Left In Lowell

Inevitable, and long overdue. Let’s hope MN can get its full representation at the Senate now.

I haven’t had as much breathing space to post on this, but kudos on Governor Patrick for getting what he wanted - transit, pension, and ethics reform, before the allotted deadline (signing the budget bill with the sales tax increase).

When he started playing hardball with the lege this year, I heard a lot of, frankly, whining from some corners of the legislature (also genuine concern from other corners). The hack wing fled to the newspapers and cried on reporters’ shoulders about how Patrick wasn’t working with them, that they do all the real hard work.

Well, previous to the hardball moves by the Governor this spring, ethics reform appeared stalled and actually weakened the State Ethics Commission, transit reform looked like it wasn’t going to have all the elements of pulling together the “quasi-independent” failure agencies back under the executive branch so they could be held accountable, and pension reform was slated to not apply to current employees.

Subsequent to the backbone Patrick showed after all that occurred, despite the screaming from the hack wing of the legislative branch, we got bills that were a lot stronger and more meaningful. Now, Patrick has signed the budget, having accomplished three important things in his agenda, which many people pronounced dead.

Sure, the bills are only a start. We need more transit funding, so we can get rid of the Big Dig debt and increase public transit services. We need further reform of the pension system and how it is funded. And ethics will always be on the agenda - we also need to enforce those laws that are already on the books. However, anyone who says Patrick is a do-nothing governor or that state government isn’t balanced because it’s all Democrats needs to reexamine the evidence.

On another note, I still also endorse a future gas tax hike. For all the reasons I’ve argued since this debate began. The first argument is that this is NOT a tax that goes up with inflation, unlike a percent tax, and therefore has lost a lot of value. The gas tax, had it been indexed to inflation since its last increase, would be about $.30 higher, from what I’m given to understand. So I am sick of people whining it’s a tax increase. It’s not. It’s catching up to what we should have been paying for a couple of decades.

Not to mention, like cigarettes, we need to get the hell off this oil addiction before it’s too late. Do you like our wet, cold spring and early summers? You might have to get used to them. This has been our weather pattern, building for years. I noticed it back the year or two before the big flood. It’s happened pretty much every year since. It’s certainly not normal, and it’s looking less and less “cyclical” as time wears on.

Tax the hell out of oil. Use the money to build transit and green, renewable energy infrastructure. Our children and grandchildren will thank us for our sacrifice.

This morning while doing my bi-weekly sting on WCAP, we touched upon the upcoming City Council race. Ted , Jack and I were discussing the branding of the challengers as “unknowns.” We all agreed that was not the case.

I am concerned that some may try to minimize the potential of challengers. I am concerned that some in the entrenched, political establishment may utilize this tactic of spreading misinformation to bolster the chances of the incumbents.

I would like to see the 9 incumbents clearly indicate that they are running. By now they should know if they are running or not; no? I am speaking specifically about CC M. Lenzi. The Sun has mentioned in the past that he was seriously thinking of not running; he should make that clear as soon as possible. An open is attractive to those who may think of running.

Fellow Lowell blogger, In his “Who is Running?” post, fellow Lowell blogger Cliff Krieger encourages all of us to “crank up the enthusiasm” and run for public office:

“…I am looking for a bunch of you other folks to take at least one stab at it [running for public office}. Sure, you will be beaten. That is part of life. The good news is that you will be helping to make the City a better place by helping to make the incumbents less secure and by helping to form up issues and by giving your fellow residents some options on the ballot.”

We are fortunate that every two year we do get challengers who “make the City better” by making “incumbents less secure.”

The guys at ‘CAP told me that they will provide time for all candidates. I would be more than happy to give up the blogger segment so that we can hear candidates present their case. I cannot say what the Sun will do. But we all know that there will be a two face stance; one led by Campy favoring the former CM’s gang and the other group led by Kendall favoring the new CM’s administration. I am sure that all of the bloggers will do their part to advance

I just want to repeat the list of announced challengers (if I miss anyone, please let me know): Paul Belley; Ryan Berard (here is his link to his web site); Franky Descoteaux; Joe Mendonca and Ray Weicker.

Update by Lynne - and thanks, Kathy, for reminding us of the other candidates - Syed Hussain, Pat Stratton and Patrick Murphy.

And this game show’s first contestant: Councilor Rita Mercier.

But Rita Mercier, never one to bite her tongue, freely admits that for her it was personal. She voted to rid City Hall of Sheehan, whom she said she found to be crude and arrogant. However, she also said she never talked to Sheehan.

Bangs. Head. On. Wall. Repeatedly.

Thanks for playing, Rita, you are a winner! And by that, I mean you aren’t.

Next up, Mayor “Bud” Caulfield:

“We cut the funding, not the position,” Mayor Edward “Bud” Caulfield said last week. “I am not saying we will not restore that funding in the future.”

Whaaaaaa? Please repeat that again, but make sense this time.

Rita Mercier has complained that Sheehan never called her on any issue.

“I don’t want to bother the manager. I have always dealt with the assistants,” she said.

*BUZZER* Wrong! That is such malarkey I don’t know where to begin. First, it’s up to Lynch who gets assigned to field the questions and requests of his office. “I have always dealt with assistants.” Right. But she’s never talked to Sheehan. So obviously not “always.” OMG. I just can’t take the stupid.

And now, the Irony LIGHTING ROUND!

“I know there are a lot of campaigns being run out there,” Lenzi said last week. “But I didn’t know the manager was running a campaign.”

“I’m for Cox.” ‘Nuff said. A statement on a radio show does not a campaign make. However, bumper stickers and signs in business’ windows, that, my friends is a campaign.

Lenzi wants to remind Lynch he works for the council.

I’d like to remind Lenzi that he works for us, the people of Lowell. Not too hard, though, mind you…

Thanks to all our contestants. You win the prize for making my head explode these last two weeks. Gah!

Update: Just an additional note. You know, I highly respect Lynch for not giving his assistant the job of dealing with the bosses (the Councilors) or reporting directly to them. Lynch is the appointed manager, not Sheehan. Therefore, it’s basically giving your assistant all the political risk to hand that part of the job to them, instead of taking it on yourself. It’s potentially throwing the assistant under the bus. But the Councilors threw him under the bus instead. It’s a sad day in Lowell when the City Councilors can break the law believing there are no consequences.

If you haven’t read the two Lowell Sun articles, here (Jennifer Myers), and here (no byline), please go do so.

The courts will decide about the allegations but if the account is true, it is extremely disturbing.

In a previous post on the City Council meeting, a few commentators discussed J. Dayne Lamb’s speech to the CC regarding the Budget in general and the CC’s decision not to fund the position of Assistant to the City Manager.

She spoke for those of us who want this City to move forward, develop economically and socially; those who are disgusted with the petty, personal, low-level political games exemplified by the CC’s actions during the past two weeks.

Here is the 4 minute video clip of Dayne’s comments:

This morning WCAP (980 AM) Morning Show interviewed Andy Sheehan, the Assistant to the City Manager, regarding the recent City Council action, which in effect fired him. You can call it what you will, they, who did not have the authority to do it, fired him. That’s my opinion and I will explain it and defend it in a future post.

Those who heard the interview told me that Andy did not dodge any questions; spoke openly and honestly. I am glad he had an opportunity to explain himself. The newspaper quotes by some City Council members regarding Andy’s character were brutal.

The interview will be re-played during the afternoon show which takes place between 3:00 – 5:30 p.m. As soon as we have the exact time, we will post it.

Additionally, the interview will be post it on the station’s web site, in case you cannot listen to it today.

Interesting editorial in the Lowell Sun. (I was actually quite shocked by it.)

I saw a lot of people commenting in the last post about wanting to do something about this mess of an election. Do you really mean it? Because if you do, email me directly, lynne [at] leftinlowell.com (replace the [at] with an @, no spaces). There may be something you can do about this after all. There needs to be critical mass and your involvement is important.

I usually write on the City Council meetings after the meeting at the conclusion; sort of giving my views on what happened.

Since I know what is going to happen tonight, not sure how, I am taking a pass. I think it will be more of the same from the sextet.

This is your open thread on the City Council meeting of Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

Good luck Lowell!

The comments page of the “Ballgame gets rough for Lowell manager” article at the Lowell Sun suddenly cleared out of all comments, prompting a new comment: “No comments? That’s funny, since this story had about 30 comments attached to it.”

I’m sure we’ll be told that it was a “computer glitch” and that’s certainly possible, but it’s awfully convenient, given that there was a lot of comment blowback on the councilors who voted to fire the Assistant to the City Manager last week. I don’t know if some of the comments went too far, but I do remember that many of them were actually fine, except that they were angry about the vote. So to delete the whole swath of them would be unnecessary and censorious.