Nearly all of the candidates for Charter Commission, Aldermen/City Council and School Committee swapped their views at a well-run day-long series of forums in Newton Highlands on Sunday.
Thanks to the three Ward 5 Area Councils for organizing and to all who contributed, including moderators Gloria Gavris and Marjorie Arons-Barron.
We hope to have video from the events later this week or soon after that.
But, for now, if you were there, share your impressions. Did any candidate win you over or change your mind about how you will vote on Nov. 3?
Thank you to the area councils for hosting the events, to our moderators, especially Gloria Gavris who did a wonderful job at the Charter Commission forum despite there being 21 candidates, and to all the citizens who took time out of their Sunday to come hear about the important work the Charter Commission will be doing (if the question passes).
If you have any questions I didn’t answer at the forum, please feel free to check out my website, where you can read a bit more and email me, call me, or shoot me a line on social media.
Both events were a great way to get up to speed on the whole constellation of candidates for the charter commission, the school committee, and the city council.
For me the most interesting and compelling segment of the night was the Ward 5 aldermen. It might be because I live in Ward 5 or that I know and like all the candidates. Aside from that, that seemed to be where most of the sparks flew.
Challenger Chris Pitts came out swinging. He was clear, articulate and was definitely targeting sitting alderwoman Deb Crossley. Chris Pitts and Brian Yates seem to be running together with the support of the Newton Village Alliance to unseat Deb Crossley. That would seem to be a very good strategy for newcomer Pitts and he clearly is very passionate about these issues. As Greg Reibman pointed out on another thread, it seems like a bit of a strange move for Brian Yates.
Last time around in 2013 Deb Crosssley was the top vote getter in Ward 5. This time around, with Yates and Pitts actively campaigning against Crossley, it would seem to give her already large base of supporters a very good reason to give her a single “bullet” vote since both the other candidates are campaigning against her.
Curious times indeed in Ward 5
The afternoon event at the Hyde Center featured (I think) 21 of the 22 candidates for the Charter Commission. I think this event was a great public service by the three Area Councils that put the event together.
It will be an uphill battle to engage the voting public in the somewhat esoteric, though very important, Charter Commission election. Everybody I talked to after the event had nearly the same reaction. They all appreciated the opportunity to get a first time look at the large slate of candidates. After listening to them, they all crossed a couple of candidates off their list (which candidates got nixed depended on the individuals personal leanings). Everyone I spoke to who was wow’ed by the general quality, commitment, and qualifications of the 20+ candidates.
For me, the highlight of the day was Josh Krintzman. He is an eminently qualified candidate for the job. He works for the state as the Deputy Senate Council and reviews other towns and city’s proposed charter changes. That would seem to be an ideal background for this position … and it is. What got me though was that he was a stand-up comedy level funny guy. At each question, Josh’s response made me laugh. Best moment though was when moderator Gloria Gavris threw a great non-question to the panel of candidates. She said “OK, you’ve been elected. It’s the first meeting of the commission. What do you do? Get on with it”.
There was a slight pause of confusion and Josh suddenly stepped into the void and quickly nominated himself as president, Charlie Shapiro jumped in as vice president and before the meeting had started there had been a palace coup. He also quickly jumped and made a nostalgic comment about remembering their 13 co-candidates who hadn’t been elected
Yes I know, it’s not essential for the job but I do love a good sense of humor in my elected officials.
As for my personal preferences … as I told a few candidates tonight. I’m a rather shallow and self-centered voter. My first criteria for picking a candidate is – have they come to a production of the Newton Nomadic Theater? It’s not too late for any of you to get my vote. Tickets available here.
@Jerry, I like your criteria!
On other topics, I wanted to echo what Bryan said above. The campaign for Charter Review Commission is an unusual one, and I really appreciate the opportunity to speak with everyone about what the commission is, and what I would bring to the game. Thanks very much to the three Area Councils.
By the way, if you do want to learn more, please take a look at http://www.steele4newton.org
@Jerry, Agreed, Josh provided much-needed comic relief to the afternoon!
The candidate pool is incredibly strong, and voters have their work cut out for them to choose only 9 candidates. I also very much appreciated the opportunity to meet all the interested voters and to talk about charter reform, a subject that I’m passionate about.
If you missed the forum, or if you were there and want more information, please visit my website.
http://rhannakidwell.com/
Here’s my website link, for those who don’t know our names link to our website (if we have one): http://www.bryanbarash.com/
Thanks to everyone involved. I regret not staying as I wasn’t feeling well. I can only really speak for my panel, I left in the middle of the second panel. I am so proud of running in such a high quality race. Everyone brings something to the campaign. Good luck to all.
As long as we’re at it, you can visit my website at http://www.janefrantz.org (note the org!)
Oh, dear, It appears I’ve had a hack! my first comment was to thank the areas councils for hosting an informative event. As expected, Gloria Gravis did a terrific job of moderating and it was clear that the area councils put a lot of thought into planning this complicated event.
The hack was only to my name which was changed. If you see a posting from “fane”, it’s me!
An impressive show and turnout for the Charter Reform candidates yesterday afternoon at the Hyde School. I’m a member of the Highlands Area Council; while I really had little to do with setting up or promoting these two events, I was very proud of how everything took place and the spirited, but positive and informative responses from all the candidates.
There was a lot of talk yesterday about “transparency”, and it’s now clear that the decision by the 3 area councils to hold these debates set the stage for making the whole Charter Reform process itself much more transparent. Area Councils seem finally to have come of age in Newton.
Every candidate did a fine job of introducing themselves and their initial ideas. A special thanks to Tom Sheff. He continued to promote charter reform with defined actions through whole periods when it seemed to be languishing.
The area councils did a great job of organizing and facilitating the Charter Review candidates forum I was honored to be able to participate.
Thank you Bob.
Thank you for the kind words, Jerry and Rhanna! Charter reform is a very important topic and we have a lot of serious candidates seeking to participate. I believe that enjoying oneself and conducting important government work are not mutually exclusive activities. I’m glad that my attempts at humor were enjoyable to some of the people in attendance.
As I said at the forum, it was incredibly encouraging to see how many people turned out for the event. The neighborhood area councils did such an excellent job of managing and promoting an event that was probably very difficult to pull off. Gloria did a fantastic job of explaining the charter commission process, asking pertinent questions and keeping the event from getting boring or stale. She moved everything along while also giving each candidate sufficient opportunity to express himself or herself.
I look forward to meeting more people over the next month and continuing to spread the word about the importance of November 3rd. But one thing is clear from Sunday, Newton has many capable residents who are willing to dedicate their time to helping improve our city. What a wonderful situation for us to enjoy!
Here is a perspective one voter who saw the first two hours of the debate. The debate gave me a chance to see what the candidates look like and hear a summary of their resumes. This information is easily available on a candidate’s website. As a voter, I want to understand the differences in how candidates think Charter reform can improve local government. I also want to know which candidates have thought deeply about the issues. In this respect, the debate was a disappointment. Unless voters can see distinctions between candidates in these important areas, this election will be decided solely on how well socially connected the candidate is.
Hi Jeffrey – You identified the problem that arises when there are so many candidates in a race. As I mentioned, the area councils and Gloria did a fantastic job of organizing an event that had many challenges given the ground that needed to be covered.
The LWV is organizing two evenings to meet charter commission candidates. The first is on October 14th at NNHS and the second is on October 21st at NSHS, both from 7pm-9pm.
If you want to speak to me, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] and we can set up a time to talk. Just last night, a resident called because she wanted to know more about my thinking on a particular issue. I’m sure other candidates are receiving calls as well. Once you throw your hat into the ring, candidates should be available to have conversations with residents.
Jane, having many candidates makes things more difficult, but numbers aside, I don’t think the debate helped me learn. Most of the questions did not delve into distinctions, and when they did everyone answered the same way.
I can’t do the 10/21 event, so I will try to attend the 10/14 event. Thanks for the email address. You are one candidates that I don’t need much information about (along with Charlie and Tom) since I have learned a lot about your approach from blogs.
Just another thought-the answers had to be very short and to the point for this particular forum. That just was the reality the area councils faced in planning the event.
The LWV event has a different format that will allow residents to have longer conversations with individual charter commission candidates.
I haven’t got any calls, yet. 617-795-7076, call me, we’ll talk we’ll have coffee talk (not sure if that’s the right quote). Seriously I am open to talking about anyone about anything relevant of the charter commission. Thanks.