Left In Lowell

The verdict is clear: no matter what, elected officials like Councilor Rita Mercier are more important than city council challengers, or the residents and voters of the city. The state legislature has passed the Home Rule bill so it now goes to the Governor. If you aren’t already elected, apparently your voice counts for nothing.

Yes, that sounds like hyperbole, but that is honestly what has happened here. There are few people outside the majority of the city council that want to eliminate our primary this year. There is far too much interest in this election, and voters want to vote.

Back in July, Governor Patrick told the Lowell Sun in a sit-down that “he hopes the petition never reaches his desk and that he would prefer to respect what a city’s charter provides.”

One can read that in two different ways. One is that Patrick might well decide to veto the measure. The other is that he is saying he hopes he doesn’t have to - but that he might sign it if it comes. In other words, it’s unclear. If you are for a preliminary election, you need to call or email the Governor’s office and tell them that you urge the Governor to veto it.

Move Lowell Forward has also published an op-ed open letter to the Governor which 11 candidates have signed on to as well. I was hoping to let it run in the Sun, but due to unforeseen email disaster that was delayed and time is short. So I am publishing it on our PAC website, and you can read it here.

Call the Governor. Our supposedly-elected-by-the-people state delegation think they have this all locked up. From the Sun article:

“We did what the local governing body asked of us and we supported it. I believe we will have an answer from the governor’s office by tomorrow and I expect the governor will sign off on this,” said Rep. David Nangle, D-Lowell.

He also decided to inflate the possible “savings” as well. $50,000 is the number Nangle kicks around. Too bad that’s probably not the real number ($40,000, approximately, is about what it costs to run a preliminary election). I guess democracy just costs too much for Rep. Nangle. I’m sure he’d love to forgo having to run every two years.

Another candidate has gotten their campaign on the web. Syed Hussian, resident of Pawtucketville and a councilor for the disabled and developmentally challenged, has put up his virtual shingle.

Syed worked with us back in the Greater Lowell for Peace and Justice days, so it’s good to see his name out there. His new website has some good introductory information, and I hope to see more soon.

The Lion of the Senate has written a letter to ask that the legislature allow Gov Patrick to fill his Senate seat when, eventually, we lose our senior Senator.

The bill he seeks isn’t a complete repeal of the special election process; rather, he is asking for a short-term, temporary appointment to fill the seat for the five months that such a special election takes place, and asks that the Governor extract a promise from the appointee that they will not seek the seat.

I give the Senator credit for wanting to adhere and retain the special election rules for vacancies - if it was fair for circumstances under Romney, it’s still fair now. I also see why the urgency for Massachusetts to keep two Senators in the meantime, particularly on health care reform. We need all the votes in the Senate we can get - particularly a vote similar to Kennedy’s. The lies and smear tactics in the health care from some quarters on the right have been nothing short of spectacularly disgusting. I know I haven’t written about health care reform like I would normally do (given that we’re so mired in an important local election season here) but I have been following it.

By the way, this is how you fight fire - or rather morons - with fire. Can’t we have a real honest debate without this sort of crazy stupid bullshit? (By the way, watch the full video here - she’s actually worse than you think.)

I wonder if the Senator’s influence will have any affect on the legislature.