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Handmade-sign guy in dust up with Chelsea city councilor
By adamg on Wed, 08/10/2016 - 11:28am
Chelsea City Councilor Matt Frank says he's fed up with Doug Bennett signs in his city, not because they're large and green and crudely made, but because, he says, they're showing up on people's property without their permission:
When you put up signs without asking landowner permission it is called littering and trespassing. ... How many of those are not placed legally? I have come across three in Chelsea that went up sans permission
Bennett, this year running for Suffolk County register of deeds, fires back:
Don't know what ur prob is, but demographics in your ward favor Hispanic pop. I will knock u out by runnin a candidate against u
Frank retorts:
If you've managed to win a campaign this decade I'd threaten to run someone against you... but no such luck.
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Comments
MEOW
MEOW
HISS
HISS
Damn Matt! (go Matt)
Thank you Kris! I think???
Thank you Kris! I think??? haha
Doug Bennett.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_LNUZL2FRM
I always enjoyed the Doug Bennett shanannigans, but after looking at a few of his videos, I think its clear that he is somewhere on the autism spectrum and it probably isn't that fun or funny to make fun of the guy.
I've actually dealt with many people on the spectrum who have some sort of obsession with political signs, banners and politics in general. They aren't criminal, but if they go unchecked, it can get a little out of control like I think Doug is now.
I can't speak for everybody with Asperger's
But it's okay to make fun of him for having Asperger's if he has it. Don't treat him differently.
Okay to make fun of his behavior
I think that would be a better way to put it.
ooof
sweet fancy Moses.
Wow
He'd make a great city aide. But irrespective of the number of houses he has "knocked" it's scary to think of someone like that being the man in charge of critical documents like deeds. It's interesting how in the video he didn't mention the office he was running for at all, just that He's for Boston.
I'd still rather him win
than Steve Murphy. Murph has had enough voter-sponsored lunches/dinners at Ruths Chris. Let someone else feed at the trough for a while.
Vote local
Of the two registered U-hub users running for Deeds, John Keith seems to be the better choice.
Register of Deeds
How about Paul Nutting? He ran the State office of Geographic Information Systems/Data so actually has some experience in electronic access to public records. I know it's kind of a kooky idea, but maybe we ought to put someone in the position with relevant experience for the actual job at hand. And why in the name of Woton is this position elected anyways?
Sure!
John Keith and, I believe, Bennett, both have registered accounts here and have commented in the past, so I was only comparing the two. John Keith appears to have actual ideas about the roll of the office and how to improve it. I suspect that Bennett does not.
Anyone other than Doug or Murphy would be good honestly but we all know local party politics will result in Murphy facing Keith in November.
He looks nothing like I
He looks nothing like I imagined. Between his Sheriff campaign, and his heinous signs, I was picturing a doppelgänger for Boss Hog.
I am just sick of seeing his
I am just sick of seeing his signs over and over again on the same lots that he does not have permission to put them in. Then he loses and the signs fall into the property and sit there until someone (not his campaign) comes to collect them a year later. Then a new sign pops up.
It is proper campaign etiquette to ask for permission to put up signs and then ideally to take them down after unless the owner (who you got permission from) has informed you they would take care of it. In two of these cases the land is under construction of some type so I am in contact with them for other things and one of the developers asked me about the ratty sign.
In Chelsea we are used to politicians swooping in when they need votes, that is normal in most places. The difference is most campaigns respect landowners and work with locals who help make sure they do not insult anyone. Everyone knows that these locations did not give him permission to put the signs up. There is one location in the city that I know gave him permission to put it up that I know of...
Mr. Bennett takes it as an affront that people across Suffolk County get mad about his signs but they just want respect. We are not lands to be conquered by the arbitrary planting of a sign in locations that are seemingly vacant. We were all here before your campaign started and we will be here after the campaign ends.
Is it true that this candidate has been quietly endorsed
by the plywood lobby? I sincerely hope he isn't hiding behind a thin veneer of green paint to subliminally suggest himself an environmentalist. Isn't it true that post election his signs may be burned by the citizenry during the Trumpocalypse. Will he force the Registry of deeds to drop electronic filings in lieu of artisan plywood submissions?
Careful, bulgingbuick
You don't want to get on the wrong side of Big Plywood. Under that veneer, they're ruthless. Their tactics might be a little against the grain, but if you cross them, they'll grind you to woodpulp.
His plank is a little thin
For my taste.
They nail you down and
it's all over.
Some people say that, I don't
Some people say that, I don't say that but some people, some very important people, say that.
God help this
democracy!
permission to put up signs
From http://archive.boston.com/sports/specials/mcdonough/loss_of_a_legend?pg=...
As Bulger relates in his memoir, ''While The Music Lasts: My Life In Politics,'' McDonough was Bulger's first campaign manager.
It was a shoestring operation, with guile and savvy in greater supply than dollars and cents. A key element was finding residences to hang signs promoting Bulger to represent Southie's Ward 7. One night, Bulger writes, ''Coley Walsh ... breezed in after a sojourn at the Cornerstone Pub.''
Walsh told McDonough and Bulger they could nail a sign on the three-decker across the street, which he owned. The neophyte politicos instantly took him up on this. But while installing the sign, McDonough and Bulger were interrupted by an irate resident sticking his head out a window and demanding, ''What the hell do you think you're doing? You've already knocked a picture off the wall.''
Bulger explained that the building's owner had granted permission for this campaign propaganda. The man exploded, ''All Coley owns is the clothes he's wearing. I own this house, and you get away from it and take your damn sign with you.''
Chastened, Bulger and McDonough obliged. But McDonough took a different tack, so to speak.
''We're leaving,'' he told the resident, who had not seen the name on the sign, ''but I still hope you'll vote for O'Leary'' - Bulger's opponent.
''Not after you're hammering my pictures off the wall,'' the man snapped. ''Tell him I'm voting for Bulger.''
Cycle
There's a vacant lot on West 5th St in Southie that has progressed like this, in the span of a month or so:
Handmade Doug Bennett signs
Professionally-made Steve Murphy signs
Empty
Handmade Doug Bennett signs
Doug Bennett Haiku
Bennett is a clown
His green signs are so ugly
He will never win
Doug Bennet Limerick
There was a Mass pol name of Bennett
Who was running for something - maybe Senate?
His signs were all green
And everywhere seen
Doesn't matter, he never will win it.
He knocked on my door in the past
I forget what he was running for, maybe Boston City Council?
He doesn't seem to be all there in my opinion.
Today I Learned
I'm blocked from seeing Doug's tweets. Who knew?
I'm wearing that as a badge of honor.
Electronic Plywood?
Who knew?
A vote for Bennett is a vote for bad grammar and poor word usage
This tweet is 104 characters
This potential tweet is a little better and only 138 characters
I'm going to leave this here without comment
Telling tweets
Yeah, these are not the tweets of a person who will be a glorified clerk, handling important deed information.
*you're
*you're
Yes Mike, I know
Bennett's tweet is "your welcome." Don't look at me, he's the guy with the bad grammar.
Hispanic Pop
A couple of years ago (when
A couple of years ago (when he was running for sheriff?) I got fed up looking at these green signs all over Dorchester. On a Sunday morning, my wife and I took her little car and drove around the neighborhood picking up as many signs as we could from neglected properties. After a couple of hours of hard work, we filled up the back of the car, and strapped the largest ones to unsafe height on the car's roof. I kept the nicest board for scrap plywood (still have a few of them in my basement) and put the rest to the curb on trash day. To our dismay, a couple of weeks later most of the signs had reappeared in the same places! Doug, I surrender; this is the one political battle you've won. Since then I only periodically remove the signs within a block from my house.
I've seen the factory where these signs are made
It's Mr Bennett's driveway