Dogs And People In The News
This is a blog for dogs so I don't like to stray into politics. However, when politics affect animals, especially dogs, or dogs and politics mix, as they did this week, it's hard not to comment on them.
We have some very interesting stories about dogs and their people in the news this week, and not for good reasons.
I first saw the following story on CNN, but here it is from the AP. It seems that a woman in Seattle felt that it was too easy for noncitizens to vote there and she decided her dog could help her prove her point. So, she registered him to vote. It may sound funny, but she's looking at 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Owner faces jail time for registering dog to vote
Posted on Jun 29, 2007 10:58:08 AM(From The Associated Press)
SEATTLE — Duncan the dog is still registered to vote, and his owner isn't pleased.Jane Balogh signed up the dog in protest of a 2005 state voter-registration law she thinks makes it too easy for noncitizens to vote. She used a paw print to mark ballots on Duncan's behalf.
At first, Balogh said she wouldn't contest a misdemeanor charge of making false statements on a voter registration form. But on Thursday, she pleaded not guilty to the charge that is punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. She said she changed her mind when election officials claimed her efforts showed the system worked.
"She's just kind of annoyed because Duncan's still on the voting rolls," said her lawyer, Kristen Anderson.
"Somebody is clearly not getting the message." Laura Lockard, King County's acting election program manager for voter services, said. There is "an arduous process" to have someone, even if it's a dog, taken off the voter rolls.
Balogh put her phone bill in the Australian shepherd-terrier mix's full name — Duncan MacDonald — then used it as identification to register him as a voter. She submitted ballots in the dog's name in the September and November 2006 and May 2007 elections. She wrote "VOID" on the ballots and didn't cast any votes.
I'll keep you posted on how this story of voter fraud turns out. I'm just glad that Duncan isn't looking at any jail time for his part in the crime. There's a saying floating around the internet, "My Dog Votes!" Well, maybe it's not a good idea to take it literally!
The next story is a genuinely serious matter. Regardless of your political affiliation, the story calls into question a candidate's judgement, not to mention his feelings toward animals.
Per a story in The Boston Globe, "Journeys of a Shared Life," here's how Mitt Romney handled a 12-hour trip with their family dog, an Irish Setter, from Boston to Ontario in 1983:
Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack. He'd built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog.
Then Romney put his boys on notice: He would be making predetermined stops for gas, and that was it.
The ride was largely what you'd expect with five brothers, ages 13 and under, packed into a wagon they called the "white whale."
As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. "Dad!" he yelled. "Gross!" A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours.
As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management.
I am speechless. Who in their right mind thinks that is a good way for a dog travel? Twelve hours in a carrier on top of a station wagon? Is it any wonder the dog lost control of his bodily functions?
There has been some outcry against Romney in the media. According to Time Magazine, "Romney's Cruel Canine Vacation,":
The reporter intended the anecdote that opened part four of the Boston Globe's profile of Mitt Romney to illustrate, as the story said, "emotion-free crisis management": Father deals with minor — but gross — incident during a 1983 family vacation, and saves the day. But the details of the event are more than unseemly — they may, in fact, be illegal…
Massachusetts's animal cruelty laws specifically prohibit anyone from carrying an animal "in or upon a vehicle, or otherwise, in an unnecessarily cruel or inhuman manner or in a way and manner which might endanger the animal carried thereon." An officer for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals responded to a description of the situation saying "it's definitely something I'd want to check out." The officer, Nadia Branca, declined to give a definitive opinion on whether Romney broke the law but did note that it's against state law to have a dog in an open bed of a pick-up truck, and "if the dog was being carried in a way that endangers it, that would be illegal." And while it appears that the statute of limitations has probably passed, Stacey Wolf, attorney and legislative director for the ASPCA, said "even if it turns out to not be against the law at the time, in the district, we'd hope that people would use common sense…Any manner of transporting a dog that places the animal in serious danger is something that we'd think is inappropriate…I can't speak to the accuracy of the case, but it raises concerns about the judgment used in this particular situation."
One thing's for sure: I know I wouldn't want Gov. Romney planning my vacation or handling the care of my pets.
