So venerable, iconic, ancient, Amherst Town Meeting, that bastard--I mean bastion--of democracy continues to suffer from the snooze factor.
By yesterday's Ballot deadline for the 3/23 election (and it only takes one name--your own--to get on the Ballot) out of eighty 3-year-seats available seventeen of them lack a single candidate, or better than 20%.
And only one of ten Precincts (each with 8 open 3-year-seats) actually has a contest...although barely: 9 candidates for 8 seats.
As I titled yesterday's post, "When Products Compete" (they get better). When there's no competition you get, well, mediocrity.
Even this Collegian puff piece didn't help
It makes it easier to run a town into the ground, thats for sure...
ReplyDeleteAnnnnd, crrrunch.
Well at least the school committee race will be....interesting. I'm guessing Mr. Hood will be an easy win for one seat. Do you have any idea where to find out more info on the others?
ReplyDeleteTsk, tsk, have you forgotten your lesson about copyright so quickly?
ReplyDeleteWhy join?
ReplyDeleteIf your opinion differs from those in charge it is dismissed. Even if it is a logical rebuttal of something those in power have proposed it is not taken into consideration. What's the point I ask?
Ryan Willey
I say no loyalty oath to Town Meeting. I wish it were gone. But I'm running, because it's the only game in town.
ReplyDeleteLike it or not, and I don't, Town Meeting matters. The previous sense of the institution being endangered is gone, and, therefore, the (believe it or not) inflated number of candidates, all contrived to create the illusion of vitality, is gone, too. But moribund is not the same as irrelevant.
We're getting closer to the hypothetical: "What if we held an election and nobody ran?"
Rich Morse
12:39 PM Cowardly, Anon, Nitwit:
ReplyDeleteNo, actually I remember all tooooooo well; I learned my lesson.
Nitwits like you come here every day hoping to find something--anything--to pounce on, and yours was copyright.
But if you remember, S.P. Sullivan (who helps run the venerable Umass Daily Collegian) mentioned in Comments on that post how you can filter Google images to pull up only those that are "labeled for reuse."
And that, you freakin, lazy-ass Nitwit (now go ahead and verify!), is exactly what I did with my Rockwell "Freedom of Speech" image.
Yes Mr. Morse, and you of all people must remember where the expression "only game in town" originated.
ReplyDeleteFor the uninitiated (and I actually use this anecdote in the Springfield Republican article back in 1991 when Mike Plaisance asked why I became part of an institution I vociferously criticized):
A gambler was asked why he played in a crooked game. He responded, "Because it's the ONLY game in town."
In that same article I also mentioned (tongue firmly in cheek) that with my 5 write in votes making me a winner, I now knew "How President Reagan felt winning the war against Grenada."
12:09 PM Anon:
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure Rick Hood is an "easy win".
Yes, he's the chosen candidate of the Overriders because of his blank check policy for the Schools, but if the only thing you checked on his resume was that he lead the charge (of the Light Brigade) for the 'Amherst Plan' Override three years ago, you would certainly have to wonder.
I have been involved in political battles since 1982, and THAT was--by far--the most inept campaign I have ever seen...although the current Override campaign is shaping up to be even worse!
Rick has been very involved in the schools and has been up front about what he thinks on Catherines blog. He seems to agree with much she is trying to do, but also has the backbone to say when he doesn't. Just a hunch he would win one of the 2 seats over the others that haven't put much into it...so far. And do I really need to get into why Vince or Kathleen won't win?
ReplyDeleteVince is the OBVIOUS choice for school committee, because he cares so much.
ReplyDeleteYou are missing an essential element for reuse: atribution.
ReplyDelete"most licenses require that you give credit to the image creator when reusing an image."
Oh, okay: Somebody on Flickr.com (actually I believe there are 40 or more of them).
ReplyDeleteIs there an American alive today--even sixty sixty+ after first publication--who doesn't know that is a freakin Norman Rockwell???
Nitpicking Nitwit!
Amherst Town Meeting.
ReplyDeleteThe same people who wrote a letter of support to the country of IRAN. They actually bragged about it.
Iran's policy is to hang you if you are gay. To torture and kill you if you speak out against there government. Who also believe the Holocaust was a hoax ect. ect.
Do you think that could of been overturned, give me a break. There are a few who run the whole show. It should never be referred to as town meeting.
-Ryan
Indeed Ry.
ReplyDeleteAnd never,never,never forget: Amherst Town Meeting also voted by a TWO-THIRDS majority NOT to fly commemorative American flags on 9/11 in the downtown.
"When there's no competition you get, well, mediocrity."
ReplyDeletethe gospel of 'bach must have gotten around....
that amherst is a craphole full of power elite who don't care if they send you down the tubes...through non-payment for services, or unreasonably escalating taxes. also, who would want to get caught up in the mire of politics and have LK breathing down your neck all the time.
I still like to visit since the physical place is cool, and I always hit antonio's when i am there!
I only breath down the neck of powers that be. So you're quite safe.
ReplyDelete;-)
ReplyDeleteSorry 'Bach, I should have prefaced that remark like a buzzardly lawyerlike, "With all due respect..."
ReplyDelete"Nitwits like you come here every day hoping to find something--anything--to pounce on, and yours was copyright."
ReplyDeleteyou are sounding more and more paranoid...
A.N.W.
Not in the least. You are an Anon; therefore you don't matter.
ReplyDelete(Although I do like your root beer.)
Larry, You are so pro-American when it suits your fancy, but you're wearing blinders half the time.
ReplyDeleteSo, anonymous people don't matter? Is that it?
How do you think officials are elected in this land, your mecca? People like me and you go into the voting booth and cast our votes, anonymously. And then, most of the time, the candidate with the most anonymous votes wins and leads the people.
Republicans and Dems alike are elected in this manner. In fact, if it weren't for this incredible system of allowing people to vote anonymously, America as you know it would not exist.
So, like I said You are so pro-American when it suits your fancy, but you're wearing blinders half the time.
his only chance to call people names and bully readers is when they write in anonymously.
ReplyDeleteAbe Lincoln
Oh, I don't think Mr. Lincoln was intimidated by bullies you Cowardly, Anon, Nitwit.
ReplyDeleteAnd he signed his name to things like, you know, the Emancipation Proclamation.
In which case Lincoln wouldn't have been intimidated by you, nitwit kelly.
ReplyDeleteHey, that has a nice ring to it, like out of some Bowery Boys episode. " Yep, there goes ol' nitwit kelly again, thinking, or tryin to. Yep, smell that.