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Campaign roundup: Clown wars

Tossed pumpkin

Pat Payaso, the clown running for one of the four at-large city council seats, reports somebody threw a pumpkin at his house tonight. "Scared our tenants," he says.

The tossed pumpkin comes after the Dig posts a complaint about Payaso by Roxbury activist Jamahrl Crawford:

When Payaso shows up to forums in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan in particular, how can he properly address a mother who has lost her son to gun violence? Or at the hands of the police? Can he hold a serious conversation in clown gear? Would Payaso show up to a funeral dressed as a clown? Would he sit in City Council sessions, or meet with the police commissioner and district attorney while advocating for people, dressed in face paint?

Yes, the two have tangled before.

Appended to Crawford's piece is an apology by Dig editor Chris Faraone about the videoed interviews of city-council candidates the Dig helped publicize, but which Payaso conducted when he was still going by Kevin McCrea. Faraone writes McCrea never told him he was Payaso and he offers an apology "to any candidates who were offended by our apparent collusion with the Payaso campaign. We assure you there was none."

Meanwhile, on the mayoral front, the NAACP finds Marty Walsh has fallen short on the promises he made to minority communities four years ago. The Globe endorses him for re-election.

Don't forget the debate between Walsh and Tito Jackson on WGBH at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Not that many people can fit in their studio, so you can listen to it on 89.7 FM or watch it on Channel 2 or wgbhnews.org.

The Ward 3 Democrats hold a forum for any mayoral and at-large candidates who want to try to convince North Enders to vote for them at the Nazzaro Community Center, 30 North Bennett St., on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Alternatives for Community and Environment, Neighbors for Neighbors, and Reclaim Roxbury will be partnering together to host a District 7 City Council Forum with Kim Janey and Rufus Faulk on Friday at 6pm at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury Crossing.

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Comments

So, before the candidates debate in Roxbury I had never met Mr. Crawford. After the debate, Mr. Crawford made many attempts to contact me via UHub, Facebook, calling my office, etc. insisting that I HAD to talk to him. It turns out we have a number of mutual acquaintances such as Shirley Kressel and Adam Friedman who is involved in the ranked choices voting state ballot issue. Adam even called me up and implored me to talk to Mr. Crawford because he is a good guy with a lot of progressive ideas. Against my better judgment I spoke to Mr. Crawford for almost an hour a week ago Saturday. Mr. Crawford let me know many, many things such as how much smarter he is than me, that I was fat and ugly!, that I should hire him to run my campaign, that I should get an elephant to ride around on, and that he would provide me with a ward and parcel number map for which districts I was allowed to dress like a clown in and which districts I wasn't allowed to dress like a clown in, amongst many other things. He also let me know that he knows more about me than I know about myself and that he is a 'gangster and a gentleman". I let Mr. Crawford know that I respectfully disagreed with him and told him that I would wear my clown outfit anywhere in the City that I choose. I also let him know that he probably didn't have to worry too much about me because it is highly unlikely that I will win.

Mr. Crawford has also made a formal written complaint to the City that I am not eligible to be on the ballot.

Yesterday, in a lattice of coincidence, Mr. Crawford and I ran into each other at a stoplight and he asked me to pull over so he could talk to me. He proceeded to tell me again how tough he is because of his time in prison, in a thinly veiled threat showed me the knife he carries with him at all times in his pants, how he doesn't pay taxes because he was or had been a drug dealer who is part of the underground economy, how his time is much more valuable than mine and when I suggested that I didn't want to waste any more of his valuable time and offered my handshake he proceeded to show me how he could quickly break my wrist if he so chose. He also continued to poke and prod me after I asked him repeatedly to stop touching me. I told him I would still continue to campaign anywhere in the City that I choose dressed as a clown and he let me know that he would do what he had to do.

He was kind enough to let me know that he is likely going to vote for Michelle Wu, Ayanna, Annisa and Domingos. He didn't say when he was going to come out with a formal endorsement.

As to Mr. Faraone who I have talked to on an occasional basis he told me that Carlos Henriquez was going to be the big District 7 winner when I kept telling him it was going to be Kim Janey. The last time I spoke to him he said he was going to put me up for an award because of the fantastic work I did doing real journalism and inviting every candidate in the city running for city council or mayor to come and speak about their vision for the public schools. You can see all 29 of those videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRbFtwg9ZaHi0A1kqmQundg

A lot more journalism than the Globe or the Herald did about the election this year.

In case anyone happens to be concerned with the issues. :)

Lo siento, mi español no es muy bueno !!!

Hasn't it all been fun, pontificating about where we stand on dress codes and make up? Or are people seriously unhappy that we haven't been discussing the issues more? What are the issues again? And where do the incumbents stand on them?

As the Boston Globe notes in today's paper, I'm in 7th place, there isn't much to fear from my campaign. http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/10/22/walsh-dominates-jack...

What's with all the animus about how I dress?

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It looks like a gimmick. A gimmick based on the bizarre election of the nation's biggest clown. Were your thoughts something like "If that assclown can get elected President, maybe if I dress up as a clown, I can get elected, too"?

Plus, it definitely does trivialize everything about every event you wear it to. Is that your point, that the City Council is meaningless?

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So you can vote for the status quo or vote for a guy whose biggest sin is dressing like a clown and pointing out what a joke the status quo is but has some good ideas about how to change things.

That's what it's really about. If you're happy w the way things work in this town, make like Jamahrl. Or dump the incumbents.

PS - next time you think the city needs money for "x", go check out how the council voted on Winthrop Square, Liberty Mutual, 1 Beacon, .state street and many many more of the hundreds of millions our council has given away to rich developers. You'll quickly realize who the real clowns are.

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Yes, it's a gimmick. One which is working. People are talking about him and his idea a lot more then they otherwise would. He has some of the best policy ideas of the bunch and if this is what it takes to get noticed, so be it.

It's amazing how many people feel threatened by him. It's like an extreme version of people who won't consider woman candidates because they don't like their attire and completely ignore what they say.

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Yes, it's working so well that the new Suffolk/Globe poll today has Payaso/McCrea clocking in at a whopping 2% with voters. Carry on.

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The Globe's strategy,, not Payasos.

By my count there have been half a dozen or fewer articles on the Mayor's race and zero or one on the city council race. You can't advertise and door knock your way to victory. Challengers need press to win, but the Globe is owned by people who are strongly benefited by the status quo and potentially severely damaged by any new sheriff in town. The easiest way to make sure the status quo is maintained is to ignore the race entirely.

Let's face it, the Globe niw serves its news with a heavy dose of bias. I'm no fan of Trump, but the Globe headlines make CNN look like a right wing tool.

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If it wasn't for his clown outfit he'd be a 0%. People are talking/writing about him more then the other candidates. It isn't easy to get noticed if you're not already an incumbent (and sometimes even if you are) in this town.

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McCrea is a multi-millionaire. He could plaster the airwaves with ads. He could pay people to canvass for him. There's many things he could do. This is not an individual who doesn't have the means to get his message out so a clown suit is the only option.

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Am I the only one who sees the irony in that last sentence?

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n/t

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Makes a big deal of his outsider presentation but his ideas are not worthy of all the fuss he thinks he's generating. Not different enough.

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Clownfight!

Jamahrl Crawford, how do you respond to the allegation that you are a DRUG DEALER preying on the young and hopeless?

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Payaso as expected doing what white men with privilege do distorting the truth for his own pity party. we had a discussion where both of us made sarcastic wisecracks at each other... hence the elephant, me telling him to ditch the car and go full blown with it...
the knife and my time in jail... not prison... the neighborhood i live in the murders, was part of me explaining the different realities we live in and life experiences that make other people take things more serious than you may view it...
I dont remember calling him fat, but I did make a crack that I saw his regular photo and understood the face paint more...
At the end of the day, this is ridiculous and while everyone is talking about the right to this and that I also have the right and I doth protest... my protest includes the piece in the dig and filing a complaint with elections because Payaso I do not believe resides at the Roxbury address he uses. Simple. Lets not attempt to turn it into something else.
He also neglects the fact that my daughter was in the car, who asked to record it and I said no because its no big deal. I will be happy after Nov. 7th when clown season is over.

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You are accusing him of stereotyping by applying stereotyping? Is that a gangsta thing?

Do you even know what congnitive dissonance is?

Good thing he's not a transperson - I would hate to see what would come bounding out of your mouth then.

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Bravo Jamarhl! Get that clown back in the sewer where he belongs.

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I had never heard of either of you before this city council race. So my viewpoint on this is that of an impartial outsider. I haven't seen Payaso do or say anything out of line, but you repeatedly come off as a bully and a dickhead.

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Sorry but I can't understand giving money to a candidate after he was convicted of beating a woman and expelled from the State House for that conviction.

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And you're expending a lot of effort fighting this clown.

Trust me, you are not looking good in this fight. Payaso might look foolish, but then again he's a guy who legally changed his name to "clown" and dresses like a clown while noting the foolishness of local politics. You, on the other hand, have been caught on video disrupting a candidate forum in the name of being a "community activist."

Just let it drop and leave well enough alone. Every thing you do in this battle makes you look worse and worse.

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don't stop him.

It's no clown fight without two clowns!

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So you admit to sarcastically threatening a guy with a knife?

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I would really love to see any source or evidence or any person who has in writing, audio or video ever put that out in any forum by any means. Please provide the goods sock puppet.

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Provide proof that Payaso doesn't live in Roxbury.

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The addresses of all the candidates on the ballot are a matter of public record. The clown does in fact live in Roxbury. But he's still a clown

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It’s right up there. Along with an allegation of assault.

When clowns fight the audience always wins.

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since what they really want is an audience. In this case I suspect clown collusion. Follow the funny money, as they say.

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McCrea
"Waaahhhh. No one is paying attention to me"
Payaso
"Waaahhhh.. People are paying attention to me and the don't like me".
Me
People are laughing at you, not with you. You are a clown after all.

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When Payaso shows up to forums in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan in particular, how can he properly address a mother who has lost her son to gun violence? Or at the hands of the police? Can he hold a serious conversation in clown gear? Would Payaso show up to a funeral dressed as a clown? Would he sit in City Council sessions, or meet with the police commissioner and district attorney while advocating for people, dressed in face paint?

I for one would like to hear answers from Payaso

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When you dress as a clown, you make that the issue and the ONLY issue.

You are wrong when you think that dressing as a clown helps to bring more attention to whatever other issues you do or don't stand for.

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It sounds like your conversation was less than productive, but the man still has a point. Also, the clown suit is a good idea and your positions on the issues aren't bad either. However, when you open your mouth you quickly use me as a supporter. It's a shame that when asked to justify your clown suit to folks in Roxbury you start talking about how you play basketball and then quote Dr. King. White folks really need to stop quoting Dr. King to a roomful of black and brown folks. Like they need a lecture on what Dr. King stood for?

So in summation, good stance on the issues, good idea with the clown suit (aside from the conflicts that the Blackstonian raises), but you really don't sound so good when you talk. Maybe that's why you didn't get much attention as Kevin McCrea.

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Whoever tossed the pumpkin did a bad job. A tossed pumpkin should be smashed.

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Tossing pumpkins = wants to make friends?

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Looks like a clown tossed it to me. Just sayin...

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You're making Billy Corgan sad!

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Or mellon collie.

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Always enjoy getting a lecture on propriety in politics from a KA of the Dianne Wilkerson crime family.

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