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Wait a minute - aren't elections a good thing?
By adamg on Tue, 07/03/2007 - 12:27pm
Gosh, isn't it just so absurd that Boston has to hold a preliminary election to eliminate just one candidate from the at-large city council race - at a cost of $500,000? Why can't that lamer college student just drop out?
No and no. Suck it, whiners. You don't like democracy? Move to North Korea.
Sure, $500,000 for one election seems like a lot of money, but:
That amount represents about 2/10ths of 1 percent of the Boston municipal budget (now around $2 billion).
You think that college student doesn't belong on the ballot? You go try collecting 500 signatures (just ask Dianne Wilkerson). Nice message to send young people - and everybody who cares about democracy: Only the rich and politically connected deserve to even run for elected office.
And why should he drop out, anyway? Why not Steve "I'm bored on the council but can't get elected dog catcher" Murphy?
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Comments
Thank You, Adam!
It amazes me... Well, no, it doesn't amaze me.
It sickens me when those in positions of power (whether political or otherwise) whine about keeping the rules they set up as barriers to that power, which is exactly what is happening here.
An arbitrary limit to the ballot was set up. In my opinion, the ballot should be even more open. Be that as it may, all of these candidates met the requirements. And now some folks are bitching and moaning that they should drop out? None of those candidates should drop out.
They complainers should drop dead.
And I really, truly hope that everybody who takes part in this forum (and who can vote in Boston) will cast a vote for the kid. It would be terribly sweet to see one of the "upper echelon" candidates get knocked off and then have to explain to the press about how democracy was to blame for his/her downfall.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Well, I'm not sure exhorting
Well, I'm not sure exhorting people to vote for some undergrad socialist is quite the answer, but obviously this fuss is unsupportable on its face. The sensible solution is to allow all of them on the November ballot, not to ask any one to drop out. If that can't be done, tough luck. This is precisely why we hold primary elections, so what's the problem? These candidates met the rules laid out for them. End of story. Make adjustments for next time and stop whining now.
On the other hand ....
perhaps it would make more sense just to put all nine names on the final ballot, and not have a preliminary at all?
Perhaps, but ...
That would probably take an act of the legislature, since this whole preliminary election thing seems to be a state requirement.
Um, that makes too much sense....
Remember - this is Boston after all.
Best Part:
"In the past, candidates running for an at-large seat on the council had to gather 1,500 signatures, but the council lowered the threshold to 500 in the early 1990s, in part to accommodate Albert "Dapper" O'Neil, who notoriously struggled to get his signatures for each election."
HA! What a bunch of jerks.
Hah!
Karma's a bitch, etc.
In Somerville ...
we are going to have an all-write-in election for School Committee in Ward 4, because neither the incumbent nor anyone else returned sufficient signatures by the deadline. (You only need 100.)
Elected school committee?
Now there's a novel idea :-).
tangential comment...
I used to think the same thing about Stephen Murphy... that he'd pretty much just run for anything to get elected to *something*... but once I got more involved in local politics and met him and the people connected him and became more familiar with the guy... I truly think that he's absolutely committed to making "things" (as vague as that sounds) better.