Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Mayor Murray Fails to Make the Ballot!

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I bet that headline caught your attention.  I just (absentee) voted and was surprised to find only the titles of incumbents or current statewide office holders on the ballot.

So for the LG race, none of the 3 candidates had any designation, like “Mayor of Worcester” or “Former Chair of the Brookline Selectmen”.  For the uninformed voter (as if there were such a thing) they’ll have no idea which ones are current or former office holders (which arguably could hurt my candidate, Andrea Silbert).

Deval did not even rate a “Former US Attorney General”.

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    • If I live in Middlesex County, which has the bulk of the votes, what does that tell me?  One lives on the Cape, one in Worcester and one in an affluent town next to Boston. 

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      What it does is create a level the playing field.  For months I been reading Murray supporters saying that voters will see “Mayor” underneath his name and immedaitely think he’s ready for the “next step” which would be LG.  Now, that ain’t going to happen.

    • I didn’t know HL stood for weak class warfare attempt…

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      Anywho, here’s the US Census on the hometowns of the LG candidates.  As you can see, Harwich is smack in the middle of Goldbergline and Murrayster, where most of us are. For Timmy and the Worcesterites to keep playing the us-versus-the-world-we’re-lunch-pail-democrats bs is just weak.  If you want to live in the big city, deal with it, but don’t act like there is some huge divide among the candidates because of where they live.  Deb’s out of touch because of the life she’s chosen to live, not because she’s from Brookline.  Andrea’s is very much in touch because of the life she’s lead and the works she’s done in less-affluent communities, her living in Harwich doesn’t change that.  Of course Tim cares about working folks, but I’m damn sure Tim doesn’t bring a lunch pail to his law office after his part-time-with-no-executive-duties service to the world’s 2nd largest city, or whatever you guys are calling Worcester these days.

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      Harwich
      The median income for a household in the town was $41,552, and the median income for a family was $51,070. Males had a median income of $38,948 versus $27,439 for females. The per capita income for the town was $23,063. About 2.9% of families and 5.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.4% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over.

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      Worcester
      The median household income is $35,623, and the median family income is $42,988. Males had a median income of $36,190 versus $28,522 for females. The per capita income is $18,614. About 14.1% of families and 17.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.6% of those under age 18 and 11.6% of those age 65 or over.

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      Brookline
      The median income for a household in the town was $66,711, and the median income for a family was $92,993. Males had a median income of $56,861 versus $43,436 for females. The per capita income for the town was $44,327. About 4.5% of families and 9.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.3% of those under age 18 and 7.5% of those age 65 or over.

        • I was refering to geography/candidate address…but it would be fair to say that in any political contest income levels, education levels, backgrounds, religions, fraternal or labor organization affiliations, ethnicity…ALL play a part in a voter’s choices. That’s what makes politics interesting. Most voters do not have time to learn many details about candidates, so they make assumptions based on the few facts they have. If someone is looking to find “the voice of the middle class” because they themselves are from the middle class, it is fair to say that they may assume that candidate more likely resides in Worcester rather than Brookline or Harwich.

      • You keep missing the point it’s all about experience and team work. Show me  where Silbert has dealt with any local government or state government officials ? Murray has  a proven record and this is the truth.  Goldberg is misleading  the voters and people are begining to see through her lack of message. 

        • The organization Silbert started, the Center for Women and Enterprise – whose work has led to the creation of 14,000 jobs and $400 million in annual wages, receives funding from the Massachusetts state budget.

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          Because the Romney/Healey adminstration does not understand that enccouraging entrepreneurship and growing small business is the BEST way to create the international leaders in the fields of biotech, high tech and medical device making, they vetoed funding for these small business encouragement programs.

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          Andrea Silbert and her team fought and won to have the Democratic Legislature overturn these vetoes.

          • Silbert is a novice and her reamarks in the debate prove it. She has never worked on any state/local budget,yet wants to increase soicial service/non paying taxes agencies. She wants to add to Charter schools thus reducing the public school Chapter 70 money. I think Silbert is a very smart person who who make a great public servant someday. I think she should get her feet wet before she jumped into the ocean. Her lack of real life experience is begining to slip through the cracks. We need a real leader and Mayor Murray has the right skills to do this job now not later on.

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            Hurry, hurry, vote for Murray !

  2. I believe that any former or current elected official can have their title on there if they want.

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    I’m surprised Tim and Deb did not do that. 

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    I also wonder if that was only on absentees but the “regular” ballots will contain the information.

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    If their titles aren’t on the ballot, that’s dumb of them.  If the law regulates this in another fashion, then that’s dumb of me to write this w/o reading…

    • …to my town clerk, “Is this a special ballot for absentee or is it a regular ballot?”  It was a regular ballot.

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      My sense is this is part of a “Incumbent Protection Act” passed somewhere along the way.  Because it would be strange that the only “dumb” folks were not current office holders.  Even Martha, who we all know is not the incumbent AG, had DA listed as a title.

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      Hey I admit, I’m a political geek.  But are there any uber-political geeks that can shed more light on this?

      • What was most surprising to me was that Hoss and FrankS had to use BMG to converse…I always assumed they could yell across the room…(just a joke, don’t get flufferated over it)

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        There are no accidents, everything happens for a reason.
        I like just the addresses myself…keeps the choice even simpler…who is most like me? (Worcester) Diversely ethnic, middle and lower class small city of 2 worker households OR (Brookline) upscale, wealthy suburb for the rich and wannabe famous OR (Harwich) small upscale Cape village for people who are old and retired or well off and retired young.

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        Examples of how this address thing works:
        If no one knows Andrea is also from Brookline Deb will have that one all to herself.

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        But, in Cambridge…North Cambridge and the working class will go Murray (most like Worcester) and Harvard Square will go Andrea (Harwich:Lives near my summer place on the Cape) or Deb (Lives in Brookline which most like Harvard Square and intellectually superior to North Cambridge.)

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        Just the way it is…it’s all from the voter’s perspective…if you put Mayor…only 50 others in the state could identify with you.

  3. only apply to state officeholders running for the same or different state offices?  For example, would Murray and Goldberg’s titles be omitted because they are local official running for state office?  Just a thought.

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    Either way, I agree – no titles would be best.

  4. and was puzzled by something. This is the first MA primary I have experienced since getting involved in politics. However, I was under the impression that the candidate who won the endorsement at the convention was supposed to be listed first. On my ballot the candidates were listed alphabetically. Are they supposed to be alphabetic or is the endorsed candidate supposed to be first?

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