Subject:  It’d be a crying shame if most of these races go uncontested in ‘09 Town Election |
Author:
Nostradamus
[Edit]
|
Date Posted: 17:51 01/01/09 Thu
I could probably write a novel on the majority of these incumbents vying for reelection this May, but I’ll hold off and wait to see if they’ll have any challengers opposing them. If not, why bother?
Office — Term in Years — Incumbent
Town Moderator — 1 year — Gary W. McCarthy
Library Trustee — 3 years — Mary Lee Matthews
“ ” “ ” — “ ” — John Dyer
Greater-Lowell Technical (Voke) School Committee — 3 years — Dennis “D.J.” Deeb
Dracut Housing Authority Commissioner — 5 years — Robert Audet
School Committee — 3 years — Ronald Mercier
“ ” “ “ — “ ” — Nancy Gagnon
Selectman — 3 years — Joseph DiRocco
Water Commissioner — 3 years — William “Zee” Zielinski
Water Moderator — 3 years — Donna Yackel
In addition to the aforementioned, elected seats may become available on both the Voke School Committee, and the Dracut School Committee if Brian and Mary Gail Martin sell their Collinsville home within the next couple of months, move out of town, and are then forced to resign from their elected positions.
You may want to contact the Town Clerk’s office or check the Official Town Website to find out when nomination papers become available but historically, the campaign season usually starts about the beginning of February with the return of nomination papers which require the proper number of bonafide signatures from registered voters due back at the Town Clerk’s office around the middle of March.
Reverting back to the past might be best strategy for visibility
For those who regularly log onto and read, Dracut After Dark, do you remember these two blurbs from a couple months ago?
Local blogger proves Lowell Sun’s circulation “DROPPED” nine (9%) percent in about a year
Pathetic, lackluster WCAP lost 83% of its audience since new ownership took over last year
Now, why would anybody, in their right mind, want to spend valuable campaign money on two sewer holes like the Lowell Sun or WCAP? To kiss Warren Shaw’s fat ass? To ASS-U-ME you’re automatically going to get an editorial endorsement from the Lowell Sun a couple days before the election? Unless you happen to be an incumbent running for reelection, The Sun most likely will NOT be endorsing your campaign no matter how much you spend on advertising in their newspaper. See, the Lowell Sun loves to jump on the proverbial bandwagon and then ride that sucker to the bitter end.
But isn’t visibility all about “getting your name noticed in the public eye”? If you agree, wouldn’t political signs and bumper stickers prompt more people in town to actually notice that you’re running for public elected office than blowing your money on a couple of losing propositions like The Sun, and ‘CAP? I mean if you’ve got about $10,000 to blow, why not go down to either Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun and have some real fun losing your shirt.
I thought it was absolutely hysterical when the Lowell Sun wrote an editorial criticizing Jim Ogonowski for not purchasing a $1,000-plus ad “thanking” all his supporters for voting for him in his unsuccessful Congressional run against Niki Tsongas. Aside from the obvious fact that The Sun publicly endorsed Tsongas in that particular race, the Lowell rag is losing a ton of money every day on lost subscriptions and lost advertising. Why would anybody waste their money advertising in the Lowell Sun if hardly anybody’s reading it these days?
Another thing which may already be obsolete in local election campaigns is candidates’ debates. If you don’t believe me, just ask Matt Sheehan how that works. You got a guy who moved here from Lowell a couple years ago, never really was active in community or charitable events, runs for Dracut School Committee and just blows off the annual Candidates’ Night by just saying he had a family issue that night – and he actually winds up winning!!! Go figure on that one. Ya gotta wonder what Dracut voters knew about Sheehan – if anything at all -- before they actually voted for him, but it still begs the question, Why bother having an annual Candidates’ Night and then broadcasting it numerous times on local access TV, if nobody is watching it? Secondly, since Mr. Sheehan is such a “family guy” as he boldly proclaimed after missing the only candidates’ debate of the campaign, did he proceed to enroll on the Town employees’ health insurance coverage as was rumored he’d do after he got elected?
Putting this site on the line for approved “BINDING” ballot question
I was willing to do it for just an appearance on Warren Shaw’s radio show, but maybe if I sweeten the pot a little bit, I might get a wee bit more of a reaction to it.
If the following item goes in VERBATIM (word for word) as a published referendum ballot question for the ‘09 Town Election, and then gets approved by a majority of Dracut voters (with AT LEAST a 30 percent of registered Dracut voter turnout) on May 4th – for stipend elected officials to continue enrolling and exploiting Town insurance coverage(s) – I will promptly dissolve and terminate, Dracut After Dark, Voy.com/54926/ , sometime on Tuesday, May 5th. The EXACT WORDING to this particular ballot referendum question has to be as follows:
Should local stipend elected officials -- specifically Board of Selectmen members, School Committee members, and Town Moderator – be allowed to enroll and exploit Dracut town employees’ insurance (health, life, dental, vision, etc.) coverage(s) under the options granted in Massachusetts General Law 32b? This referendum ballot question includes, but is not limited to, an individual who may have initially enrolled for their Town insurance coverage under M.G.L. 32b, and is now considered either “retired” from elected public office, or a “surviving spouse” to someone who may have died while serving in elected public office. Furthermore, since this is a “BINDING” referendum ballot question, a “NO” vote would terminate any and all of the aforementioned relevant individuals from continuing their enrollment on any of the Town’s insurance coverage(s) immediately after this Town Election is completed.
If the majority of Dracut voters would actually support and vote “YES” to a bullBLEEP “BINDING” referendum ballot question like this, then it’s definitely time for Yours Truly to just shake off the dust and move on. Come to think of it, if the majority of Dracut voters support this referendum ballot question, Roger L. Daigle would either need a new issue to complain about, OR, simply pull the plug on, “Inside Dracut Politics”.
I would definitely insist on having AT LEAST a 30 percent registered voter turnout participating in the ‘09 Town Election on a proposal like this because I know for a fact that all the dreaded PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES will be well-represented at these polls to personally take care of their OWN SPECIAL INTERESTS. For this same reason, I would never even entertain the notion of putting something this intense in the form of a warrant article and bringing it before an annual Town Meeting. Aside from the fact that it usually can barely even make a quorum with the minimum required amount of registered voters to officially hold one of these meetings, the vast majority of people in attendance are PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES, it’s no big secret that Town Moderator Gary McCarthy and Warren Shaw are “bosom buddies” with each other, those who attempt to voice a concern at the microphone contrary to the majority’s opinion on any issue are usually publicly “ridiculed” and “heckled” with no help whatsoever from the Moderator, and, although it states in the Town Meeting bylaws that at least 10 people in the audience can request a “secret ballot vote” – the Moderator usually never honors this rule.
For the aforementioned reasons, I feel a heck of a lot more comfortable bringing this before the Town via a referendum ballot question with AT LEAST a 30 percent voter turnout on Election Day, than I would as a warrant article at an annual Town Meeting.
Since School Committee member Ron Mercier, who’s up for reelection this year, is currently one of the stipend elected officials in town exploiting this particular perk, he could probably serve as the “unofficial spokesperson” for this ballot referendum question assuming it gets approved and is published on the ballot this year. Although I would assume Mercier would just yield any comments to this subject to his next door (or former next door neighbor?), New Boston Road neighbor, Warren Shaw. Better yet, Selectman and Attorney George Malliaros, a.k.a. The Golden Greek, also exploits the Town’s health insurance under M.G.L. 32b, and he might be the most eloquent spokesperson out of that bunch to continue bilking the Town of Dracut for this particular perk.
”Good people” just don’t run for elected public office anymore
As Mr. Shaw indicated in one of his recent Dispatch columns, their whole argument is based on, if the Town of Dracut ever eliminated these “free” insurance enrollments to stipend elected officials, there wouldn’t be any “good people” running for public office anymore, it would only be limited to stupid people and crooks. Keep in mind here, Warren admitted that he first got the idea to enroll on the Dracut town employees’ health insurance coverage from convicted felon and former Town Treasurer, Jim Doukszewicz, and now, seven-plus years afterwards, Mr. Shaw decided to finally “go public” and write a column about this questionable ordeal in the Dispatch. But whatever happened to “voluntary community service”? When did serving as either a Dracut Selectman or a School Committee member automatically become someone’s “career” or “profession”? I say, let’s roll the proverbial dice via a ballot referendum question, and see what happens.
Besides that, why not take a good hard look at the financial status of some of these people we're currently supporting with "free" Town health insurance: Atty. Malliaros, Warren Shaw, Bob Cox, May Gorman Paquette, and Kathleen DiTillio. If these people aren't all millionaires, then they're pretty darn close. I think it's fairly safe to say that these five individuals are probably worth more money right now than most people reading this particular posting will ever see in a lifetime. This begs the question, why can't these rich bastards just go out and buy their own personal family health insurance privately? If this isn't a "reversed Robin Hood" scenario, then I must be the Queen of England.
So throw Mercier back in with the aforementioned bunch and you’ve got six individuals, which if the Town’s share for each of their respective family health insurance plans is approximately $14,000 per year as was reported in the Lowell Sun, that would be a collective total of about $90,000 annually. Consider this – for $90,000 per year, Dracut could hire three (3) new teachers, OR, three (3) new firefighters, OR, three (3) new cops. Instead, Dracut is just blowing that amount of money on six (6) very wealthy individuals who are either not savvy enough, or not considerate enough to go out and buy their own family health insurance.
Lastly, I think it goes without saying, if nobody has the guts to bring this proposed ballot referendum question before the Board of Selectmen for final approval prior to the actual ballot being sent to the printer for publication on or before April 1st, my proposed offer to dissolve and terminate Dracut After Dark will automatically become null and void. If this ballot referendum question doesn’t get approved and published for the ‘09 Town Election, it ain’t going to take place at all.
I will just assume that everybody in Dracut loves Dracut After Dark, and absolutely hates that limp-wrist little wimp who runs that other Internet site in town. I'll also make it a definite point to bitch and complain every 4-5 months or so, about these stipend elected officials exploiting the Town of Dracut for their own personal benefit. In addition to that, my public media appearances will automatically increase from $25,000 per appearance to $35,000 per appearance. But then again, if you honestly believe what Warren Shaw stated in his recent column relevant to this subject that, “Jack DiTillio was NOT a wealthy man” then you’d have to agree with me that $35,000 is just a mere drop in the bucket.
Happy 2009, everybody!
I can hardly wait for Dracut’s “Good ‘Ol Boy Network” to sink in their teeth and start wagging their tongues over this latest proposal of mine.
| | Replies: | |
|
Skateboard Park, & appointment of Mark Shaw to Agricultural Committee could haunt DiRocco in reelection bid
Dracut police officials now confirm lie-detectors are being used in '02 stolen drug incident
Residents invited to hear about, speak on Canney Farm park plan
