The Davis Square Community

Thank you!

From:

ron_newman

You're welcome!

And congratulations on your solid first-place finish. I'm glad that the remainder of this election season will now be free of mudslinging and general sleaze. The 20 votes that lifted Liz over Charlie will make the next 6 weeks much more pleasant for you and for our entire ward.

Edited Date: 2015-09-18 03:09 am (UTC)

From:

There certainly will be a lot less torn down posters and slanderous allegations of xenophobia.

Edited Date: 2015-09-18 04:57 pm (UTC)

From:

somertricky.livejournal.com

Look. We get that you're upset that your guy lost. You, personally, were in an unenviable position to begin with - people in this town have long memories, and Charles Chisholm comes with a hell of a lot of baggage. You could have focused on what made your candidate different than the other three, realize some of Charlie's past political life was going to come to light at some point and figure out how to deal with that, how you can get enough voters who weren't around in 1993 to get on board (IMHO you really should have emphasized the LGBT angle, but then how many old-school supporters would you have lost?) Figure out how this ward works.

Instead, the final weeks of the campaign zeroed in bashing the frontrunner, grossly misinterpreting the "Play to Pay" ordinance and spinning off a tremendous amount of innuendo. Also - even though you may be technically correct, I don't think identifying yourself as Hispanic helped when it seems that you don't particularly otherwise (you may want to remove the "Spanglish" reference from your FB page). Claiming Chisholm couldn't possibly be xenophobic because he hired someone named ~~Jonathan~~ DeCosta. Whining about a torn down poster (and pedophilia? WTF?) when you should have been figuring out how to reach out to the voters, then personally dropping an 11th hour anonymous attack ad; and now handling yourself gracelessly post-election.

From:

I'm not upset that my guy lost. I'm upset by the terrible way some people have acted on here (yourself among the worst offenders). And attempts at trivializing entire pieces of literature being torn down. And trivializing people's homophobic attacks as "whining". I don't see how you think attacking and marginalizing me is okay.

Also: How dare you tell me what I seem to identify as and cross out my first name to discount my heritage. I don't think my ability to code switch between English and Spanish has anything to do with what I identify as. Should I also remove Australian English and Pig Latin? What's your name so I can look you up and tell you to remove stuff on your Facebook because it doesn't fit my narrow interpretation of the world?

The final weeks of our campaign did not focus in on bashing the front runner. We sent out one attack piece and one flier based on the same subject (which was hardly anonymous). We put out 6 mailings before that that were only about our candidate. That is hardly "weeks".

From:

ron_newman

In this campaign, we've seen excellent examples of the right way (Liz) and the wrong way (Charlie) to engage social media. I'll leave it at that.

From:

somertricky.livejournal.com

Final thoughts and advice for

lanze108

Regarding ethnicity: in general but in politics first and foremost, be true to yourself. Your ethnicity didn't come up until you brought it up. Your later comment regarding your "ability to code switch between English and Spanish" seriously trivializes the experience of Hispanics and Latinos who cannot. Consider yourself fortunate that you can, and that ethnicity is not something to trot out when it's convienient.

(Also: if you are Portuguese as I suspect you may be, you're not even Hispanic. Knock it off.)

Regarding attack ads: no one remembers all the positive literature years after the fact, only the negativity, regardless of how it is spun years later. Despite Chisholm's recent (and well-elucidated, IMHO) defense of his stand against Sanctuary City resolutions on an fiscal basis, there is no running away from 1993 campaign literature which mentions FORCED BUSING during a time where the youth of this city were wearing Notre Dame ("Ni**ers Die") and UNLV ("Us Ni**ers Love Violence") gear. Everything else positive has just gone out the window.

You compare Chisholm to Harvey Milk. The more apt comparision (similar career arc, from "liberal" to hell and then back) here is George Wallace. Figure out how that guy managed to get elected to the governorship of Alabama in 1981 with African-American support, and we can talk.

Regarding trivialization: maybe I'm jaded, but in all likelihood, you heard "Charlie needs to get rid of the twinks" from a Chisholm old-school supporter. (History lesson below).

I remember yard signs going missing on a widespread basis over the years. I've never heard a peep from a campaign manager. I remember a missing BALLOT BOX in a 1995 race that took three hours to travel half a mile and finally arrived at Medford City Hall in a taxicab with a rooftop ad for the "establishment" candidate (Vinnie Ciampa) in that race. Guess who won the precinct, Medford, and the election?

I remember supporting Carl Sciortino (now executive director of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts) against Ciampa in 2004, and along with others trying to fight all the bile and venom Ciampa's online supporters were spewing. You never heard a peep out of Sciortino about homophobia, he just doubled down on the campaign trail and beat Ciampa in the primary, and then also in the general election when Ciampa ran as a write-in.

I remember another establishment candidate (Bob Trane) running against Sciortino in 2008, and having to counter the online nonsense Trane's camp was spewing, much of it the same homophobic vitriol as 2004 as well as the usual bullshit about "out-of-district" contributions. Trane tried to trot out some nonsense about Sciortino's funding (the usual vague charges - out-of-district funding, big donors), and Trane got hit back harder than he could possibly have imagined. Accepting at least $4500 that had connections to a telecommunications firm, for openers, which was outside the district. $300 from a mail clerk in the State House (Sciortino's campaign signatures went missing from his state house office, and he had to run as a write-in), and the clerk lived outside the district. Every old-school hack in Somerville (most of whom lived outside the district) coughed up money to Trane's campaign, including Ciampa.

And, surprise, so did Charlie Chisholm - who lives outside the district. Trane couldn't even win his own ward against a write-in candidate.

I guess the point here is to know how deep the pool is before you jump in. Or something like that.

Edited Date: 2015-09-24 03:26 pm (UTC)

From:

Waaaaaaah!!!!!

I seriously suspect that you're lying about the supposedly torn-down posters. Do you have any proof, or are we just supposed to trust you on this? Because you certainly haven't earned that trust.

From:

I've had enough of this. I don't know why I even bother. You're very horrible people.

I'm only going to post on here to promote causes I care about from now on like the LGBT Asylum Support Task Force.

Fact was the posters were torn down. They were put up on Monday at 12 PM and gone by Wednesday in the morning. I have no idea why anyone would lie about that.

Edited Date: 2015-09-18 10:07 pm (UTC)

From:

It's not a "fact". It's a claim, and it's yours. You provided no proof other than your word, and that's worth less than nothing around here. Given your repugnant behaviour over the last few weeks, I have a very good idea of why you would lie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag

If we're so horrible, leave. You won't be missed, and frankly, unless you want your "causes" to be hurt by their association with you, I'd suggest you do that.

From:

I am leaving. I should've left along time ago, just like all the good people I surround myself have told me to.

But first:

That's such a horrible thing to accuse someone of. How is your behavior NOT repugnant? I am outraged by the name calling here. I expect better from people.

I am a good person and I would never lie. That's why I'm so upset about what happened. I don't know how I would prove it, because the literature is gone. Charles did call the center 48 hours in advance, so someone there should know we were going to have an event. We put up the pieces at noon on Monday. There are also several of my friends who are witnessed to it, but it seems like no matter what I do you would discredit what I say.

I am honored by the Rhode Island legislator for my work on human rights. During my time as an activist, I've, unfortunately, become accustomed to epithets and disparaging remarks for standing up to my principles. So I'm not going to let your continued horrible remarks get to me. I know that my passion is great and that my association with any cause is great and I don't need your approval.

I will say that Lance Davis was kind enough to say that he is appalled by what happened. It could have been someone on his campaign, but he probably didn't know anything about it.

From:

Sorry, your behaviour here says otherwise.

You aren't the only person around here who has done work on human rights, and has taken flack and disparagement. The difference between them and you is that you don't see them whining about their victimhood.

You also accused Lance's supporters of tearing down the signs, so it's rather hypocritical of you to now complain about being accused of things.

Your "outrage" is particularly amusing considering your own behaviour. You came into this post that Lance made thanking supporters to make a snotty little comment about "slander". You've accused people of being homophobes, liars, thieves and other things but that makes you look like a shrill, nasty person.

There were 4 candidates in this race, and 3 of them behaved like respectful adults, answered questions, and engaged in a positive way with the community. One, however, did not. Only one avoided answering questions. Only one engaged in negative campaigning. I'll leave it to you to figure out who that one is, in the minds of the many good people here.

Feel free to leave.

Edited Date: 2015-09-18 11:36 pm (UTC)

From:

turil.livejournal.com

"You're very horrible people."

This is what happens when you have a system that's based on competition and making your neighbor your enemy. That's what democracy does to the world.

That's why I'm voting: Everyone for President! (https://www.reddit.com/r/everyoneforpresident) (And senator, and governor, and alderperson, and so on.)

From:

teko.livejournal.com

"That's what democracy does to the world."

Democracy ≠ hate.

Why not spend time promoting helpful causes rather than wasting votes?

From:

turil.livejournal.com

"Why not spend time promoting helpful causes rather than wasting votes?"

Yep, that's my policy! Let's try something better for a change! Something that respects diversity, promotes bottom-up, emergent, creative, cooperation-based, health-focused government, rather than top-down, artificial, zero-sum, competition and violence/force-based government...

From:

lizforalderman.livejournal.com

Ha, I was supposed to have a press release ready to go?

Congrats, Lance. I look forward to continuing to share the campaign trail with you.

-Liz-

Edited Date: 2015-09-18 03:41 pm (UTC)

From:

cos

Yes, that's what campaigns do during that fretful time after polls close while waiting for the results: Polish up both press releases, the "we won" version and the "we lost" version :)

(I'm serious, that's very much a thing most campaigns I've been on do during that time)

From:

lizforalderman.livejournal.com

We heard the results within twenty minutes, so... Noted for next time!

From:

ron_newman

You got the news sooner than the Journal reporter or I did! The Election Commission folks gave both of us the results around 9 pm; I posted them shortly afterwards.

From:

cos

That, too, is typical: Campaigns get the results first. Although in a single-ward race the skew might be less than usual, since a lot of the delay in getting official results is having them tally up a bunch of polling places, waiting for the last one before they release anything. Campaigns generally have someone at every polling place, who will call the results into the office as soon as that location has finished counting and posted their numbers on the door. Campaigns will then do their own tallying, extrapolating from other information (from canvassing, and poll watching) to estimate what the not-yet-complete polling places are likely to have. Except in very close elections, you can usually tell whether you won or lost, and by approximately how much, well before any city/town's official results are posted.

From:

gruene.livejournal.com

We actually print a copy of the machine count for anyone who wants it, usually reporters and campaign workers, then we call city hall. We don't get an official count until we've hand counted ballots the machine couldn't read, recorded write-ins, when there are registered write-in candidates, and cleaned up a bit. This count gets written in the record of election and is brought to City Hall by a police officer.

The official count is what eventually gets published on the city website, though the press will get the numbers we phone in, so there's only a relatively short delay getting the info that way. Pretty much all candidates for Ward offices or State Rep will have someone get a tape. As the territory gets larger, it gets less likely.

From:

ron_newman

Thanks. Can you more fully explain the difference between "unofficial count" and "official count"? The paper that I was handed in City Hall Thursday night at 9 pm, and that I subsequently published here on LJ, says "Unofficial count". I assumed that was after any needed hand-counting was done, but maybe not.

The count on the city website also says "Unofficial" and looks like the same document that was printed out for me Thursday night.

Edited Date: 2015-09-19 02:54 pm (UTC)

From:

gruene.livejournal.com

Sorry I was inprecise.

There's really three counts:

- Machine Count, what gets printed out.
-Unofficial Count, what I write in the Record of Election
- Official Count, what Maria sends to the state.

The difference is that it includes accepted provisional ballots and any late overseas military ballots, which are given ten extra days to arrive. (Normally your absentee vote only counts if we have it by election day.)

Edited Date: 2015-09-20 03:59 am (UTC)

From:

Thanks Liz and congrats to you too! We'll see you out on the trail.

From:

Hi Lance,

I wanted to also congratulate you on your success. I apologize to you for the posts above responding to Lanze108, and don't want that to overshadow the real point of this post. I just feel that his claims need answering, if he's going to hang around making these statements, intended to bring the two winners, you and Liz down to the low level of his campaign.

So: Congratulations!

From:

Thank you. I hadn't seen your post before submitting my comment below. Let's all focus on what we can do together to make Somerville a great place for everyone to live!

From:

May I request that we all step the emotional level of this conversation down a notch or two? This community can be a wonderful place to exchange information and ideas if we do our best to maintain some decorum. I saw Jonathan on his way in to vote on Tuesday and he apologized for his initial message to me, explaining that he was upset about what had happened. I accepted and reiterated that, while we had nothing to do with the alleged incident, it is wrong, I don't condone it, and I'm sorry that it happened. I'm willing to take him on his word that something happened and leave it at that. We are a stronger city and a richer community when we recognize and emphasize what connects us with each other rather than focusing on things that divide us.

One related note, the LGBT Asylum Support Task Force is a wonderful organization and I would encourage anyone interesting in their life-saving work to take a look at their website (http://www.lgbtasylum.org/) and read some of the stories. Participate in the golf tournament that Jonathan mentioned in another thread and also consider coming out for the Drag Gospel Festival (www.facebook.com/DragGospelFestival (http://www.facebook.com/DragGospelFestival)) October 16-18.

(edited to fix hyperlinks)

Edited Date: 2015-09-18 10:39 pm (UTC)

From:

ron_newman

Thank you Lance. I look forward to a positive and informative campaign from both you and Liz from this point on.

From:

ron_newman

Hi, Lance! To totally change the topic .... you may need to send your mailings out further in advance for the November election. One of your mailers (8.5 x 11 "Lance Davis is Our Community's Choice for Ward 6 Alderman") arrived today, two days after the election. Two others (endorsements from Joe Curtatone and Denise Provost) arrived on election day, after I'd already voted.

From:

borgin.livejournal.com

I no longer live in Somerville so I could not vote in this election, but I got the endorsement from Denise Provost after the election too (sent to my Boston address and arrived sometime between Thursday and today).

From:

ron_newman

And I have a friend who moved from Somerville to Cambridge a year ago, and got several mailings for this election sent directly to her Cambridge address (not forwarded, sent directly there). I don't know if yours (Lance) was one of them, as she threw all of them in the recycling bin.

Edited Date: 2015-09-20 06:39 pm (UTC)

From: