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MassDems hit Golnik for not voting
Today’s mail brought a flier from the Massachusetts Democratic Party attacking Republican Congressional candidate Jon Golnik for voting in only one election in nine years. The front of the piece (shown above) has a picture of a solitary player on an otherwise empty baseball diamond with the caption “One out of 9 . . . just doesn’t cut it.” followed by “Jon Golnik voted in only 1 election in 9 years. And now he wants to vote for us in Congress?”
The inside of the four-sided mailer (shown below in part) says “Jon Golnik didn’t bother to vote. But, now, he’s asking for our vote?” along with the following text:
When someone’s elected to Congress, they’re responsible for casting votes on our behalf. The last person you’d hire for that job is someone who doesn’t bother to vote. After moving here in 2001, Jon Golnik voted only once in 9 years. And now he’s asking us to let him vote for us in Congress.
Then there’s this:
If Jon Golnik knew our community better, he’d know how important Social Security is to us. But, Golnik supports privatization of Social Security, a scheme that would hand over our retirement savings to Wall Street traders whose risky practices wrecked our economy.
Isn’t Golnik trying to pass his apathy off as a protest?
Someone should inform the man. When you go to the polls and leave a ballot blank, it is counted as a blank. When you don’t, your “protest” goes into the dust bin of history with all the other no shows.
Now some may scoff, “blanks, who cares?” But let me share a little insight with you’ins. Campaigns, especially incumbents in an uncontested primary election, count the blanks for their candidate. Blanks are a measure of enthusiasm.
So, if Golnik wanted to send a message to his party that they were offering unpalatable choices, he need only show up and submit a blank ballot.
Plus, in all that time, from the top to the bottom of the ticket, there wasn’t one GOPer worthy of a Golnik vote. Yet, this upstart will be looking for every Republican vote come Nov. 2nd. From dog catcher on up.
Priceless.
And to think he couldn’t vote for McCain in 08′, despite his brother Ben was one of McCain’s political directors in the midwest. And yet Golnik scored the endorsement of Minnesota’s Governor Pawlenty 1400 miles from Lowell, because of his brother.
What about the state ballot questions?
He didn’t care about rolling back the state income tax in 2000?
He didn’t care about the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana in 08′?
Was he protesting these too?
I’m voting in some, but not all of races on November 2nd. My ballot will be blank for Congress and Governor, and as Jack mentioned the ‘blanks’ show enthusiasm. At times I’ve left those blank and at times I make a point to vote, because I approve of that person’s job in office.
Blanks should be published in newspapers and blogs.
Prior to the election no one in Carisle,MA knew Jon Golnik. Growing up in Lowell I never met anyone named Jon.
We would all have been much better off if Niki hadn’t voted over the past 3 years!!
Jon’s not voting only hurt Jon.
Niki’s votes are hurting every single person in this country!!
Jon’s not voting only hurt Jon.
First, I’m going to skip over the self-centered perspective you have regarding civics.
Next, apathy empowers special interests. Lobbyists are more than happy to have our elected officials listening only from them. They can save on media buys designed to herd the few that vote. There will be no pressure from “We The People.”
So, Golnik’s disregard for Democracy is especially harmful to the rest of us. He is a symptom of the disease that threatens America.
I thank Niki Tsongas for her voting record. I can’t say I agree with every vote she has made, but I am confident that she cast her vote in good conscience. Tsongas stays connected to her constituents, hearing from them on the issues. She has my full support.
Apathy doesn’t empower lobbyists. Politicians empower them.
Apathy can be a good thing at times, because once in a generation or so, the previously apathetic rise and deliver a slap to the face of the establishment. Then once an era, they band together and force meaningful change. With any luck, we’re at the beginning of one such era.
Apathy is what keeps the establishment from seeing the sea change coming.
And in between the “once an era” the special interests line their pockets while draining the middle class of what meager wealth we can gather for ourselves.
The Golnik crew is impressive with the logical ju-jitsu. …..Not!
The GOP opts to weaken gov’t, so their patrons can exploit the consumer. Pay less taxes, but pay more for everything else.
Righty continues the meme that gov’t is the problem. Let’s reject that victim mentality. Gov’t works for us. Take the reins. Vote! Vote to move forward.
Righty, that was a rather interesting piece of logic. To rephrase it: it is not because voters refuse to hold politicians accountable that politicians do not act in the best interests of their constituents. Or another way: it is not because politicians can only be elected by raising obscene amounts of money used to buy advertising that they do not act in the best interests of their constituents.
I’m tired of listening to all of the whining about how Washington isn’t doing what’s best for the country. Voters elected the people who are currently in Washington. Voters are responsible for the actions taken by Congress. If we want a well-governed country, voters need to actively inform themselves about issues. That means none of this childish, petulant Tea Party stuff. I’m not even talking about the birthers and the individuals who think the President is a Muslim. The Democrats lowered taxes on 95% of Americans, something most Americans don’t know. In fact, quite a significant portion think their taxes have increased.
What happened to rational, evidence-based analysis? That’s right, most of the Tea Party is too busy being shills for wealthy individuals and corporations. It never ceases to amaze me how tirelessly the individuals in the Tea Party work to destroy their own well being.
Andrew, they are the pawns in a complex game of money chess. As the game progresses they will be sacrificed for the riches of the kings, and they will think they have done their duty.
One thing about the tea party movement is that they haven’t been involved in politics previously. One of the active volunteers from Andover on the Sam Meas campaign, told me it wasn’t in the past two years she became truly interested in participating in politics. She always voted on the state/federal but never in local and never volunteered. I wouldn’t call them for the most part childish or fussy, just very novice. I told her, if she was not happy she needed to vote in the local elections because that’s where we can find better candidates for higher office that can work in a non-partisan situations and with personal disclosures already out in the open.
As for Golnik, he isn’t a tea partier mold. He was very involved in politics prior to his MIA of a participation record. He has no true legitamite reason to explain this absense, yet everyone is buying that it is based on principle not pure laziness.
I don’t agree with Tsongas on much, and on paper I agree with Golnik on many issues, but I’m not a schmuck (sorry for the profanity) either. Sometimes we are asked to choose the lesser of two evils, but I’m also free to choose neither and have it counted as a ‘blank’. That’s principled.
You can’t be principled, if there is no act to show for it. One can be present and still abstain from a vote, without choosing a candidate. Not showing up isn’t a virtue to be praised in any respect.
Your overall taxes went down Andrew? Here in Massachusetts, the home of the donkey?
Please, don’t insult our intelligence. Talk to the true middle class people, not the liberal elite. See our tax bills on ALL levels. Our taxes aren’t going down my friend. Not by a long shot.
There is no excuse for Golnik not voting, but voting is a right, not a requirement. Just because one doesn’t vote, does not mean their motives or their methods of current and future political participation don’t hold merit.
If that’s the best argument the Tsongas camp can come up with for not supporting Golnik, they truly are in trouble. Judging by the fact she’s talking more about Golnik’s non-votes than her votes health care, she really does know she’s in a dog fight here.
Try as Golnik and his supporters might, there’s just no good explanation for his failure to vote. You go AWOL for a decade from the civic life of your community and then you wake up one day and decide you should be a Congressman? Please. Given the volatility these days, he may very well get elected, but his failure to do the bare minimum asked of a citizen in a democracy – vote – speaks volumes about his character.
If we are to “throw the bums out,” why should we let a bum in?
Golnik was never to be found in the district. Likely he will forget us and set up shop in the Beltway. This guy has “revolving door” written all over him.
Golnik’s campaign slogan should be “Come with me………..to K Street!”
Righty, state taxes are set by the state government; federal taxes are set by the federal government. What the state government has done is pretty irrelevant to the federal election, though perhaps those taxes wouldn’t have gone up if the stimulus package had been as large as economists wanted it to be. Federal taxes were lowered on 95% of Americans to their lowest level in 60 years. You can’t blame Congress for the actions of the General Court.
Dick and Jack, you’re missing the entire point. This election is not about the past or who has participated in the past. This is about the future and changing things, or at least beginning the process of changing things from what they’ve been. Past participation or past involvement is a negative. Fresh faces, whether they’ve voted or not, whether they’ve run for office befor or not, is what people are looking for. Now, just because someone is a fresh face, doesn’t mean they come with fresh ideas. But we do know that old faces don’t come up with fresh ideas. So yes, we’ll throw the bums out because we know they’re all bums. With any luck, a few of the new ones won’t become bums once they get into office.
That is why, like it or not, the Tea Party is having and will continue to have a major impact on the national scene. My hunch is, it will here in Massachusetts, too.
Andrew, exactly when did those federal taxes begin to come down on the middle class Americans? Obama only continued, and to a miniscule degree, the work begun in 1994 and under President Bush. We ALL got tax cuts then. Rich, middle class and poor. Unlike you and your friends here, I don’t hold it against the rich that they got theirs. As long as I got mine, I’m happy to share the wealth instead of redistributing it. LOL
Andrew, you may be mistaking RB as an honest broker.
Here is the GOP’s plan to drown gov’t in a bathtub.
Promise Americans tax relief at the federal level. Thus shifting the tax burden to states. This is a good start because Red states already deliver minimal services.
For states like MA, the GOPers need to move into the State House. Then the local aid can be clobbered, shifting the burden onto local tax collectors.
Once they have their tax burden reduced to property tax and user fees, they stack the local boards with sympathizers getting that reduced , as well.
They will go after the AG, so consumer protections are weakened.
They will go after labor protections, OSHA and environmental regs to give corporations a hand up.
They will gut public education and student loans, so their kids will have less competition for college acceptance and jobs.
They do this all, while singing the praises of those that can “stand on their own to feet.” Yet they use the law and what little gov’t they leave in place to slant the playing field in their favor.
Of course there is the whole “What’s the matter with Kansas” crowd, You know. The ones that want lower taxes because one day the may win big with a scratch ticket.
From the Lowell Sun today….
“Across the city, Golnik played Pied Piper. “If you feel like you don’t have a voice, if you feel like you are disenfranchised then I say, ‘come with me,'” he urged rally-goers. “Give me your hand and give me your help and I will listen to you.”
Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_16422114#ixzz13JtIqDdW
If anyone knows the folk lore behind the pied piper, it doesn’t go well for the children who followed.
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — What if a president cut Americans’ income taxes by $116 billion and nobody noticed?
It is not a rhetorical question. At Pig Pickin’ and Politickin’, a barbecue-fed rally organized here last week by a Republican women’s club, a half-dozen guests were asked by a reporter what had happened to their taxes since President Obama took office.
“Federal and state have both gone up,” said Bob Paratore, 59, from nearby Charlotte, echoing the comments of others.
After further prodding — including a reminder that a provision of the stimulus bill had cut taxes for 95 percent of working families by changing withholding rates — Mr. Paratore’s memory was jogged.
“You’re right, you’re right,” he said. “I’ll be honest with you: it was so subtle that personally, I didn’t notice it.”
You’ve got it down pretty well there Jack. We want lower taxes at EVERY level. Sorry if that won’t help your union cronies. You know, the ones who complain about corporate influence in elections yet somehow manage to pour more money into campaigns than big business.
Good explanation. I love see clearly Marcy