Additionally, they received multiple reminders at
meetings throughout the Fall. All candidates had supporters among the membership of the BDTC.
Several candidates kept in frequent contact with the BDTC and requested member lists from the secretary, which included home phone numbers, email addresses, and street addresses for the voting members of the committee. As a courtesy to those candidates who did not follow up on their own, the same membership information was sent to all candidates two days before the meeting.
At the endorsement meeting on the evening of January 19th, committee members and other Belmont Democrats spoke in support of Jarrett Barrios, Mike Festa, and Jerry Leone for Middlesex District Attorney, Sam Kelley, Tim Murray, and Andrea Silbert for Lieutenant Governor, and Deval Patrick and Tom Reilly for Governor. Each candidate was given equal time for Belmont supporters to speak on their behalf. The outcome of the endorsement votes were – Jarrett Barrios for Middlesex DA, Tim Murray for Lieutenant Governor, and Deval Patrick for Governor.
It was an evening of inspired deliberation which resulted in successful endorsement votes. We wish all of the candidates well, and hope that a better understanding of our endorsement process has been gained.”
Sallye Bleiberg
BDTC Chair
some actual reporting on Blue Mass. Group! Well done, Bob!
I’ve only been following the DA race for a couple weeks, so I can’t comment on on what happened, or who did what when back in October …
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But we did have someone post not too long ago the email sent to members of the DTC.
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The sent timestamp was:
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Wed Jan 18 12:58:48 2006
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If 12:58 AM Wednesday is “two days before the meeting”, a meeting that happened Thursday evening … that gives me all the information I need to judge the validity of all the other things said in the chair’s statement.
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In fact, the rest of this email sounds nice, but lets analyze….
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“The process was discussed and designed in full committee meetings in the Spring of 2005. All members of the BDTC received timely, formal notice of the final January 19, 2006, endorsement meeting by letter mailed on October 16, 2005.”
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All members of the BDTC got notice? But the campaigns didn’t….
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“As a courtesy to those candidates who did not follow up on their own, the same membership information was sent to all candidates two days before the meeting.”
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Even if it were true (and I’ve discussed the timing above, I’m not sure that 29 hrs counts as 2 days) sending mailing labels to the campaign 29 hours before event date makes mailing completely impossible…
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If the goal of the process was to be open, fair and forthcoming, why wasn’t member information sent to all the campaigns in December? Or November?
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Why wasn’t a notice of the endorsement meeting sent to the candidates at the same time members of the BDTC were sent notice?
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And since Kate Donaghue’s email reaches more Democrats statewide than any other medium, why wasn’t it posted there?
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“01/19/2006 Belmont Democratic Town Committee Meeting
Thursday, January 19, 7 PM
Selectmen’s Office, Town Hall, 450 Concord Avenue, Belmont”
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That’s how the meeting was listed in Kate Donaghue’s email … where’s the information about endorsing people? If the BDTC decided way back in October to make it that meeting, why isn’t it listed as such the Democratic Dispatch on January 9th?
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Why wasn’t it listed on the State Party website?
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Is an open endorsement process open only to those Belmont Democrats who read the Belmont paper and get the Belmont DTC’s mailings?
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I appreciate the Chair’s response. I just wish it answered my concerns.
The sentence:
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“But we did have someone post not too long ago the email sent to members of the DTC.”
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Should read:
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“But we did have someone post not too long ago the email sent to the candidates.”
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My apologies.
Belmont DTC,
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Anytime you wish to reply to the concerns I have, feel free.
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Or don’t and we’ll assume no answer exists.