Left In Lowell

As mentioned previously, we’ve been working on putting together comprehensive information on our endorsement process. It takes time to do all of these things and I hope you’ll have patience with us. The full write up of our process is now on our website. Though the last thread on this got heated and such, it does appear that a lot of people are interested in what is going on, and that is a great thing.

The endorsement process employed took a LOT of time, effort, and grunt work - including following up with candidates to give them as much chance as possible to respond; gathering the responses, candidate literature, websites, and other campaign paraphernalia; pouring over the last two years of Council votes to determine which were pivotal; working out the fairest process to weigh incumbents and challengers equally; testing the scoring to be sure the process worked well and fairly; and of course, there were the hours put in by the endorsement committee to actually do the scoring.

There were no preconceived ideas of who would get endorsed going in - in fact, it quickly became clear that it was “anyone’s guess” who would come out on top, before the process began in earnest. Each member of the committee independently produced their scores on their own before coming together.

The most fascinating part to me was the consistency of scoring once the committee brought their scores together to average. This to me indicated that, despite the disparate backgrounds and ideology of the members of the committee, that our scoring system worked well. The largest portion of the score came from the questionnaire, so it really came down to the candidates’ understanding of the issues and their ideas for Lowell. To quote the website:

With regard to the internal consistency of the process, the overlap between individual committee members’ top 9 scorers before averaging, and the top 9 endorsed in the end, was considerable. While no one subcommittee member had all of their personal top 9 scorers (before averaging) represented in the final list (after averaging), three members had their top 8 candidates endorsed the other member had their top 7 endorsed. Furthermore, every candidate in the final endorsement list but one had at least 3 subcommittee members rate him/her in the top 9. The one exception candidate was represented in all four committee members’ top ten scoring.

I find that to be a very good outcome indeed.

For all the work the candidates did sending in their questionnaires, thank you so much. I know our list of questions was long and we didn’t make it easy for you! We do sincerely wish there wasn’t a cut off and that we could endorse more than nine without diluting the impact we could have.

I would like to make one thing clear, we will not be releasing individual scores. We are not interested in preferring any candidate on the slate over any other, and our list will be alphabetically, as they are on the ballot.

Jackie has a great post about the recent choice voting article in the Lowell Sun; how it took Gail Cenik of the Election and Census Commission out of context and, in effect, made her look like she said something she didn’t. (Anyone know much about this new reporter, Erin Smith? She’s off to a bang of a start continuing the Sun editor’s tradition of bias it would seem.)

Jackie actually sounds like a real reporter in her post, going into Cenik’s actual context and quoting her. Maybe Erin can learn a thing or two?

What else is great from that post is the comment Jackie posted later on, quoting Victoria of One Lowell on choice voting (bold mine):

There will be voter education prior to our first election with Choice Voting and by law, voters are allowed to have up to 3 ballots if they make a mistake. When a ranked voting system was implemented in 2006 in Burlington, VT, the validity rate was 99.9% for the first election and it went up to 99.99% for the second election.

When people refer to the complexity, they generally are talking about the vote tabulation. In the United States, unlike most democratic countries, the winner take all system is used for almost all elections. In that kind of a system, vote tabulation simply requires counting one at a time. Anything other than that will be more complicated.

Voters do not need to know the details of the tabulation, as the optical scanning equipment will be programmed to do that. However, if they want to know, we have a short video and other information on our website: http://www.fairvotelowell.org.

What voters do need to know, though, is that they can trust that the vote tabulation equipment and software are programmed correctly so that they can have confidence that their votes are accurately counted, same thing they need to know with our current system. It is important to be clear that the same people who run Lowell’s elections now, and who do so accurately and impartially, will continue to run and monitor Lowell’s elections in the future, no matter how the scanning equipment is programmed to count votes. If you have faith and trust in our current election officials, you should be assured that those same folks will continue their diligence with whatever voting system we have in place in Lowell.

Here’s the key point: one, that a lot of other places, and whole countries, use this system. Contrary to popular opinion, the US is not the only democracy in the world. Two, that all we, the voters, need to remember is how to count, 1 to 9, in order of preference. Easy as pie. And three, that this system produces fairer RESULTS. More minorities will be given a better shot to be represented on the City Council and School Committees. Given how discouraging the past couple of elections were to all our minority voters, can we sit by and keep allowing our system to shut them out? Think about how much support Mehmed Ali had in this city two years ago. Is he sitting on the Council? He would be, if we had proportional voting in 2007.

I don’t have a ton of time, but since a number of events have been sent to me today to post, I wanted to get them up.

Paul Belley has a fundraiser on Thursday, October 1st from 6:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m. at the Longmeadow Golf Club, 165 Havilah Street, Lowell, MA. Hors D’Oeuvres and entertainment by his own band, the Fun Razors. Food and Fun! Tickets are $20.00.

Ryan Berard is hosting a fundraiser, Thursday October 8th from 6:30 - 9 at Garcia Brogan’s.

Update: Forgot one. You are invited…Please join Robert & Claire Belanger, Nancy Donahue, Eileen Donoghue, Fred Faust, William Lipchitz, Robert & Janette Nason, Scott & Kathy Plath, and Sayon Soeun - for a Building Bridges Fundraiser at Cobblestones Restaurant, 91 Dutton Street, tomorrow, September 30, 2009, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM. Suggested Donation $50 ~ $75. RSVP Crystal (978)985-5638 or info@frankyforlowell.com

Update II: Sean and Kate Harmon are hosting a brunch for School Committee Challenger Alison Laraba at their home at 282 Andover St. on Sunday October 4th from 10am-1pm. Suggested donation is $40. For more information about Alison or to RSVP: larabaforlowell.com.

Am I missing anyone’s events? (I’m sure I am…) Post them in comments!

After a very thorough and exacting process, including extensive questionnaires, perusing incumbent voting history, and examining the backgrounds, experience, and campaigns of candidates who submitted answers to the PAC, Move Lowell Forward has announced its slate of nine for the City Council race.

We really want to thank everyone who participated. The not-so-sad truth is that there were more deserving candidates than there are open seats, and this is a really great thing for the voters of Lowell. We feel that though the top nine are the ones we’re aiming to promote, that we would be well served by any of the others who sent us their ideas as well.

The press release:

MOVE LOWELL FORWARD ENDORSES SLATE OF NINE CANDIDATES
September 27th, 2009

Lowell, MA – The local political action committee, Move Lowell Forward, has officially announced their endorsements for the Lowell City Council. The slate consists of nine candidates, the full number of open seats on the Council.

They have endorsed incumbents Kevin Broderick, William Martin, and James Milinazzo, along with challengers Franky Descoteaux, David Koch, Joseph Mendonça, Patrick Murphy, Ben Opara, and Raymond Weicker for City Council.

The endorsements come after a rigorous review of returned Move Lowell Forward questionnaires, the voting history of incumbents, and of all candidates’ campaigns, backgrounds, and past experience.

“We wanted the best, most impartial outcome possible,” says Cliff Krieger, chair of the PAC. “We took our evaluation of the candidates very seriously.” Questionnaires were at the heart of the process, he said. “We wanted to know what ideas the candidates were bringing to the table on the issues facing Lowell. Though we have a stated commitment to supporting professional city government, we created a process to be as fair as possible to any and all who took the time to answer our questions.”

Topics for the questionnaire ranged from ones regarding professionalism in city government, to quality of life, to inquiries on affordable housing, transportation, the proposed 0.75% local meals tax increase, and the Hamilton Canal District project, among others.

“We are proud to endorse these candidates, though it was difficult to narrow it down,” said Pat Vondal, a member of Move Lowell Forward. “There were a high number of deserving candidates and we appreciate all the participation we had. We’re very lucky to have such a great array of candidates vying for our Council vote this November.”

The PAC hopes that by carefully selecting a slate of candidates, it will give voters one more tool to use when deciding on their nine City Council votes this November, and that it will result in better turnout. They encourage voters to ask themselves which of the many candidates will best ensure professional city management, stable and efficient government services, better schools, high quality of life, and sound economic development and planning. They feel that it is the individual voter who must take the decision to vote and who to vote for, but it’s difficult for voters to spend exhaustive hours doing research, which is where Move Lowell Forward feels they can contribute.

The PAC has also released the contents of the questionnaire, though not candidates’ individual answers, on their website, http://www.movelowellforward.com.

If you read yesterday’s Sun article “Club loses license for 17 days” written by Dennis Shaughnessey, you may be asking yourself what was License Commissioner and City Council Candidate, Ray Weicker thinking.

And this what the reporter wrote:

A troubled nightclub in the Centralville section of the city has lost its license for 17 days, after the Licensing Commission considered two incidents that occurred within a month.

The decision stems back to an incident on Aug. 8 in which a fight broke out inside the premises and police were not called, a violation of ABCC regulation 204. The commission voted 2-1, with Chairman Walter Bayliss and Brian Akashian voting to shut the bar for seven days, suspending the penalty for a year, with a year probation, and ordering Willy Topps to close at 11 p.m., for 30 days effective immediately.

Raymond Weicker voted against.

So now watch this 22 second clip which explains why he voted against that motion:

Yes, it is true that Commissioner Weicker voted against this motion but not because he did not want to punish these people but because he thought the punishment was too light. I do not know if the problem rests with the reporter or the copy editor. Since Weicker is running for City Council, I thought a small or not-so-small mischaracterization of his intent needs to be addressed.

As for the License Commission, in my opinion all three commissioners try to do what is best for the City; protect the rights of business owners while making sure the rules and regulations are followed. You can watch the 2 hour meeting streaming video on LTC’s web site.

The sole challenger for School Committee, Alison Laraba, has launched her website, larabaforlowell.com. Full disclosure: I helped her with the website and some literature.

If you haven’t met Alison yet, you should. She is a dedicated mom who decided to run when she saw no one else stepping up to the plate. I have spoken to her at length, and I don’t need any more information to officially endorse Alison for School Committee. Please reserve one of your votes next month for Alison!

Update: We’ve just added the ability to donate online to Alison. Please consider donating to her campaign!

Two things:

First, today and tomorrow is the citywide Lowell Open Studios. Along with this, is the weekend long Arts Festival! Studios are open from noon to 5pm today and tomorrow. Please go and spend some time there. And think about people you might want to buy Christmas gifts for, supporting a local artist or artisan and being ahead of the game! The Art Fest is listed at the link. It includes performers, food, and other great stuff all weekend so bring the family!

The second thing is that you should be on the lookout for Move Lowell Forward’s FINAL awesome endorsements. We’re going to make an announcement soon!!!

I was not happy that the Governor and the majority of the Democratic-controlled Massachusetts legislature decided to change the rules in mid-stream for obvious political reasons. That Senate seat should have been left empty until the people had an opportunity to vote

And by the way, this has nothing to do with Democrat or Republicans; if the latter were in power, they would abuse it just as much.

But what really irked me was the selection of Paul Kirk as the appointee. How does an “insider” of his credentials represent the people? I am so angry. With all due respect to the late Senator’s widow and children, the Governor should not have been subjected to a lobbying effort by the late Senator’s family.

Why did word leak out from D.C. before the Governor had an opportunity to make the public announcement? I first heard of the appointment early last night from national media outlets; while the local media outlets were still reporting that the Governor will make an announcement today.

When things like this occur, it is difficult not to be a cynic. I’m sorry Senator Kirk does not have the natural, organic ring to it.

You know those people who do not understand the concept of a cross walk when they are walking downtown, well they are back. You can easily spot them because they are usually wearing a back pack, either listening to their MP3, talking on the phone or texting. I am impressed that someone can walk and text at the same time.

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And when they decide to cross the street, they do not believe in doing it on a painted cross-walk; they really like the diagonal approch. Also, they have 2 speeds, very slow or super fast, turning Central, Merrimack or Market streets into an obstacle course for us drivers. But bless these people because they certainly have brought the return of life in the fast lane to downtown Lowell.

Another candidate’s night tonight:

The Cupples Square Business Association, Friends of Tyler Park, Highlands Neighborhood Association and the Lower Highlands Neighborhood Group are hosting the CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES NIGHT TONIGHT from 6:00 - 8:30PM at the Pailin City Restaurant at 6-12 Branch Street.

A flyer with more information is attached.

The event is free and open to all city residents and business owners.