The Elections
Next week the party loyalists will be out to pick their favorite friends, ignoring the the historical facts, budget woes, lawsuits, etc, etc, etc and gleaming over doing the civic duty in voting.
I would guess the same 5 thousand party loyalists who always vote in local elections will vote for the incumbents. The opposition for selectman, one pathetic elderly R, one immature lunatic fringe and one highly educated rookie, have not given enough reason for the independents to come out of their caves.
The School Committee race is more what parents who are voters will seek out. The challengers all deserve a shot while Blummer is still on the Board.
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 10:22 AM
22 Comments
22 Comments:
The apathetic attictude in this town is one you should not be trying to encourage Jim. When you say the party loyalist will determine who wins the town election tomorrow you are telling people it is not worth it for them to go out and vote. That just plays into those party loyalists hands, don’t you think?
This town is facing a financial crisis, and don’t be fooled by their statements that all Town’s are in the same crisis situation. You only have to look as far as Ashland to find a community surviving this economy in a sound and stable way. I am not sure which of the newbies will be any better, but I am sure that the 2 in office now have failed, so I am going to take a chance on someone that has not already proven they are lousy at the job.
Framingham’s history of supporting sitting democrats, whether they are doing a good job or not, has got to change if this town is going to rebuild and regain its status as a go to town for home buyers and businesses. How can we expect to attract new residents and new businesses when we have a pattern of not supporting either, and the people that have established that pattern continue to be re-elected? We took a step forward voting out Richardson, although I am not sure her replacement is going to prove to be much different. We need to continue that pattern of replacing those who are not effective and not serving the needs of our community well. A vote against them does not mean they are not good people, not good neighbors, or that you don’t like them. A vote against them simply says I am not convinced that your ideas on how to move this town forward are the right ones, and I want to give someone else, with different ideas, a chance to see what they can do. I think there is sufficient reason to question the judgment of all the selectmen given what has been going on in this town for the last 5 years. It is time to see if the problem is the issues we are facing, or the people handling how we deal with those issues. I am a democrat, but I think in these terrible economic times, the ways of a conservative republican could serve us well here in Framingham for the next few years. Democrats don’t want to make the tough decisions because it will hurt them in the next round of elections, even though they know those tough decisions are the right ones. So lets elect the people who will make them now. We can make other decisions on who to elect in the next round of selectmen elections.
No one is talking about the school committee race here, and that is the most important. If we let our schools fail, our home values will drop and no one will want to live in this town unless they are young renters with no kids, or elderly retirees with no kids. Is that what you want the demographics for our town to be?
I come here whenever there is some big issue going on in town, like an election, and I am never disappointed, you always have something here to address the current issue. I would like to know more about your take on the candidates for both School Committee and Selectmen. Not that I always agree with you, but I do value the insight you put out there.
The 2 up for re-election for Selectman are the ones who were in power during the SMOC debacle, and Stamps tragedy, General Chemicals repeated mistakes, the union contracts now in existence, hiring the now fired Town Manager, and the decline of our schools. If you think that is a resume for a job well done, vote for them again. If not, you have other options, use them.
I'm not suggesting not voting... and for me, Silverman is the only likely candidate to upset the incumbents. But there are so many anti-schooler's in this Town, I wonder if he can get enough school parents to come out tomorrow.
I would move out of Town if Rizoli got elected and would be very surprised if Sanchez got over 500 votes.
One sad part to this years election is that the Chairman of the Town Democratic Committee, Tom Mahoney, didn't get his name off the ballot, since he announced he wouldn't be a contender. And I'll bet there's a few hundred informational challenged D's that will vote for him anyway.
It surely would be something if Mahoney bested either of the incumbents and didn't take the seat.
But who among us think anything will change, no matter who gets elected. The ruling party will continue to rule with little regard to reality. They will still give raises, negotiate bad deals on health care and cater to those who support them.
We may have to wait until things get worse... before the middle stands up and says no more, demand fairness and puts forward candidates that represent more of what local government should be, representing all the people.
If you are not supporting not voting, then what exactly are you saying? Sounds like you say our votes are just futile because the dems are going to win no matter what. Sounds like a pretty defeatist attitude to me.
I'm in the camp for level funding our schools. While at the same time, I do still think that there are some savings in the school budget. The busing contract, school choice and I'll bet, a half million could be wrung out of the school budget. I believe if the School department and SC made the voters believe they've done everything possible to save, then voters would be more inclined to level fund.
The challengers deserve a shot, Hakar especially. Boles may not be the brightest bulb on the tree but he has certainly been on top of the busing contract. Connley seems to have her head and heart into this and deserves a shot also. If we had more people asking questions and demanding answers, perhaps things would be different. If more were not willing to bow to the unions, perhaps things would be different. Would they be better? I like to think so.
As I've written in the past, location, schools and affordability are the reasons anyone want to move here... homeowners or businesses.
There's 5 million in overtime between police and fire that should stop. A million or so in unused or under utilized property that could be sold off. And there's a million or two that might be saved if we would stop putting money in lawyers pockets and insurance premiums for mistakes this Town makes and pays for in the end.
There will be a large increase in tax income next year with a few church sites being turned into housing and if we can't come up with 5 million by August, the jewel on N Framingham, Eastligh farms could bring in lots of new revenue.... not that I suggest that by any means, but this Town will not be in the position to buy that land anytime soon. unlike Ashland just did.
Lastly, the deal that is being proposed for insurance should be soundly rejected until the unions agree to 70-30. There's millions in the next few years that this Town would save.
Town meeting starts soon. I think the TMMs should vote to overthrow the Selectmen and get rid of all of them!
We are not defeated... just ignored. We ask questions... and get no answers. We are aware.. or we try to be... they hide like rats. We deal with unemployment, foreclosure, and homelessness... they get raises and better health insurance than anyone in the State. We want peace... they want to fight with everyone.
Party loyalist control this town, and that is how we got into this position people. Remember that when you vote tomorrow.
If the town is run by the voters who vote for the people that run the town, then when you say “they” Jim, aren’t you ultimately talking about you and I, and the rest of the residents of this town, the ones that are loyalist and vote for the dems, the ones that are not and vote for the opposition, and the majority of the people in this town who are apathetic and don’t even bother to vote?
good point Michael..
if the 30k resgistered voters who don't vote tomorrow... had to, or even had a reason to....the outcome would be different.
I did not realize you even still had this blog. Thought you gave it up after the election last November. Glad to see it is still here. Why aren’t you on the ballot tomorrow?
I fear that the extremist will be out in droves tomorrow voting for the one nutcase who would be even worse as a selectman than the existing ones. They are the ones that have the motivation to vote. So we don’t vote at all, or vote for only 1 candidate and leave the other choice blank, and that nutcase wins through default. If for no other reason than to prevent that from happening I hope lots of people make it to the polls tomorrow. Although that 1 nut has many ideas that are valid, he knows nothing about anything else and could do so much harm to this town because of his ignorance. Although I got to say I would pay money to see him go head to head with Esty.
You want to change the attitiude in this town vote for Jim Rizoli and he will clean up the down town and get the people bleeding us dry out of town.
This town is going to hell in a handbasket as my mother use to say. Voting the incumbents in tomorrow is just greasing the track for the drive. The alternatives are not good but they are better than the incumbents. If you have happy with Framingham, keep who we have and if you are not vote for someone else. For the love of god, just make sure you vote and not skip it or show up and leave the choices blank. I could never figure out the value in going to the polls and not exercising your rights by actually putting an X next to a candidates name.
Adam,
I've learned my lesson in this Town. It may take generations or perhaps even bankruptcy before an Independent is ever elected. The middle of the road voter has just stopped paying attention.
If there are any Pr 6 readers who are voting today, I'm asking you to consider writing in Nicholas Paganella. He has been a TMM for many years and for some reason didn't get his name on the ballot. An active veteran with a record of supporting veteran issues in this Town.
Get ready for more of the same.... all the incumbents won with 13% of the registered voters (4500) showing up.
Does it surprise anyone?
I fear the lack of attention the citizens of Framingham are paying to the issues facing this town. A mere 13% of registered voters turn out in a year where so very many issues that are going to impact all of us are in play. To those of you who could not be bothered getting to the polls yesterday, don’t bother complaining about the state of things in Framingham. When you had the chance to do something about it, you didn’t. Your lack of interest means you don’t get to complain.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home