Council candidate taken off Rockland ballot

ROCKLAND – The city clerk has ruled that the name of City Council candidate Bentley Snow Davis will be stricken from the ballot, leaving her the option of running as a write-in candidate.

City Clerk Stuart Sylvester said Friday that he has determined Snow Davis’ nomination papers were “void” because she failed to abide by state law when submitting them for verification.

Sylvester found that although Snow Davis signed a form stating that she collected the signatures, in reality she did not personally witness all of the signatures collected on her nomination papers. A couple dozen signatures were collected by Mayor Brian Harden, a supporter of Snow Davis, but she signed her name to the form.

“On that basis, Ms. Davis’ name will be removed from the list of candidates for City Council on the ballot for the Nov. 6 municipal election,” Sylvester said.

When reached Sunday, Snow Davis acknowledged that she had “kind of been thrown for a loop” by the situation. She said she planned to continue as a write-in candidate because “there are a lot of things I have to offer.”

Harden said Saturday he was at fault for the discrepancy. He said he was glad that Snow Davis planned to run as a write-in candidate. He described the situation as an honest mistake.

“I’m pleased she decided to run as a write-in. She’s a viable candidate,” he said.

Harden said he should have realized he needed to verify he had witnessed the signatures before turning them over to Snow Davis. He said he had collected signatures for candidates in previous elections and should have known better. Candidates need 100 signatures of currently registered voters to be placed on the ballot.

“I gave her one [nomination paper] with signatures on it that I had collected and she signed it,” Harden said. “She didn’t even realize what happened. If I had signed it, it would have been fine.”

Harden said that Adele Faber, a political rival on the City Council, discovered the error. He said Faber obtained copies of Snow Davis’ nomination papers from the clerk’s office last week and began calling the names listed in order to determine who had witnessed their signatures. Harden said he felt that his re-election campaign had been “rough” last year, and that he should have expected more of the same this year.

“I just feel that this is an unfortunate situation, but I also know she was wrong to sign it the way she did,” Harden said. “I believe she is a qualified candidate. She’s upbeat and quite familiar with the issues and the people of the city. I felt she was very well informed for someone who was not close to city politics.”

The removal of Snow Davis from the ballot leaves voters with three listed choices for the two open seats on the City Council. Councilors Faber and Carol Maines have decided against running for re-election. The two open seats are for three-year terms.

Former Mayor Thomas J. Molloy of Pleasant Street, Edward D. Luchetti of Limerock Street and E. James Thompson will be listed on the ballot while Snow Davis will run as a write-in candidate.

Molloy is a six-term veteran of the council, having served at least one term in each of the past four decades. While on the council Molloy served eight terms as mayor.

Luchetti is the owner of Penobscot Bay Soup Co. and is serving on the SAD 5 board of directors. Luchetti is giving up his school board seat to run for council.

Thompson is a retired banker and U.S. Coast Guardsman. He was one of the leaders of the grass-roots group that successfully overturned the city’s plans to charge residents a per-bag fee to dispose of trash at the transfer station.

Snow Davis is the executive director of the Knox County Health Clinic, and a well-known poet, writer and teacher of women’s studies.