Robins Clemens is dropping out of the Ward 3 race for alderman at-large because she is not getting the help she anticipated to get her elected.
Clemens said this evening, “[School Committee Member] Diana Fisher Gomberg told me that Shawn Fitzgibbons went to a meeting and floated my name. People didn’t know me and weren’t going to support me…But I’m not upset about it because running for office is high pressure.”
Clemens announced her intention to run for one of the two at-large seats less than two weeks ago. She said that Fitzgibbons had encouraged her to run before she announced her candidacy.
She said that she would have liked to attend the meeting where FitzGibbons talked about her so people could have met her.
She plans to stay active in city affairs.
It’s back to Ted Hess-Mahan vs. and James Cote.
Seems to me that there are ways voters can get to know a candidate that don’t depend on Shawn Fitzgibbons. For example, you can write letters to newspapers, participate on blogs and other social media, attend public meetings, go to block parties and village days.
I also have to wonder what and who promised her help and what she thought that would mean? It’s great to have friends in the right places, but at the end of the day, voters want to get to know the candidate, not their pals.
I write all of this not knowing Clemens at all or what kind of person she is, which, come to think of it, is precisely of my point.
Gail Spector– Is that quote from a press remark or a quote from a discussion you had with the her? If the latter, do you know her? I guess I feel sorry for the woman… false start, and up for blog lashing like this
Hoss – I spoke to her. This was written like a news story because that’s how I choose to use Village 14 when I have news to report.
To the extent there are only 2 candidates for 2 seats, I don’t think Ted VS James quite does it. They both win.
I was going to say what Dan said! And now can people stop beating up on THM for not dropping out?
Julie and Dan – Good point about “vs.” I fixed it.
Gail – maybe you should interview Diana Fisher Gomberg and find out what she promised Robin Clemens?? IMHO- I am sick of rather than elections in this city we have appointments to an office as most of these races are uncontested. How many races are contested this year – 3?
It seems as you have written that Ms. Clemens had been promised city wide support by the democratic machine. But what were her qualifications? The only thing I took away from the Tab Article that announced her candidacy was that she moved to Newton so that her son could be outplaced into a special needs school. Maybe she would have been better served to run for SC in Ward 3 – but than I am sure that would not have worked as we would have had to have an contested election .
@Greg – impossible!
Joanne – I don’t know what kind of support Ms. Clemens was promised. I only know what she told me. If Shawn or Diana wish to comment here, they know how.
BTW, Robin told me she collected 87 signatures, as of yesterday (July 26).
Joanne,
I share with you the same disgust that Newton civic affairs is has been dominated for nearly 20 years by the same old crowd. Occasionally the names change but even when that happens, its basically “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”.
I don’t know if the Ward 3 race will be contested but I would like to call your attention to Jim Cote’s post in which he invited people to his “meet the candidate” barbecue in his backyard at 934 Watertown Street in Newton. The time is from 12Noon to 4PM and this is a great opportunity to meet him and some of his family (there are actually 10 kids).
Please take this opportunity to get to know who he is, tell him what’s important to you, and meet one of the future faces on the Board of Alderman.
You may RSVP to [email protected]
http://village14.com/netwon-ma/2013/07/third-candidates-enters-ward-3-at-large-contest-so-should-hess-mahan-drop-out/#comment-35313
I share with you the same cynicism regarding any candidate that runs for office. I assume that they are usually puppets of the Old Guard. But here is an opportunity to meet Jim Cote and to see if he’s the real deal.
This is again an argument for downsizing the Board of Alderman. It’s hard to get contested elections when there are so many seats to fill. If each ward had one ward alderman and one at-large, having the same number of candidates as we do now would result in contests.
mgwa – I agree but then why are the SC not contested- actually all but one is not contested.
Sorry for the earlier snark without elaboration. I was a passenger in a car with two kids and two dogs (one a puppy) none of whom were appreciating the traffic on 90W.
Firstly, just a note; lots of people, new and “same old” alike, are involved with finding good candidates for public office in Newton.
Second, on Robin specifically, what Gail reported and Greg wrote are both sound in my opinion. I hope she will learn more about municipal issues in Newton and keep up her great, long-time Democratic activism. If she qualified for the ballot and ran in Ward 3 this year, I would gladly vote for her and encourage others to do so as I share and admire her progressive values.
Shawn Fitzgibbons — Many cities and towns have someone in the election office that will sit with prospective candidates and give them a primer on things. Does Newton City Hall have such a person?
The staff at City Hall in Elections are great and I am sure would be willing to talk with people about running for office. The Newton League is also a great resource.
Hmmm, he didn’t name anyone… Maybe someone like Tom Sheff or Mike Strair would say… is our Election Office helpful to new faces, introducing themselves, taking them aside and showing them how signatures are verified, where to go to learn about municipal finance, how to property form a committee, etc, etc? Seems we had two cases, Ms Clemens and to a lesser extent the woman running for Mayor (sorry, can’t think of the name!) who needed more help. Is our City Hall Election dept helping people??
Hoss,
Elections gives everyone a book on the guidelines of running, how to set up a bank account, etc. The league usually brings someone into the city to teach everyone (new and old pols) how to run for office. Basically, they tell people to go door to door.
The elections dept can’t cross over any lines and they are wonderful people as stated. The department is down to 2 people and now Dave Olson as the dept head.
ALERT THE MEDIA… municipal elections in Massachusetts are NON-partisan. I actually heard someone say “it’s important to get behind Clemens because she not a Republican”. Really? Attitudes like this is likely why Massachusetts has more people registered to vote as independents (‘U’, un-enrolled) than Republicans or Democrats.
Thank you to Patch’s Brooklyn Lowery for getting this info published so quickly yesterday. As far as I can tell, it’s the only one out there as of this posting time.
http://newton.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/who-will-be-on-the-municipal-ballot-this-fall
Correction- also here as referenced by a newer post.
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/newton/2013/07/four_candidates_will_vie_for_mayor_in_newton.html