Left In Lowell

When I am home on Saturday morning (and sometimes when I am not home), I make a point to listen to Warren Shaw’s radio show on WCAP. This morning he had as one of his guests “embattled” City Councilor Alan Kazanjian. I use the word embattled in quotes because that is how the program was being promoted on Friday on the radio station. I am sure it created a city-wide interest in the segment and achieved high rating.

CC Kazanjian had come on this station before to explain the “Sandy Ames falling asleep on his property” incident. Given the fact that the host and co-host of the Saturday morning show are friends of CC Kazanjian, it is expected that he would have chosen this venue to present his political case.

My sense is that this one hour discussion did not change anyone’s mind. Those who support him and were going to vote for him will probably do so; and those who do not support and were not going to vote for him will probably not vote for him. Although we did not learn anything new, the dynamics of the discussion were nevertheless interesting.

Warren explained prior to the 1 hour segment, which began at 8:00 a.m., that he had received some inquiries about the FCC equal time rule . As we all know, it does not apply when it comes to news; so as long as the interview is focused on a non-campaign issues, there is no need to give any other candidate equal time.

And for the most part, that is how the discussion went. Although Bob Hatem did push the envelope a bit when he called in. But that is understandable, Mr. Hatem is a passionate person who is not afraid to speak his mind. In reiterating his support for CC Kazanjian, he implied that someone called in the DA’s office because he was a political opponent of CC Kazanjian. (If I misrepresent his views, I am sure Mr. Hatem will comment).

I find it hard to believe that Middlesex County D.A. Gerry Leone, who has a wide and powerful political base here in Lowell, would begin a “fishing” expedition if he did not have hard evidence? It would be politically dangerous and he does not strike me as one who is foolish. Why would he pick on just this one developer? They either heard or saw something that makes them want to dig deeper. I do not believe any D.A.’s office goes after someone because they got an anonymous phone call or a request from the political opposition.

One of the issues discussed was how did the Sun get a copy of the subpoena? And that the first time the Councilor saw the subpoena was when it was shown to him by a Sun reporter; I assume that was City Editor Chris Scott. Here is the link to the October 6 article where Scott reports on the details of the subpoena. By the way, I do not know if that was the first time that CC Kazanjian heard of the subponea; just that it was the first time he saw it.

Since there are 11 separate department listed on the subpoena, my guess it could have been anyone that passed this on to the Sun. Maybe it is the same guy who took Sandy Ames’ picture sleeping on the Lowell taxpayers’ hard-earned dime. What I find interesting is the dates of the subpoena, beginning January 1, 2002. That is way before Ames joined the City’s workforce.

Speaking of the Sun, I heard they had a reporter there. They have posted a tease on their web site’s breaking news section and will have an article in Sunday’s paper. No, it was not Scott or Jen Myers.

The participants discussed the issue of former Assistant to the City Manager Andy Sheehan and the plan to have him lead the review of Inspectional Services and come up with recommendations. There is an April 11th article, “Lowell task force to target building-permit problems” written by Chris Scott that discusses the findings of a report co-authored by Sheehan. Mr. Sheehan’s salary was eliminated on June 16th. I hope this attempt at revisionist history stops.

Other phone callers challenged CC Kazanjian and others were supportive and friendly. I was a bit surprised that the Executive Director of the YMCA called in and identified himself. The Y is one of the projects listed on the subpoena. And why would a non-profit get involved in this political football at this time? I know CC Kazanjian is on the Board of Directors but for now, if I was the Y staff, I would stay out of the discussion. Leave that to those of us who work out there; we are pretty good at it.

The big winners today were Greater Lowell School Committee candidate Fred Bahou and City Council candidate Patrick Murphy. They had purchased, I suppose a while back, radio ads that played during that hour. As they say, they got the biggest bang for their buck.

Those of you who know me know that I am an Armenian-American. And those of you who are my facebook friend know that I have spent two of the past three Saturdays in New York City demonstrating against the signing of a diplomatic protocol between the current government of Armenia and the Turkish government.

I would not have posted anything on LiL but the Lowell Sun is running an AP story on the front page of its web site about the signing that occurred today. I assume it will appear on its paper copy tomorrow. The article basically gives you the U.S. State Department version so for those of you who are interested in reading more about it, here are a couple of links, Armenian Weekly and Stop the Protocol .

By the way the Sun, more than the Globe, NY Times and other papers, has consistently throughout the decades supported the rights of the Armenian people to receive the justice we rightly deserve: that is the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkey. And for that, I am quite grateful. I think they posted this story because they are sensitive to the issue and not as an editorial position.

If you visit the web sites, you will see the picture of the signing and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton applauding in the background. She made a point to be there for the signing; she was joined by other foreign minister.

In case you did not know it, a small country like Armenia and the legacy of survivors of the Armenian Genocide means nothing to superpowers. We are just a pawn in their geopolitical game. The Obama Administration, just like its predecessors, said one thing during the campaign and does another when they come into power. It is a complicated geo-political chess game where truth and justice is easily sacrificed.

The current Armenian administration does not speak on behalf of the Armenian nation, which is dispersed throughout the world. The struggle continues and it now lives in the hearts and minds of 3rd and 4th generation survivors.

Thank-you for listening.