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Stephen Murphy, John Connolly: Environmentalists
By adamg on Thu, 09/03/2009 - 5:55pm
The Sierra Club endorsed the two at-large incumbents today; apparently, none of the other 13 people running in the race were green enough for the group. Also winning endorsements: incumbent district councilors Michael Ross and Mark Ciommo.
The clubs says the four "will further the work of protecting the environment, support better transportation options, reduce global warming emissions, increase recycling and help push Massachusetts forward into the new 'Green' economy."
The club also made endorsements in Cambridge, Somerville and Watertown - also almost entirely incumbents.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
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Comments
There's almost no city election in Somerville this year
Nobody's running against the Mayor. Nobody's running against 6 of the 7 incumbent ward aldermen (the Sierra Club endorsed the one incumbent who has an opponent). Five people are running for four aldermen-at-large seats - one challenger against four incumbents. Five of the seven School Committee seats (all elected by ward) are unopposed.
As a result, there will be no preliminary election anywhere in the city. Our Election Department thinks this has never happened here before.
There's got to be a better way!
I had a 5-second conversation with Sue O'Connell about this, the other night. I said I'd love to start an organization that would find people to run for office against incumbents so that every race is "competitive".
It's so frustrating to go around to my friends to say, "You should run for office," when their responses are, "Oh, I could never do it," or "I'm not smart enough," or "I don't have any money," or, "I owe back taxes ..." or, "Sorry, I'm from Cuba. Shhh."
Truth is, probably none of those reasons would keep you from winning a race in Massachusetts. (Running as an independent, on the other hand, would kill your chances.)
Sue said she wished people would run. We could put together a pack, we could raise money.
Why wouldn't at least one person in Somerville feel like taking on the Mayor, for any reason - to be a part of democracy, to express unique and interesting ideas, to get your name in the newspapers and on TV. To get people excited about living in 2009.
I seem to remember people were talking about this recently, right? The guy from 96.9 was going to have a seminar on running for office, right? And, separately (I think) Sonja Chang Diaz and some other elected officials were going to have a meeting about it (I had to skip it since I WAS running and had a prior engagement).
What do people need in order to be ready to run? Free advice? Experienced advisers? Money? Volunteers? Speech-writers? Speech trainers? We can find all that.
(P.S. Most of this you can do on your own - look at Kevin McCrea, he goes to a lot of events alone or only with his wife. He doesn't have a driver like Flaherty or a security guard force like the Mayor. He comes in by motorcycle (I think).
Come on people, get involved!
(Actually, too late for you to get involved in this fall's cycle, but maybe 2010? A gubernatorial race will be happening - how about run for lieutenant governor? Treasurer? District Attorney? Well.That's about it actually. US Congressman. Oh, actually, there's plenty of State Reps and State Senators up for re-election, then (Hi, Aaron!).
Believe those thoughts you have late at night, say around a quarter of two, the thoughts that say, hey, I'm better than that schmuck, I could run this district! I graduated cum laude from college! I started my own business! I've worked and lived in this ceity for over 23 years, I know Boston better than he does. I'm going to take him down; I've got this sewed up.
Then just go out to do it!
Stenographic machine record of public meetings of City Council
Take a look at the stenographic machine record of the last public meeting of the Boston City Council. The stenographic machine record has been at too long an arms reach from the people interested in the proceedings, transactions and debate not covered well in the all too brief Council minutes. City Councilors have got the stenographic machine record for their review.
the zak
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ha
they never do
Stegasaurs
They were always one of my favorite dinosaurs.
kinda odd they only endorsed
kinda odd they only endorsed those 2. playing it safe?