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.

Weekend Roundup: Margo Barnet on the move

Margo Barnet (D-Worcester) has gained some major support over the last couple of weeks in her attempt to win the Democratic nomination for the State House in the 13th Worcester District. Shaun Sutner of the Telegram reports that she has been getting help from outside organizations:

Three deep-pocketed unions have flooded the 13th Worcester District with mailings for Margot Barnet, the most liberal of the six Democrats in the race to succeed state Rep. Bob Spellane and the chosen candidate of Worcester Mayor Joe O'Brien.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Massachusetts Nurses Association and SEIU Local 1199 have all chipped in for Barnet.

Barnet also picked up the endorsement of the Massachusetts League of Environmental Voters earlier today.

Speaking of endorsements, Paul Franco (R-Worcester) continues to get mileage out of the withdrawal and subsequent endorsement of Bruce Card (U-Worcester).  Franco and Card appeared together on the Hank Stolz Experience on WCRN-AM and Charter TV3, and Franco also took a turn on the Jim Polito Show on WTAG-AM.

18th Worcester House District
Sutner also reports that some supporters of Rep. Jennifer Callahan (D-Sutton), including two Uxbridge selectmen, are retracting their endorsement of a letter Callahan published last month calling challenger Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) a liar.

Ms. Callahan wrote letters that appeared in four Blackstone Valley community newspapers in which she attacked Fattman for allegedly purveying a series of lies about her and rebutting each one.

The letter had 16 co-signers. Callahan also listed Sutton Town Administrator James Smith and planning director Jennifer Hager as contacts.

Now, though, two Uxbridge selectmen have distanced themselves from Callahan's letter, and Smith says he and Hager have nothing to do with any conflict between the candidates.

Here is Callahan's original letter, as published in the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle.

First Middlesex House District
All five candidates appeared at a forum sponsored by the Pepperell Business Association last night. Earlier, Republicans Connie Sullivan (R-Ayer) and Sheila Harrington (R-Groton) squared off in a televised session on Groton Community Television. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

Second Franklin House District
Video of Wednesday's debate in Greenfield has been posted to the Greenfield Community Television Web site.

Friday Roundup: Lamb's voting record in question

Unless something breaks this afternoon, this will be the last update of a busy week of campaigning. Let's start in the Third Congressional District, where Martin Lamb (R-Holliston) got the full treatment from the Telegram this morning. Lamb told reporter Priyanka Dayal that he'd finally had enough:

I got sick and tired of yelling at the TV and preaching to all of my friends and family and decided it was just time to get off my couch and take some action,” he said, explaining why he is running for Congress.

The report also claims that "In previous elections, Mr. Lamb says he has almost always voted Republican, but he conceded he didn’t vote for Ronald Reagan the first time Mr. Reagan ran for president." That does not jive with an earlier Telegram report. Last month, Shaun Sutner reported that Lamb "voted as a Democrat in state and presidential primary elections in 2006, 2004 and 2000."

The earlier story also reported that Lamb "said he has since 1976 voted for Republicans for president in the general election." That would contradict the statement in today's paper that Lamb did not vote for Reagan in his first run for president, unless Lamb was referencing Reagan's primary run in 1976, when Lamb would have been 19 years old.

Elsewhere in the district, Michael Stopa (R-Holliston) has been touting some of his one-liners from the GOP debate Wednesday in Shrewsbury:

"Later, [Stopa] got the biggest laugh of the night when he said that Massachusetts, unlike Arizona, doesn't have to worry about protecting its borders except perhaps with Rhode Island...To make sure "Patches" Kennedy doesn't sneak in."

I'm not sure Stopa will be the next host of Saturday Night Live, but apparently he does have a knack for radio, as he was featured on WCRN-AM's Mike Wade Show last Saturday.

The incumbent was also making news Thursday. Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton) announced that they will file a provision in Congress to ban the construction of a liquid natural gas terminal proposed for Fall River.

First Congressional District
Rep. John Olver (D-Amherst) was in Pittsfield to announce a $1.25 million grant to aid the completion of the Streetscape Project.

Second Congressional District
Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale) spoke Wednesday night at a Tea Party forum in Holden. The former Navy aviator told the crowd that "I didn't blink with the Russians and I'm not going to blink with Nancy Pelosi."

First Worcester House District
Worcester County Sheriff
House candidate Kim Ferguson (R-Holden) and Sheriff candidate Lew Evangelidis (R-Holden) also spoke at the Tea Party event.

11th Worcester House District
Kevin Byrne (D-Shrewsbury) formally kicked off his campaign Wednesday night.

18th Worcester District
Rep. Jennifer Callahan (D-Sutton) and challenger Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) each weighed in on Bellingham's restrictive lawn sign ordinance.

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.