The first face on the mailing is George Laite. George is Havern’s chief-of-staff. Havern hasn’t picked a successor that I know of. Absent Havern, George is the next best endorsement, so it makes sense that you’d want George on your side. But there’s the problem: I’m told that Laite is actually endorsing Ken Donnelly, not Murphy. Murphy’s photo reminds me of James Rappaport printing “Romney/Rappaport” bumperstickers even though Romney had chosen Healey as a running mate in the ’02 governor election. It’s pretending there is an endorsement when in fact the endorsement went to someone else.
The mailing has a “Working for Arlington” section. It includes bulletpoints about 40B, school building, the Mugar property, state aid, and “ensuring the Jefferson Russell House remains a historic treasure for Arlington.” I presume that he’s referring to the Jason Russell house, and I wasn’t aware that it needed protection.
The whole section leaves you feeling like Murphy’s on a multi-city rock tour and his manager told him to shout “HELLO, ARLINGTON” when he took the stage. Maybe it was even written on masking tape on the back of his guitar, sort of like Spinal Tap when it went to Springfield. I’m OK with someone saying “I’m not an expert on Arlington issues, but I’ll convince you that I can become an expert.” I’m not OK with someone pretending to be an expert when they are not.
Having run for a state office before, I can tell you with authority that mailings are the most expensive part of the campaign. I can only assume that the mailing was carefully vetted by Murphy and his campaign manager. How does one explain this mailing? Is this a lousy proof-reader, who can’t tell the difference between Jason Russell and Jefferson Russell? Or is this a carefully-crafted, smarmy, and conniving attempt to link Murphy to Havern by using a picture of Laite?
Or should I not bother trying to figure this out, and find another candidate?
10/18 update: The picture isn’t just Laite. The picture also has Joanna Gonsalves, who ran against Havern. She also did not endorse Murphy.
Crossposted on dandunn.org
Dunster
You are correct that the mailing should have referred to the Jason Russell house not the Jefferson. Poor editing. In terms of protecting it, the foundation is deteriorating and is in need of repair in the neigborhood of $400k. With regards to the photo-the people putting the piece together do not know who George is and did not check. That is not an excuse as I take full responsibilty for the error. I do not think the photo comes anywhere close to the Romney/Rappaport dust up as that was a concerted effort by the Rappaport campaign to mislead the voters. I am learning more and more about Arlington as the campaign progresses and I look forward to becoming an expert in the future. Lastly, I am a big Spinal Tap fan.
Charley Murphy
I appreciate you acknowledging the error. When it’s done without intent, I agree it isn’t the same as the Rappaport move.
As a Donnelly supporter, it would be easy to jump on the Murphy mailing hard. While I am not happy about it, at least the candidate took responsibility for the mistakes. Damage done – we move on.
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But fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. The Murphy campaign used up its one mulligan from me.
I have also heard that Woburn Alderman Joanna Gonsalves is not happy about having her picture on Murphy’s literature.
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Has anyone heard from Ms. Gonsalves? Which candidate (if any) is she endorsing?
Hey Dunster –
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FYI – George Laite isn’t the Chief of Staff for former State Senator Bob Havern – he’s actually the district director. Bob’s Chief of Staff was actually a woman named Melissa.
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Also, When running for state wide office the most expensive part of your campaign should be the media buy to get your message out across TV/Radio.
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And finally, I like the “hello Arlington” bit – at least there’s a candidate who is actively courting the ENTIRE district. I want someone who will make all communities a priority – wouldn’t that be a novel change? And I believe MURPHY’S the only candidate stepping in that direction.
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Just some food for thought – I never want to come across as an authority.
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What are you talking about? I live in the district. I have gotten mailings from all the candidates. I have gotten phone calls from 3 of 4 of the candidates. I have seen 3 of the 4 at candidate forums. It is nonsense, and I presume spin, to say Murphy is the only one courting the entire district