(Updated) Voter guide called 'an abuse, a gimmick'

(Updated: adds candidate Ben Thompson quote)

LEBANON - A so-called Lebanon Voter Guide that touts the “accomplishments” of the selectmen chairman who is running for re-election and attempts to sway voters on certain questions is raising the ire of some of his opponents who call it an abuse of power.

The guide was posted on the town’s website, the town’s email bulletin service and with at least one local media outlet.

It includes a letter from Selectmen Chairman Robert W. Frizzell lauding his and the board’s hard work.

“We have been very busy working on budgets for the next year,” it states at one point.

The eight-page document is said to be at a local printer and is expected to be sent to all Lebanon households at taxpayer expense, which doesn’t hold too well with some of Frizzell’s opponents for his selectman’s seat.

“If they’re mailing that out, that’s town money,” said candidate Robie Marsters, who is trying to unseat Frizzell. “That’s a campaign gimmick.

“The Public Hearing addressed every issue, and the selectmen have already made their recommendation. It’s a waste of money, a misuse of money.”

The guide professes to be an official document of the Town of Lebanon and urges approval of another $70,000 for continued renovations of the Old Town Hall as well as the Code Red initiative, which were both soundly rejected by the town’s Budget Committee.

The Code Red ballot question would add another, more local layer of the reverse 911 emergency network already in place at the York County level.

Lebanon voters go to the polls on June 11 to elect a selectman and vote on 34 ballot questions.

Another selectman’s candidate, Corinna Cole, agreed the guide amounted to “an abuse. It’s not right,” she added.

Reached late on Monday, candidate Ben Thompson said he was all in favor of educating voters, but “if they’re trying to persuade voters, I’m not for that.”

He said that as he travels around town talking to folks he’s finding many don’t have a clue about the election and the ballot.

“Most people don’t have access to the information,” he said.

 He added that the Voter Guide, “smacks of some desperation,” adding, “Just one selectman (Frizzell) signed it. I find it a little ironic and a little bit funny.”

The town of Lebanon did not produce a “Voter Guide” last year, but did in 2011, the year Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole lost his selectman’s seat to Selectwoman Karen Gerrish. That mailing was paid for with taxpayer money.

Neither Frizzell nor Cole returned phone calls today.

However, Selectwoman Gerrish, reached by email today, said she had originally brought up the voter guide, specifically to address the confusion over the Special Amusement Ordinance that was defeated last year.

She said she wrote some of the information on the Old Town Hall project, but that Frizzell “added to it quite a bit.” She also mentioned nothing about writing the Code Red initiative, which she is, in fact, against and which is mentioned in very positive terms in the “guide,” which is said to be from the Selectmen’s Office. Cole and Frizzell both strongly back the Code Red initiative.

Bettie Harris-Howard, another candidate for selectman, said she thought any voter guide should have had both sides of an issue.

"If they wanted to put in information about the town hall and code red, they should have had both the pros and cons," Harris-Howard said today. "However, I agree with Selectwoman Gerrish in wanting to explain to voters what the Special Amusement Ordinance is about."

The emailed press release electronically signed by Selectman Jason Cole was sent on Sunday around 9:30 p.m., about 20 minutes after it was entered on the town’s bulletin email service.