I just met a fellow at the veteranarian’s office in Amherst with two bumper stickers on his truck: “Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam” and “Bill Szych for Congress”. I asked him about the latter and found that Szych, a 20-year USAF veteran who returned to duty after 9/11, is running against John Olver in MA-01. (According to the camapign kickoff speech (pdf) on his sparse campaign website, he’s running as an unenrolled candidate.
Me, I’ve certainly got no problem with Olver, who doesn’t seem to have a Republican opponent. Szych is in favor of the troops, in favor of veterans, and against “extreme leftists” according to his speech. I’m not sure a referendum on the war will go over well for him in this district…
Please share widely!
We need people on the House Appropriations Committee who know what “the Internets” are made out of. (tubes? Silly string? intarwebs?) I think Olver’s the only MA rep we have in Appropriations. And I’m biased because I took classes from his wife.
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I know this isn’t a serious challenge, but I don’t remember Olver running on being against the troops or against veterans…
Agreed that Olver supports the troops and the veterans though he opposes the war. Szych seems to buy the idea that all the “America-hating foreigners” constitute a single entity that we can and should fight all at once. This piece in TNR (may be subscription-only, sorry) gives a picture of what a lot of the troops in the field are thinking.
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Did you take classes from Rose Olver at Amherst College? I graduated there in 1981 and moved back to the Valley (to work at UMass) in 1986.
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Isn’t it interesting that this guy would run as “unenrolled” rather than Republican, if opposition to Olver’s anti-war position is his main motivation? He’s probably right that a pro-war independent will get more votes in this district than a pro-war Republican, and he has nothing good or bad to say about Bush in his speech.
from Wikipedia
Checking the Secretary’s site, there’s no Republican nominee on the ballot, though maybe William Fish (or William Szych) will run write-in campaigns.
I would think this Fish person could run a write-in campaign in the Republican primary and get on the general election ballot that way, if he doesn’t want to or isn’t able to collect enough signatures to get on the primary ballot.
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There must be a different signature process to get on the general election ballot as an unenrolled candidate, which is what Szych would apparently have to do.
As you locals probaly know, Olver won Conte’s seat in a Special election. Conte (a Republican) had so much pull in the district that he was able to run write-in campaigns for the Democratic primary and BEAT the Democrat in the primary, thereby being both the Republican and Democratic nominee! He may have pulled it off twice, if memory serves me. (I think he did it once against Bob Weiner)
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Ahh the good old days–when voting early and often was the mantra of the day!
A Town Administrator is allowed to engage in electoral politics? I’m surprised that isn’t forbidden by his contract.