State Roundup: Candidate Overload

With just one week to go before the primary, every news outlet, political committee, fair and parade organizer, and ice cream vendor is subject to a visit from a candidate. Here's a round up of items from late last week and the holiday weekend...

Worcester County Sheriff
The Telegram reports that Scot Bove (D-Holden) took a leave of absence from his job at the jail five weeks ago in an effort to distance himself from the appearance of a conflict of interest:

Scot J. Bove has taken a leave of absence from his job as assistant deputy sheriff while he runs for the Democratic nomination for sheriff.

Thomas J. Foley, his opponent, questioned how it is possible to be objective in supervising employees who either donated or refused to donate to his election effort. Mr. Foley, a former state police superintendent, said his policy is to not accept campaign contributions from sheriff's department employees.

Mr. Bove said he has taken a six-week leave of absence, ending with the primary Sept. 14 primary. He acknowledged that he continued working at the jail from the time he announced his candidacy in January until last month.

Bove also discusses the impact of the Sheriff's race on a tavern he owns in Worcester, saying he will recuse himself from all business operations should he be elected.

The Telegram also looks at the race from a high level, focusing on the candidates' differing views of the job description.

Second Worcester House District
All five candidates for state representative, including the two Democrats vying for the nomination next Tuesday, faced off in a debate at Mt. Wachusett Community College.

First Middlesex House District
Five challengers for this open seat also faced off last week in a forum in Townsend. There are three Democrats and two Republicans vying for their respective nominations next week.

The race is apparently so interesting that even the Globe sent a reporter outside of 495 to see what is going on out in the woods.

Second Franklin House District
Candidates for this open seat also continued their seemingly endless string of debates with two more events in Greenfield last week. Democrats faced off in a forum sponsored by the Greenfield Democratic Town Committee. The Franklin County School Committee Caucus, among others, also held a candidate forum to discuss the issue of education. Steven Adam (R-Orange) and Genevieve Fraser (U-Orange) joined the four Democrats in the discussion.

18th Worcester House District
Rep. Jennifer Callahan was in Blackstone for the first day of school, passing out backpacks to disadvantaged children.

37th Middlesex House District
Worcester and Middlesex Senate District
Rep. Jen Benson (D-Lunenburg) and Sen. Jennifer Flanagan (D-Leominster) served ice cream to and answered questions from seniors at the Pearl Brook Senior Housing Complex.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) spoke at a home in Marlborough that had been bought out of foreclosure by the city of Marlborough and refurbished for resale as affordable housing thanks to a state grant.

Sixth Worcester House District
Mike Jaynes (R-Southbridge) writes on SpeakOutSouthbridge.com that he is the most conservative candidate in the race for the Republican nomination.

Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Senate District
Daniel Dubrule (R-Ashburnham) officially announced his candidacy for the seat currently held by Sen. Stephen Brewer (D-Barre).

Governor's Council
The Sentinel and Enterprise takes a look at Jen Caissie (R-Oxford) and Fran Ford (D-Paxton), the two candidates running for the open Governor's Council seat.

Wednesday roundup: Deadline day

Today marked two important deadlines in the candidates' quest for their parties' nominations. First, today marked the last day a voter could register to vote or declare their enrollment in a political party. Secondly, August 25 also marked the last day candidates can receive campaign contributions and count them toward the July-August reporting period. The Telegram looks at the second:

In the 3rd Congressional District, U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, has raised an estimated $250,000 since July 1, said campaign manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. Combined with money raised earlier in the year, the campaign will have nearly $1 million on hand, Mr. Augustus said.

As of June 30, Mr. McGovern had raised more than $1 million — far more than the Republicans challenging him had raised — and had nearly $823,000 on hand....

Mr. [Brian] Herr [of Hopkinton] and Mr. [Marty] Lamb [of Holliston] were the only Republican opponents to submit FEC reports for the reporting period that ended June 30. In that period, Mr. Herr had raised more than $66,000 with about $23,000 left on hand, and Mr. Lamb of Holliston had raised nearly $49,000 with about $21,000 on hand.

The other candidates, Robert J. Chipman of Plainville; Robert A. Delle, formerly of Westboro, who now lives in Paxton; and Michael P. Stopa of Holliston, lag in fundraising. They have yet to submit any financial reports.

Chipman, Delle, and Stopa also get the treatment from the liberal alt-weekly Boston Phoenix, which looks at right-wing candidates running for Congress and refers to the three candidates as part of "a swarm of dubious characters, with little experience in politics, whose questionable beliefs are only just beginning to come to light."

Lamb has been getting some mileage out of his Congressional barf bags. He gets a mention from Michelle Malkin, which is a pretty big get. (Perhaps just as surprising is the news that Malkin's staff follows Worcester Mag's Jeremy Shulkin).

Four of the five candidates are scheduled to debate in Hopkinton tomorrow night.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) spoke out against a proposal to move the caseload from Marlborough District Court to facilities in Ayer and Concord.
 
Eldridge, who strongly opposes casino gambling, told the Lowell Sun that the failure to pass casino legislation will be a plus for Gov. Deval Patrick's reelection campaign.
 
Second Franklin House District
David Roulston (D-Greenfield) announced that he has received the endorsement of Sheriff Frederick McDonald.

Weekend roundup: I've been everywhere, man

It's awfully difficult for a challenger to dominate the media cycle against an well-financed, high-ranking incumbent, but Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale) managed to do just that Friday in his Second Congressional District race against Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield). We'll start with the Telegram, where Wesley was the feature of Friday's candidate profile:

Mr. Wesley explained that these are tough economic times and that people have to be careful with their finances. He quickly added, however, that this election is about more than raising money.

“I see it as my patriotic duty,” he said when asked why he was running. “I'm fighting for unborn generations.” termed a lynchpin election, which means in his opinion the American way of life is at stake and people are angry with what has been happening on Capitol Hill.

In addition, Wesley was all over the radio, appearing on Springfield's WAQY-FM and WHYN-AM. He has also continued videotaping while driving.
 
For his part, Neal has received praise from the unlikeliest of sources. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has endorsed Neal's bill to provide for automatic enrollment in IRAs for employees of small businesses:

The Automatic IRA is a conservative, market-oriented solution to help address our retirement savings crisis. It would increase the proportion of Americans who can save for retirement at work from 50 percent to 90 percent, make it simple for small business owners to offer IRAs to their employees, and create low-cost accounts that an employee can understand and use without having to be a financial expert.

Neal's proposal has also been endorsed by the more liberal Brookings Institution.

Elsewhere...

Third Congressional District
Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) continues to keep the pressure on Congress and the Obama administration over the cut in food stamp aid that was part of the $26 billion jobs bill:

"President Obama pledged to end childhood hunger by 2015," McGovern pointed out. "It's hard to see how you do that while you're cutting food stamps.''

Fifth Congressional District
In the Sentinel, columnist Peter Lucas calls Tom Weaver (R-Westford) "the most qualified candidate you never heard of."

Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) was in Harvard to tout federal funding for a 220-kilowatt solar power facility at Carlson Orchards.

First Middlesex District
Tony Saboliauskas (D-Pepperell) is part of a group trying to get permission to erect a "Support our Troops" sign on town land in Pepperell.

Second Franklin House District
Earlier this week, David Roulston (D-Greenfield) became the latest candidate to criticize the proposed biomass plant in Greenfield.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
The communications director for Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) is taking time off during the fall recess to work for the campaign of Ninth District Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston).

Worcester County Sheriff
Lew Evangelidis (R-Holden) recently visited the Hampden County Sheriff to get some tips on programs for inmates.

Tuesday Roundup: Rock the boat (don't rock the boat, baby)

Let's start our Tuesday spin around the region with the Congressional race in the Fifth District, where Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) rocked John Kerry over the recent controversy surrounding Kerry's yacht:

In a press release issued last week, Meas said the "nautical and tax-dodging misadventures of our aristocratic Senior Senator, John F. Kerry, firmly solidify his reputation as being total out of touch with his constituents."

Kerry, of course, has come under heavy fire for registering his new, $7 million, 76-foot yacht "Isabel," in Rhode Island instead of his home state of Massachusetts, ostensibly to avoid paying taxes on the costly craft.

At its core, this story illustrates the need to scrap our oppressive, unjust and obscenely complex tax system and replace it with something simpler and more fair..."

Of course, Kerry has been accused of docking his boat in Rhode Island to avoid paying state--not federal --taxes, so should he be elected to Congress, Meas wouldn't have any standing to change the tax system he accuses Kerry of dodging.

Poweline followed up The Weekly Standard's profile of Meas with a note from a reader touting Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) as the best challenger in the field.

Second Congressional District
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) traveled to Lee's Summit, Mo. to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Social Security at a series of town hall meetings with Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver.

Third Congressional District
Robert Chipman (R-Plainville) wrote to the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle describing his side of a dispute over lawn signs in Plainville.

Michael Stopa (R-Holliston) and Brian Herr (R-Hopkinton) attended a Tea Party event in Northboro to hear arguments against granting citizenship to illegal immigrants.

Second Worcester House District
Three of the five candidates for the open seat--Rich Bastien (R-Gardner), Carolyn Kamuda (U-Gardner), and Amy Feeley-Knuuttila (D, Winchendon) were endorsed by Citizens for Limited Taxation.

13th Worcester House District
Sean Dacey at Unfashionable Sentiments takes stock of the number of lawn signs in his neighborhood.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
37th Middlesex House District
In a surprise to no one, the Young Democrats of Massachusetts endorsed Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton). Previously, the YDMA announced their support for Rep. Jen Benson (D-Lunenburg).

Finally, thanks to Shaun Sutner of the Telegram, who had nice things to say about this blog in his online daily ElectionNet column on telegram.com.

Weekend roundup: Senate stays on 15, dares Governor to take hit

As the State Legislature wound down the session Saturday, the big news was not that the House and Senate both passed the compromise Casino bill, but that the margin in the Senate was again 25-15, two votes shy of a veto-proof majority. So, if the Governor vetoes the bill as he has promised and if Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) calls a special session to consider the veto, gambling supporters need to get two opposing senators to switch their votes.

Locally, it appears that each of the representatives and senators up for reelection voted the same way they did when the issue came up earlier this session. Interestingly, that included Sen. Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) who voted for the three casino, two racino proposal despite her insistance last week that she would not vote for a bill that included slot parlors for racetracks. As of this evening, Chandler has not publicly discussed her change of heart.

Elsewhere...

Third Congressional District
Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) was vocal in his support for the House bill that strengthens oversight of offshore dirlling. "If you want to apologize for Big Oil, go right ahead, but the American people are not on your side on this one," he said.

Martin Lamb (R-Holliston) unveiled an economic package of tax cuts, including "putting a six-month moratorium on payroll taxes such as Social Security." He could not tell the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle how he would pay for the tax cuts.

Lamb claims he is winning the Facebook primary. According to statistics provided by Lamb and published in the Telegram, Lamb has nearly triple the number of Facebook friends as Brian Herr (D-Hopkinton), his closest competition for the Republican nomination. That and $1.99 will get him a coffee an Dunks.

First Congressional District
The House of Representatives is apparently so upset with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan that it refused to fund his travel budget. While John Olver (D-Amherst) opposed the measure, he did so tepidly and did not block it from coming out of his committee.

Fifth Congressional District
Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) has no use for the legal decision striking down parts of Arizona's immigration law.

Sam Meas (R-Haverhill)  took a spin on syndicated radio's The Roger Hedgecock show.

Second Congressional District
Barron's has dubbed the provision Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) has proposed to close tax loopholes for foreign insurance comanies "Hurricane Neal" for it's potential impact on the re-insurance industry.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) was criticized by Glenn Beck, of all people, for his leadership on the bill to apportion Massachusetts's electoral votes based on the winner of the popular vote.

18th Worcester House District
Shaun Sutner of the Telegram suggests that Rep. Jennifer Callahan (D-Sutton) is operating under a double standard when it comes to lobbying and campaign finance issues.

11th Worcester House District
Matthew Beaton (R-Shrewsbury) was photographed on a golf course with President Geroge H. W. Bush and a Beaton for Representative bumper sticker. This earned a "President Bush throws support behind Beaton" headline from Daily Westborough.

Worcester County Sheriff
The Telegram looks at the four candidates for Sheriff.

Thursday roundup: Tsongas tried to keep Schilling's company in Mass.?

Wednesday was slow with a capital "S", so in keeping with the media's tradition of headlining a Red Sox story when nothing else is going on, we start with former Red Sox hero and current businessman/blowhard Curt Schilling. In a discussion with WEEI Radio about Rhode Island's decision to offer Schilling's video game company 38 Studios a $75 million guarantee to move the business to the Ocean State, Schilling mentioned that he'd only received help from one Massachusetts politician:

Although Schilling “absolutely” wished Massachusetts had offered incentives to keep 38 Studios in the Bay State, only U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., made a significant effort to explore the possibility, he said.

“We made every effort to make that happen, and it was not going to happen,” he said. Officials in Massachusetts have said the state would never provide as large a guarantee as $75 million to a single company.

I'm not sure what pull Tsongas (D-Lowell) would have since the state would have made the decision, but Schilling's company is located in Maynard for the time being and Maynard is in her Fifth Congressional district, so perhaps she just saw it as good constituent relations.

In a completely unrelated item, challenger Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) got the Lowell Sun to publish a story about his call for Tsongas to call for House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charlie Rangel to step down:

"Instead of supporting partisan friendships, Nancy Pelosi, Niki Tsongas and the rest of our elected officials in Washington need to stand up for what is right and demand for their colleague's resignation. People are cynical because once again, members of Congress are above the law," Golnik said in a statement....

"If his colleagues feel he is too unethical too keep his money, then he is too unethical to spend ours," Golnik said.

Tsongas probably has less pull with Rangel than she does with some state development authority, but at least Golnik got an article out of it.

Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) came out against the expiration of last decade's deficit-building tax cuts.

Elsewhere....

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Rep. Jamie Eldridge told the Lowell Sun that Schilling never asked him for any help. Maynard is part of the Middlesex and Worcester District.

Third Congressional District
Not only has Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) been all over the news as a leader of the anti-war effort, he has also drafted a letter (along with Democratic Rep. Jan Schankowsky of Illinois) urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to call for investigations of war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Wednesday Roundup: McGovern continues anti-war crusade

Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) continues to lead the anti-war effort in the wake of the leak of classified Pentagon documents relating to the war in Afghanistan. The congressman from the Third District explained his vote against yesterday's war appropriations bill to the New York Times:

“All of the puzzle has been put together and it is not a pretty picture; things are really ugly over there,” Representative James P. McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, said. “I think the White House continues to underestimate the depth of anti-war sentiment here.”

Locally, McGovern is sponsoring a poster contest. He'd like someone to create a poster for his campaign. "This contest will allow me to showcase some of the best artists in the 3rd Congressional District,” McGovern said. Apparently all of the best artists in the Third District are Democrats.

The Attleboro Sun-Chronicle reports on a couple of endorsements. Marty Lamb (R-Holliston) has picked up the support of former state GOP Chairman Jim Rappaport. Brian Herr (R-Hopkinton) picked up the endorsement of Robbi Blute, wife of former congressman and current WCRN radio host Peter Blute.

In other news...

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) supported the Senate bill to apportion all of the states electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote. According to the Boston Globe, he said:

What we are submitting is the idea that the president should be selected by the majority of people in the United States of America...Every vote will be of the same weight across the country.

The bill now awaits Governor Patrick's signature.

Second Congressional District
Rep Richard Neal (D-Springfield) announced that the renovation of Springfield's Union Station can go forward as the federal government has lifted it's funding freeze.

The Springfield Reminder profiled challenger Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale).

Fifth Congressional District
The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune announced that it is sponsoring a debate between the four Republican candidates for Rep. Niki Tsongas's seat. The debate will be August 30 in Haverhill.

First Congressional District
Channlenger Bill Gunn (R-Belchertown) appeared in Leominster yesterday. The Sentinel and Enterprise reports that he jumped into the race because he was upset about the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Worcester County Sheriff
All four candidates appeared in Leominster Monday night at a forum sponsored by the Twin City Tea Party. DaTechGuy has the video of each candidate's presentation.

11th Worcester House District
Shrewsbury.net sat down for an interview with new candidate Kevin Byrne (D-Shrewsbury).

Second Franklin House District
In yesterday's post, I noted that Lee Chauvette (D-Athol) issued a statement opposing a biomass plant being developed in Greenfield. I wrote: "The developers of the plant, Co-op Power, defended their proposed plant (they call it biodiesel, not biomass) in a post at Blue Mass. Group." I received an email from the Chauvette campaign explaining that his opposition is to "a 'biomass' plant being proposed in Greenfield by Madera Power under the name of Pioneer Power," not the biodiesel plant being developed by Co-op Power. I regret the error.

CMass Senate Roundup...Rolling the dice on casinos

Catching up on the last few weeks of the State Senate campaigns...

First Worcester
Sen. Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) said Monday that she will oppose any compromise on the casino bill that includes slot machines at race tracks. The orignal Senate vote was 25-15 in favor, so if racinos are included opponents will only need to switch four more votes. In last week's Worcester Magazine, Chandler also said she was concerned that a House provision protecting local theatre venues might be dropped, though it was not clear if she would also change her vote if that provision were not included.

Chandler was endorsed by MassEquality.

William Higgins (R-Northborough) was endorsed by the Citizens for Limited Taxation.

Worcester and Middlesex
Sen. Jennifer Flanagan (D-Leominster) told the Telegram & Gazette that race track slots were not a deal breaker for her. She was backed up by Democratic Fitchburg mayor Lisa Wong, who argued in the Sentinel and Enterprise that restaurants and businesses in Fitchburg should be allowed to add slot machines in the future if racinos are approved.

Three weeks ago, Flanagan broke with most of her Democratic colleagues and attended a meeting of the Twin City Tea Party. Conservative blogger DaTechguy was there to take video of Flanagan and opponent Neal Heeren (R-Bolton) and came away impressed by the Democrat:

Without a question Heeren was a weaker speaker, he had to refer to his notes quite a bit on opening and seemed very uncomfortable on stage, rather odd for a lawyer. On the issues he was more correct but you have to be able to make the case to people. That’s a skill he can develop but if Flanagan keeps showing up and manages to make credible explanation and presentations it will be harder for him.

This more than anything illustrates why Flanagan’s presence was smart! Rather than avoiding the Tea Party in fear she confronts it directly.

Heeren was scheduled to attend the Greater Gardner Tea Party event earlier this evening.

Finally, some guy named Kevin Lynch has been mounting an independent campaign almost solely via the Sentinel and Enterprise comment boards. Perhaps someone will tell him that as an independent, he still has time to get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin

Stephen Brewer (D-Barre) voted against the Senate's casino bill. The Springfield Republican called it a "politically difficult vote" because the Ways and Means Vice Chariman voted against Speaker Murray. Brewer explained his "no" vote to the Journal Register:

“The numbers just do not add up and cities and towns will end up picking up these extra costs,” said Brewer. As an example of how far short this number falls, Brewer said, at one point, the town of Palmer handed him a request for $50 million in mitigation costs.

“I am concerned that without first conducting a cost benefit analysis, as I advocated for, we may be getting ourselves into a situation that we did not intend,” Brewer said.

After eight years of trying, the Senate has finally passed Brewer's bill allowing police to arrest drivers involved in fatal or injury-causing accidents at the scene. Currently police can only arrest a driver at the scene of an accident if the suspect is under the influence.

Brewer also donned a 19th-century costume and delivered the Declaration of Independence at ceremonies July 4 at Old Sturbridge Village (at right).

Daniel Dubrule (R-Ashburnham) was scheduled to appear at the aforementioned Greater Gardner Tea Party this evening.

Middlesex and Worcester
Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) led the unsuccessful fight against casinos in the Senate. While he ultimately voted against the bill, he was successful in amending the bill to prohibit smoking in casinos. However, he was unable to convince senators that towns surrounding a proposed casino site should have veto power over the project. His amendmet to ban ATMs from casinos was also defeated.

Eldridge picked up the endorsement of MassEquality.

Selectman George Thompson (R-Westboro) spoke late last month at a forum sponsored by the Ayer Republican Town Committee. The forum appears to have made more news for who was not invited than what was said.