God damn it, this is how fascism really takes hold, when the fake communist start winning seats. They build up a bunch of momentum and then they suddenly “flip” (To their true form) at the last second and start killing people.

Am I crazy about this? Is something like this worse than a public nazi being in an office seat?

Unsure about how “important” this seat is. I’m more worried about the trend. If the only “commies” getting seats are ACP reactionaries, when real communists won’t be able to distinguish themselves from them in the public eye.

Also, how the fuck are they so effective? It seemed like mere months ago ACP began. How the fuck are they able to get any seat with the term “communist” in their party name? Regardless of their reactionary status, to normal people, the big C word is a no-no.

Final free thought: I know commies aren’t gunning for office most of the time, and that is fine. Building community, unions, and being in the streets, is more effective. But having some office seats could lead to small-but-useful changes, especially since this is a legal-adjacent seat.

  • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    15 days ago

    https://www.ourherald.com/articles/sudden-interest-in-unsung-office/

    The deadline to file for candidacy in Vermont came and went in August, and no one had filed to put their name on the ballot for Orange County high bailiff. Now, however, two local individuals are imploring voters to write in their names.

    The candidates are Tom Harty of Randolph and Christopher Helali of Vershire. The current high bailiff, Bob Worley, is not running for re-election.

    This campaign is a trick. It’s such an obscure position that I don’t know if my state has an equivalent. The old one was retiring and it would have been unfilled if not for two write-in campaigns. I’m pretty sure this is his opponent (https://xcancel.com/tjharty) and it’s the only thing I can find from him, so his web presence ended in 2021. The ACP found a race where they had to get a handful of votes to become the royal swankeeper. When PSL or DSA do this, they target actual roles like city/state representatives. They could also run these little novelty campaigns to claim that they’re winning in every district in the country, but it wouldn’t be anything more than empty peacocking. ACP is the grifter LARP because this same guy ran for senate in 2022 and didn’t even appear on the ballot.

  • stasis
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    15 days ago

    acp is a grift to make communists look bad

  • CutieBootieTootie [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    15 days ago

    Nah this is nerd shit, it’s a basically meaningless role that was just easy to clinch with a couple friends, as much as the ACP is the inheritor of the kind of psy-ops the LaRouchites did back in the day, this is materially still quite meaningless and an indicator of the overall fecklessness of this “organization” and it’s lack of real grassroots involvement

  • Coco 📕
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    14 days ago

    The person who won the seat Chris Helali was a disgraced anarchist who fought in Rojava and was apart of the IWW however he was exposed for stealing money and was kicked out of the IWW then he joined the PCUSA and ran in Vermont (and lost) before joining the ACP.

  • Idliketothinkimsmart
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    15 days ago

    The duties of high bailiff are to serve writs which the sheriff is incapable of serving, such as the writ of arrest of the sheriff, and to temporarily succeed to the office of the sheriff in the event of the sheriff’s incarceration or incapacity. In practice, an officeholder “rarely, if ever, does anything”.

  • davel
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    15 days ago

    Also, how the fuck are they so effective? It seemed like mere months ago ACP began.

    I know fuck-all, but if I had to guess, I’d say money. Someone should try to follow the money, because their website seems to reveal nothing. They have a cryptic blockchain ledger, but at first glance it doesn’t appear to reveal any financial information: https://acp.us/ledger

    • -6-6-6-
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      15 days ago

      Blockchain ledger? Yeah, don’t think you’re actually going to be able to follow the money there. What an odd choice to focus on that for a up and coming leftist party.

      • davel
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        15 days ago

        It would be an odd choice if it were actually a party or actually leftist, but I don’t think it’s either. I think it’s a grift, like CPI was.

        • -6-6-6-
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          15 days ago

          I agree. What I more so meant is that it’s pretty blatant with that kind of “transparency”.