Status Quo Before The Storm

Alisa Brewer (left center) Jim Wald (right) at Monday Select Board meeting

With incumbents Alisa Brewer and Jim Wald running for reelection to the highest elected position the town has to offer, one-fifth of a mayor, the 5 member Select Board will maintain its steady if not staid course.

No small feat after the tragic sudden death of Town Manager John Musante.

Because there are two Select Board seats open that means voters get to vote for two candidates.  And since Mr. Wald and SB Chair Brewer have worked side-by-side together over the past six years it's a pretty safe bet who they will each tell their friends to support with that second vote.

If Alisa has 1,500 voters who go to the polls specifically to support her and Mr. Wald also has 1,500 to specifically support him but each supporter casts their second vote properly then both candidates end up with 3,000 votes.

Makes it kind of hard for an independent lone wolf candidate to rack up a victory, even when second place counts as winning.

In fact, as often is the case with Select Board recently, there may not even be a contest other than the two guaranteed winners.  And normally that would translate to an all too typical pathetic local voter turnout, which every now and then barely manages to break 10%.

But not this time -- not by a long shot.  With the Charter change question on the ballot -- bringing with it the glorious opportunity to terminate tedious Town Meeting -- the voter turnout will easily surpass 30%.

The 9 member Charter Commission should be able to produce a new and improved blueprint for better local government (Anything But Town Meeting)  in time for the 2017 election.

And in the meantime, Alisa Brewer and Jim Wald will do a fine job keeping those Select Board seats warm.

Apathy Wins Big

This homeowner called it

So no BIG surprises in yesterday's annual town election.  No little surprises either.  Turnout was a pathetic at best 7.5%.   Or with only 1,472 voters making the effort -- in an election costing taxpayers around $12,000 -- a little over $8 cost per vote cast.

The town really needs to follow UMass and create a PR Department to better promote the Amherst "brand."  Since we are famous for being so opinionated it is embarrassing to have such a lousy turnout for a local election -- the most fundamental aspect of civic engagement.

But the establishment will be (somewhat) happy with the results.  Phoebe Hazzard survived an election process snafu and ended up the top vote getter, beating out somewhat seasoned candidate Vira Douangmany.

Although two seats were open so both candidates will join the 5 member Amherst School Committee.

The last minute School Committee write in campaign to keep Lawrence O'Brien on the board failed to gain traction.  But first timer Victor Nunez-Ortiz did well for a write in candidate garnering 259 votes.

Election ballots are kind of like web pages: you want them to load quickly with as few clicks as possible to complete whatever task brought you there.  And taking the time to write in the full name of a candidate vs simply filling in a little oval is a lot to ask.

TracyLee Boutilier, the other winner in a somewhat contested Amherst Housing Authority race, like Vira Douangmany, is also somewhat seasoned as she ran for the AHA last year and lost to establishment candidate Peter Jessop.

With the town currently falling all over itself to address the problem of affordable housing the AHA could be instrumental in the upcoming political firefights.

It will also be interesting to see who replaces Paul Bobrowski, a level headed attorney, as Chair of the Amherst Housing Authority since he did not run for reelection.

Also on a second try Doug Slaughter won an uncontested seat on the still all white Select Board, our Executive branch of government.

The Select Board has not had a decent contest since 2007 when current SB member Alisa Brewer humiliated then Chair Anne Awad's husband Robie Hubley and "reversed her steady consolidation of power." 

Town Meeting winners (top 8 per Precinct for 3 year terms):

A League Of Their Own

Amherst League of Women Voters Candidates Night

If last night's turnout for the annual League of Women Voters Candidates Night is any indication the voter turnout for Amherst's 256th annual spring election March 31st will be pretty darn good.

But by usual standards -- 13.6% last year and a pathetic 6.6% in 2012 -- it really doesn't take much to deem a local election turnout as "good." In fact my threshold for a "good turnout" is a pretty modest 15%. Even the recent UMass Student Government Election managed to muster that.

 Standing room only crowd last night almost none "college aged"

Although to be fair (and balanced), I suppose UMass SGA was a "presidential" election, and when it comes to the once-every-four-years presidential election Amherst falls all over itself to vote:  turning out 69% in 2012 and a whopping 89% in 1992 when Slick Willy was at his peak.

With no controversial ballot questions (aka Charter vote to dump Town Meeting or Proposition 2.5 Override) and no contests for Select Board -- the top executive position in town -- the turnout will be low. Very low. As in maybe not ever double-digit.

While the School Committee technically does not have a race according to the official ballot, the write in candidate, Victor Nunez-Ortiz, certainly has a chance to ride a wave of discontent over racial issues which have roiled school operations over the past few years.

The League of Women Voters Candidates night still has that old fashioned meet and greet, press the flesh campaign feel to it.  Something that's starting to get lost in the digital age of Facebook, Twitter, blogs and of course in the national Big Leagues of campaigns, radio and television ads.

Perhaps the clearest loser last night was Emilie Hamilton, who failed to show up to state her case for being elected to the Amherst Housing Authority, thus leaving candidate Tracylee Boutilier even more time to speak directly to the voters.

And if I had to guess, of the 75 people in the room last night almost 100% of them will show up at the polls March 31st.

Just Say NO

 Amherst Board of Registrars meeting Town Hall 2:45 pm

In a little less than a half-hour the Amherst Board of Registrars came to a vote on whether to accept a challenge filed by Vince O'Connor and Mary Wentworth to the legality of names appearing on the nomination papers of 1st time School Committee candidate Phoebe Hazzard, who set a town record for acquiring the 50 signatures needed for a town wide office.

The vote was unanimous:  No.  In fact there was an undertone of, now go away.  

The challenge was filed 35 minutes after the "two working day" deadline imposed by state law.  The complainants argued a "working day" for Amherst Town Hall is 8.5 hours but one of those days (Thursday) Town Hall is closed to the general public in the mornings, therefor they only had 1.5 working days to file their grievance.

Board member Susan Lowenstein was the most forthright of the three asking Mr. O'Connor somewhat sternly, "Why do you see criminality and fraud?  I'm appalled this is happening!"

To which Mr. O'Connor responded, "I'm appalled the Town Clerk would accept bad signatures."

Another bystander pointed out, "Not a single person has come forward to say they didn't sign those papers.  There's the letter of the law, and the spirit of the law.  I don't see any violations of the spirit of the law."

O'Connor responded, "It encourages people to sit at home, call up their friends for permission and get signatures that way."

Town Clerk Sandra Burgess had wanted this distraction ended quickly, as the ballot for the March 31 election needs to be printed soon.

No Do Over For You!

 

Helen Berg at Select Board meeting 

Helen Berg's complaint about the Town Clerk not following state law by drawing names from a hat rather than alphabetically placing names on the ballot, would have been dismissed even if she had hired an attorney, as the town received permission to do so in the form of special state legislation w-a-y back in 1975.

 Aren't we special

That of course is why everybody forgot about it, and there was some brief concerned about Berg's threat to overturn the election where she lost by more than a landslide.

Now if we could just get the state legislature to approve downsizing Amherst Town Meeting from 240 to 60, we might actually attract qualified candidates armed with something this larger body is sorely lacking:  altruistic common sense.

Election Aftermath: Turmoil in the Making?

 Amherst March 25 election 2014:  Do over?

If Helen Berg -- 3rd place finisher in a 4-way race where the top two win a Select Board seat -- gets her way, Amherst taxpayers will spend another $12,000 for a "do over" of yesterday's election.

Ms. Berg finished 3rd garnering only 379 votes compared to the two winners, Andy Steinberg with 1,843 and second place finisher Connie Kruger with 1,700.

Or what most political insiders would consider not even close.  In fact, you don't even have to be a political insider to consider that not even close.

Helen Berg speaks at  3/17 Select Board meeting

The technicality stems from placing the order of candidates names on the ballot.  Traditionally the town has always drawn names from a hat for order of placement, thus giving our Polish friends with surnames ending in W a chance to be first on the ballot.

At the February 6 meeting of the Board of Registrars, that took about 45 minutes, all the contested town wide races and Town Meeting races were done this way.  Ms. Berg complained about her 3rd place drawing stating the town should go alphabetically, thus placing her first on the ballot.

The town currently operates under the Amherst Town Government Act which was enacted in December, 2001.   And the that document is silent on how to place names on the local election ballot.

Therefore the safest course of action would be to abide by state statute.  

Her complaint did raise a red flag, and it was then the Town Clerk noticed the February 6 meeting of the Board of Registrars had not been properly posted according to Open Meeting Law.

At that point -- with a do over already in the works, meaning a reprinting of all the ballots, both the town attorney and Town Manager looked at whether the town should go by state statute and simply list all candidates alphabetically (as requested by Ms. Berg), or do it the way it has always been done.

They decided to properly repost the Board of Registrars do over meeting for March 5th, redo the random drawing, and then reprint the ballots.  The only change in Select Board order was Ms. Berg moved up a notch to #2 on the ballot and Mr. Boothroyd moved down to #3 from his former #2 spot.

And it certainly seems like being #4 on the ballot did not hurt Connie Kruger any.

#####

Another angry Select Board loser:

   Boothroyd Rant

#####

Status Quo Election

Steinberg, Kruger and Appy it is

No big surprises as the 255th annual Amherst town election is now history ... but hardly historic.

Select Board winners -- the insiders -- Andy Steinberg (1,843) and Connie Kruger (1,700) far outdistanced outsider candidate John Boothroyd (259)  and particularly far out candidate Helen Berg (379).

The School Committee contest was the only race that seemed to generate any enthusiasm where incumbent Katherine Appy was given a scare by the populist nature of newcomer Vira Douangmany's campaign but still won a resounding victory 1,532 to the challenger's 1,012.

As consolation prize Vira was the top vote getter for Town Meeting in Precinct 7 for a three year seat with 239.  Her vote total in that Precinct for School Committee was only 158.

With the Amherst schools embroiled in yet another racism/bullying scandal the racial difference between the two candidates could have played a major role, but Douangmany did not overplay the race card.

The same can be said for the other low-key contest for a seat on the Amherst Housing Authority, where insider incumbent Peter Jessup easily bested newcomer Tracylee Boutilier 1,371 to 905. Although Ms. Boutilier did win a three year seat in Town Meeting representing Precinct 6.

Although the Amherst Redevelopment Authority has not met in over a year the open seat vacated by former chair John Coull had to be filled.  Pam Rooney won the tightest race of the evening against Paige Wilder 999 to 905 respectively.

But Wilder was #1 vote getter in her home Precinct 10 for a three year Town Meeting seat with 95 votes.  She also trounced Rooney in that particular Precinct 89-26.

 Voter turnout was a lousy 13.4% (which I called almost exactly), sad to say, about usual for a local election -- although not nearly as bad as last year's pathetic 6.6%.

Two years ago the Presidential election had a 69% turnout.  Historic all time high for Amherst was in 1992 when 89% of the voters turned out -- mostly for Bill Clinton.

Town Meeting Results

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

Local Election Fever

 

Noon today, Amherst town center.  Note Select Board candidates don't even bother

With actual town-wide contests on the ballot, Tuesday's election will draw twice the voter turnout as last year's snoozer.

Although, that's not saying much since last year Amherst -- where even the H is silent -- saw a pitiful showing at the election booth of only 6.6%; compared to 69% the previous year for the Presidential contest (which in Massachusetts is not much of a contest).

And with two of four Select Board candidates firmly representing the status quo establishment vying for two open seats, and with each voter allowed to vote for two candidates, Finance Committee Chair Andy Steinberg and Amherst Housing Authority Chair Connie Kruger are nothing if not unbeatable.

The other two candidates -- John Boothroyd and Helen Berg -- can flip a coin to see who's last. Although considering her eccentricities, let's hope it's Helen Berg.



When it comes to the Select Board race -- after the tumultuous years of Czar Anne Awad, his lordship Gerry Weiss and t-shirt tosser Rob Kusner -- the last six years have been pretty smooth sailing.

Well, other than the perennial national embarrassment over censoring the commemorative American flags in the downtown on 9/11.

So I'm quite comfortable with Steinberg and Kruger assuming top leadership roles in town government, as it's not like "changing horses in mid stream." 

The School Committee is a different matter altogether.  Amherst has champagne costs with lite beer results.  And the PC problem, also a PR nightmare, of racism and bullying has been an issue for many years; an issue the current School Committee has done nothing to solve.

So I'm more than up for giving an outsider a chance -- especially since Vira Douangmany is not your usual white-bread upper middle class automaton, and her husband owns a small business.  Maybe now the connection between expensive school costs bringing on high property taxes in a town that has a tiny commercial tax base will be understood.

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority is dead but if it is ever revived it wouldn't hurt to have a stakeholder with some passion on board, so I will be voting for Paige Wilder, even though we strongly disagreed on the Gateway Project.

Phillips Street was the only area in the Gateway that was officially ruled "decadent" (making it easier to take by eminent domain) by a certified consultant, so maybe some day the ARA will take the  street, flatten it, and build something we can all be proud of.  That is, if they ever meet again. 

Same can be said for Amherst Housing Authority.  While I would strongly disagree with Tracy Lee Saraia Grace Boutilier's quest to take Echo Village Apartments by eminent domain (they are not considered "decadent") she would still bring an impassioned outsider perspective informed by experience.

Ah, Town Meeting -- that overwhelmingly white, overly educated bastion of democracy. Until Amherst grows up and switches to a more professional Mayor/Council it's the only game in town (what the gambler said about a rigged operation).

I can't argue with the recommendations of Sustainable Amherst, but I find it interesting the long-time Town Meeting members they did not endorse:  Media mogul Isaac BenEzra, landlord Richard Gold, Nonny Burack, Rob Kusner, Mary Wentworth to name a few. 

Matthew Cunningham-Cook (the UMass student who brought us the $15/hr Minimum Wage article slapped down by Town Meeting last week), also fails to garner an endorsement, which, after the recent debacle is more than understandable.

We do have a handful of other students running for Town Meeting, so in all likelihood some will be successful.  Of course Town Meeting drags on until June, so it will be interesting to check their attendance records after UMass lets out.  

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

Election "Contest"

At least the upcoming March 25 Amherst local election is, unlike last year, a contested one.  Sort of.  But in the (sort of) all important Select Board race, where four candidates will vie for two open seats, the two insider candidates -- Andy Steinberg and Connie Kruger -- are virtually unbeatable.

The quirk in an election with two open seats is that each voter gets to vote for two candidates.  Two like minded candidates then combine forces and easily double their vote tally, making outside loners like Helen Berg and John Boothroyd marginal candidates.

Potentially the most interesting Select Board candidate, Umass Grad Student Matthew E. Cunningham-Cook, failed to return his Select Board nomination papers with 50 required signatures, but he did sign up for Town Meeting.

He said he became too busy working on calling a Special Town Meeting to try to enact a Home Rule Amendment for Amherst to increase the minimum wage to $15/hour.  Not sure how well that will go over with local businesses in our service economy that rely on a, um, cheap labor.

But hey, I'm sure he could talk Senator Elizabeth Warren to come speak in its behalf.

Thus the only interesting race is going to be for School Committee where incumbent Katherine Appy will take on newcomer Viraphanh Douangmany.  With the current disarray in the schools it's probably a positive not to be an incumbent.

Town Meeting interest picked up dramatically in the final stretch and there are now contests in all but one Precinct out of ten for the (sort of) all important three-year seats.

Even though the Amherst Redevelopment Authority has not met in over a year two candidates -- Paige Wilder and Pamela Rooney -- will be vying for one seat with a five-year term.  And the Amherst Housing Authority also has two candidates for one five-year term, Peter Jessop (also an "insider") and activist Tracylee Boutilier.

Last year with no town wide seats contested, voter turnout was a pathetic 6.6%.  With all these "contests" this election should see a whopping 15% turnout.

Another Snoozer Local Election?

Amherst Town Hall:  pretty in snow

As usual the interest in serving as a venerable member of Amherst Town Meeting -- that bastion of pure democracy -- is minimal at best.  Yes, this in a town that prides itself on being vocal.

Out of 80 three-years seats up for grabs, spread out over 10 precincts, so far only 37 candidates have bothered to take out or file papers.  And considering it only takes one signature to get on the ballot (your own counts) it's not like there's much of a barrier to entry.

The election is March 25 and the deadline for returning papers to the Town Clerk is February 4. 

On the "townwide" front, two more candidates have taken out  papers for Select Board the highest office in town government, bringing the total to six potential candidates (for two open seats).

New entrants include John Boothroyd who helped lead a bitter battle against subsidized HAP housing in his neighborhood a few years ago; and Matthew E. Cunningham-Cook a, gasp, UMass Graduate Student who majors in "Labor Studies."

Every few years a Umass student enters the race for Select Board and at the very least livens up the debate somewhat, but since UMass students avoid the ballot box like an 8:00 AM Monday morning math class, no significant vote tally ever results.

The Amherst School Committee will also see a race as Viraphanh Douangmany has already filed her papers with the requisite 50 signatures.  Incumbent Katherine Appy has announced she's running for reelection but thus far has not turned in her papers.

And she does seem to have a problem with routine paperwork.  

Select Board Contest Gets Interesting

Town Clerk's Tally Sheet 

So now we have four Amherst citizens who have "taken out papers" for Amherst Select Board, which has two seats (out of five) up for grabs at the March 25 annual election, as both incumbents decided to retire.

Because two seats are open voters get to vote twice -- but, obviously, not for one candidate.  So it's not a Chicago Boss Hog kind of thing; just a normal, legal Amherst way of dealing with multi-player positions like Select Board, where all five combined equal a Mayor.  Sort of.

The two latest entries are Helen Berg and Yeshaq Warren.  Ms Berg filed a warrant article for Amherst Town Meeting last spring to fund extra PVTA bus runs to the Survival Center on Sunderland Road, which was defeated.  Other than that, no extensive public service experience in town. 

Yeshaq Warren took out papers five years ago for Select Board but never handed them in because as he commented on my post at the time:  "I was just incarcerated so I could not turn them in."  Um, yeah, now there's a Hell of an excuse.

And only two years ago APD arrested Yeshaq Warren for "assaulting a pregnant woman."  So maybe he figures Amherst Select Board members, in addition to their whopping $300 annual pay, also get a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card. 

Candidates have until February 4th to return their papers with the signatures of 50 registered voters. 

Scarlet Letters

 Town center this morning

So I kind of hope whoever was responsible for these signs leaves them up for a while just as a reminder of how pathetic the turnout was for the People's Republic of Amherst local election yesterday:

6.6% vs 69% last November for the Presidential election.

And yes, no contests for town wide offices but every one of our ten precincts had town meeting seats to fill.  And Amherst is renowned as a champion of Democracy because we still maintain such an antiquated form of government.

Yet when it comes time to elect folks to this bastion of participatory Democracy ...

"Blanks" did very well.  Coming in 3rd for Select Board and 1st for School Committee

-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Kelley
To: amhersttownmeetingsubscribe
Sent: Wed, Apr 10, 2013 2:07 pm
Subject: Town Meeting List serve

Now that I am a duly elected member of Precinct 5 I would like to join this private, quasi-public list serve for Amherst Town Meeting members.


Larry Kelley
Precinct 5

News About Nothing (Seinfeld)

While not up there with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the lack of an $ Override question on the April 9 town election ballot is only a borderline miracle, especially in light of the recent outcry over school budget cuts.

Town officials are 1-2 over the past six years with one $1.68 Override passing in 2010; but a larger more hard fought $2.5 million Override campaign failing in 2007 (mainly because of campaign director, Rick Hood).

Any marketing guru will confirm trying to get people to voluntarily raise their own taxes -- especially in a trying economy -- is a tough sell.  Even more so, the prospect of trying to raise money to buy media to sell consumers on the idea of paying more for something most people take for granted:  public services. 

Especially when the town has $6 million stashed away in reserves and the Regional Schools another  $1 million.  The old "why should I take money out of my savings account so that you can keep money stashed in yours" routine.

Of course the major downside now is the April 9 local election, with no town-wide contests and half the town meeting precincts with not enough candidates to fill the open seats, will get an abysmal turnout ... under 10%.

And no, 14 UMass students running for Amherst Town Meeting will not stimulate the vote in the least (other than the 14 who come out to vote for themselves -- if indeed they bother to vote that day).

Last November, however,  the Amherst turnout for a non competitive (in this state anyway) Presidential election was 69%.

But for matters that more directly impact them -- The People -- it's the local election that really counts. And yet there, we always come up lacking.

Amherst:  where even the H is silent. 

Election Snoozer

Stephanie O'Keeffe Select Board Chair (center), John Coull,her dad, Amherst Redevelopment Authority Chair (ducking), Jada Kelley (cute kid).  Back when elections were (sort of) exciting

With contests in only half the ten town meeting precincts and only one contest for town wide positions, no pocket book Override (fortunately) or Charter change of government (unfortunately) on the ballot, the April 9 annual spring town election promises to be about as exciting as watching snow melt.

When asked what she thought the voter turnout would be, Town Clerk Sandra Burgess responded succinctly: "low."

For the second election in a row, Select Board -- the highest political position in town -- incumbents Alisa Brewer and Jim Wald have no opposition, so their three year term renewal is guaranteed.  (A write in candidate has never beaten a candidate who appears on the ballot in the modern age.)

Moderator Harrison Gregg has retired his gavel after almost 20 years of service and his occasional pinch hitter over the years, Jim Pistrang, will have no opposition for the important position.

Amherst School Committee has two seats up for grabs and three candidates:  Richard Hood (incumbent), Kathleen Traphagen and Amherst College Professor Barry O'Connell.  None of them appear to be even remotely as forthright or controversial as former School Committee member Catherine Sanderson, so the campaign will be a genteel affair.

Some might even argue, boring. 

Although a dozen UMass students in the mix, including SGA President Akshay Kapoor,  could spice things up.  Or not.

 8 candidates for 8 seats (3 of them students)

Rental registration, with a concurrent permit system, will be the most contentious issue on the Town Meeting warrant.  For over a generation Amherst has struggled with too little housing and too many students resulting in high rents, substandard, dangerous slum houses, and distressed neighbors.

The Safe & Health Neighborhood working group will make a recommendation to the Town Manager on rental registration and permits.

Since it will be a General By Law change the measure will only require a majority vote at Town Meeting rather than the super-majority that is required for Zoning articles.

Town Meeting starts May 6.

Most competitive Precinct with 15 candidates for 8 three-year seats

Least competitive precinct (mine)

Always Competitive Precinct 7

 Competitive Precinct 9

 
Precinct 10

Bad Night For Incumbents

Two high profile candidates for reelection, in races where a second place finish would have been good enough, came in third, and thus out of the money.  Irv Rhodes, chair of the Amherst School Committee, fell to newcomers Lawrence O'Brien and Amilcar Shabazz--both of whom wished to be appointed two months ago to finish out the term of Steve Rivkin.

Presciently, Rhodes was at first reluctant to even fill the school committee position, worried it would give that person an advantage in this April 3 election; but then he strongly supported Shabazz.  The combined Select Board and School Committee, however, chose a high school student instead.

This stunning loss for Rhodes mirrors the school committee election of 2004 when incumbent chair Barbara Love came in third behind newcomers Andy Churchill and Thomas Flitte.  Pundits at the time lay the blame on a mediocre campaign that reeked of overconfidence and taking the voters for granted.

While Michael Aronson came in a distant fourth with 433 votes his base in all liklihood bullet voted (did not use their second vote).  If even half of Aronson's supporters had thrown their second vote to Rhodes, it would have put him in second place.

Incumbent Carol Gray also was odd person out in the three way race for two seats on the Jones Library Trustees.  She joins former chair Pat Holland who lost her seat last year as a result of leading an inquisition against 30 year Director Bonnie Isman.

Birds of a feather crash together.

##################

By The Numbers:

School Committee

Lawrence O'Brien     1526

Amilcar Shabazz     1160

Irv Rhodes               1004

Michael Aronson     433

Jones Library Trustee

Austin Sarat     1380

Tamson Ely       1245

Carol Gray         907

Voter Turnout:  15.2% (2,429 voters out of 15,991)

Statement of Michael Aronson - Candidate for the Amherst School Committee

I extend my congratulations to the winners of the school committee race in Amherst.  I enjoyed the dialog we shared. I encourage those of you stepping into public service to remember the substance and focus of the debate: determining why we spend so much more than other school districts in our area; returning resources to the classroom; and eliciting the creativity of Amherst to the benefit of the children of our community.

What if they gave an election and nobody came?

The best PR flack in the business--even the guy who came up with “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette”--would have a hard time selling today's municipal election. B-O-R-I-N-G.

Almost exclusively due to a lack of competition. For the second election in a row, no contest for Select Board--the highest elected position in town government. And since the schools are the only thing that matters to a whopping percentage of the electorate, the lack of a contest for Catherine Sanderson's School Committee seat (at least hers until 8:00 PM this evening) dampened markedly any election buzz.

No lawn signs, post cards, radio ads, bumper stickers, nasty emails, Facebook pages or stand outs in town center. Nada.

Ironically Aaron Hayden is the candidate hurt the most--fortunately not fatally--as virtually all the 'Amherst Center' types who would have flocked to the polls to vote against Catherine Sanderson would have supported Mr. Hayden's reelection to the Amherst Redevelopment Authority for his sane, smart growth approach to enhancing our commercial tax base (thus creating more tax revenues for the schools); the exact opposite of Vince O'Connor's touchy-feely, no-growth-is good-growth attitude.

But I'm still going to write in Catherine Sanderson for School Committee anyway. She deserves the Medal of Honor and a Purple Heart for three long years of banging her perky head against a brick wall. Like the innocent kid who cried out the emperor has no clothes, only in this modern version a royal goon squad then beats the tar out of her.

Chris Hoffman also took some heat last summer for calling attention to the hatchet job underway at the Jones Library, where cutthroat-Carol Gray was setting up long time director Bonnie Isman for a death by a 1,000 cuts with an "evaluation" longer than 'War and Peace'.

Since three candidates are vying for two Library Trustee positions a voter can choose two candidates. I'm going to "bullet vote" for Hoffman, but if you feel it's your patriotic duty to use that other vote then cast it for ANYONE BUT Pat Holland (also part of the hit squad with cutthroat Carol.)

Traditionally Amherst voter turnout for municipal elections held in the Spring is usually an embarrassing 15 to 20% (30% for an Override or Charter change in government ballot question) but the Presidential elections every four years in November always brings out around 75%.

That's Amherst for you: always thinking nationally (or internationally). Today's turnout will be the most pathetic in years, possibly under 10%.

Catherine Sanderson: out of the hot seat