GOP tweaks Barry over recount — but what about Schneider?
Schneider, left, and Barry
After Democrat Joan Barry announced this week she was seeking a recount in her narrow State Senate loss to Jim Lembke, the State GOP chided her for forcing the state to pay for a new tally — evoking, of all people, Barack Obama.
Under state law, candidates who lose by less than one percent — like Barry and, in Missouri at least, Obama — can request a fresh count of the votes, although the second look is put on the taxpayer’s tab.
“It is unfortunate that Barry cannot accept defeat,” said Missouri Republican spokeswoman Tina Hervey. “President-elect Obama has not requested a recount and has indicated that he will not even though he was entitled to do so because he understood that the outcome would not change and that thousands of dollars and taxpayer resources would be wasted. It is sad that Joan Barry is not following his example.”
But what Hervey does not mention is that O’Fallon Republican Vicki Schneider — unseated in the State House by St. Charles Democrat Kenny Biermann, a school board member — is also seeking a recount in her 74-vote loss.
According to St. Charles County election director Rich Chrismer, that recount could cost as much as $30,000.
$30K to recount 21,816 votes?
30000/21816 =1.375 dollars per vote.
1 ballot counted every 10 seconds (even by hand that’s plenty of time)
That’s $6.00 per minute –or -$360.00/hr
Unbelievable!!! Where do I sign up for that job?
Ms. Hervey is of course very intelligent about voters and elections. She might not think that a recount in the district with Ms. Schneider and Mr. Biermann is a waste of money. Heaven forbid, there be a recount and lo and behold, Ms. Schneider gets two more years in Jefferson City! I had a rare opportunity to see Ms. Schneider in action, she may not be the worse Republican in Jeff City, what do we know about Mr. Biermann? Ms. Hervey would probably be very happy to, as Queen Latifah once put it, “Kick the ballistics” about Ms. Schneider’s efforts to clarify the results in that fine portion of St. Charles County.
This is hypocrisy at its finest. If a recount is bad for the goose it should be bad for the gander.
Let’s face it, Vicki Schneider’s recount is about one thing and one thing only: Vicki Schneider. That’s all she cares about and all she’s ever cared about. Everyone that has ever met her knows that. In fact, that’s why she barely won last time in a county that tilts republican and she barely LOST this time in that very same county.
Besides not liking her, I think alot of people voted against her because she would be term-limited anyway so she would just spend her last term handing out goodies to her builder buddies instead of representing the people who elected her.
Let’s face it–mistakes are made by election judges. While most are unintentional, some are by design. The recount mechanism merely puts in place a check and balance on the job done by the precinct judges. It is a safe guard that our democracy is open and fair. The reason President-elect Obama wouldn’t want the taxpayers to undergo the expense of a recount is because the overall effect would be null, as he would still be the victor regardless of the Missouri results. The case is different in both of the races mentioned in this post. This is just an example of bad spin-control.
I agree with Frank Weston. A three term incumbent like Vickie Schneider should not have been so vulnerable even in a better year for Democrats. She must not have been doing her homework for these last 6 years.
The recount is all about her and not about the party, or any of the issues that will face our state for the next two years. Vickie is just upset because it will be harder for her to find constant parties to attend like those found in Jefferson City. Her hometown O’Fallon is just not fertile enough “smoozing” territory for her. If she’d paid attention to her constituents during her tenure in the house she wouldn’t have been so easily beat in November. What’s a poor party girl like that going to do now?
The Republican Party is wrong not to chastise Schneider also.
Both candidates, Schneider and Barry, are on ego trips. Barry served 4 terms and Schneider 3, neither have the excuse of it being so close they need a recount as neither should have been that close if they were supposed to really win.
Missouri law does not allow additional votes to be found and added just merely a recount of the votes already accepted. Under those conditions, no electer result has ever changed. Votes go up, votes go down but the bottom line doesn’t change.
Tina Hervey….Do you think if Obama had lost the election and a recount of Missouri could change the outcome, he might be interested in wasting the taxpayers money? Your analogy is sad, not the fact that Joan Barry isn’t following Obama’s example.
Did you think it was sad in 2006 when Republican Jack Jackson asked for a recount in the 2006 Auditor’s race?
The only one on an ego trip is Lembke. Going negitive with complete lies 4 days before the election in a desperation move couldn’t be any lower. I guarentee that if the situation was switched, he would be screaming for a recount and multiple lawsuits would already been filed.