Mayoral candidates Tom Sheff and Jackie Sequiera attracted a combined 487 votes or eight percent of the turnout in Tuesday’s preliminary election. But was their contribution larger or more significant than their results? Here’s two comments from this week offering two different takes…
From “JHolden”…
Tom and Jackie are sincere Newtonites but why should we thank them for running?
Good people that they may be, neither of them brought thought provoking or illuminating issues to the discussion. Neither of them put on a serious campaign (fund raising or gaining support). The greatest achievement of both campaigns was to gather signatures, forcing the city to spend money on a citywide primary. They wrote a few letters to the TAB and showed up at one debate. Not much investment on their part, the investment was strictly from the taxpayers of Newton. Was it worth it? How did Newton benefit?
Our well intended instinct to thank people for participating is wrong. A candidate who does not make a viable effort, who has no chance for winning, who doesn’t bring a new or provocative message to the discussion, who diverts taxpayer money for the sake of their vanity should be met with scorn not thanks.
A lot of ink has been spilled questioning why Tom, Jackie and even Ted decided to challenge a popular and successful mayor and some of the things they might have said or done differently in the campaign. I’m a strong supporter of the Mayor’s reelection, but I have nothing but admiration for any citizen that will step forward and do something like this. It takes real courage to put yourself in a public fishbowl under these circumstances and all three candidates, whether you agree with them or not, have shown real courage in the past for unpopular or controversial issues they have championed. They have worked and advocated the way good citizens should for what they see as the public good.
I would not discourage anyone from running; it shows a commitment to the community that too few of us make (myself included).
I’ll let the vote total speak for what the community thought of Tom and Jackie’s chances, but I would be loathe to consider that a rebuke of their decisions to run.
I completely agree with Doug. Civic involvement and willingness to step up to do the hard work is to be applauded.
I parked my vote w Jackie. It might be my one and only chance to thank her for approaching Bernard Law and outing his leadership as a sham (in addition to her original charge of putting Shanley away). I support the Mayor’s reelection but no one’s perfect and there’s room for improvement
People run for office with a variety of intentions — to win and serve, to increase their visibility for another election, to keep an incumbent on their toes, because they believe that all races should be contested, to elevate their platform for discussing important issues, to feed their ego, and I’m sure plenty of other noble and less than noble reasons.
Our system encourages participation by having an easy threshold — just collect enough signatures. It allows a candidate to define for themselves what “serious” means. “How does Newton benefit?”. Fundamentally, the benefit is that anyone, for any reason, can participate. The single low threshold essentially defines benefit that way.
Who but the candidate can define “serious”, using what accepted standard? Was Scott Brown a serious candidate in his senate run against Martha Coakley? After all, he no chance in a Democratic-majority state with a well known, well connected, well financed opponent.
Jackie also had a very powerful and thoughtful statement about the pressing need for more affordable senior housing in Newton if we want older people who have lived here for many, many years to remain in the community. This resonated with me as did Jeff Seidman’s comments about why he moved to Waltham a year or so ago. There’s a lot of new housing or giant homes for very affluent newcomers, but precious little for most seniors who really want to stay here. We will almost certainly have to move out of Newton if we have to leave our wonderful house here because of health or mobility issues. There’s simply not anything else here that is nearly as nice at a price we can afford while still continuing to travel, sail and do some other things Joanne and I enjoy doing.
BOB BURKE,
I hate to burst your bubble, but there are a lot of people with serious financial issues in the world, including around here. For Newton to arrange “more affordable senior housing” that you and your wife “can afford while still continuing to travel, sail and do some other things Joanne and I enjoy doing”, seems pretty inconsiderate. I don’t do those things in general because I can’t afford them and I accept my lot and don’t expect others to cover me. I think you need to re-think what you expect your government to do. If you want to have your cake and eat it, so to speak, go somewhere else, like Jeff did. As much as I don’t like Ted H-M’s views in general, I more respect someone who cares about the homeless and disadvantaged than a spoiled Newtonite who wants to sail and travel.
It’s pretty amazing actually that you’d say this.
I am now waiting for someone to blame someone else on the low voter turnout in Newton’s preliminary. I actually got an email from a neighbor who told me that their polling place was closed at 7:30pm. That’s just wrong.
BTW – there are 12 candidates for the Mayor’s office in Boston. Are the Boston blogs crying out certain are not qualified to run?
@Janet: I don’t know about the Boston blogs but absolutely the Globe, the Herald, WBUR, WGBH and others consistently frame that contest in terms of top tier, secondary and lower tier candidates and how much those candidates contribute to or detract from the process. Of course, with 12 candidates and no incumbent the margin between candidates is smaller as is the chance for a surprise or two but, yes, they’re talking about it.
@ Barry, I strongly suspect Bob was simply talking of the ability to downsize into some more affordable, and that Newton doesn’t have so many properties like that. I don’t think he was talking about “affordable housing” in the legal sense.
I’m quite sure Jeff Seideman bought something in Waltham that was smaller and more affordable than for a similar place in Newton. His place in Waltham is definitely not “affordable housing.”
@Barry. I find what you say a bit astounding. I live with my sister and we have no kids. I’m a veteran and have never objected to paying a hefty property tax to help educate the kids here and for other things we don’t directly benefit from. We feel good about it because it makes us feel like we are more part of this community. This may sound old fashioned, but it’s the way people used to think in the past.
I’ve also been active in a number of organizations and causes, many of which you probably also support. I’ve been paying property taxes here for more than 50 years. We give far more to this community than we receive from it, financially and otherwise. Almost all older people who still live here do the same. A lot of people move here, get their kids educated, and then move out as quickly as possible. We want to stay in Newton because we were born here and have a lot of good friends in the community. At our age, it would be tough to replicate these friendships elsewhere.
I don’t own a boat and I don’t sail much outside of Boston Harbor and Dorchester Bay. I sail at Courageous Sailing in Charlestown where I race with members of the Umass Boston Sailing Team who taught me to sail when I hit 70 6 or so years back. That’s a real joy at my age. The yearly senior membership is less than $500.00 and I can take out 3 different kinds of sailboats anytime I want except I don’t because I’m a bit old to solo in the Harbor. We can go a lot of different places. When we and other seniors leave Newton, this community will be the poorer for it. Maybe this will explain why I thought Jackie’s statements about senior housing were right on target.
BOB BURKE,
You need to be careful how you word what you say. If you travel and sail as cheaply as you say, then it’s unrelated to the housing issue, it seems to me.
Also, your situation is specific to you. It is what I call a “red herring” and should not be the basis for civic policy.
Compared to places like Weston and Carlisle, Newton is already pretty diverse. There’s already a lot of rental housing and a wide variety of prices of houses and condos, even if the median price is high.
Many seniors choose to leave Newton when they sell their houses, either to other local communities or to places like Florida. I know many who have. The fact that you want to stay in Newton is your issue, and you need to figure out how to do it. It, as I said, shouldn’t be the basis for public policy.
Barry Cohen — Leaving aside that not all long term Newton residents will have equity when they retire — if the Commonwealth desires and Newton agrees – which they have – to set aside 10% of housing to be in a subsitized situation, why is it not appropriate that Newton seniors get priority treatment? You lost me
Hoss,
I don’t know what the law is, but whatever it is, the law is the law. That’s not what we were discussing.
I think BOB is a diehard participating Democrat from his blog posts. I’m no Republican, but I do believe that people need to generally solve their own problems. The problem with many Democrats is that they find some person or a few people with a problem and they try to make a grand public program out of it, which ultimately draws in a lot of people who didn’t really need or want the program and they cost the rest of us a lot of money. They believe that it’s the government’s duty to assure that no-one ever has to face adversity and conquer it, and in the end everyone is in an adverse situation because of their “solutions”.
I’m through for now. Have a good week-end.
@Barry. I think it was you and not me that raised sailing and traveling as an issue. I simply referenced it as something I would like to continue doing whether I stay in Newton. I think we are talking past each other and have exhausted the topic. Just please don’t ask me to go to a senior retirement community in Florida where the highlight of the day is the “early bird special” and daily games of golf which just bore the hell out of me. I tried that for 2 months in winter a few years back and decided early on that it just wasn’t for me. I would much rather spend most of the winter here in Newton and I don’t mind shoveling my walk or trudging through the snow to the T.
And yes, I think there are things other than market forces that are needed for a healthy community. If that makes me a Democrat, so be it. I’m pleased my values aren’t Tea Party values. I’ve found a lot of people over my 77 years who stopped thinking they “should be able to solve their own problems” when it became apparent to them that they could not. You never know when some awful and unforeseen event will intrude into your life and force you to seek public help. Life is fickle and full of surprises. It could happen to you or me tomorrow.
Bob – amen!
I would also like to say that the idea of wanting to stay in one’s long-term community is perfectly reasonable, and that Newton could benefit from smaller developments that cater to young adults and seniors for whom smaller and reasonably priced quarters would fit the bill.
And given our overcrowded schools, there is added value to new developments being one or two bedroom oriented.
Everything that Bob Burke has said! Bob, you represent the best of Newton in every way.
Yes, if it wasn’t clear I believe that Bob is a class act.
Thanks everyone. The only thing I’d change from what I wrote to Barry is the notion that I’ve somehow given more to Newton than I’ve received from it. That’s simply not true. I benefited from receiving a first rate education here during the 50’s and all the great progressive things here that have shaped my life and values. And for all the friends like you that I have here. Again, it would be almost impossible to replicate all of this if we left Newton and for that I’m grateful.
Sheff is good for Newton. There is no quit in that guy. He is thoughtful and cares.
For what it’s worth, in that it comes from me, if no one ever steps up to run even when the odds seem insurmountable, the result is a coronation and none of the legitimate issues and concerns ever get debated.
I also disagree that neither Tom nor Jackie brought anything to this race. For example, Tom focused like a laser on the growing unfunded liabilities for retiree benefits. And Jackie raised what I think are important questions about the dismissal of the police chief and the handling of the police secretary’s lawsuit against the city and the Mayor. I saw both of them at many public events and I know that they attended many others which conflicted with board and committee meetings for me, where they talked to voters about their issues. Tom in particular seemed to be ubiquitous and tireless in campaigning.
Steve Seigel’s final point is also a good one. Sometimes, when a race looks like David vs. Goliath, one would do well to remember who won that battle.
BOB BURKE represents a Democrat who wants others to take care of him. I don’t know him personally, and maybe the people who are supporting him do, but to demand a governmental action to solve a personal issue is the problem, and the supporters are just emphasizing how widespread this “take care of me” philosophy is.
Originally, government existed to perform functions that we thought a government was supposed to do. Now, thanks to “progressives”, it’s become a mechanism for simply stealing from one part of the community to give to another part of the community in a Robin Hood approach to governing. I don’t buy it, but many here seem to think that’s just fine.
I have to agree with Ted here.
In 2009, Bill Heck ran for Mayor at the urging of his son. While he finished 4th, he brought up many thoughtfully articulated concerns about Newton’s structural spending. I think that helped play a part in the rate of Newton’s spending growth easing under Setti Warren versus David Cohen.
Earlier this year, people dismissed Moving Newton Forward With Fiscal Responsibility’s chances of defeating the override cause we started so late and we had a shoestring Institutional Presence relative to the pro-override group. While we did not defeat the override, we still got 45% (while Romney and Gomez got 25%), we were willing to raise awareness about Newton’s sacred spending cows and Bill Heck and I received great praise for our efforts. Of course, we would also give credit to our alumni at Moving Newton Forward With Fiscal Responsibility for their part as well.
http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/newton/2013/01/31/newton-residents-form-anti-override-group/#axzz2fPGjXsfx
One thing Tom Sheff could have done better with his campaign would have been if he had studied the state’s OPEB reform proposal as well as addressing the health insurance subsidies. Calling for an OPEB override did not help his campaign as the people likely to have cast a protest vote for him did not see any real difference between him and his opponents.
Thanks Kim, Ted and Josh. Let me set something straight, again. I DID not call for an override for OPEB. I have said this to Josh to his face and I have said it in forums like this close to a dozen times and all Josh wants to talk about is a quote in the tab (maybe I mispoke at the Tab interview or maybe they misquoted me),but I have said it one way enough times for Josh to stop quoting the ridiculous Tab article that quite frankly was an embarrassment to read. What I said over and over again was that I would go from community to community to seek the best possible solution and educate people on OPEB. I feel that the only viable solution so far, that would be accepted by the citizens of Newton and city employees, was a debt exclusion override. I did not and still do not believe that an override is 100% imminent. I don’t agree that your solution would fly in Newton, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t another viable solution that would.
Josh, you can keep quoting that same one article, I can go find what I said above, several times on this blog alone where I said differently. If you go to the debate online, you will see the answer I just putforth. This is how rumors get started, please stop telling people what was quoted or misquoted in the Tab. Tell them the other 2 dozen times I said the opposite.