also consulted with her on various occasions as the Windsor town clerk. Amy has poured her heart and soul into the Windsor community, helping out in any way that is needed, always there to lend a hand when a need arises. She is an asset to her community.
If her presence at the polls (“Windsor election complaints lead to resignations by winner,” April 1). was seen as intimidating or unsettling, I’m sure it was unintentional as she has been at the ballot box helping out for many years. Windsor can’t afford to lose one of its finest public participants. I hope she won’t be judged harshly by this controversy as her contributions far outweigh this incident.
Sherrie Greeley
Windsor
At a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, on January 23, 2016, Donald Trump said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
Don’t say he didn’t warn you.
Marilyn Breselor
Lebanon