Election Notes
Posted by DickH on 04 Nov 2009 at 10:04 pm | Tagged as: 2009 Election, Lowell-2009
Some random observations on the just completed election:
The Precinct-level results are not yet available to me; as soon as they are, I will post them here.
Electing three new councilors was standard procedure through the 1990s. In 1995, Eileen Donoghue, Rita Mercier and Peter Richards replaced Tarsy Poulios, Laurie (Machado) Elliott, and Michael Geary, none of whom ran for re-election. In 1997, Rodney Elliott, Armand Mercier and Dan Leahy replaced Larry Martin (finished 10th) and Steve Gendron and Matt Donoghue who did not run. In 1999, Dan Tenczar, Rithy Uong and Bill Martin replaced Grady Mulligan (finished 10th), Larry Martin (who finished 12th after joining the council mid-term to replace Dan Leahy who had resigned) and Peter Richards (did not seek re-election).
The last time two councilors who had been elected in their own right (as opposed to joining the council mid-term) were defeated was 1993 when five incumbents lost and one did not seek re-election.
As for endorsements, Move Lowell Forward picked winners Kevin Broderick, Bill Martin, Jim Milinazzo, Franky Descoteaux, Joe Mendonca, Patrick Murphy and three who did not prevail – David Koch, Ben Opara and Ray Weicker. The Lowell Sun endorsed winners Kevin Broderick, Bud Caulfield, Rodney Elliott, Bill Martin, Rita Mercier, Jim Milinazzo, Franky Descoteaux, Joe Mendonca and two who fell short – Ryan Berard and Ben Opara.
I award my “best use of the internet as a campaign tool” award to Patrick Murphy. The websites constructed by most candidates turn into static fixtures that don’t change much and don’t give viewers/voters a reason to make a return visit. Perhaps because of his relative youth and his creativity, Murphy used YouTube videos to create a buzz around his candidacy. Being completely free (as in, they cost nothing) to produce, host and display to the public, YouTube is a tool of enormous potential. Murphy had five videos – think commercials – during the campaign. YouTube tracks how many times each video was viewed. Here’s Murphy’s “ratings”: “Ripple of Hope” – 239 views; “Vote Murphy November 3rd” – 105 views; “Murphy’s radio ad” – 61 views; “Knocking on City Council’s Door” – 726 views; “Lowell City Council – half empty or half full?” – 800 views. With Murphy’s 8th place finish only 251 votes ahead of 10th place Armand Mercier, having that many people watching that many commercials cannot be disregarded.
Question: What do Kathryn Stoklosa, Gerald Durkin, George Kouloheras, David Allen, George O’Hare, Kathleen Janas, Mary Anna Sullivan, Sean Sullivan, Steve Panagiotakos, Ray Riddick, Henry Mroz, Ken Powers, Michael Gallagher, Tim Golden, Jim Kennedy, Bill Taupier, Bob Hoey, Kevin McHugh, John McQuaid, Connie Martin, John Leahy, Joe Mendonca, Jackie Doherty, Jim Leary and Dave Conway all have in common? Answer: They all served with Regina Faticanti during her time on the Lowell School Committee.
Common sense won in the election this year. People took all the information that was out there from the far left to the far right to make decisions. I may not agree with the full slate but I respect that we are as far as we are as a City because of all the decisions made by the past Councils they deserve respect for their contributions. I detest the sport of daily ridicule by some of the blogs for they take away the tool of information by clouding it with personal agendas and egos. Lowell is full of good people, solid, hard working and I love living here and look forward to our future as a City.
I think the biggest accomplishment of Patrick Murphy’s victory was the message it send to reluctant candidates…”you do not need to raise $50,000 to get elected to the city council”.
Tony: yes, and decide to have no life in the meantime! Murphy was one busy guy for these last few months. But yes, it’s heartening that it can be done, the old fashioned way (beating the streets) with little money.
Deb: as, I assume, one of the writers of those blogs you mention, I believe in calling a spade a spade. I can’t tell you how many times people have told me that they are disgusted with the lack of this - they wanted the candidates to run harder against the actions of some of the incumbents, and were disappointed that it was not more prevalent in the election (they wanted to see backbone from the candidates).
In this city, no one else was doing it (except perhaps the father of our host here, Dick Howe Sr, who was famous for fighting against Cox in the years he was on the Council). I’m sorry, but sometimes you weigh the “good points” of a public figure against their “bad points,” and the bad points are far, far heavier.
And of course, we do not control the content of our commenters, except where there are serious personal attacks that are unwarranted, and even that small level of editing/deletion gets us scads of people complaining about censorship.
Of course, you might not be talking about LiL at all, but the Blog That Shall Not Be Named, in which case, I’ve said my piece on that a long time ago…
Thank you for confirming my statement about the new sport of ridicule and it how it can rear it’s ugly head anywhere
Deb, how do you figure?
Deb,
Blogs give people a chance to vent and share their frustrations and feelings.
I’ve noticed many times people who are in Elected office have friends and supporters who think that if anyone says anything negative about their friend then the person writing is just attacking that official.
I’m experiencing 1st hand some negative reaction by people including my own family members who don’t like what I’ve written about their friend. I ask them the same question I ask you “Show me where I was wrong..what statements have been made that are untrue?
Why is it that we easily kill the messenger who points out things that are wrong or we disagree with about an Elected official but let the Politicians who are our friends or who we like get away with conduct or actions we don’t agree with?