Tonight - PDS monthly meeting, 7pm

[elements.livejournal.com]

The Progressive Democrats of Somerville monthly meeting is tonight, and all are welcome. We'll be meeting at 7pm at the VNA (Visiting Nurses Association), 259 Lowell St., in the 3rd floor community room. The VNA is easily reachable from Davis via bus (88 or 90; get off at Lowell and walk towards Broadway and the Lowell St. Bridge).

This month, we have a full agenda that includes a guest speaker: State Representative Denise Provost. Come and learn about her work on behalf of Somerville up on Beacon Hill.

Comments

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

Certainly hope you've got the recent developments in Middlesex 34th on the agenda, I think a lot of folks are shocked.

I had inquired of Ron Newman on the SN site whether the incumbent could run as a Green Party write-in during the primary to gain (printed) ballot access in the fall. Hopefully some discussion of options occurs this evening...

[ron_newman]

And I posted a reply, but I don't have complete information. I think someone in Secretary Galvin's office would need to answer with more accuracy and detail.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm sure we'll discuss that - it's on a lot of people's minds and we've got talking about our endorsements process scheduled on the agenda anyway. I'm shocked too, and a little surprised that verification by Somerville and Medford didn't also include the cities keeping some record of the papers. I suppose he could also possibly run as an independent in the general, or do a write-in campaign.

Keep in mind that PDS hasn't held an endorsement process for that race yet (though we did previously endorse and work for Carl). Anyway I'll try to reply again if we discuss anything interesting tonight.

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

From what I've been able to find online, it's almost impossible for a write-in candidate to defeat someone with ballot access. I'd think *printed* ballot access is the key, most likely as a Green or some other party - which means he'll have to run as a write-in in the primary. Easier to get 150+ votes in the Green primary than probably 5000+ write-in votes against Trane in the Dem primary.

Still, it's a relatively massive undertaking.

[ron_newman]

Sal Albano ran for state senator against incumbent Democrat Vinny Piro, lost in the primary, then ran a sticker campaign and won the final election. That was back in 1984, when Piro was under indictment for corruption. (He was later acquitted.)

Ron Newman is the Shell Answer Man

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

I certainly don't think a parallel can be drawn there (God forbid).

More recently, Sciortino narrowly beat Vinnie Ciampa in the primary in 2004, then doubled up on him when Ciampa (clearly not taking the hint) ran as a write-in in the general election.

Re: Ron Newman is the Shell Answer Man

[elements.livejournal.com]

I think a really well-organized sticker campaign could work, but yes, it'd be much more of a battle than an incumbent usually has to face.

Re: Ron Newman is the Shell Answer Man

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

I'm not so sure in this case. Trane's got the Establishment behind him (at least in Somerville) and he's out for vengenace over Sciortino having the gall to support his opponent in the Ward 7 race last fall.

Plus, the Traniacs smell the blood in the water, what with the missing papers. Sciortino would have to be flawless to have half a chance as a write-in in the primary.

Re: Ron Newman is the Shell Answer Man

[elements.livejournal.com]

OTOH, Trane isn't known in Medford, and Sciortino's got a strong base there. I don't know how well a party-switch would fly with the voters either. It might be easier to be independent than Green, politically.

Re: Ron Newman is the Shell Answer Man

[ron_newman]

Carl running as a Green would also cause problems for Carl's supporters on the Ward 7 Democratic Committee, who aren't supposed to publicly endorse another party's candidate over a Democrat in a general election.

Re: Ron Newman is the Shell Answer Man

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

This is quite the fix he's gotten himself into, then. Isn't there going to be enough bloodshed as it is with committee members supporting either candidate in a primary, and then perhaps a reprise in the general election?

Wonder if there's any record of Ward Committee members (elected officals, specifically) publicly endorsing Charlie Shannon (when he was running as a Republican) over the token opposition Democrats trotted out against him back in the days. I'd bet there is...

Re: Ron Newman is the Shell Answer Man

[ron_newman]

There's definitely some record of Ward Committee members, including elected officials, endorsing Bill White (then a Republican) over Pat Jehlen for state senate.

Re: Ron Newman is the Shell Answer Man

[ron_newman]

My recollection is that Shannon (then Republican) beat Sal Albano (incumbent Democrat), and that Shannon pretty soon after that changed his registration to Democrat.

Re: Ron Newman is the Shell Answer Man

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

Shannon ran as a Republican until 1996; it was interesting reviewing endorsements with Mrs. Tricky at the time - 1992 and 1994. I can't even remember who was running for the Dems (some sort of sub-Chisholmistic loon), but I'm under the impression even SCN endorsed Shannon in 1994.

update on Sciortino race

[elements.livejournal.com]

Carl was at the PDS meeting tonight and told us that he is continuing to pursue legal avenues. Because Somerville had verified each individual voter by name and has records of which voters those were, there's a record of people signing for him. Many of the people whose signatures were stolen have signed affidavits that they did sign papers for him and that as voters they intended to see him on their ballot.

As for running under another party, he said that is not a possibility, and even if it were, he is a Democrat. Whether it is on the ballot or by write in, he will be running in the Democratic primary in September.

I'm sure we'll hear more as things progress. In the meantime for the record I should note that I'm just posting this second-hand from my own memory, so I can't guarantee I got everything 100% right.

Re: update on Sciortino race

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the update, elements. Hoping the groundwork for a write-in campaign is proceeding (along with exhausting any legal avenues).

Re: update on Sciortino race

[ron_newman]

I wish he would not say that the signatures were "stolen" unless he has solid evidence of that.

Re: update on Sciortino race

[elements.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how he could have solid evidence of a theft - there wasn't any need to break down a door or anything. He is as sure as it's possible for him to be that they were stolen not misplaced; I don't think it's physically possible to produce proof of anything unless someone were to come forward saying they know where they are and how they got there.

(He also did mention that now he and his aide lock the door whenever they leave for even a minute - a level of security which I know from my own days working with legislators is pretty darn uncommon in the hustle & bustle and constant in & out of the state house.)

[cos]

The biggest problem that comes from not being on the ballot is when you have a lot of voters who aren't that familiar with your race. Maybe the names on the ballot will remind them of what little they did know about it and they'll remember who they wanted to support, or maybe they'll recognize the name of an incumbent and remember that they like (or dislike) that incumbent, or maybe they'll pick by party label, or whatever. If this race were in November, the same ballot as the presidential election, this would be a huge problem.

However, there are no other high profile contested races in this primary, in this district. Effectively, the Sciotino vs. Trane race is the "top of the ballot" - it's the big draw for this election. That means most voters who go to vote in this election will do so specifically to vote in this race, and will come to the polls prepared with a specific opinion about this race.

Not being on the ballot would still create a lot of extra work for the campaign: preparing stickers, getting them to voters, informing supporters of the write-in race and making sure they know how to vote a write-in correctly. But as long as he gets enough volunteers to do all that work, running as a write-in should be winnable, because this contest is the top of the ballot and the normal effects of being a write-in are significantly muted.