Here’s a list of the contested seats in the upcoming Newton elections – lifted from a Newton Tab article.
One curiosity is that it does not show the Ward 8 School Committee seat as contested. It only listed Cove Davis as a candidate despite the fact I already ran into Margie Ross Decker campaigning.
Note – * indicates incumbent
Mayor
- Albert Cecchinelli, Jr.
- *Mayor Ruthanne Fuller
- Amy Mah Sangiolo
Ward councilors (50 certified ward signatures are required)
Ward 1
- Allan L. Ciccone
- *Maria Scibelli Greenberg
- Kevin Riffe
Ward 2
- Jessica L. Aker Archer
- *Emily Norton
Ward 3
- James R. Cote
- *Julia Malakie
Ward 5
- *Bill Humphrey
- Debra Waller
Ward 6
- Barry Bergman
- *Brenda Noel
City Council at-large councilors (150 certified citywide signatures are required)
Ward 1
- Allan L. Ciccone
- *Alison Leary
- *John Oliver
Ward 3
- *Andrea W. Kelley
- Meryl Kessler
- *Pamela A. Wright
Ward 5
- * Deborah J. Crossley
- *Andreae Downs
- Rena L. Getz
Ward 6
- *Alicia G. Bowman
- *Victoria L. Danberg
- Lisa Gordon
School Committee (150 certified citywide signatures are required)
Ward 6
- Shawn P. Fitzgibbons
- Paul F. Levy
Ward 7
- Valerie Pontiff
- *Kathleen Shields
I spoke with Margie at the Farmers Market three weeks ago, and she was in full campaign mode. She seemed excited at the possibility of returning to the School Committee.
Several people who are running are missing from this list
Candidates had to submit papers by July #7th to run. Maybe there are some candidates whose submissions still needed to be verified? Or maybe Margie had a change of heart?
Oops that is supposed to be July 27th
Or, surprise, surprise, the Newton Tab go it wrong…
Jerry. Thanks for posting this. I looked on the City’s website and could find nothing.
I see that Al Ciccone is listed as running for both the ward and at-large contests in Ward 1.
Continued:
I don’t think it’s possible to run for both positions.
Goooo AMY!!
Intrigued by Barry Bergman…
https://www.barrybergman.org/
Barry is a great contrast to Brenda Noel
Barry Bergman has my vote. His proposed solutions to the problems Newton is facing are thoughtful and reasonable. I like his views and his response to the zoning and density issues. I also think Barry Bergman will bring a needed lens of diversity to the city council. Barry is physically disabled, giving us a needed perspective on our sidewalks, bike lanes, roads and building accessibility. His approach will be inclusive of many groups who are often not included. I think this is a bonus to an already great candidate.
Bob Jampol, Any more news on Margie Ross Decter’s campaign? I keep hearing that she is running but I don’t see any evidence of her candidacy.
@Newton Runner – it’s interesting to read that Bergman’s physically disabled, since he doesn’t mention that on his campaign website nor does he mention disability issues. If you’re correct, it’s very disappointing that accessibility and other disability issue aren’t given any attention at all.
@Bob: Could it be that Allan Ciccone will run for the Ward Councilor seat, causing a Preliminary election in September because there would be more than 2 candidates for a single seat, and then, if he is eliminated in that race, he could still run for At-Large Councilor in November?
Meredith, Barry Bergman does mention mobility issues and access for those with disabilities on his website. I do not know Mr. Bergman but I am eager to learn more about him.
@Jess – I’ll go back and look again. It’s definitely Monday.
@Jess – you’re right, I missed it because it wasn’t a separate item. In general, I agree with many of his positions. I look forward to seeing candidate debates.
Testing testing 123. I wrote a long comment which then said I made a captcha error (but I see no captcha!!) and wouldn’t accept my submitted comment. I don’t know if I feel like rewriting it now but want to test out the comment.
Ok, I’m going to try to redo my comment from yesterday if I can remember what I said. 🙂
I think the city council elections will be very interesting. It seems like for most of these (except maybe Cote vs Malakie given Cote’s political party) the main issue that a lot of the candidates will disagree on is development. As we saw in the special election, the staunch pro-development folks were beaten handily.
I’m pro-development and typically voted for the pro-development candidates, but I think they have a messaging problem and frankly I’m tiring of their collective tone. I don’t yet know who I’ll vote for in most of these, but I think it will be extremely interesting to see who prevails.
I do wish that we had more contested school committee seats. Especially with the unknowns of school this year due to Covid.
As for the mayoral race, everyone knows how unhappy I’ve been with Fuller and I’m really excited to support Amy. She will be fantastic.
Barry has my support. He wants developers to go through a review process similar to what is required in Wellesley, Needham and Brookline. I expect Brenda to get the big money from special interests
I’m quite familiar with Needham and Wellesley, less so Brookline, but the vetting in Newton (and process for approval) is much more arduous here and typically takes longer… unless Barry wants Newton to convert to a Town Meeting form of government which is really flipping everything we do on its head, probably not even legal and really extreme.
I sent along emails to several of the candidates, asking them to clarify for the Village 14 readership their status in the upcoming election. That readership can frighten even the most stalwart politicians in the Garden City!
MMQC. I feel your pain about posted getting wiped with a Captcha error.
Rather than retyping the whole thing, I will keep it short and sweet:
Does anyone know why the recorded Newton Zoom meetings aren’t posted and made available to the public.
@NewtonRunner Z’at you AbeZoe?
Ah ……the coordinated attack(s) on a sitting councilor has begun. I had my money on Councilor Bowman as the first target but did have Councilor Noel in the top 3. Ok, so let’s get down to it. The scoring… For those of you keeping score at home this coordinated game scored two “Gordo’s” for the effort . MaryLee and Newton Runner, you could have scored more “Gordo’s” but using someone from Ward 5 to kick this off lost you points.. Next time, start the coordinated effort with someone within Ward 6 and then be patient and let others comment.. Then MaryLee, Newton Runner and Jackson Joe, you join in with the pro Barry remarks.
Just stay away from the full smear campaign because that was tried and three of Newton’s finest all received the “PITF” award – (Pie in the Face)
https://village14.com/2019/11/06/smear-backfires-into-gift-to-local-not-for-profit/
Campaign season and the online coordinated campaigns for and against candidates have begun
Let it rip ya’ll
xoxox Gossip Girl
MaryLee, I’m was wondering the same thing. There were a few requests placed on the Mayor’s Office Facebook page asking for recordings of the community meeting that was held on the break-ins of Asian American households–for those in the community who were interested and unable to attend. There was zero response to these requests. A little transparency would be appreciated.
@Lauren That recording is here. https://vimeo.com/575526085
Agreed Lauren. In my opinion, transparency it a top issue. And if they posted the Zoom meetings they could skip posting the audio files and the reports, which actually is fairly inconsistent across various Standing Committees.
The Zoom is so much more valuable because another issue is the tone and tenor of the debate among the Councilors and the Zoom provides so much more insight.
What is the point in recording them, if they don’t make them available?
MaryLee,
The city should post the Zoom meeting recordings (and the rough transcript that is created in real time).
But, you can get the recordings on newtv.org’s government channel.
The amount of transparency and accountability with this mayoral administration is zero.
Jeremy: That’s great! Thank you!
@Sallee. That’s what he must have in mind.
Lauren, MaryLee, and MMQC y’all complain about transparency and accountability with this administration in the context of a supposed lack of meeting recordings being posted online, someone posts the link for you, and you don’t hold yourselves accountable on your needless attack. Interesting!!! Please stop what you are doing to divide our community. This should be a place for positive and uplifting comments to improve our city, not to push forward your personal agendas.
I communicated with the Clerk’s Office today (August 5) and was told that there will only be ONE office requiring a Preliminary Election: the Office of Mayor, which has three candidates running for the single office. This could change if one of the three candidates drops out or if his/her Nomination Paper signatures are successfully challenged and that candidate then has insufficient signatures to qualify for the nomination.
Also according to the Clerk’s Office, Allan Ciccone has withdrawn from the race for Ward Alderman in Ward 1, making a Preliminary Election for that office unnecessary.
Holy cow, will someone fix this captcha thing??? This will be my third time trying to do this comment…let’s see if it works.
Don, if people are inquiring and their responses are being ignored, that’s not really caring about engaging with constituents. It’s not as if those videos are easy to find.
Fuller is cagey about everything. From her campaign 4 years ago she was dishonest about being a large GOP donor. More recently it was the schools and the gun store. No transparency.
Have you ever seen Fuller at an event? She shows up, chats with people from her inner circle, poses for photos ops and leaves. I saw her do it on Tuesday in West Newton. Then she posts it on her social media and her newsletter to make it seem like she was actually engaged in the community.
She’s cagey about all she does.
At least even if I disagree with Amy I know she’s being transparent.
@MMQC: You are correct that the races will be great competition this year, and I do feel that I have an excellent opponent, and I’m not taking this race lightly.
Enjoying strong widespread support across West Newton and all of Ward 3, and I’m running on my history of delivering for the Ward. My results reflect more money for the parks, worked to save the fields at Albermarle, arranged for improvements to the Franklin School yard and surrounding grounds, ensured West Newton received its share of paved/repaired streets this past year, added parking in West Newton Sq., continuously work with all parties to ensure housing for those that would like to live in our city, my diverse immediate family (wife/children) shares the challenges, and joys of being brown, LGBTQ, and Veterans in our city. Residents know me as an immediate problem solver and one that can bring groups together. Yes, keep it positive MMQC and the city will benefit greatly!!!
Jim, even though I frequently disagree with you politically it’s evident that your heart is really in the role of city councilor and that you love this city. And especially West Newton!
Don S. Why are you policing tone? This is a place for discourse. The mayor is anything but transparent. Why did she hide the gun store license from the Newton community? Then she hid when she learned about it and kept changing the time line? That’s not transparent. Why didn’t she LEAD the charge for zoning reform and ask her friends on the city council to change zoning to keep Newton school children safe?
Why did she hide where the covid cases were back when the pandemic began and only clarify that they were in the nursing home when a grieving daughter posted of her loss on social media.
Why does she behave as if she’s not on the school committee but an observer and can’t help children and teens get back into school but takes credit in her administration for full day kindergarten? That’s confusing.
Are you Don S or are you the Josh who has suddenly shown up in every single Facebook group on behalf of the mayor with “announcements” of projects that have been many years in the works but have her name stamped across the top. He claims this is because she wants to get in touch with the town but wouldn’t have the lockdown been the perfect time to do so? I guess reelection time is better timing.
Yes, Josh is popping up everywhere, papering Facebook groups with city updates. I have a theory–just a theory. Like many others in the city I received a call to participate in a survey about November’s election about 8 weeks ago. I wrote down all of the questions asked–and among them were lots of questions prioritizing the city projects that were most important to me. Were the responses to the survey the genesis of the deluge of project-oriented emails from the mayor and Facebook posts from Josh, or is it a coincidence? They line up pretty closely. Since this outreach tactic stood out as being new, and considering the timing, my hunch is that they’re related.
And I have to laugh that each graphic from Josh Morse comes out saying “Mayor Fuller and Parks and Rec Presents.” Come on.
Greg says that he is familiar with the process in Needham and Wellesley. I wonder when was the last time he filed for a permit to tear down a house in those communities??
As a Ward 5 homie, would like to learn more about Debra Waller. Was not able to find her campaign site. Anyone familiar with her campaign?
Josh Morse is simply a dedicated public employee, or at least a simple Google search that anyone can do shows me! He is putting information on city actions directly into the online public square. Seems very transparent to me. So I am curious as to what your theory is, because it seems like no more than a conspiracy at this point. You can check the city budget to see if that was the origin if that is what you are thinking. I don’t see anything in it to account for a survey. Not helpful to welll intentioned city employees to treat them as fakes!!
@Don S Oh please
Josh Morse is one of the most sincere members of the City of Newton administration and he has been since he first came to the City 13 years ago to work on NPS projects. Having him flood various Newton FB groups at this time is not just a coincidence. Why now? 3 months before the election.. This is clearly a calculated move as RF’s campaign is starting. Please don’t let the slime of a campaign get on Mr. Morse. When I asked him about this sudden PR blitz he said it was because Covid makes it harder for the public to attend meetings. Well, I think having virtual meetings has made it much easier to attend.
Don, I am sure Josh is hard working and earnest in what he does. He’s probably being used as a pawn in the Fuller campaign as she tries to take undue credit for these projects. It’s not even a shrewd political move, it’s painfully obvious to the point of being somewhat pitiful.
Josh Morse is a very hard working and sincere member of the city staff. I think he is go to on a lot of projects.
I don’t know about the timing of this round of announcements, but I think the city should put out all sorts of information about upcoming projects. If good stuff is happening, people should know about it. I like the idea of being in a place where good things are getting done. Otherwise it just seems like we talk and talk about the contentious issues.
Regarding whether the Mayor puts her name on the project, that’s what mayors do. It even happens in “weak mayor” cities like Cambridge, and it’s ubiquitous and pervasive in cities such as Boston and Somerville. It’s the power of incumbency. Like it or don’t like it, both reasonable views, but it happens.
How quickly city Zoom links get posted? Whose name is on the banner of facebook posts about city projects? Yawn. Let’s hear from the candidates about real issues and where they diverge.
It’s not a yawn. Smoke and mirrors. Distraction and lack of transparency is what our current mayor is all about. Compare the number of emails you’ve received from Ruthanne Fuller in the past six weeks to the number you received in March 2020. She’s taking credit for a number of projects that were in the works long before her (FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN? She’s calling that her win? She’s taking credit for something that was twenty years in the making? This is coming from a mayor that couldn’t find a way to get two high schools open until the end of January. Does she have an impact on the Newton Public Schools or doesn’t she?) When did she know about the gun store? Why does it keep changing? This is relevant because she is the Mayor and she isn’t transparent and she doesn’t have our best interests in mind when she makes decisions. She doesn’t lead. She follows.
Josh is a sincere and hardworking Newton staff member and he shouldn’t have been used by her to further her political ambition. She used a city employee when she should have stepped up last year for our children and schools. She refused funds for covid testing for teachers and students in schools. She should have raised the alarm when she saw the gun store license. Then she wouldn’t have needed to resort to a petty distraction. If people want to go to the City’s Facebook page they know where to find it. Josh posted it.
Casey – my comment did not defend the mayor, and I’m glad there’s a competitive election. Technology, especially spurred by Covid, has made municipal governance and administration extremely transparent. Pretty much anything you want is available at your fingertips, and can be posted on social media instantly. From my perspective, we’d need to all be in a Finnish sauna together to be any more transparent. I’m focused on other issues, and I suspect many others are too. I’m not trying to change your viewpoint. You raise other important issues like schools in your last comment.
@Adam B. The Mayor was anything but transparent about the schools. School Building HVAC systems portrayed as fine going into the school year but as it turned out that was based on assumptions not actual testing, it then came out at the end of September that there were deficiencies and the robust evaluation of the building systems was started by Josh Morse in October. There was no clarity on who was advising her from the medical standpoint (not Dr Walensky or Dr Jha who offered their assistance over the summer of 2020 and were rebuffed).
If you watch school committee meetings, it is obvious that Mayor Magoo is disengaged from the schools. She failed to show leadership in getting the schools open and it was obvious she wasn’t paying attention as she would often ask questions that were already asked and answered. Her own children went to private school so she has no emotional investment in them. Time for a change.
Newton Highlands Mom (assuming not my wife): The fact that everyone is aware of everything you just laid out indicates there was transparency. And what people were seeing wasn’t pretty. The medical and public health advice informing the School Committee (including mayor) in 2020 was widely shared, and widely disagreed with.
Calling Full Day Kindergarten a win is yet another laughable example of how out of touch Mayor Magoo is. Full Day Kindergarten during the pandemic actually imposed an additional burden on parents who had to co-teach in the background during the afternoons in addition to logging their kids in and out of different classes with different specialist teachers.
Bruce, our kids grew up attending a full time Montessori preschool and my daughter attended full time kindergarten in Boston. Some of our neighbors even had full time public K0 school a year earlier. We were unpleasantly surprised by Newton’s part time kindergarten for our son. I can’t think of a single advantage Newton’s K schedule offered, only hassles and after-school complications. I am happy that today’s Newton parents and caregivers have the opportunity to send their kids to school with a regular and consistent schedule.
To twist full-day kindergarten, the difficulties of pandemic-driven kindergarten education, and silly name-calling into a political attack is impressive in its gymnastics but isn’t otherwise very convincing to me.
Yes, people have been talking about full-day K for decades. People talk about all sorts of stuff in Newton for decades. That’s not enough. Yes, the Mayor didn’t do it herself. Other people such as Margaret Albright personally championed the cause. But as I understand it, the Mayor made the budget commitment to finally make it happen. If that’s not what happened, please correct me. If it is what happened, the Mayor deserves credit for the administration’s commitment to make full-day K a reality.
Bruce, do you happen to know the Mayor’s reasoning for why her sons went to private school?? I’m curious to know because I’ve heard a pretty compelling story!
I have lived in Newton for years now, and the deep cynicism running rampant is something I have never seen before. Every action by our local government has to be labeled as non-transparent or sneaky. I am chalking it up to the anger of the few amplified by social media!!
The mayor has not been an advocate for Newton Public Schools.
Last summer the school nurses had no contract. IN the middle of a pandemic!
Back before Covid, I attended a few in person School Committee meetings during Mayor Warren’s time. He was engaged during the whole meeting. I have attended nearly every zoom School Committee meeting, and the mayor is barely paying attention and then when she asks a question, 75% of the time, the topic has been discussed and NO new information is added.
She was NOT behind getting anyone back to the school in person. At one point she said last year the School Committee is responsible for the schools, but yet, she took the credit for Full Day Kindergarten, which really didn’t exist last year.
We need a mayor who supports our teachers and our NPS students. She has big a giant disappointment to me. I realize that there is no play book for being a mayor in a pandemic, but while she started out strong in March, 2020, she just sputtered and gave up. I am willing to vote for someone else to try a new approach. But she is NO friend to NPS.
Full day kindergarten made sense only if the kindergartners were actually in the class rooms for the full day and every day. The way it was implemented made it worse for parents. The right thing to do would have been to wait for the kindergarteners to be actually back on campuses. What irked me was trying to claim credit for full day kindergarten considering how it was rolled out.
This is just one example among many of how the Ed Center, the School Committee and Mayor Magoo botched the school year.
Bruce wang
I have a better nick name for the Mayor: “mayor FULL of it”
You can prepend “sh” to the last word if you choose
Does anyone know why Emily Norton’s signatures are being contested,seeme many of the signatures are the same… Can we say voter FRAUD!!!!!! These elections are a FARCE!!!!
Sorry Emily, I was misinformed… It was Alison Leary
Alison,am i correct in that your husband was not supposed to Notarize your signature list,is that against the rules,,,and a lot of those signatures look the same to me…. I suspect Voter fraud and Notary fraud at the very least….IMHO you should be banned from running for anything but the Bus!!!
Any chance that another candidate will decide to try a write in campaign.
Shouldn’t a Politician know these rules Alison….. A little troubling to me that you do not know the rules or are too arrogant to care about them.. Newton Mass. politics i guess!!
It benefits no one for Village 14 to continue allowing anonymous comments from new people. This criticism is not directed at long time commenters like fignewtonville, MMQC, Newton Highlands Mom, or Bugek et al, who are all great contributors. I just don’t think the site should allow any new anonymous commenters until after the November election. Candidates are abusing Village 14 with anonymous puppets who erode the quality of debate and spread misinformation. It’s completely out of control, and it’s ruining the viability of this wonderful community resource.
@Mike Striar – Totally aside from the benefits/drawbacks of allowing anonymous posters, there is a bigger technical issue involved.
If we instituted a new policy today of not allowing anonymous comments I don’t believe we have any technical means to verify a commenter’s true identity.
With some new machinery we could verify that an email address that a commenter used is indeed real and under the control of the commenter – i.e. send them a message and wait for a response from that email address before allowing comments from new people.
As you can see with Facebook, Twitter, etc that sort of system has a minimal ability to stop someone who is actively trying to beat the system. It’s pretty trivial to create a throwaway email address to use when posting – just ask the Russian troll farms about that.
If you, or others, have suggestions about how a non-anonymous-posters rule could be enforced without either making it difficult for people to post on V14 or that generated substantial day-to-day work for V14 administrators – please pass your ideas on and we’ll consider them.
I agree with Mike. Nothing is perfect, but an improvement over the current system would be to only allow new users that use their full name. Even better V14 could ask for their address with the stipulation that it will remain private.
Jeffrey:
It isn’t difficult to fake the various systems I’m afraid. I’d be fine giving my address to Jerry. Some of the anonymous posters are very frustrating.
Only found out about Councilor Leary’s hearing after the fact.
1. Anyone know the final outcome?
2. Why did the City Clerk cc: Robert Korff on the notification email? What’s the connection?
– Anonymously Curious 🙂
@Matt Lai – I think it is still happening but I’m not sure if it is a soom/recorded meeting.
Agree re: Korff – what is the connection?
Zoom not soom
@Jeffrey Pontiff – we could easily ask for a full name and address. I’m not sure how that would help though if we have no way of knowing whether it’s a real name and address. I think we’d be right back where we are today.
Jerry, it would not hurt. What is the downside? Lying about your name and address in an email adds a hurdle that many will not cross.
@Matt the final outcome was that all the signatures are valid and that Leary stays on the ballot. All this did was cause a candidate to spend money that she didn’t really need to raise just because a group didn’t agree with her progressive politics. It’s dirty pool and as a community, we should be offended.
As for the Korff email, I’m not sure that any answer to that question will satisfy you. If the Clerk says to you that it was an honest mistake (example: someone typed an email address starting with “M” and Mark Development came up first, and no one checked before sending… which everyone has done), then you’re not likely to believe it.
The answer you want to hear is that Korff is deep into the city machinery, knows all that’s going on, and that he has everyone in his pocket. If you’re intent on seeing that conspiracy, which you clearly are, then you’ll see it no matter what you’re told. So just go on believing it and stop asking.
Chuck – I watched just the first hour and a half and it was offensive.
@Jane I’m curious to hear you expand on that.
For the record, I signed Allison Leary’s nomination papers while she was out canvassing in person. My signature was not challenged as far as I know. I’m not sure if I’ll vote for Allison Leary this fall. We’ll see. I signed because I want to see quality candidates in our municipal elections. May the best person win.
But these nomination papers invited a challenge. A lot of the signatures were facially similar. And the notary, whose one job is to follow the rules, apparently did not follow the rules. Though the hearing seemed torturously prolonged, I think the election commission reached the right result. Elections rules should be construed and applied to maximize the number of qualified candidates. That goal was accomplished IMHO.
@Chuck Tanowitz, this is not dirty pool. Speaking as a Newton swing voter, I am more offended by (and frankly sick of) the ever increasing expressions of outrage over every controversy big or small. Politics is a wicked game, and there are some hard rules that have to be followed. I happen to find the manner in which our candidates respond to adversity to be good indicators of the leadership style they’ll show if elected. Though I didn’t follow this particular hearing closely enough to form an opinion on how Allison Leary handled herself, I would be disappointed if she cried foul. I look forward to hearing from all the candidates on matters of consequence, but I’m honestly not ready for another barrage of feigned outrage this fall.
The meeting should have been held under circumstances where everyone, especially those who took an oath to testify truthfully, could hear the questions clearly. That didn’t happen. There was a significant echo from the Chamber, and the lawyers didn’t speak into a microphone that connected to the zoom meeting. The meeting was advertised as having a zoom option, so the technology should have been set up to accommodate it. I was actually texting the questions and responses to a friend who was unable to hear them on her computer.
The most egregious part was putting two residents for whom English is not their primary language in a situation where they couldn’t hear the questions they had taken an oath to answer truthfully – questions none of us could hear clearly. The two people were honorable, patient, and tried their best to figure out what the questions were.
I hope this never happens to any citizen again.
@Chuck – I wasn’t the only one who noticed Mr. Korff being cc:ed on the email. Nor did I lose wink of sleep over it. 🙂
I did catch the last few minutes of the meeting (thanks @Lynne LeBlanc) and was surprised it went as long as it did, but as @Jane and others have noted, it was difficult to hear/follow and appeared to be a collosal waste of time.
Speaking of conspiracies, I wonder which “group” Chuck is referring that accused Councilor Leary and started this process?
No conspiracy there. I’ve heard it was folks associated with Save Nonantum that protested the signatures. The same group that paid for the negative ads on Bryan Barash during that campaign, and lobbied the Newton Needham Regional Chamber board to have them punish (or possibly fire) Greg Reibman. It’s also the group that called on its members to oppose an Indigenous People’s event in a Newton public park on Indigenous People’s Day, which is, of course, an official city holiday.
If I’m wrong, which is always a possibility, then I hope someone can correct the record.
@Chuck Your outrage is misplaced. You should be outraged that someone running for public office would allow any of this to have happened in the first place. She should have gotten a few extra signatures and then walked to a bank or anywhere else in Newton and found a different notary (ie not her husband). The fact that you have to defend this lazy filing is sad. Perhaps she was being sneaky. Perhaps she was only lazy. Does it matter? What’s this say about the kind of council member she is and will be if she wins again?
Most politicians can handle filing nomination papers that pass the sniff test. And if they can’t, perhaps you need a stronger candidate.
Back in the early days of Village 14 there was an issue with elected officials commenting under fake names. Greg was able to fix that problem in large part by adding Rule 4 prohibiting sock puppets. The rule defines that term this way… “when an anonymous user pretends to be someone they’re not with intent to deceive.”
Based on my understanding of Rule 4 and recent observations of comments, I believe violations have become frequent. While I’ve never been a stickler for rules, sock puppets [who are in-fact anonymous campaign operatives], appear to be manipulating the dialogue on political threads to the favor of their candidate[s]. It may even be the candidate themselves posting under a fake name.
Newton has an election coming up for every elective office in the city. Our local newspaper has practically disappeared, and become a political non-factor. I believe this puts a special burden on Village 14 to assure that the dialogue here has some integrity, and is not being surreptitiously manipulated by elected officials or candidates.
From now through the election, Village 14 might want to consider requiring new users to privately submit a photo ID [to a site administrator] before posting. Perhaps this could even be done retroactively to clean up some of the sock puppets who have been commenting recently.
@casey… but it did pass. Her papers WERE all legal and square. I’m confused why people are still treating this as if she failed at something. She didn’t. I would argue that her only failure was not getting a large enough buffer as to make any challenge impossible. But if you’re talking about the law, then she did ACTUALLY follow it. There is nothing to defend.
Did “Jamie” above deceive anyone? Seems like everyone understood him/her to be someone with an axe to grind, and discounted those postings however they chose to. (I have no connection Ms. Leary at all).
Making people put their full names will decrease activity here, without a doubt. I think a decent handful of people here know my identity, but I prefer not have these posts be Google-able. A few crazies out there.
@Chuck Massachusetts does not allow the notarizing of a signature of a spouse. Her husband didn’t follow the law.
There were signatures that were tossed but this could happen with nomination papers every election cycle and we’d never notice so I agree with you that it’s not worth commenting on this point.
Her husband knew he was breaking Massachusetts law. She’s running for public office and I find this a violation of public trust. Has she done similar before? This has nothing to do with her voting record or what issues she’s running on but it does speak to character. Consider sharing this story with your neighbors who may be less informed about Newton politics. They’d think it was relevant. Therefore I stand by my previous comment.
There’s an interesting discussion in here. What rises to the level of being a “violation of public trust”? The law doesn’t have a yes/ no answer when it comes to things that violate a given law or statute. Speeding is a crime, but it’s vastly different from, say, assault. So how far up the legal ladder is this “violation”?
A notary is, at its most basic, a witness who has been certified and thereby trusted by the state. Massachusetts says that a spouse cannot notarize another spouse’s signature (few other states have this restriction), but I don’t know if it has a specific rule that forbids a notary from witnessing signatures submitted for a candidate who is also a spouse. That’s something different. Also, it’s up to the notary, as the person doing the witnessing, to know the rules. My wife is a notary. If I ask her to stamp something for me, and she does, she is the one at fault. I’m not a notary, there is no expectation that I know the rule.
The point of all this is that in the public realm we often attribute weight to issues that are otherwise minor. Overstaying an immigration visa is a civil offense, but to some writing in the public sphere it’s talked about as if it’s “criminal.” It’s not. But the rhetoric means more than the actual offense and ends up driving policy.
I believe that’s what we have here. Rhetoric, driven by a legal maneuver, is driving opinion when, quite possibly, it means very little.
Speeding is generally considered a soft law by most; a reminder more than an absolute; but if you get caught, and the officer choses to give you the ticket… you’ve earned it for breaking the law. It’s really just that black and white.
Not familiar with the intricacies of notary law but it seems like there was a violation there.
https://www.mass.gov/executive-orders/no-455-revised-standards-of-conduct-for-notaries-public
As to how and why this (the challenge) happened, I’ve seen the finger pointed at multiple people and groups, with no definitive boogey (person) stepping up to claim responsiblity, and in hindsight, other than the notary infraction seemed like a waste of time to scrutinize each name when signatures today are a joke! (I sign for credit card purchases with a squiggle and a giggle by the cashier).
Lastly (and I say this respectfully as I like Councilor Leary), it did not take long to play the victim, especially given the violation of the notary thing. https://twitter.com/Environista/status/1427808428886577154?s=20
Policitics is a sticky game… for and by all involved.
@Matt, maybe I wasn’t clear. It’s not that the two things don’t violate the law, but the degree to which it is a violation varies greatly. It’s different if you’re going 10mph over vs. doubling the speed limit (one rises to the degree of being a felony). These things aren’t a yes/no. It’s not that you lose your license for driving 10mph over the limit, and it doesn’t result in jail time.
As citizens, we need to examine the violations and put them in context. Which brings me back to my original question: how much of a violation is this? Is this 10mph over the limit or felony speeding? Is it a ticket or jail time?
We had a hearing and the result was to take no official action. What does that tell us as citizens? Is it fair to call into question her ability to govern because of that?
A couple of things:
1) Alison Leary should have gotten way more than 150 signatures for nomination, and she should have gotten someone other than her husband to notarize. Both would have been easy enough to do with some additional effort. I doubt she will make the same mistake again, assuming she wins and runs again.
2) This type of mistake (lack of signatures) happens with incumbents not infrequently. That’s why you see the occasional congressional or state rep write-in campaign…
3) I think that the decision to not kick her off the ballot was the right one. I would always err on the side of letting folks vote for candidates.
4) You want to beat an incumbent? Run a better candidate and win.
5) You do something like this, you best not miss. I would predict lots more folks donating to Alison Leary because of this stunt. All it did was give her candidacy a sense of righteous anger and energize her supporters. So not sure it was the smart thing to do in my view, but what do I know…
6) This continues a trend in city council elections. To the negative. This does not bode well for the next few months.
7) I hope we find out who funded this effort. It is important for transparent government that this type of effort gets the publicity it deserves. Folks can then draw their own conclusions regarding the political campaigns.
@Mike Striar – I agree with your sentiments about integrity. However, I would go a step further and say that for a community blog such as this, any anonymous comment breeds mistrust.
If we had a bright-line test i.e. everyone writes under their true name, it would eliminate any suspicion or misgivings.
V14 might lose a couple of posters but we may gain even more participation with the increased transparency.
Bring back the “like” buttons for comments if you do this. It at least gives people who prefer to remain anonymous a way to participate.
This argument again? If you look through all the comments we get, some of the most thoughtful come from anonymous posters and some of the nastiest come from people using names. Further, there’s nothing keeping people from using full names that are pseudonyms. Same is true on other good blogs I follow. Please, give it a rest.
Like it or not, Village 14 has become the #1 source of news for Newton. Look at the banner at the top of Village 14. There’s a picture of a newsboy holding a newspaper.
Just like an actual newspaper, Village 14 is a NEWS site. But unlike every credible newspaper, Village 14 does nothing to verify the identity of commenters, who are effectively writing a Letter to the Editor every time they post. Even the lowly TAB requires commenters to use their real name.
I respect and appreciate all the people who run this site. But they are living in denial. Village 14 is being used and abused by anonymous elected officials and candidates in the run-up to our November elections. They use fake identities to counter truth, while spreading misinformation and lies with the ease of FOX News.
In my opinion, Village 14 has an obligation to demand accountability from elected officials and candidates, particularly during an election season. Accountability is impossible if the site continues to allow new people to post under fake names. That lack of accountability is exactly why our public officials feel like they can act with impunity. I will continue urging the folks who run Village 14 to meet their community obligation, and stop allowing this site to be abused by those with hidden intent.
@Mike Striar – Newspapers don’t verify the names of all online commenters. Neither does my favorite source of Boston area news, UniversalHub. I don’t use random people commenting online on Washington Post or Boston Globe or Village 14 as a news source, though there may be some I’ve learned to think highly of and give more weight to – like some of our pseudonymous V14 posters whose comments I find very thoughtful and valuable.
As to V14 being a source of news, articles posted here are from people using their own names. Those articles are the news source, not the comments section.
Meredith–
I beg to differ on nearly every point you made. This particular part of your comment sounded very arrogant to me…
“As to V14 being a source of news, articles posted here are from people using their own names. Those articles are the news source, not the comments section.”
Whether you like it or not, Village 14 is in fact a crowd-sourced news site. The comments are often as much a news source as the articles. In fact, the comments on this particular thread contain more newsworthy information than the article itself.
Comparing the online comments section of the Washington Post and Boston Globe to Village 14, also tells me that your perspective is somewhat askew. The Post and Globe employ strict journalistic standards, and neither looks to their online comments to add more detail to the articles. Village 14 on the other hand is a very different type of news source, built in large part on crowd sourced news.
I also think you need a little reminder about the power of anonymous trolls to effect election outcomes. A relatively small number of Russian trolls [posting in the type of anonymous forums you are fond of] were able to effect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. How many anonymous commenters do you think it would take to spin an election story here on Village 14? It’s already happening. You apparently just don’t see it. or don’t want to acknowledge it.
Mike – if you’re going to toss a grenade like that: an accusation that anonymous commenters are affecting the outcome of an election, please be specific. Which comments, and what election race? Otherwise the vagueness of your content is analogous to the vagueness of an anonymous poster’s identity.
@”Adam B.”
There are 95 comments on this thread about “Contested Elections.” 45 of those are from commenters who are effectively anonymous. In order to believe [as you apparently do] that anonymous commenters have no impact on our local elections, one would have to believe that Village 14 itself has no impact on our local elections.
It’s my belief that Village 14 is the most significant source of local news in Newton. As such, I also believe the site has an obligation to help insure fair elections. I recognize and acknowledge the value that long-time anonymous commenters like fig and MMQC bring to the site. I couldn’t imagine a V14 without their thoughtful comments. What I’ve suggested is a modest approach that would prohibit NEW visitors from commenting anonymously until after the November election.
@Mike Striar ” It’s my belief that Village 14 is the most significant source of local news in Newton”
I think you greatly overestimate the importance and impact of V14. The vast majority in Newton have never heard of it and some who have steer clear because they think it is, at times, a toxic environment.
@Mike – You are the one who made the comment about major newspapers. I was simply responding to that – I have no delusions of grandeur about V14. A closer, but still much larger and more focused, comparison is UniversalHub – which has many regular commenters who use pseudonyms, some of whom provide useful additional information. As with V14, regular readers of that blog can decide on their own which commenters (whether using names that may or may not be their real names or obvious pseudonyms) they consider trustworthy sources of information.
I’m sure regular readers of V14 form their own opinions of how much they trust info from various commenters. People wandering here for the first time probably start out assuming that the comments are as untrustworthy as those anywhere else on the internet.
If you are so unhappy with V14, start your own blog. We are a bunch of volunteers; no one is being paid to post or moderate comments or verify identities. If you want a blog that does all that, have at it – there are several free sites where you can set up shop.
I do think, for better or for worse, this might be the best source of local news that we have here in Newton. The Tab and Patch are not that useful anymore. I think things like Nextdoor and Facebook where I end up learning a lot of local news, but of course there’s a lot of noise to sift through especially in Facebook groups.
If V14 is Newton’s primary source of news as Mr. Striar alleges (but cannot prove), then we are doomed.
At its best, V14 provides some information about arts and culture around Newton.
At its median, V14 is a silly little on-line forum providing a vanishingly small minority of people who know how to type LOUDLY a place where they can sound like they know something (most do not) or have opinions worth sharing and hearing (ditto). One can only hope that MaryLee is correct in the assertion that the vast majority of Newton does not know about V14. Better even would the the case that they aggressively discount that which is presented here.
Mike Striar take off the tin foil hat buddy. I think the only reason why you want this site highly monitored until post election is because you believe it will help your candidate. SPOILER ALERT it won’t.
Its seems to me that you just want an echo chamber of like minded people to talk to. Have you ever given thought to why people post anonymously? Its because people feel like they cant say what they want to say without the woke mob coming for them.
Village14 is a product of its own environment. Just on this thread we have had Chuck Tanowitz, without any hard evidence, accuse the Save Nonatum PAC of multitude of things. In fact, “he heard” that it was people associated with the PAC. That’s not evidence that is hear say evidence and yes Chuck that is promoting a conspiracy.
The amount of hypocrisy on this website is amazing. Talk to majority of people in Newton and they will tell you this is a toxic website. It is not only the anonymous people that make it that way. No it is the people who constantly take the moral high ground and believe they are smarter than everyone else in Newton. The second something doesn’t go their way they want to change the rules aka Mike Striar with the comments.
Stop acting like this forum is the New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. Stop fear mongering and promoting that this website has a major influence on elections. This forum is no more than a place for privileged people to complain about first world problems. Newton has a tendency to think it is the most important place on earth and it is reflected in this site.
Stop making things more divisive than they are and realize the moral integrity of this forum left years ago along with the moral integrity of its moderators who only want to use this site for their political benefit.
In short, to our politicians, our citizens who fear monger, and the internet trolls…GROW UP!
P.S. Queue Mike Striar or Chuck Tanowitz asking for me to be banned or accuse me of representing the Save Nonantum PAC. Sorry fellas, hate to disappoint just a normal dude tired of the gaslighting.
Whoa, Cyrus. You might want to chill. Let’s not go overboard here. Just like Village 14 is not and was never intended to be a news source with any sort of journalistic aspirations, it is also not a cesspool of negativity (though, granted, threads can go overboard). Just like any blog, you can choose to participate or not, view the site or ignore it, and believe or discount any comments. A blog, that’s all it is. It is that simple.
I don’t think the tone here is that bad these days. I think that Sean/Greg/Chuck are the biggest contributors to a toxic tone but with Jerry being the primary moderator I think that he models a much more amicable tone. It’s much better than it was.
The whole anonymous/full name poster debate is a red herring. As many have noted, there are frequently thoughtful comments from anonymous posters and often toxic comments from those posting under their real names. Although “toxic” and “thoughtful” are really in the eye of the beholder. Making people post under their real names won’t change much of anything.
Also, the fact that V14 can be considered a news site is a sad reflection of our times. In fairness, I actually think the Tab has gotten better, although harder to find, and still insufficient to what it was. Also, this is not to take anything away from the V14 organizers and the broader community, who deserve gratitude for our passionate and commitment. It’s just that, regardless of the topic, we’re never getting the whole story if V14 is perceived as a news source. Let’s keep thinking of it for what it is, a community forum,
I view it as a community resource and community forum. Folks who think this site is “toxic” don’t spend much time online, or if they do, they choose to spend that time on their own echo chambers (facebook groups or listserves filled with people that agree with you most of the time are very polite and very boring). With conflicting opinions comes some amount of heat, and hopefully a little light.
Sometimes folks come on this site and can’t stand to be disagreed with. But to me that’s a huge part of a community forum, to get other folks opinions, and to discuss my own. If I wanted to agree with everyone, I’d join a city councilor’s listserv, or start an email conversation with folks who support my issues in similar ways.
It is a terrific community space, one that gets more active when there are elections or major community decisions to be made. Your other choices are NextDoor Newton (which doesn’t allow political discussions and is hard to use) or various Facebook groups, which are fine but suffer from similar issues (especially election related). Facebook groups require full names I believe, although again, not hard to sock puppet or fake an email address these days.
Mike is 100% correct that Village14 has also had a history of folks using fake identities or sock puppets to push political agendas. That seems to get worse each election season. Even if I don’t want things to change, I do think we are wise to recognize that some of the anonymous posters aren’t interested in adding to a discussion, and are pretty toxic themselves. I don’t think much will change with a requirement to reveal identity to a moderator, but I’m game if that is the new rule. Gotta trust folks sometimes. After meeting on this forum, Dan Fahey (may he rest in peace) and I used to have breakfast occasionally, and I enjoyed that, and learned a lot from those in person conversations.
I will say that any site, is only as good as the community that wants to participate and the moderators that keep the place and the peace. Jerry is a community treasure. And Greg and Gail did a good thing by starting it, but we are worse off without the Tab of old. We’d be a better community if we had a local newspaper of record…
@cyrus yes, I said I heard it. I’m clearly not the only one: https://twitter.com/Environista/status/1427808428886577154.
I did not present it as fact, I presented it as I said it is. I also invited anyone to tell me that I’m wrong. You have done that. I ask, other than the part that I clearly identified as rumor, tell me, which of the facts I listed above are untrue?
@Meredith– My apologies. I’d forgotten the V14 rule that places all “volunteers” beyond reproach.
@Elmo– I didn’t write that V14 was Newton’s “primary” source of news. The word I used was “significant,” which is a subjective term. Don’t make me come over there and tickle you, Elmo. Oops, I forgot… Is a puppet ticklish?
@Cyrus West– Please note, I did not mention the name of any candidate on this thread. Not one! In fact, I raised my point about anonymous comments in response to posts that attacked a candidate who I do NOT support. What I do support is fair elections in Newton, and more integrity from commenters on this site.
Chuck YOU were the one who presented these as truths unless proven otherwise. Can you prove Save Nonantum tried to get Greg Reibman fired? You also make accusations that Save Nonantum is anti indigenous because they opposed Columbus day being taken away, which makes sense because Nonantum is deep in Italian roots and Columbus day was put into place because of the lynching of 11 Italian Americans.
Save Nonantum isn’t against indigenous People they are against their holiday (something they celebrated) being taken away but you seem to have no problem alluding to them being Anti Indigenous. Everything you said above is a rumor that has spiraled.
Maybe you should go talk to them and get their side instead of just promoting them as some crazy far right group or a bunch of Russian bots influencing the election.
You also proved my point of the gaslighting. You and people like Alison Leary, who is just using the latest trendy phrase “voter suppression” are trying to make it seem like crazy disastrous things are happening. The Leary thing was not voter suppression, she is just playing the victim card because politics.
What i’m trying to say at least is I think you are a liar who has no problem promoting things to shape his political opinion and you deem anyone who disagrees with you as morally corrupt or not as intelligent as you.
I ask, which of the facts I listed above are untrue?
Disagree with Mike on banning new non-full names, but tickle you Elmo was pretty funny. Good one.
@Mike..is it me? Are you talking about me? Because I’ve been here for years. I’m not a frequent poster. I don’t know how exactly to look up my profile information but I’ve been a reader for years and a poster for the past two or three years. I certainly am not a “campaign operative” and that seems a bit dramatic for a local election. But I guess now that we’ve seen Barash money pour into our local elections, we’ll be seeing campaign operatives too. Thanks for that parting gift, Bryan.
Since I have been here for years, I’m perfectly confident agreeing with Mary that it’s a few of the bloggers themselves who add to the toxicity. Now and then someone drops in with a storm of comments, makes a splash and heads out the way they came.
I also agree that if you spend some time in the comments of a variety of other blogs, boards and other forums online, this would rank far lower on the list of disinformation, toxicity and negativity. I’ve seen retractions and even apologies in the comments. Perhaps my favorite comment interaction of all time was when someone (don’t remember who) posted something negative about a city council candidate and the next day posted that they’d received a call from the candidate. They cleared up what had been a miscommunication and the two were on good terms. You’re not going to see that in the Globe comments or most anywhere else.
I also remember Fignewtonville, someone I barely ever agree with except I appreciate that he’s polite, mentioning that someone accosted him in his neighborhood while he was with his child because of a disagreement online – and that’s when he went anonymous. No thanks, I don’t need that. And he doesn’t deserve that (no matter how much I disagree with him! )
Every time I see the Elmo handle I want to make that joke Adam B. I think Elmo has told us before why he picked that name, but I can’t remember the reason…
Cyrus West, I don’t know you, but reading the various posts on this thread, the ones filled with anger and toxicity are yours and Jamie’s posts. Maybe take it down a notch? I don’t think you help your cause or Nonantum through such posts.
Lots of folks I’m sure ready to have discussions with you if you treat them with respect.
Casey, I bet we agree on a whole bunch of things. We probably just don’t discuss enough stuff. 😉 (sports? food? best burrito in town?)
And thank you for calling me polite.
And yes, I’ve been yelled at more than once for my online posts, and once with one of my kids. Some folks transfer the anger that they express online to the real world, and I decided it wasn’t fair to my spouse or my kids to put them through that. It isn’t fair and maybe the angry person wins, but family first. Perhaps when my kids are older…
@Fig my understanding was also that Nextdoor didn’t not allow political discussions but when I looked into it , I found out that topics can indeed be political. It just has to be about local not national politics:
https://help.nextdoor.com/s/article/Be-helpful-in-conversations?language=en_US#localnational
I was surprised.
Ps @Mike Striar thank you for recognizing that some of us long time pseudonym posters do bring value to discussions. I tend to focus on the schools and I try to be informed and above board but I would not want my comments to negatively impact my own kids.
@Mike Striar – I never said or implied that volunteers are beyond reproach, nor do I understand why you put that in quotes. None of the bloggers here get paid for our work. All I said was that, being volunteers, we have limited time – most of us need full-time jobs to pay the bills plus other obligations.
I find it sad that the only way you address me is by attributing words or implications to me.
If you are a notary public you can not notarize your spouse’s document (or any relative or anything that you have an interest in).
I am a notary and am not an attorney. The rules are clear. My belief is that the notary should lose the ability to be a notary.