Four candidates — Francis Azzarto, Barbara Brousal-Glaser, Jeanne Marrazzo and Maria Manning — will compete Sept. 9 in a run off election for the Ward 3 Aldermen’s seat left vacent following the death of alderman Sal Salvucci.
The TAB’s Jenna Fisher published short profiles of each candidate this week.
Who do you support? Vote in our poll and make your pitch in the comments section.
[polldaddy poll=”8219227″]
Candidates, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section too! (And tell us if you have a website, I could only find one for Brousal-Glaser.)
I don’t live in Ward 3 and can only judge these candidates from what I’ve read in the Tab. On that basis alone, Barbara Brousal-Glaser is best articulating the urgent challenges related to over-development, neighborhood schools, and village preservation and enhancement. She’s describing specific challenges in Ward 3 only, but they are precisely the same things that have grabbed the attention of all the Ward 5 Area Councils in Newton Highlands, Waban and Upper Falls.
The Tab ran another piece on the candidates in late June as well:
http://newton.wickedlocal.com/article/20140619/NEWS/140615580/
@Meredith Berg — There is much more coverage coming in August, including Questions of the Week with the candidates starting next Wednesday. Let us know if there are issues you’d like to see addressed.
I made an error in my original post. According to City Clerk David Olson, the election is on Sept. 9. Special elections for aldermen and School Committee seats “do not have a provision for preliminary elections.”
As some one who has taken to roaming the streets of West Newton every evening taking different routes each night, it is not suprising to see Barbara Brousal-Glaser so much in the lead … her signs are the only ones that I see out.
I really LOVE that we have multiple candidates for this seat, but it would be nice to know a little more about the other candidates too. Why run if one is not going to interact with the community?
I did see Maria Manning at the Farmer’s Market once and tried to talk to her, but she was rather engrossed with her campaign helper. Perhaps I’ll see her again this weekend.
This is a local seat with very little ground to cover … there is really no excuse for the candidates to make the opportunity connect with just about every voter in person. Join the West Newton walking club and hit every doorstep by election day!
Why got all hot and bothered — make a case here!
Barbara Brousal-Glaser was a school organizer for last year’s successful override campaign.
Gee, I wonder who the Political Insider Group has anointed this year.
@josh: you realize that your very opposition to a candidate likely represents an influx of support for that candidate, right?
@Greg, the only people opposed to what I say on this blog are you, Gail and a bunch of sockpuppets who are unable or unwilling to use their names.
The one good thing about all the people on this blog supporting Barbara the tax-grabber is that very few of them live north of the pike.
Left-wing Democrats like Barbara B-G have had an iron grip control over this city’s government since 1994. That means they own all of its problems. They can’t blame anyone but themselves for Newton’s rotting infrastructure and its $1.16 Billion stack of outstanding debt and other liabilities. What a wonderful time to run against the NDCC Political Establishment.
@Joshua. I think you make a mistake in trying to pigeon hole Newton political leaders and activists into either a liberal left or conservative slot. I think you needlessly cut yourself off from down the road collaboration with groups and people you never thought you could work with.
Personally, I don’t think most people or most issues divide themselves so neatly. I mention that I would probably vote for Brousal Glaser if I lived in Ward 3 because issues pertaining to over development are of very great concern to me and the other three candidates haven’t demonstrated deep thought about many of the things in Newton that concern me. I hardly see this exclusively as a left/right issue in Newton–or indeed a north versus south Newton issue. I don’t see the sense in creating divisions where they may not exist, or burning bridges to people or groups that might be with you on a subsequent issue or challenge.
Some development issues bother me, but don’t bother other people while there are issues that bother them that I might be able to live with. There are several people in Newton I’ve collaborated with on village and development issues and some educational issues who are to the right of me on national political issues, sometimes far to the right. I don’t see this as a problem. I see it as an exciting opportunity to identify with them personally, find “common ground” as Ken Parker Would say, build bridges and learn what makes them tick politically. Sometimes I even find they have things I should consider.
What Bob said.
…. “sometimes you catch more flies with honey”
Bob & Jerry, when a congressional candidate running for office this year wanted to find out and expose his opponent for not being sincere with his campaign rhetoric, I was the guy his campaign manager contacted. I show no favoritism to candidates when evaluating them on the issues.
I’m glad that Barbara was at least honest that she supports raising taxes instead of promoting proper fiscal stewardship. However, her left-wing views on taxes are why I am skeptical of the prospect of her serving on the Board of Aldermen.
Sometimes, standing on principle means standing alone from the crowd.
@Joshua. There’s nothing wrong and it’s almost always healthy to stand apart from the crowd. I admire political leaders that do so whether it’s Barry Goldwater, and Bob Taft or Gene McCarthy, Paul Wellstone and Russ Feingold. I think Jerry and I are simply saying that it doesn’t have to always get personal. I’ll support Bernie Sanders if he gets into the Democratic Presidential primaries not just because he raises reform issues I believe the nation needs to hear, but also because he never personally attacks opponents or people with different views. Vermonters will tell you that’s one reason he scored 70% in his first run for the U.S. Senate while a pretty Conservative Republican was drawing roughly 60 % in the Governor’s race.
Thank you Mr. Norman for your interest in this campaign. I am very proud of having supported the tax override, and have seen its positive effects first hand at my daughter’s school (Burr Elementary), where there is now a new modular classroom, and a teacher to teach in it. However, I don’t think of myself as someone who will always vote to raise taxes. You and I have never met, but I’d be happy to talk more in depth about this if you’d like.
Jeanne Marrozzo has a website, as well as a Facebook & Twitter page.
http://www.jeanneward3.com/
@Barbara, thank you for your reply. How are you voting on Question 1 and Question 2 at the November ballot this year?
Hi Joshua! Greg, Gail, and several others can tell you that I’m very much real.
They can also tell you that I’ve supported many of the candidates you do (although politically I live very far to your left).
Your endorsements make me question my judgement.
No longer a registered Newton voter, just came back to check on Fleishman again and now I’ll be on my merry way.
Barbara was the candidate that pushed the override through that increased taxes for homeowners all over Newton and that tax increase doesn’t go awat. Do we really want to vote in another alderman that would push to raise taxes? Vote Jeanne Marrazzo if you want your voice heard at city hall. If you want Barbara to vote for more tax increases then, she would be your candidate
Marianne – while I was not one of them, over 50% of Newton voters supported the override. So if you want to blame anyone, blame your fellow residents for passing the override rather than Barbara Brousal-Glaser. We are an educated city rather than a flock of sheep so if people believed the override was the wrong way to go it would not have passed no matter how good the team was on pushing it.
If you take the time to review Barbara’s website you will see that she shares some of the more pressing concerns of West Newton residents.
http://www.brousal-glaser.com/
Would you care to state why you feel that Jeanne Marrazzo would be a better candidate? What differentiators does she bring to the table? Her website unfortunately says very little about why she’s running for alderman yet the elections are only a month away. In fact it says nothing other than give some background on who she is and that she will try to represent the people of Ward 3 as well as Ald. Salvucci did. While that is noble it doesn’t say anything about what she believes in or why she’s running for alderman.
Also, I’d like to know if Jeanne Marrazzo voted for or against the override. Since her husband is the custodian at Burr School I assume she knew first hand the dire need for funds to rectify the overcrowding.
I understand why Marianne said that because I too feel it is a bit different if you just voted for the override like the 50% but it is another thing if as it states on Barbara’s website she ” was a school organizer for last year’s successful override campaign”
I am sure that 50% that voted against the override will find it hard to support someone who was active in that campaign.
Ben Miller, I’m quite disappointed in your response.
if it wasn’t for people like me, Newton’s Political Insider Group would have had a clean sweep in the elections last year. People like me helped elect reform-oriented candidates not backed by Newton’s Political Establishment.
@Josh: ha ha ha ha
Please don’t get too carried away with the over 50% of Newton’s residents voted for the override. You need to put that number in perspective. How many voters went to the polls that day?
There are 70,000+ eligible to vote. How many voted?
That’s right Jo-Louise, only 17.5% of registered Newton voters voted for the override. Yet the Mayor and the Newton Political Establishment view it as a mandate for more wasteful spending on lavish compensation for unions as well as sacred cows like 583 out-of-district students that cost $8 Million annually.
Our election system had never been a negative-proxy system; meaning residents need to cast a vote or individuals are assumed opposed of gawd-knows what.
@Joshua – that always works both ways – I.e. less than 17 percent of registered voters voted against the override.
Jerry, you missed the point.
I was trying to say that proponents of the override shouldn’t interpret the override’s results as a mandate to go back to the bad old days of fiscally imprudent spending growth. Unfortunately, Newton’s Political Establishment believes it has a mandate to boost spending to levels that David Cohen couldn’t even imagine.
Meet the new boss, worse than the old boss.
Regarding my earlier posts about Barbara Brousal-Glaser, I can really call them. Barbara Brousal-Glaser was endorsed by Gerry C, Kurt Kusiak, Anne Larner & Joe DeNucci’s daughter-in-law MaryBeth. The same people pushing David Cohen, Newton North and the overrides are the same people pushing Barbara Brousal-Glaser.
http://www.brousal-glaser.com/communityendorsements
I asked Bill Heck his opinion of Barbara Brousal-Glaser’s performance at last week’s candidate forum and here is what he had to say about her:
“OH MY, SHE WANTS INTO THE INSIDE, AND I AM SURE THE CLIQUE WANTS HER IN TOO! AN EMPTY SUIT. CLUELESS ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT RESPONSIBILITY OF AN ALDERMAN — SETTING THE TAX LEVY AND APPROVING THE BUDGET, AKA, HOLD THE PURSE STRINGS.”
NEWTON’S REPUTATION CONSISTENTLY EXCEEDS ITS PERFORMANCE. If we want to change that, we can’t keep electing candidates backed by the same Political Insider Group that put Newton into its $1.16 Billion hole of debt and unfunded retirement benefit liabilities.