Reporter Jenna Fisher tells the story on Patch this week of former PTO President, Oak Hill Park Association President, and Newton Destination Imagination founder Matthew Miller.
The most interesting part to me was this section, which actually contained some background on him I hadn’t heard before:
Miller grew up a latchkey kid in Miami, Florida. His mother was a night nurse and his father a chef. He says he knows what it means to be in the minority in a community: He was the only “out” high school student in high school, then he went to Ohio for undergrad where he was exposed to racism and antisemitism. When he landed at Emerson for Graduate School, he said he finally felt more at home. After grad school he went on to work at a recruiter firm and then started his own small recruiter business. He and his husband adopted a baby and two boys. Along the way he’d been coaching youth Destination Imagination (think Odyssey of the Mind) where ever he went. Then the couple started looking to move to someplace they could afford but with a good school system.
Newton houses weren’t exactly affordable, but they lucked out with a rent that was just doable in the Oak Hill area of the city. They found a gem of a home in the neighborhood that was relatively in their budget. They pleaded with the owners not to sell it to a developer who’d bid on it, too. And won. Miller said he felt like the house with the back yard and the great school system in Newton was a dream come true. Two of his kids are on specialized education plans and they’ve had a great experience in Newton public schools, he said. It was the right choice for his family. So the volunteering began.
“I try to be a good community volunteer. I might not live in a $2 million home, that doesn’t make me less worthy. I’m a part of the community, too,” said Miller.
Disclaimer: I’m supporting Matthew Miller for School Committee.
Matthew will be an excellent school committee member. His professional, volunteer, and life experiences as well as his tireless enthusiasm make him a great asset to Newton.
@Matt Miller who are you supporting for Mayor?
Oh I dee @Claire. Ya like that one? ;) xoxo your new BFF.
How about we start with why he paid a campaign manager $3200? Matthew? can you explain the expenditure please?
Alex, I don’t want Matt to feel attacked or ganged up on. I just want to know he supports (and maybe why) so I can get a measure of the man
@Claire and @Alex, please email me at [email protected] and I would be happy to address each of your questions.
@Matthew: I’d be interested in understanding why you felt you needed a paid campaign manager to run for school committee, something I’ve never heard before.
Perhaps you could share your answer here.
Greg ;
Seeing as how there is no much interest in why Matthew hired me I thought I would take a moment to respond and explain my motivation for accepting the job. When I returned to Newton after working on the Hillary Campaign Matthew and I met and I was impressed by him. He has a strong knowledge of the school system and of the City of Newton and I felt it was important for him to be elected. Additionally as an out gay man myself I felt that it was important for the LGBT community to finally have some much deserved representation. I joined Matthew’s campaign committee and supported him in any way that I could, all unpaid. Late last spring Matthew asked me I would be willing to accept a paid position and I agreed.
I only work for candidates that I believe in and I and many other believe in Matthew. In the months that I have got to know him he has reminded me of another elected official that I know quite well, my mother City Councillor and Former School Committee Member Susan Albright. Like my mother, Matthew got his start in the PTO he worked his way up gaining knowledge of the school system and how it functions. It is this intimate knowledge of how the schools function that will make Matthew a crucial piece for our School Committee. Because he is so invested in the schools he will be motivated to make sure that every child in Newton receives the best education. Secondly, like my mother who for years organized the Community Schools program to provide education enrichment Matthew invested hours of time in building up Destination Imagination in Schools Across the city. Matthew has for years demonstrated his dedication to this City and its students. He has spend the last months canvassing across this city and speaking to and engaging with voters. A candidate so engaged and so willing to listen to voters, that he canvasses all day is the dream for any organizer. He has proven that he can do the hard work, he has proven that he cares about Newton and hes proven that he cares about the students in ourcCity. I will proudly state on my resume that I was his campaign manager and that I worked hard to elect him to the Newton School Committee.
I will close by saying this: I am no longer paid and despite my full time job working on a campaign in another city I am still helping him where I can because I believe that strongly in him and his message.
Are we really going to start complaining about people getting compensated for their work? This seems like a bizarre road to go down. Not everyone can afford to give their time and abilities for free, especially if they already do a lot of volunteer work. The changing economy hasn’t been kind to some of us, especially on the younger age spectrum.
And if the issue is really “this has never been done before” well a) more professionalized and voter-contact-oriented campaigns arrived in Newton about in 2008/2009 and the school committee term limits are such that it happened to be some folks cycling out now, such as in that district, for the first time since that change occurred; b) this very blog has discussed all the turmoil and controversy on the School Committee in the past year or so, which means there’s more attention to the stakes of those races; c) It doesn’t require less effort to run citywide for school committee than to run citywide for some other office like city council, so I don’t see why this is even worth remarking upon in the first place.
I’m genuinely baffled by why this is being brought up.
I am with you Bill, 100%.
@Greg Reibman I have the same question; that being said I appreciate how seriously Matthew is taking this campaign and I intend to vote for him.
@Greg I met Matt well a year ago and I was impressed by his spirit, his intelligence, and his desire to improve education for the school children of Newton. I’m baffled by your focus on the work my son has done for Matt’s campaign. Gail has had an amazing amount of free help from people who make the kind of salary that allows one to live in Newton. I can’t imagine that you think that getting free help from rich people qualifies her to be on the School Committee. Let us allow people decide on the qualifications of the candidates rather than extraneous facts. As a person, I like Gail. As a candidate – I feel Matthew is well qualified and I will be voting for him.
Councilor Albright: It’s an exaggeration to say I’m “focused” on this. I mentioned it once in passing when the reports came out (but never mentioning Matt Miller by name or your son) and once here, but again not mentioning your son. It was great that David responded on Matt’s behalf.
And now back to something I am focused on: the World Series. Have a great night.
Matthew has worked tirelessly for over a year, making solid connections to a wide spectrum of people in the schools and the city. If you look at his list of endorsers, you will see people of all ages and from across the political spectrum.
On the other hand, his opponent has four men in leadership roles who have come as close to badgering Matt as I’ve seen in recent history. She’s never publicly spoken up to tell them to stop and from all signs, it hasn’t happened privately either, Two of these men have implied Matt is not an “adult” or not “mature”. It was his opponent’s first opportunity to take on a leadership role and stand up to these men and she has failed miserably at it.
Matthew Miller is breaking barriers in Newton and that’s a tough position to be in. He’s handled the situation with dignity and maintained his positive attitude. We support you, Matt, and will do everything possible to help you through the next six days.
Honestly Greg, the way you laid out the Campaign Manager tid bit came across a bit sneaky. It didn’t take much based on your support of Gail to guess who you were trying to point out. I’m sure Gail is a great person and good at what she does but Matthew is someone with amazing heart and energy who has volunteered tirelessly for a range of efforts (not only PTO stuff) which is why many people know him from different walks of life. He will do a phenomenal job if elected to the School Committee. He is in touch with what is going on in today’s schools and will give it his all to do the best job he can for all of our students. He is an exceptional human being.
Bryan Barash is an elected official who should not be allowed to post on V14.
Please follow the community rules.
@Paul: Nice of you to share your concerns. Village 14 moderators decided long before the charter commission to restrict posting privileges only to mayor, city council, school committee and candidates for those offices. At the time, we did this because we did not want area councilors to be excluded, which would exclude Bob Burke, Sallee Lipshutz, Groot Gregory and, for two years, me.
@Greg: I’d be interested in understanding why you felt you needed to raise doubt about the campaign of Newton’s only LGBTQ candidate, something I’ve never heard before.
Perhaps you could share your answer here.
@Paul: No censorship here but you might consider slowing down with the comments and give people a chance to respond.
I’m pretty sure Bryan was posting here before the charter commission was created and I’m totally sure no one could have predicted how controversial this would become. In fact for two years the biggest problem seemed to be that no one was paying attention to the charter and only a handful of folks were attending the meetings. The TAB did not have a resources to attend each meeting and I believe it was helpful that at least Bryan was posting updates.
With 20/20 hindsight we might have made a different decision. But I also think Bryan has been a stellar contributor here and has added a lot to conversations far beyond the charter.
@Paul:
I think most folks know I’m an equal opportunity doubt raiser here. (But don’t take my word for it, ask Councilor Norton.) I was not questioning Matt Miller’s sexuality I was questioning why a school committee candidate needed to spend twenty percent of his budget on paid staff.
To the best of my knowledge, no candidate for school committee (and other than Lisle Baker, perhaps no council candidate) has ever had a paid campaign manager before.
One of the great things about our municipal elections is the way it motivates scores of volunteers to get involved in our election process. It’s been that way for generations. Anyone who is worried about big money influencing elections ought to at least be scratching their head about this.
@Paul – Another reason I personally have little concern about Charter Commission members posting here on V14 is that they do not run for re-election.
@Jerry
The charter that they are proposing is on the ballot. That’s as much a conflict as re-election. Barash is not a disinterested observer in that race.
@Greg
Please stop censoring my posts, and please add the one that you have blocked from posting.
@Greg
People can read the other thread to see that you’re making this up as you go along.
You said the rules were no elected officials on V14. Then wrongly stated that Barash was no longer a elected official.
Proven wrong– by Bryan to his credit–now you’re saying that its just Mayor, School Committee and CC.
Its all there for everyone to read.
Why am I being censored? People have a right to know that this isn’t a full open, fair forum for Newton citizens. It may be the best we have, but people should be aware that you’re biasing it ways that suit your agenda.
Getting back to Matthew….. I got to know Matthew more than two years ago on the Newton PTO Council where I think my jaw dropped when he announced that he was serving that year as PTO president of both Oak Hill and Memorial Spaulding. It’s no small feat to serve as president of one PTO, yet Matthew somehow managed his two PTO roles with great dedication (while also running his own business and serving in other volunteer community roles). In my opinion this kind of PTO leadership experience is very valuable for a School Committee member. On PTO Council I was impressed by how Matthew listened to others, sought out advice, and thought creatively about problems. I also saw how committed he is to greater equality in education for all NPS students and the value he places on building strong and inclusive school communities. Given my PTO Council experience, I have not been at all surprised to see how incredibly hard Matthew has worked in his campaign to meet voters and community members in every part of Newton and to hear their concerns. I know he will bring the same energy and commitment to the School Committee and I can’t wait to cast my vote for him.
@Paul – Its clear as day that some elected official have always been allowed to post here. Greg listed three of them above and Greg himself was an elected official (Area Council) when he and Sean started this blog.
The only question worth discussing is whether in retrospect it would have been wiser to include Charter Commissioners in the not-allowed-to-post group (mayor, City Council, School Committee) or the allowed-to-post group (Area Councilors).
When that issue first surfaces last year, there was frankly not much discussion about it. At the time the Charter Commission seemed to be toiling largely in obscurity. The members would be one-time office holders. The commission’s biggest problem at the time was trying to get people interested in the process. When the question was raised about whether Charter Commission members should be allowed to post on Village14, the in depth email discussion went something like this .
“Hey what about people who get on the Charter Commission. Should we allow them to post on Village14?”
“Sure”
“I’ve got no problem with it”
“Sounds good to me”
etc.
At that time I don’t think any of us expected the Charter vote to end up being the loaded, hot button, emotional issue that it has become. Would we have decided differently back then if we had known that? I don’t know.
As a personal request I will ask Bryan Barash to refrain from posting any “Vote Yes on the Charter” threads between now and election day. I encourage him though to feel free to post on other topics and of course to join the discussion of the charter via the comments on any thread. To be clear though, no one has broken any Village14 rules.
“Big money” influencing elections? Oh, come on. I don’t see any mega-donations coming in, and we’re talking about $3200 over a couple of months for some campaign help for a first-time candidate from a Newton guy who already supported him.
On the other hand, a single $10,000 donation from someone outside Newton would certainly leave me scratching my head…