Michael Wilcox points out an interesting passage near the end of this Globe article:
Mayor Barrett is the longest-serving elected mayor in the state, currently beginning his 12th consecutive term in office, and apparently has quite the political machine out there. I surveyed some of my friends in the north Berkshires, and learned that apparently, one of the things he’s known for his opposition to charter schools. He seems to have a tight lock on city politics, and nobody I know had anything nice to say about him (though some where neutral), but I don’t know anyone whose parents are from North Adams or any town bordering it. I wonder if the new vs. old split there is similar to the one we have in several cities in metro Boston – any readers from north county care to comment?
P.S. North Adams cast 720 votes in the 2002 Democratic primary for Governor. Shannon O’Brien won with 273, and Robert Reich was second with 177.
I read the same article and think this to be true. I also feel more elected officials will begin to withdraw their support of Reilly as time goes on, and he continues to make mistakes. But I think unless Deval comes out and starts talking and enters the public eye he wont get much of a boost.
always a tenuous relationship at best. Barrett runs his own little fiefdom in North Adams, and he’s not one to cross. That being said, he’s also come out for Weld in the past, so he’s somewhat of a maverick.
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The real important thing here is that now all of North Adams (controlled by Rep. Bosley and Mayor Barrett) has gone to Patrick.
It may make great press that the mayor of North Adams is switching sides. But on another level, it’s no big deal…by my count North Adams elects 13 delegates, ranking them 81st in importance…in league with Yarmouth, North Andover and Sharon. If the chair of those select boards switched sides, how much ink would they get?
It’s not getting a lot of press, but the story is that a mayor who was backing Reilly decided not to. I think that would get mentioned regardless of the size of the city. However, North Adams is more influential than other cities (and towns) of similar size, because it’s the main city in its region (north county, and also southwest Vermont). It’s got some of the local cultural instutions, high tech startups, and so on. So people in surrounding towns are more apt to pay attention to North Adams than, say, people in towns near Sharon are to pay attention to it.
I love Western MA. I’ve lived in Western MA and Central MA…but the fact that “people in surrounding towns are more apt to pay attention to North Adams” means very very little on election day (or causus day).
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The ENTIRE ’02 primary vote of Berkshire County was less than 3,000 votes than the city of Quincy. So if your saying as North Adams goes, so goes Williamstown…great. I’ll spend my time inside 128 for the Democratic primary…follow the voters.
That’s not the point. Of course Berkshire county is small, but that’s exactly the point: North Adams has more influence than cities that are the same size located in more populated parts of the state, because those cities tend to be overshadowed by larger regional cities, while North Adams is the regional city. That doesn’t make it a political powerhouse and nobody was claiming that it is. But when it comes to newsworthiness, saying it’s like Sharon is silly.
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FWIW, the democratic votes cast in the 2002 primary by county were:
Middlesex 200,800
Norfolk 102,145
Essex 92,589
Suffolk 92,098
Worcester 66,717
Bristol 51,372
Plymouth 47,903
Hampden 38,012
Barnstable 25,844
Hampshire 23,112
Berkshire 12,416
Franklin 11,492
Dukes 1,916
Nantucket 810