Click photo to readNo it doesn’t surprise me that Aaron Hayden would get out the first piece of Select Board campaign literature, arriving at my humble abode yesterday on primary election day that voters seemed not to care about in the least.
What does surprise me—but only a little—is the Registrar of Voters predicting a 90% turnout on November 4! Amherst has always turned out in droves every 4 years for the Presidential election, even though Massachusetts is never in doubt and the highest federal office in the land has no impact on the town.
But come spring, for the annual local election that has everything to do with running our $60+ million operation, we get a 15% turnout. Only in Amherst.
I heard that Vladimir is running because Vince O'Connor recruited him. As I recall the whole reason the Select Board delayed the race was so an unnamed UMASS Student who was an Iraq veteran could run. I may be mistaken but I don't think that Vladimir is a UMASS student or an Iraq war veteran?
ReplyDeleteYeah, good point. Correct on both counts.
ReplyDeleteMy theory it was the guy who founded the Amherst Chapter of 'Iraq Vet's Against the War' but then he ended up (finally, after the crusty Gazette sat on the story for over a month)getting some negative press over allowing yahoos to march with him in the Amherst July 4'th Parade.
Someone should ask Vince, on the record, about his involvement in getting Vladimir to file papers.
ReplyDeleteWas Vince using a disingenuous argument to get the Select Board to change the date? If he was, that means his rhetoric about direct and honest government goes right out the window. Let's get the facts before we draw conclusions.
Vince has been marginalized over the past couple years: although he still does waste a lot of Committees' and town staff time--no longer is he the formidable force he once was (like Anne Awad).
ReplyDeletecan't say it any better than anyone else, vince is a piece of work. he heard about the umass iraq war veteran wanting to run. hey do the students know about the select board race yet? i agree with mr. hayden's letter that there will be a lot of uneduated town's people voting for a selectman not even knowing what the select board does or is.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and the last time we had a lot of uninformed voters come out for a local election (in 2000 for the legalize pot non-binding resolution) we ended up with Anne Awad on the Select Board. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteThe only thing worse than an uninformed voter is an uninformed candidate! The paper had reported that Vladimir didn't take out papers the first time because he hadn't heard about the election. How on earth could someone miss that?
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ReplyDeleteHow on earth could someone miss that?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't read the paper or, it isn't the true reason.
Vladimir can't even remember when town meeting is. As an elected town meeting memeber check his attendence record (he was absent a lot). Attendence doesn't mention if he came in late or left early.
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