Special election this Tuesday, January 10

[ron_newman]

This coming Tuesday, January 10, there will be a special Democratic primary election for the 27th Middlesex seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. This seat covers about half of Somerville, including Davis Square. Two candidates are running, Denise Provost (now an Alderman-at-Large) and Elizabeth Moroney. No Republicans or independents are running, so the winner of this primary will almost certainly win the seat.

To find out whether you live in the district, go to this page and enter your address. If the "Rep in General Court" is listed as "VACANT - TWENTY-SEVENTH MIDDLESEX DISTRICT", then you do. Moroney's web site also includes a map of the district.

To vote in this Democratic primary, you must be either a registered Democrat, or an registered independent ("unenrolled") voter. If you are not registered, or are registered as a Republican or Green or Libertarian, it is too late to (re-)register now.

I'm supporting Denise, but I consider both candidates to be generally progressive Democrats.

Comments

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

If Denise Provost wins, do we get yet another special election to replace her?

It depends ...

[ron_newman]

She can legally keep her seat on the Board of Aldermen, and hold both offices. There is plenty of precedent for this -- for instance, Tim Toomey is both a state rep and a Cambridge city councilor.

However, Denise has indicated that she doesn't want to hold both seats for the long term. If she steps down before the end of 2006, then yes, we need another special election to replace her. If she waits until 2007, then the Board of Aldermen can appoint her replacement instead.

Re: It depends ...

[ceo]

I believe she's said that she doesn't want to force another special election, so she'll keep the seat unil she can quit without forcing one.

(because you know someone on the School Committee would win, and then we'd have yet another special election...)

Re: It depends ...

[ron_newman]

One possibility is to try to schedule the special city election to be at the same time as the state primary in September. But if more than two candidates run, I think you need both a preliminary and a final. Assuming she wins next week, Denise will have to consult with the city's lawyers to see what can be done.

[rxrfrx.livejournal.com]

whom should i vote for?

[ron_newman]

I wouldn't presume to answer that for you, given that I don't know anything about your politics.

But I think a bit less of Elizabeth Moroney now, after finding three negative postcards from her campaign in my mailbox. I like her personally (even while planning to vote for Denise), and wish she hadn't mailed these out.

[76trombones.livejournal.com]

Likewise! Except that I don't know her personally, so really, I'm just left with the negative impression from the negative postcards.

(And one of them had a headline that clearly hadn't been proofread. I understand that people have strengths and weaknesses, and perhaps writing isn't among her strengths, but surely her campaign has enough support to include someone who's good at proofreading, right? I don't need my legislator to be an expert in everything, but I'd like to know that she'll ask for input from others when needed...)

Denise Provost

[cos]

I support Denise, and just posted about it in detail.

campaign finance

[ron_newman]

For those who are curious, I took a brief look at Denise Provost's and Elizabeth Moroney's campaign contributions through December 23, in the reports both candidates filed with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance this week.

The Moroney report shows 119 contributors, only 9 of whom have Somerville addresses: William A. Carito, Helen Corrigan (head of the Democratic City Committee), Dorothy Kelly Gay (former mayor), Melissa Kogut, John M. Lister, Joe Mackey (former state rep, and recent candidate for state senate), James McCallum, Elizabeth Moroney, and Kevin Prior (head of the city Planning Board). Twenty are from labor unions, and five are from campaign committees of other candidates.

The Provost report shows 86 contributors, 66 of whom have a Somerville address. [Full disclosure: I'm one of these.] Five of the others are from labor unions, and none are from other candidates' campaign committees.