Governor’s Council candidate Charlie Shapiro posted this on his Facebook page this evening.
To all our supporters: It appears that enough of the results are in to show that the incumbent will remain in office. A huge thank you to those who supported our campaign and took time to be helpful in a host of ways.I’m very proud to have run an honest, respectful, and fact-based campaign.Again, thank you for all you have done and I look forward to seeing you in the near future.
I don’t know how she does it.
WTactualF.
Unbelievable. Seriously…..
I saw nothing on the Globe website about the letter business. Incredible.
@Gail: She does it because most people don’t pay much attention to down-ticket races so incumbents have a big advantage.
Bigger picture: I believe we’d be better off doing away with the Governor’s Council and transferring their responsibilities to the House or the Senate. Sen. Joyce has brought forward bills to that effect in the past. Hopefully he or someone else will do so again – and hopefully if they do the bills will move forward this time.
Quite unbelievable that people can actually fill in a bubble next to her name.
Chris G is exactly right. Disband this group. And reform the Lt Gov position, the position that has no role but to show up at the Gov Council meetings (12 times a year if they can do it, if not, no biggie..)
Julie, there was no story to tell, really. Not one of the suggested endorsers of the “letter” (campaign propaganda) came out and said they didn’t support what she was trying to say. There was only one that said she didn’t sign THAT letter, meaning she thought she was supporting Mrs Devaney but not with those words. The purpose of the crudely crafted campaign material was that she took offense that someone would say in public that it’s outright unethical for a councilor do due diligence before a formal hearing. So is it unethical for Alderman to meet that a developer and ask site questions before a vote. Restricting access and restricting due diligence is just not how anyone should want govt the work
Sorry for the name typo Julia (as well as the others)
Hoss, it still strikes me as a pretty big story. Whether the charges were valid or not, someone who is expected to vet judicial candidates is comfortable making written allegations in public without any documentation, signing others names without seeking agreement on the content, and, well, writing below the 5th grade level. All lacking in basic legal concepts, if you ask me. All parties involved share responsibility if they don’t speak out, and they’re going to continue picking judges. That’s newsworthy.
Hi Adam — The story: “General Council Follies continued” can still be written. Maybe ask the area editor of the Globe or Herald if there’s interest. I think there would be. I don’t blame either of those papers for not printing something in a rush like Metrowest did. That opinion letter that Metrowest ran on-line (I think it was also in print) was repeated on other Gatehouse Media sites. It suggests that anyone can write an opinion letter, sign a name, and no one will verify if the signer originated it. I wonder if Metrowest even called the Devaney camp to ask if the letter came from them?
Maybe everyone was too harsh on the intelligence of voters — I’m seeing the Patricia Campatelli lost!
3-5 odds that she runs for General Council next time. Anyone taking?
but that’s exactly what newspapers are supposed to do, report the news. What MW ran was the letter, not actual reporting, right? @JimMorrisonTab did cover the story, but unfortunately only to a limited audience.
I’m extremely sorry that Charlie didn’t win. I hope this issue will not go away. It shouldn’t. It’s politics at its worst. At least one member of the Council has already stated that he didn’t sign Devaney’s letter. I’m almost certain others did not do so, as well. I think it will speak volumes about the entire Council if their names were falsely used in Devaney’s letter and they don’t condemn it in the strongest possible terms.
@Gail-Other than one online story regarding the letter that Councillor Duff said she didn’t sign, there was not one story in any media that we could find about the race itself. No context or info on candidates. No op-ed/candidate interviews. No reporters showed up at either debate. Maybe it would not have changed the results at all…or maybe it would have. Mine was a respectful, honest, and fact-based race.
@Hoss-
The issue was not that any Councillor was meeting individually with nominees. That’s fine, although I think 4-6 hours is excessive. The issue is that when topic that were discussed during those meetings are brought up during open Council meetings, the incumbent would usually say “…we covered it when we met and we don’t need to go through that here.”
Regarding the letter: My understanding is that she hand wrote a short couple of paragraphs relating to it being OK for private meetings, and then after the Councillors agreed with her on that, she wrote a whole scathing attack around it..and then still claimed it was authorized by her colleagues. I think that’s probably why Duff said she didn’t sign “that” letter.
There is simply no way sitting Councillors (several of who are attorneys) would ever allow themselves to be used as unknowing props tossing around random and false charges to benefit her political campaign.
Also @Hoss-The meetings are weekly. Every Wednesday for the most part.
Has Sean Ftzgibbons backed up his spineless allegations that Shapiro used fake endorsements? Almost as sleazy as Devaney. Pure party hack. Either prove it or keep quiet.
What’s this about Shawn allegations? Can somebody fill me in ?
I am upset about Charlie. Upset about Steve Grossman. Despite my favorable pre-disposition to Charlie based on his service in Newton, I made a point of watching the candidate debates to be fair. My conclusion was that I could not see why anyone would vote for Devaney based on her presentation of her candidacy.
I’m not sure about whether the office of Governor’s Council should exist or not. If it does exist, I prefer having someone like Charlie represent me
@Karen: Here
@Karen: First thank you for the kind words.
Anytime someone starts off a comment with “Gee, I’m not sure I should say this…but….” or “Probably shouldn’t wade into these waters, but…” chances are they know they shouldn’t be saying it to start with.
Shawn’s little last minute mini-Molotov cocktail was clearly a red herring since the topic was actually whether Ms. Devaney signed elected officials’ names to a letter filled with personal attacks on me that at least one Councillor specifically said she never saw…and two others were iffy about it at best.
I am very gratified to have received 66% of the vote in Newton, and I really don’t think that one blog comment had any impact on anything other than to force several people to spend time re-confirming their support to a TAB reporter.
Kind of had that “fiddle while Rome burns” feel to it. The Gov. Council being Rome, of course.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/fiddle+while+Rome+burns