dEarly indications that there would be a crowded field of candidates for Charter Commission seems to have given way to a different reality. With nomination papers due this Tuesday, Sept. 22, only ten candidates have been certified as of Sept 17 to run for the nine slots
Is anyone else running? Does anyone else share my concern that this is far too important to not be a genuinely competitive process?
Jane Frantz
Bryan Barash
Brooke K. Lipsitt
Howard Haywood
G. Groot Gregory
Thomas Sheff
Christopher Steele
Joshua Krintzman
Rhanna Kidwell
Miles Fidelman
@Greg, I am not sure you should worry. Talk on the street is more candidates will be submitting papers by the deadline. Perhaps we need a V14 poll, I predict 19 candidates 🙂
Not to worry. At least 5 or 6 other candidates have submitted signatures waiting to be certified, 24 ( I think) people have pulled papers, and that’s removing the names of people who’ve said they’re not running. I was at the Election Commission at 3:30 today.
I have no doubt more will submit their papers.
It should be a good race, looking forward to talking with more of our neighbors about this and with my fellow potential commissioners.
The fact that there are so few people interested in being on this commission probably indicate a lack of interest in the whole process. I’ve expressed my opinion that this is a waste of time and will only benefit those who have a radical idea of what Newton should be changed to. The character of the candidates should be scrutinized because we are putting a lot of power into the hands of a few people who may have hidden agendas.
@Barry:
Or…the fact that there are so few people interested in being on this commission might indicate that potential candidates understand how much work is involved and don’t want to run unless they have the time and bandwidth to dedicate to the effort.
If you are Catholic, it should be good for time off in Purgatory.
What Gail said. Also, a lot of people contribute to the community in other capacities and serving on the charter commission just didn’t fit into their schedule. When the signatures were validated, I heard a lot of people estimate that 25 people would end up being on the ballot. As it turns out, that estimate may be quite accurate.
@Barry Cohen – If Jane is right and there are 5-6 more candidates who will be certified than that looks like a good result. ~16 candidates running for 11 seats. If so, I think that would be nearly ideal
I’m betting that there will be 18-20 and it’s for 9 seats.
Actually, Jerry, to have be more characteristic of Newton, there would be 11 candidates running for 11 seats. Democracy in action. 🙂
4 more candidates popped up today:
Anne M. Larner
Karen Manning
Lisa R. Teuscher
Peter F. Harrington