This commentary is by Ken Fredette, a resident of Wallingford.
Some citizens of Wallingford, myself included, have been crying foul over Bruce Moreton continuing to vote here, and purportedly representing us on the Mill River School Board, because he moved to Rutland 20 months ago.
Those who have repeatedly supported him remaining on the Wallingford voter checklist have resorted to projecting, such as saying we have a hidden agenda.
Nope: We all have been quite upfront about our motivations, whether it be objecting to him being allowed to vote on local issues, including municipal budgets, local officials and state representatives; or having one vote out of 11 on the Mill River board on matters that impact our children and how our education tax dollars are spent.
By contrast, his supporters have yet to articulate a legitimate reason he should be considered a resident of Wallingford. Is it because he owns land here? Because he runs a business on that land? Because he has a cabin on that land? Is it to ensure his right to vote?
Nope, nope, nope: Vermont case law — the 2018 Superior Court decision on Saligman and McGill — is quite clear about the first three. And nope on the fourth, as well: He could easily register to vote in Rutland. Who has a hidden agenda?
In February 2022, after somebody learned Mr. Moreton had moved to Rutland, a petition to remove him from the Wallingford checklist was circulated, which I signed. Now his supporters have claimed that I started it all because I have a personal vendetta against him.
Nope and nope: I neither started anything, nor do I have any sort of vendetta — personal, political, or whatever — against Bruce Moreton; I simply see him as lacking a moral compass, and the antithesis of what a good school board member should be. Thinly veiled attempts to divert attention from a scofflaw and discredit the efforts of many good citizens of Wallingford who are hoping to right this wrong are lame — we are not the ones employing subterfuge here.
The Wallingford Board of Civil Authority issued a Voter Challenge Letter to Mr. Moreton on March 23, 2022. At its next meeting, on Feb. 15, 2023, after he had made no measurable progress to upgrade his remote cabin to make it into a legal residence — as he’d pledged to do in response to the challenge nearly a year earlier — the board voted to remove him from the Wallingford checklist.
While it seemed to be the obvious thing to do at the time, there are nuances in state and federal laws designed to protect citizens’ right to vote that were not so obvious then. Statute provides for a Board of Civil Authority to challenge the veracity of a voter’s claim of residency in court, but the board opted to take action in the face of a mountain of evidence, including the fact that Mr. Moreton put into writing that he had moved to Rutland in October 2021.
After he was removed, he would have been able to appeal the Board of Civil Authority decision to a superior court judge at no cost to him, and the process would have been expedited because of the impending elections at Town Meeting (17 VSA 2148).
Instead, he wrote a threatening letter to the Wallingford Selectboard. That letter was not shared with other members of the Board of Civil Authority until just before the selectboard meeting of Feb. 21, 2023, and there was no public notice given at all. The board took action that night, and now the chair purports that adding an unspecified executive session to that agenda, about 10 seconds after the meeting was called to order, made it all legitimate.
Ultimately, the Board of Civil Authority voted on March 2, 2023, to reverse its decision of Feb. 15, and Bruce Moreton was returned to the Wallingford checklist.
At the fifth meeting — so far — of the Board of Civil Authority on this matter, on June 7, 2023, when a board member tried to make a motion to remove Bruce Moreton from the Wallingford checklist in order to (finally) allow for a judge to consider the facts, at no cost to anyone, one of his supporters immediately said — almost smirking — “You can’t do that. … It’s not on the agenda.” Perhaps the most blatant projection I have ever had the displeasure of witnessing.
Now there is a sixth Board of Civil Authority meeting scheduled for June 26 at 6:30 p.m. This will be the fourth meeting on this matter that would not have been necessary but for our selectboard’s interference in due process on Feb. 21. If Bruce Moreton had followed the law and appealed the Board of Civil Authority decision of Feb. 15, this matter would have been settled, one way or the other, in a court of law prior to Town Meeting 2023. I hope the voters of Wallingford will remember all of this at Town Meeting 2024.
