This is an unfortunate situation.
http://www.boston.com/news/loc…
State Representative Carl M. Sciortino Jr. says his nomination papers were sitting on his State House desk in late April. But by early May, they were gone – stolen, Sciortino contends, in an apparent act of political skulduggery.
But yesterday, a state Superior Court judge was not buying his excuse.
Judge Linda E. Giles denied the Medford Democrat’s request that he appear on the September primary ballot even without the 150 voter nomination signatures required to qualify. Sciortino had kept papers with 72 voter signatures in his unlocked basement office of the State House. Giles noted in her ruling that he presented no evidence they were stolen.
Please share widely!
So what are the options for Sciortino at this point? Will this affect other races in the area by sucking in a lot of progressive activists into the campaign?
Should his nomination papers have been in his state house office? Isn’t a State House office for non-political activity?
Maybe I am being naive.
The story is that Carl will be running an uphill sticker campaign against Alderman Bob Trane – who will be on the ballot.
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p>Trane managed to accomplish what Sciortino could not – file his certified signatures with the Secretary of State. That is whyu he is on the ballot and Carl is not.
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p>The fact that Carl should blame this embarassment on Bob Trane (as reported by the Somerville Journal) shows what a nasty little man he is. This has nothing to do with Trane and everything to do with Sciortino being incompetent.
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p>I am sure that all his apologists have no problem with him slandering Trane without any evidence. Could you imagine the uproar if the roles were reversed.
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p>Shame on Sciortino.
Why don’t you say who you are? Do you work for Trane? How much is he paying you, if so? Can you imagine how one of us might very easily find out?
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p>If you’re a paid campaign operative, you should say so, or someone will say it for you.
Sciortino had the temerity to tell the judge that his signatures were stolen? The judge is open court stated that she was incredulous and Sciortino is damned lucky he wasn’t charged with perjury (if he stated this under oath).
This clown is just another incompetent just as Oganowski is for the same offense. This state tis teeming with incompetent fools who get elected to office, not because of their scintillating leadership—they do so because the average Massachusetts voter is a moron or simply doesn’t vote. Ergo, this explains why our legislature is a cesspool.
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p>The previous poster was just pointing out the obvious.
Yes I do support Bob Trane – just as you folk support Carl. And yes, I have done work for him in the past – though nothing on this campaign but get a few signatures.
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p>And believe it or not, I have always liked Carl up until a few of his latest moves.
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p>Here is why I think that Carl is totally out of line:
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The above is from the Somerville Journal – here is the link:
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p>http://www.wickedlocal.com/som…
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p>Now here is my problem and why I may seem a little annoyed.
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p>Carl is trying to blame Bob for this fiasco. That implies that Bob stole his papers. Now please imagine if this situation was reversed and Trane said that about Carl.
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p>That is my question – why is Carl slandering Bob Trane, who is a good man and a good Democrat.
Carl is pissed because Bob Trane sent a lawyer to his (Carl’s) court hearing, who proceeded to call Carl a liar, accuse him of perjury, and ask the court if Carl really deserves to be a rep since he lost his nomination papers?
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p>How do I know all that? It’s all in the last two paragraphs of the story you linked too.
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p>Look Magic, your guy Trane is a sleaze. When his opponent’s office got burglarized, and vitally important papers got stolen, he could have
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p>A) NOT gotten involved in Carl’s court case, minded his own business and let the process work itself out. If he really wanted to be classy, he could have put out a press release saying something like
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p>”Like everyone in our community, I was distressed and angered to learn about the burglary in Rep. Sciortino’s office. However, these recent events to not shake my conviction that I am the best candidate to provide the kind of leadership that Somerville and Medford need on Beacon Hill. I wish Rep. Sciortino the best with this unfortunate situation. The campaign goes on.”
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p>This option would have cost Trane nothing. It is known as the “high road”.
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p>instead, Bob chose option:
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p>B) Hire a lawyer and send him to your opponent’s court hearing, accuse him of lying and perjuring himself, call him incompetent and unworthy of his office, and just generally do all he can to pile on your oppenent and make a bad situation worse.
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p>this is known as “being slimy”
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p>The events of the past week have given Bob Trane a chance to put his character on display, for everyone to assess. I don’t like what I see.
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p>What a sleaze.
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Yeah – nice way to try and change the subject.
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p>Carl Sciortino implies that Bob Trane stole his nomination papers and it is Trane who is the sleaze. You must be joking.
Trane is supposed to give Rep. Carl a break why? He failed to file signatures as required by law. Any opponent would attempt to keep the other candidate off the ballot. Is this a “I screwed up and my challenger should just excuse my mistake” defense?
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p>Carl accused Trane in open court of “cheating” him out of being on the ballot but provided no evidence at all. Actually, as the judge said, Carl provided no evidence at all of a theft from his state house office.
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p>Instead of admitting a mistake, Rep. Carl is throwing the blame game.
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p>You don’t have to like Trane but you want to accuse him of something -well have some evidence. And BTW, Rep. Carl started this little scene with his endorsement against Trane in the Aldermen’s race. No one to blame but himself.
that this is one reason why state reps should never, ever, in a million years, touch local races. Just don’t do it! Stay out…
I am usally on the same page as Charley but this comment seems to be a little big too combative.
But, I understand the necicity of protecting the integrity of the comunity.
Having his operative call his opponent a “nasty little man”. Way to take the high road.
Accusing your opponent of a theft so dubious that the judge barely hid her scorn about….now there is taking the high road.
you’re kinda new here. which is cool. but bmg is really for people who are willing/ready to have real thought-out discussions.
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p>there’s plenty of disagreements and such here. but for ranting and baldfaced rags on people, there are a lot more appropriate places to post. a whole of other places.
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p>of course you’re free to pimp your guy and attack the other one. but you might have boarded the wrong bus here.
f*** you! you moron!
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p>;-)
I am definitely keeping an open mind about the Trane-Sciortino election and feel genuinely bad about this situation with the lost signatures. But I am concerned with Sciortino’s quote from the Somerville Journal in which he says Trane is trying to “cheat him” from being on the ballot.
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p>Does he have any proof to back up that accusation??
that someone has already brought this up. Full disclosure: I am no Bob Trane operative. I am just concerned about any politician making a pretty harsh accusation with nothing to back it up. If Rep. Sciortino knows about something sketchy happening, then he needs to make that public and clarify his remarks.
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p>That being said, I am also appalled by Trane’s remarks that he is running against Sciortino because he is an “elitist.” He also needs to clarify exactly what he means by that.
I think the Rep’s argument makes him look even worse. I say even worse because an incumbent failing to get signatures in on time is bad. He must know he has no chance of winning this argument in court. That is just my take.
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p>Also why would you hold on to the signatures? Don’t you turn them in as they are collected? That how I have seen it done.