Left In Lowell

And once again, not in the way he’d like. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone.

Oh ye of the Perfectly-Quaffed Hair, why doth you spin your lies so?

It’s starting to become clear, going into the last (holiday) stretch of the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, that frontrunners aren’t really frontrunners and the race is still a race. Iowa polls have Obama with a slim lead, Edwards (who’s concentrated on Iowa especially, a method that worked for Kerry in ‘04, turning around his campaign) and Clinton right behind. For Republicans, it’s all over the map, but the latest is that Huckabee has some lead in Iowa (31%) to Romney’s 25%, Thompson’s 16%, McCain’s 8%, and Giuliani’s 6%. If there were going to be a surge for McCain in Iowa, I don’t know how far it can really go with those numbers.

However, in NH, the newest poll numbers are different; Romney has 34% but McCain has 27%, well within a realm of possibility. Clinton and Obama tie at 32%, and Edwards at 18%. A lot in NH might depend on Iowa, though often, the two states pick different. In South Carolina, Obama seems to be catching up with Clinton.

Here’s how I view the Democratic horserace. First, if there were only two top-tier candidates, Clinton and someone else, Clinton would be crushed. I suspect a lot of Edwards supporters would be anti-Clinton, as would a lot of Obama’s. They poll, together, often just under double Clinton’s support. A long time ago a friend said that this race would be determined by how many “anti-Clinton” candidates there were. If there were more than one, he argued, Clinton had a good shot. Even still, Clinton’s aura of “inevitability” has been busted (I never thought she was), and even with two top opponents vying for anti-Hillary votes, she still stands a good chance of losing.

To me, Clinton represents the neo-liberal, establishment, spineless wing of the Democratic party. These lifeless pols broke their teeth under the Republican waves of the 80s and 90s, and thought adopting Republican-lite positions would save them. They are the DLC hangers-on of a now bygone era, one I would like to kiss goodbye. If you’re going to be an opposition party, be an opposition party. Capitulation before you even get to the debate is the stupidest form of political suicide. Neoliberals lost the solid Dem, populist voters and activists, and they never really gained the right-of-center Republican or Repub-leaning independent. I don’t know why we haven’t stopped trying (and that means you too, Rep. Tsongas).

My feelings are shared with a large segment of not only Dems, but moderates. Moderate liberals carry a lot of the same values as the left does - they are tired of being screwed by their HMO, want less media consolidation, better and smarter corporate regulation, and are sick to death of the war mongering fear tactics used by both sides. Clinton’s vote for the Iraq war, for funding it ever since, and even worse, for calling the Iranian Republican Guard “terrorists,” shows either a complete a lack of understanding, or else a spineless pander to that elusive (call it nonexistent) Conservative Democrat.

For me, some of the shine has been taken off of Barak Obama, but I still see a combination of pragmatism and idealism that sparkled in his famous DNC speech. However, he’s a bit green. Not as an elected official - people with less experience got into the White House (*coughfakeGovernorBushcough*) but as a campaigner. He’s been tone deaf once too many times for my liking, appearing to pander to the right-wing forces (who will NEVER vote for him anyway) on gay rights and other issues instead of standing up for what is right. I’m not sure what he really believes (in regards to gay rights) which is a problem itself, but he should never have retained the services and support of ex-gay performer McClurkin, and when it became a problem for the very people who might actually vote for Obama and liberalism, he should have canned McClurkin quick. Obama ends up looking like someone who wants to appear to be progressive on gay rights while still courting the rabid anti-gay voter - aka pandering, one way or the other.

Edwards on the other hand has turned populist, and I’m not sure what to make of it. It certainly hits all the right notes about trade, health care, and all the rest. But I’ve yet to determine how genuine it all is. I’ve met and listened to Elizabeth Edwards and she was very convincing (and exceptionally smart and articulate, the best surrogate campaigner John Edwards could possibly hope for). The biggest complaint you see about Edwards is that his candidacy lacks a blueprint for his desire to change business as usual. That even if he believes in his fervor for the little guy (and I’m not saying he doesn’t), people are wondering if he has the ability to “make it so.”

And then there’s longshot Chris Dodd. I think my heart goes with Dodd. The man showed real leadership and passion when he threatened his filibuster on his own party in regards to giving retroactive immunity (previously defeated by the House and Judicial committees) to telco companies who probably gave the Bush admin illegal access to citizens’ data without subpoena. He point-blank said in a debate that he would withdraw from Iraq within five years - something the frontrunners hemmed and hawed about. He filibustered the USA PATRIOT Act renewal and fought the Alito nomination.

So here is the Progressive’s Dilemma: you don’t want Clinton under any circumstance. Obama or Edwards isn’t a terrible choice, but each has their bugaboos. You see Dodd polling negligible, but even though he needs every bit of time in Iowa or NH, he’s gone back to his current job to take leadership roles the others are failing to do, a most admirable trait. However, the race may not be sown up by anyone after NH this year, and it might actually matter who you choose!

Dodd as the longshot (a really, really long shot) is no more than a protest vote. Handing Massachusetts to Clinton because we all split our votes is just anathema, but in a primary, I like to vote for whom my conscience most desires. Obama appears to be the best anti-Clinton candidate, but I like Edwards probably a smidgen more (at least for the campaign he’s run, which is better than Obama’s). So, as a voter and activist, I remain undecided. And watch the race with increasing interest now that we’re nearing the time for results. Unfortunately, the primaries have come so early, and the races started so far before the primary, too much has happened, making it harder to see any one candidate as an unblemished choice.

So, what say you all? Are you a decided voter yet? Remember, Massachusetts has joined Super-Duper Tuesday, February 5th!

As regards to the Republican race, I have a lot to say about it as well, but I’ll leave that for another time.

The Lowell Sun’s web site is reporting that Lowell School Superintendent Karla Brooks Baehr is one of three finalists for the state education commissioner; as expected. What wasn’t expected is that she is the only one from Massachusetts; the other two individuals on the list are from out of state.

So out of all the Massachusetts’ School Superintendent and Educational officials who applied for the job, she was the only one who made the cut. And yet, we have individuals in this City who did not want to renew her contract. Go figure!

The final interview will be held in public on January 7th. I am sure there will be a delegation from Lowell there to show their support.

Today’s Sun has the last 2007 edition of Bob Katzen’s Beacon Hill Roll Call. Since there were no roll-call votes last week in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Katzen uses this occasion to report on “local representatives’ final roll-call attendance records for the 2007 session.” There were 243 votes recorded this past year.

Rep. Tom Golden missed 15 votes, 93.8% attendance (good)
Rep. David Nangle missed 2 votes, 99.1% attendance (very good)
Rep. Kevin Murphy missed 0 votes, 100% attendance (excellent)

As for the neighboring towns’ reps, Rep. Barry Finegold only missed one vote, not bad for a guy who was running for Congress. As for the other two reps who ran against him, Jim Miceli missed 3 votes and Jamie Eldridge missed 12 votes.

Overall our local reps’ attendance was pretty good. Katzen reports that Rep. Thomas Kennedy of Brockton leads the pack with the worst attendance record, missing 46 roll calls. But right behind him is a Boston rep, Michael Rush, who missed 43 roll calls. I do not know if he had medical issues or the commute from West Roxbury to Beacon Hill was difficult.

Two weeks ago, for some unknown reason (none good that I can think of), School Commiteeperson Regina Faticanti pulled a rules maneuver to postpone even talking about starting to put together a process for hiring a replacement for Dr. Karla Brooks Baehr.

So, tomorrow night’s School Committee meeting will take up the issue again. It would behoove any parent, teacher, and interested citizen of Lowell to get to the meeting and make their voices heard. There are elements of the old and new SC who seem hell bent on politicizing this hiring process - when ultimately, the “best and brightest” applicant should be sought, and it is in the interests of our children and their future to have chorus of voices involved from all walks of life in Lowell to make this process fair and seek the greatest possible result (for the kids, not for Regina).

The meeting is tomorrow night at 7pm at the City Council chambers of City Hall. Or, if you can’t make it, watch it live on Channel 22 Channel 10 (cable) at 7pm.

Something really amiss is going on over at the Coalition for a Better Acre, this time, in regards to recent eviction notices delivered to some tenants that have seem to suggest some are in arrears going back to 2004, whereas many of those tenants have had no previous notice of such. CBA Members for Justice is hosting a rally today at 5pm to ask for a halt to the eviction process until the issue of fairness can be resolved. The press release from CBAMJ has more:

Outraged Lowell residents and CBA Members for Justice will rally on December 18 against threatened evictions of at least 80 low-income households from properties developed or owned by the Coalition for a Better Acre (CBA). The rally will start at 5:00 and take place outside the meeting of the North Canal Housing Trust, 517 Moody Street in Lowell.

“Dozens of North Canal tenants have been coming through my office day after day with these warning letters” explains Paulette Turner, Consultant to the North Canal Tenant Council and former staff of CBA’s property management company Maloney Properties. “In some cases this is the first notice they’re receiving of money they’ve supposedly owed since 2004. Then they get sent to court to sign an agreement they might not understand and can’t afford, and once they break that agreement, they’re out on the street.”

This flood of warning notices extends beyond the CBA-developed North Canal complex, to other CBA properties on Merrimack Street and the Acre Triangle. In some cases the notices are just wrong, like one demanding $1350 from a North Canal resident - when the woman sat down with Turner to review her records, it turned out that she was actually owed a $40 credit instead. In other cases, the debt may exist, but tenants have received no prior warnings, counseling, or education about options for addressing the problem and staying in their homes.

In response to the crisis, the North Canal Tenant Council has hosted two educational meetings where tenants raised other issues. For example, constables were taping notices to the outside of people’s doors, where they are accessible to passersby. They talked about suddenly receiving first-time notification for money they have supposedly owed for years, which then turns out to be an error. Maria Claudio, a long-time North Canal resident, says “This whole process is illegal and not in compliance with HUD regulations. I have been personally affected by the situation.”

“It’s distressing that CBA, an organization that formed to fight for justice and housing for the poor of Lowell, is now acting as a landlord that will evict people with no due process,” adds Darcie Boyer, Acre resident and former CBA organizer. “We’re seeing CBA’s dramatic change from social justice organization to one led by the interests of bankers and developers.”

The rally will demand an immediate halt to the eviction process. “CBA needs to require its property manager to sit down with the tenants and design a new process that is fair and clear to all,” adds Turner. The North Canal Housing Trust, a joint body of the North Canal Tenants Council and the CBA Board of Directors, sets policy for North Canal Apartments.

It has been almost a month that WCAP radio has changed ownership. As I had mentioned in the November 11, 2007 post, the new WCAP so far has only impacted the morning show and its primary host, George Anthes.

The comments I made a few weeks after that post, “I miss the ‘guest-hosts” but now I realize what I miss most; the discussion on Lowell politics.

The three hosts of the morning show are quite professional, pleasant and have an appealing radio voice. Even though they are three people in the studio plus the newscaster, there is a good balance in the discussion, Dean Johnson, one of the co-hosts, is using his industry-wide connections to attract interesting interviees.

However, the Merrimack Magazine, has it is called is too “light” for my taste. I know it is a “work in progress” and it only has been a month that they have started but they need to make some adjustments.

For example, they interviewed both City Manager Bernie Lynch and State Senator Steve Panagiatakos; but they interviewed them via phone. No, get them in the studio. That is how it was in the past and I am sure they and others will show up. Second, ask them difficult questions.

I would love for them to hire a reporter, not merely have someone read the news or someone who is affiliated with the press media. A full time, independent of the local printed media, political reporter would greatly benefit the communities the radio station serves.

Also, the morning program resembles the morning WUML program. One of them has to change its identity and become the one to provide hard political news and analysis. I would like WUML to be the one; I think their morning host, Bob Ellis has the experience and knowledge.

WCAP is definitely working on becoming a regional media outlet. But I wonder if the Merrimack Valley is merely a geographic and economical entity and not a social, cultural and political one.

If you want to read more about the new ‘CAP and its new owners, Sam Poulten and Clark Smidt, here is the link to an article in the Valley Patriot, which outlines some of these plans.

The article was written by Tommy Duggan, who owns the Valley Patriot and is the host of WCAP’s Paying Attention program (noon on Saturdays). I listen to it on occasion because Dick Howe, Jrs. Is a frequent guest. If you have not listen to Duggan, please do so. The guy is a hoot.

There has not been any major changes with the on-air personalities of the other programs, yet. As for the new evening program, I think George Anthes has moved into his new slot quite well; I just do not know how many of his loyal listeners have followed him.

The WCAP web page is currently under construction but a good site will go a long way to bring new listeners to the locally owned radio station.

This morning’s Globe in an article about the horrible traffic conditions in Boston. Driving home last night through Lowell, I did not experience any of those frustrations. Granted it took me much longer than usual, but that was caused by the large number of cars on the road compounded by quite a few people who were not prepared to drive in a snowstorm.

Most of the cars were removed from the main streets downtown in response to the no-parking ban; the streets were plowed or being plowed; and when needed, there were policemen directed/controlling traffic situations.

I will never understand why someone drives in a New England snow storm in a car that neither has front wheel, all-wheel or snow tires. You are bound to slip and slide. And if you are going up a road like the ones around Lord Overpass, well guess what, you won’t make up the hill. I hope the owners of those two cars that caused that major traffic jam at Lord Overpass will stay off the road this weekend.

And for those dozens or so people pushing the cars up the hill so that traffic could move again; you are unsung heroes.

Last night was the last City Council meeting of this term (1996-1997). In addition to the standard ceremonial speeches at the conclusion of the meeting, there were other issues of interest and importance.

The meeting began with a presentation by Tom Parrish, Executive Director of the Merrimack Repertory Theater. I thought it was a nice tough. The MRT does receive a grant from the City and it was respectful of their Executive Director to give the City Council an update of their activities as well as to report on the cultural and economic contributions this professional theater group brings to Lowell. Their 2007 Annual Report is available on their website.

If you have not already done so, you have one more chance to put your leaves out. They are picking up leaves this week on your normal trash day. Last week got messed up with the ice/snow/rain.

The City and the Superior Officers’ union have reached an agreement on their new contract which will run from June 2007 – June 2010. The most innovative aspect of the contract is an incentive for the officers to stay healthy and be in shape. I know most private sector companies are now utilizing this mechanism to control their healthcare costs. I am glad the City has decided to introduce this into the bargaining process. (more…)

Like I said, this race, whoever wins the Republican nomination, it’s gonna be fun!

I almost literally choked when I saw this ad this morning. Apparently Rudy “Taxfunded Philanderer” Giuliani completely forget the huge scandal that broke over the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages capitulation that Reagan perpetrated on the American people, all for the sake of making his incumbent opponent look bad so the “Gipper” could win an election.

Oh yeah, Reagan was tough on terra-ists all right. Giving them everything they wanted in exchange for their cessation of specific terror tactics. If it weren’t for Reagan, we might have nipped the whole terrorism thing in the bud. (Bin Laden was CIA-funded in the 80’s, don’t forget.) Oh, Rudy!