More on write-in votes for mayor

While I was in the Clerk's Office yesterday - Have I ever mentioned how nice and accommodating the people in there are? - I asked about the write-in votes, as in specifically what names were written in for mayor.

The names were mostly familiar ones (I didn't write them all down) such as Dan McCarthy (who ran in 2007 but didn't make it through the primary), Steve Cole (ditto), Gardiner Bacon (ditto), Dan Sweeney (who pulled out of the 2009 race) and John Moak showed up, I think 4 or 5 times.

Also in there was Frank Kane, the guy who had the bumper stickers and who Larry Giunta a couple of weeks ago was wondering about.

There were only 24 in all.

Allison and I speak

I just had occasion to call Mayor Kezer's office in Amesbury and Allison Heartquist answered the phone.

Before I got down to the reason why I was calling, we spoke about the comments I made on here and I told her in detail what I wrote this morning - that she was elected, fair and square, and that she is now a member of the City Council (representing me) and that's that, as far as I'm concerned.

Of course, now that she's a public figure, she's under even more scrutiny, but ah, well ...

I had intended to call her at home, but since I had the opportunity to explain myself ... Well, I'm glad I took it and I'm happy to report her gracious suggestion that we start afresh.

Now what am I going to do about the anonymous commenter who wants me to investigate the controversial campaign contribution?

Well, Butch Frangipane says right here in the Daily News that it was his personal check and not a company check ... without him actually producing the canceled check, I don't know what else I can do. But I'll think on it.

I'm really looking forward to the new City Council.

Write-in votes (from City Clerk)

Councillor-at-large

Holaday (write-in) - 147

Shanley (write-in) - 83

Mayor - 24 (names not specified)

Charter Commission - 48 (names not specified)

School Committee - 32 (names not specified)

Ward races - 52 total
Ward 1 - 1
Ward 2 - 13
Ward 3 -2
Ward 4 -22
Ward 5 - 5
Ward 6 - 9

Official results on the city website here. Thanks to Mary Baker Eaton of the The Newburyport Blog for pointing me to the page.

Final thoughts, post-election

Here are the (unofficial) numbers for mayor, ward-by-ward:

Ward 1P (Plum Island):
Holaday - 140
Shanley - 131

Ward 1:
Holaday - 426
Shanley - 320

Ward 2:
Holaday - 459
Shanley - 310

Ward 3:
Holaday - 384
Shanley - 463

Ward 4:
Holaday - 459
Shanley - 395

Ward 5:
Holaday - 406
Shanley - 289 (audible gasp from people in the room)

Ward 6:
Holaday - 430
Shanley - 349

Official (per Port Media):
Total Holaday: 2707
Total Shanley: 2258

Charter Commission confirmed as listed on previous post (again, per Port Media, who hung around for official results).

I'm a big believer in the process - the will of the people through their vote (or surveys), jury decisions, etc. I'm happy for EVERYONE who won (and applaud everyone who ran and did not win), and I think the City Council will be very interesting next session. Also glad there are still two women on there.

Holaday wins; Council gets 3 new members

OK, here are the unofficial "official" results (Clerk Richard Jones did not release the absolute official numbers by the time I left City Hall).

Mayor - Donna Holaday

Ward 1 - Allison Heartquist (new)
Ward 2 - Greg Earls (unopposed)
Ward 3 - Bob Cronin (new)
Ward 4 - Ed Cameron (unopposed)
Ward 5 - Brian Derrivan (unopposed)
Ward 6 - Tom O'Brien (unopposed)

At-large councillors:

Barry Connell
Steve Hutcheson
Katy Ives
Tom Jones
Ari Herzog (new)

School Committee:

Steve Cole (re-elected)
Dan Koen
Cheryl Sweeney

There was confusion about the Charter Commission people but the voters did overwhelmingly approve the formation of the commission.

Congratulations to everyone!

Live election coverage

Live coverage of the election results will start at 8:30 p.m. I forgot to ask if it will be on Comcast Cable channel 9, or channel 10.

I'm winging it, so watch out ...

Shanley: no comment

James Shanley returned my call and said he has no comment on any appointments or hires he would make, should he be elected mayor.

Update: I think I should have added that he feels it's inappropriate, which is exactly what I thought he'd say. That's not a knock.

I found my spine re: the Planning Director

OK, so duh, I was reminded that the Planning Director position is co-terminus with the sitting mayor ... and as I was speaking with Donna Holaday on another matter a bit ago, I asked her about Nick Cracknell.

But I want to give James Shanley equal opportunity to answer so I'm waiting for a call back from him.

Oh, OK, I'll tell you that Holaday said that although she felt Cracknell is an "incredibly talented visionary," she would retain Sean Sullivan because Cracknell would be a very controversial appointment.

She said she consulted with people both within City Hall and without to see what they thought of the job Sullivan is doing, and she heard "nothing but wonderful things."

I'll let you know as soon as I hear from Shanley.

But doesn't this make you think twice about the issue of taking the City Marshal and Fire Chief positions out of civil service? Sullivan has only been in the Planning Dept. for one year, come January ... city officials should be very careful about this civil service issue and make sure those positions don't serve "at the pleasure" of the sitting mayor, should they be taken out of civil service.

And I agree with Tom Salemi that appointments to key boards should not be solely at the discretion of the mayor.

I have a feeling that, whoever is elected, there is going to be some "spring cleaning"of boards and committees ... or did I say that already?

Final thoughts on the election, maybe (I may have more later)

I had some interesting discussions over the weekend and in one of them, the person I was speaking to said that if James Shanley is elected, it will signal a significant change in the city.

That is, the triumph of the new order over the old order. I said that in a previous post, in a kind of sideways way when I was talking about people who love the Rail Trail vs. those who think the time/money could have been better spent elsewhere.

Someone pointed out that it was transportation money and that the whole point of the trail is to get people to walk or ride their bikes instead of driving.

Well, I remember a couple of years ago when architect Andy Sidford attempted to start a drive (ha-ha) to get people to ride their bike everywhere, on every Tuesday.

It went nowhere.

You take baby steps, not giant leaps. Some people here love giant leaps, such as the NRA's latest plans for its east parking lot, or building a whole new sewer plant at ginormous expense instead of just fixing up the old one (at enormous expense, but only a fraction of the cost of building a whole new plant somewhere else).

I will add here, however, my own perspective that Shanley is very sensitive to historic preservation - which at the same time alienates people who also think that the Rail Trail is a big waste of money.

And here on Plum Island - I said recently that people here are all islanders, no matter what, but I see that this even is changing.

The birth of the Plum Island Foundation I think has permanently fractured Plum Island, which was already cracking between the old guard and the new. Not to mention the permanent animosity that has sprung up between Newbury and Salisbury in the fight over sand.

Remember when Newbury was going to sue Salisbury to get the sand from the dredging, even though through an agreement, it was Salisbury's turn to get the sand? From the April 7, 2008, story in the Daily News:

The original battle over who has the right to the sand erupted last summer, encouraged by Plum Island beachfront resident Robert Connors and members of his Plum Island Beach Association. During a June 2007 interview, Connors said the jetties — built by the Army Corps in 1881 — interfere with the natural north-to-south hydraulics of sand movement along the coast. As a result, he argued sand dredged from the Merrimack River should never go to Salisbury — which is north of the river — but always be used to augement Plum Island, south of the river.

The animosity between PI Foundation members and PITA members is astounding. I guess Larry McCavitt, in the void of someone less contentious, represents PITA and Allison Heartquist represents the PI Foundation.

Heartquist is the mayor's candidate. So is Bob Cronin, although he seems to know what he's talking about.

It does not matter what Heartquist thinks about regionalization with Amesbury and Salisbury because she will never get to vote on any such plan, seeing as how she is executive assistant to the Amesbury mayor.

Ward 1 thus would lose a vote on that critical issue.

Planning director

An anonymous commenter on this blog asked me about whether I had any knowledge of a possibility of one or both of the candidates for mayor bringing Nick Cracknell back as planning director.

I don't think, from a personal standpoint, that asking that question of the 2 candidates is very respectful to our current planning director, Sean Sullivan.

How would he feel if one or both of the candidates replied that yes, he or she would not re-appoint him and would instead bring Cracknell back?

I know, I know, it is an important question and someone should have asked it. But I was not assigned to interview any of the candidates for the paper, and I did not write the questions for the CEB interviews.

I'm a naughty, evil, bad blogger.

Having said that, I've done a little research and it looks to me as if both James Shanley and Donna Holaday strongly supported Cracknell while he was the Director of Planning.

I don't know Sean Sullivan all that well, but I have learned through experience that both he and Nancy Colbert (his predecessor) are/were creatures of the mayor (Sullivan perhaps a little less so than was Colbert).

I mean that in the sense that the person in the position does the mayor's bidding, not that they are actual "creatures" in a pejorative personal sense.

Nick Cracknell, from what I read in the aftermath of his not being re-appointed by Mayor John Moak (and which was right when I started writing for the Current), resisted being Moak's creature.

The Director of Planning is a political appointment.

Perhaps Sullivan is scrambling as I write, to find a new position.

I could guess that at least one of Holaday and Shanley would consider Cracknell, if not outright appoint him ...

You have to look at certain elements of the situation - those being who is all for some development along the waterfront and has expressed the notion that they have an "in" with New England Development and who perhaps is being a little more prudent (in my opinion) in that regard.

This all depends on whether voters like one viewpoint over the other, whether they liked Cracknell, and whether they want any more buildings on Merrimac St., along the waterfront.

I found it rather interesting that someone such as Mary Harbaugh (wife of Jim Stiles) would clap so much more enthusiastically for Shanley than Holaday at the last mayoral debate - he wants the buildings (not that many of them, but buildings nonetheless) and Harbaugh is all for open space.

(Of course, she can be fickle - she does not want the senior center to go at Cushing Park one minute because the parking lot there is "open space," but she objects the next minute to the parking lots on the river because they are not "open space." I don't know of much that's more open than a parking lot, but ... hey.)

By the way (and not related to Harbaugh), someone recently used the term "dark sider" to me, and I had to ask what a "dark sider" is. Here is a part of the definition, as presented by the P. Preservationist (click on the link if you want to read the full explanation):

The dark side believes that Newburyport’s future lies in industry and not in eco-tourism and heritage tourism. A dark sider reminisces of a community with busy factories providing steady though not perhaps wealthy income to the workers in town. They imagine that after a hard day at work, the family could stroll the streets and live in a safe community where everyone knows everyone else. There were few outsiders. Dark siders after all are about family and financial security. It may be observed that they tend to have the money-like the Great Depression generation, the harbinger of poverty is ever before them – their mantra is jobs and growth. To them, craftsmen and bankers and developers must be given an absolute free hand to do whatever possible to generate money.

The dark sider sees no value in aesthetics – a manicured lawn is no value to them – a job is everything and the appearance of your house means nothing. They do not understand equity and care nothing of raising property values – to them it’s only an excuse to raise taxes.

Bringing in buildings that do not fit Newburyport is okay with them – we must build, build, build. Open space is wasted space – we must build, build, build to raise more tax revenue. To them, the act of construction and industry is the ticket for the future of Newburyport as the dark sider is forever seeking what was lost in the mid-twentieth century: seeking the old Newburyport of the past filled with large factories.

What do you all think?

What was my point, again?

I read this item in today's Daily News, online ... it's about the Ward 1 race.

This bit, way down by the bottom, caught my attention, especially since there has been some chat on Tom Salemi's website about Karp supporting campaigns (this bit is about challenger Allison Heartquist):

Among her supporters, according to the campaign finance report filed this week, are Mark Roland, the owner of the clam shack that McCavitt battled in court. He gave Heartquist's campaign $150. Also, Newburyport Marinas, a company owned by Stephen Karp and New England Development donated $100 to her campaign ...

Heartquist said yesterday her treasurer, John Brooks, has been overseeing her campaign donations and referred questions about donations to him.

It's unclear if the donation from Newburyport Marinas was given as a donation from a corporation, which is prohibited under campaign finance law. Brooks said yesterday he did not have the information on the Newburyport Marinas donation in front of him, but said it was given by a person who is part of the marina.

What does that mean, "it's unclear?" If it says Newburyport Marinas on the information her campaign supplied, then it was Newburyport Marinas who made the donation, right?

Not necessarily, but ...

Even if it was by a person, they obviously screwed up in the reporting and haven't got a clue about campaign finance law.

The mayoral candidates

I have decided that in lieu of any endorsement that I'm reluctant to make, I'll say one thing each about the mayoral candidates that I most admire and one thing that I do not admire, and you can take that for what it's worth.

Echoing the sentiments of many people, I really think that both these people could perform well as mayor (How's that for a tepid statement?). That is, I think there is equal potential for either of them doing a good job or either of them doing a lousy job, only in different ways, if you get my drift.

So here goes, in alphabetical order:

I think that Donna Holaday is brilliant. She knows facts and figures and can throw them around in an impressive manner. I also think, however, that she is too trusting about what she is told as backup for those facts and figures. In an ideal world, you would not have dept. heads who were trying to deceive when explaining why they needed funding for this project or another - but this is not an ideal world. She needs to be more cynical.

I really admire how James Shanley, when I would write something critical on here about one of his councillors, he would write to me and defend them, but only where he thought defense was in order. That may sound like nothing compared to 'oh, she's brilliant,' but it shows something about his character that I think is just as important in a chief administrator (and yes, I think the mayor is both an administrator and a leader). Conversely, I think he's a little too cynical and thus he often comes off as being dismissive.

I will add (again) that I did not like both of them saying they would not run for mayor if John Moak was running for re-election.

I also think - although I have no proof of this - that something really bad happened to their good relationship. Holaday avoids looking at Shanley, if at all possible, and he looks at her in the same way that a man looks at a woman he's been previously close to but has done something she thinks is unforgivable. I'm not sure he understands why she thinks it was unforgivable, given his expression. Most men don't.

It makes me kind of sad, because in 2007, I witnessed Shanley on election night 2007 practically running through the BluWater Cafe to reach Holaday, who was in the downstairs bar. When he reached her, he was jumping up and down and laughing with joy ... he had run unopposed in Ward 3, so it was her victory he was sharing.

Shanley, like me, has a very expressive face. It's been very interesting, to say the least, to watch his facial expressions during City Council meetings. Oh I have to stop adding extra bits in here.

So that's it. Oh, except for the Current has endorsed Holaday.

I had nothing to do with that decision, by the way, and I only checked to make sure after I had written this complete post, except for the line above this one.

Election night

The PortMedia people confirmed tonight that we will, indeed, be broadcasting live from City Hall on election night.

That is, they will be broadcasting live, and I will be delivering the color commentary.

Forget Richard Jones attempting to strangle me with his bow tie and think Allison Heartquist attempting to strangle me with her bare hands. Even if she wins.

Did I mention that she and I share the same birthday? She's only the second person I've ever known who shared my birthday.

Anyway ... I don't know how much this has been advertised, if at all, so consider this your warning ... er, I mean your notification.

What do you think? Humorous or serious?

Me and my theories

I went to the final mayoral debate tonight because I was writing a campaign wrap-up.

They both look tired out ... and wow, poor James Shanley was out of his element. In this case, that is.

I guess it all boils down to how you feel about funding for the schools and where the money will come from, given that the state is not being very helpful in this regard.

Shanley wants paid parking and Holaday wants grants and "efficiencies." I hate that word, along with "transparency."

Anyway, we're down to the final days - and frankly, I don't see much passion for either person. There's not even that many campaign signs.

Apathy is not good.

I proposed to Holaday that the infamous "Khaki Crowd" (so dubbed by, I believe, Bubba) was more for Shanley and the people who think things like the Rail Trail, although quite nice, are a waste of money given the condition of the city's infrastructure and thus prefer her.

She did not agree because, as she correctly pointed out, that money was earmarked for the Rail Trail and could not be spent on anything else. But there was the CPA money.

Oh, well ... So much for another of my wonderful theories ...

DN goes for Shanley

The Daily News is endorsing James Shanley for mayor. Read all about it here.

Pissy pants

Just for everyone's information - What a week this has been! - I don't post comments on the Daily News website (although I do read them).

And even if I were to do it, I would use my real name.

(Ooops - falling off my high horse - I did once post something anonymously to the DN website, using the handle "FrmrFlintoid.")

This McCavitt-Heartquist thing is getting out of hand. If you don't like McCavitt, you should have challenged him for his seat or encouraged someone more qualified to do so.

Knocking me only shows your desperation to make her look qualified ...

The Liberator endorses Holaday (and others)

I forgot to pick up a copy of this week's Liberator while I was out, but I did see these 2 posts on the Newburyport, Mass. page on Facebook:

The Newburyport Liberator endorses Donna Holaday as mayor; Larry McCavitt as ward 1 councilor; Bob Cronin as ward 3 councilor; and Kathleen Ives, Barry Connell, Tom Jones, Ari Herzog, and Michael Ferrick as at-large councilors to vote for on November 3.

The Newburyport Liberator endorses Kathleen Bailey, Paul Bevilacqua, David Claridge, Roger Gagnon, Hugh Kelleher, Doug Locy, Tom Lyons, Janet Marcus, Olga MacFarlane, Cynthia Muir, Sheila Mullins, Tom Salemi, Jim Stiles, Bruce Vogel, and Alexander Warren for charter review committee candidates to vote for on November 3.

I love Olga MacFarlane; she had me in stitches one time at a City Council meeting. I don't think her stage-whisper comments and my almost-stifled guffaws were appreciated, though. Take that for what it's worth.

And it goes without saying I'm happy that my friend and fellow blogger Tom Salemi is among those endorsed.

But - there will be just 9 of them, right?

I don't know most of the people who are running for Charter Commission very well and some, not at all.

But I have to mention that all 5 of the candidates who were at that "meet and greet" at the Battles/Shanley homestead are on the Liberator's list.

You have to decide if that makes a difference to you. And even if it does - I still recommend a vote for Tom Salemi. He's only one of the 5, and I know absolutely he'll do what he believes is best for the city, based on the information put before him.

I place my trust in Tom because I know who and what he is.

I really don't know the other people well enough.

Why is it wrong to state the truth?

I read the story in the Daily News about the mayoral debate and then I was reading The Newburyport Blog and I was totally bowled over by the notion (later backed away from) that Donna Holaday is dead in the water because she said something that's true.

James Shanley had no opponents for City Council President.

What's the deal?

My first thought was, is Shanley sacred now that he's been annointed by the "young, affluent" segment of our community? They aren't that huge of a segment, you know ...

The truth is the truth, and no one should be thrown into the frying pan for telling the truth. I know the truth hurts, sometimes, but jiminy crickets, what's the world coming to?

I'm just askin' ... anyway, here's my favorite bit from the Daily News story:

Holaday questioned Shanley's experience in handling budgets the size of the city's $50 million budget. Shanley is a self-described small business owner, who operates a small printing shop in Amesbury.

"That's why we have an auditor," Shanley said, adding a key leadership quality for a mayor is setting goals and delegating specific tasks to experts.

"But the mayor does the budget," Holaday replied. "The mayor is the one who designs the budget."

Yes indeed ... the auditor does not prepare budgets; he verifies financial information. Can't do both, you know ... tsk tsk ... but not sure what he (Shanley) meant. Someone should have followed up on that.

Connect with at-large candidates

Connect with the Candidates and Newburyport's Maritime History

Kathleen O'Connor Ives
Monday, October 19
6:30 - 8:00 pm
Custom House Maritime Museum
Bring friends and come with questions on the issues you care about! Light refreshments provided. Free and open to everyone.
Please RSVP by emailing IvesAtLarge@gmail.com

Ari Herzog
Wednesday, October 28
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Custom House Maritime Museum
Local food! Live music by Dave Hill! Free admission! Bring your friends and family!
Please RSVP by emailing ariherzog@gmail.com
Note: museum is not handicapped-accessible.

If anyone else wants their event publicized, please email me.

Charter commission candidates: meet & greet

I got this email from Ed Cameron. It was sent out to people running for Charter Commission:

As you know, City Hall Auditorium has been booked for Tuesday, 10/20 from 7-8:30 for a meet & greet for ALL of the Charter Commission Candidates.

The Newburyport Democratic City Committee will be sponsoring another opportunity for ALL Charter Commission Candidates on Tuesday, 10/27 at 7PM also at City Hall Auditorium. The format of the forum is as yetto be determined. It will be nonpartisan much like the event for Mayoral and Council candidates sponsored by the Newburyport Republicans earlier this fall.

Candidates who would like to participate on the 27th should RSVP to me at edcameronNBPT@gmail.com.

Well ... I wasn't going to bring it up, but since Ed stresses that these 2 events are for ALL the candidates, I have to say it did raise my eyebrows a bit when I saw that there is an event at the home of a candidate for mayor (Shanley) for just 5 of the people running for Charter Commission.

I tried to tell from the flier if it was just one in a series of 4 events that eventually would encompass everyone who is running, but I could not.

Does anyone know?

I would ask Mr. Shanley at the City Council meeting tonight, but I'm still feeling poorly and will watch the meeting on TV rather than pass around my germs - or pass out, as the case may be.

Sometimes it feels like I might pass out. Horrid virus, or whatever.