Snark-Infested Waters by Mike Bailey

Snark-Infested Waters by Mike Bailey

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The Week In Politics – June 15, 2012

Friday, June 15th, 2012

Hi there, everyone. I’m back from vacation and ready for action.

I’ll mark my return with something from the Shoe’s On the Other Foot File. I’ve reported here previously that Bristol County DA C. Samuel Sutter, who is challenging Congressman William R. Keating (D) in the Democratic primary for the Ninth Congressional District, was under the microscope for alleged misconduct by his office tied to a 2010 murder case.

Mr. Sutter’s office was earlier this month cleared of any wrongdoing in that case, but now Rep. Keating is under similar scrutiny. While still in office as the Norfolk County DA, Rep. Keating’s office allegedly failed to turn over documents to a defense attorney involved in a statutory rape case.

The case was later dismissed without those documents ever being turned over to the defense attorney, and last month the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the DA’s office displayed “egregious prosecutorial misconduct” for its actions.

Rep. Keating defended his former office, claiming that withholding those documents was in the best interests of the alleged victim and the office was under no legal obligation to hand the information over.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sutter’s office is still under investigation for a second alleged instance of misconduct tied to a 2011 murder case that ended in dismissal over a recanted testimony, which the office allegedly failed to tell a grand jury about.

Frankly, it’s tough to take either of these situations as a major issue. Yes, all our candidates should have sterling ethics and spotless records, but in this day and age it’s hard to find anyone in politics with a flawless background. Unless either of these reveals a serious ethical lapse on the direct part of the candidates, voters would be better off trying to learn where they stand on the issues.

***

However, don’t expect to be educated through a debate this week on WBSM-AM 1420, because Rep. Keating has refused to participate. Why? Because on-air personality Phil Paleologos was tapped as the moderator, and he’s a Republican. Mr. Sutter said he planned to show up anyway.

Rep. Keating is calling his decision a matter of political principle, but I’m calling it silly posturing. Personally, I’d be very interested in hearing a debate guided by a moderator who holds politically contrary positions as compared to the participating candidates.

***

On another Congressional note, Republican candidate Christopher Sheldon of Plymouth has secured his spot on the ballot. Mr. Sheldon announced on May 31 that he had submitted more than enough certified signatures to qualify for the race.

***

Someone who won’t be on any ballots is US Senate candidate Marisa DeFranco, who was planning to challenge Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic nomination. Ms. DeFranco failed to receive 15 percent of the delegates at Democrats’ June 2 state convention, and under the party’s rules she is not eligible for the ballot.

While DeFranco had no realistic chance of beating Ms. Warren, it would have been nice if voters had a choice in September. It’d also be nice if all the signatures she collected to get on the ballot actually mattered more than internal party processes.

***

Linell and Steven Grundman of East Sandwich will host tomorrow (Saturday, June 16) a campaign event for R. Patrick Ellis, Democratic challenger to State Representative Randy Hunt (R – Sandwich). The event is scheduled to run from 7 to 9:30 PM and will be held at 51 Wing Boulevard E in Sandwich.

Shoot an RSVP e-mail to grundmans@comcast.net. Campaign contributions will be accepted but are not requested.

***

Thomas F. Keyes, Republican candidate for State Senator of the Plymouth and Barnstable District, welcomes former state auditor candidate Mary Z. Connaughton to town on Monday. Ms. Connaughton is the special guest at a campaign reception for Mr. Keyes at the Nimrod in Falmouth, and that runs from 7 to 9 PM.

Admission is a donation to Mr. Keyes’ campaign, payable at the door or make arrangements in advance by calling 774-208-3480.

***

Finally, Andrew V. Putnam of Falmouth has filed his nomination papers for the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates, making him the first 100-percent-official candidate for the county’s legislative body.

Mr. Putnam will have a campaign kick-off event next week, details TBA, but in the meantime, go groove to his new campaign website at http://andrewputnam.org.

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

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The Week In Politics – May 25, 2012

Friday, May 25th, 2012

It’s looking like Barnstable will be gaining a new representative to the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates.

Thomas K. Lynch, who has served on the county’s legislative body for 11 years, is as I write this on his way to becoming Barnstable’s new town manager, which means he will have to resign from the assembly since the town charter bans its town manager from holding an elected position at the same time.

At present, the only confirmed candidate for the seat is Ronald R. Beaty Jr. If there are any readers out there considering a run for the assembly, I’d encourage you to do so, first and foremost so voters will have a choice in the coming election. Choice and competition are necessary to a healthy political process.

This is especially true here, because Mr. Beaty has yet to show himself to be something more than a one-trick pony; based on the content of his blog and his press releases, his sole purpose in running is to throw up a roadblock in front of the Special Commission on County Governance.

The special commission has filed two recommendations that Mr. Beaty has actively railed against: a proposal to merge the assembly with the Barnstable County Board of County Commissioners (or, as some put it, eliminate the assembly and expand the board), and a proposal to create a regional wastewater management entity that could possess taxation powers.

Are these trivial non-issues? No, but the scope of the assembly’s duties stretches well beyond ensuring its own continued existence and wastewater. It helps craft annual operating and supplemental budgets. It reviews and approves Districts of Critical Planning Concern, changes to the county charter, and changes to the Regional Policy Plan. It creates new entities to help the county deal with pressing issues.

I know I often knock the assembly as a somewhat vestigial organ in the county government organism, and while I maintain that there may well be better ways to accomplish the functions it serves, it does have its fingers in a number of not unimportant pies — and I question whether Mr. Beaty would be an effective delegate when he’s up to his elbows in one very specific pie.

One-issue candidates generally make poor elected officials, and having to run an actual race would tell voters whether he had a vision for county government beyond his pet projects…and if not, would give voters another option.

***

A brief bookmark update: Peter A. White of Mashpee has updated his campaign website address to reflect the fact he is now a candidate for Congress rather than the US Senate. The URL is www.peterwhiteforcongress.org, and as an added note, it’s a much nicer-looking site than his past efforts.

***

Senate President Therese M. Murray (D – Plymouth), who last week held her on-Cape re-election campaign kick-off event, picked up one of her first endorsements of the season, from the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus Political Action Committee.

The PAC called Sen. Murray “a devoted advocate for women throughout the Commonwealth. From her support of education reform to expanded access to affordable, quality healthcare to her efforts on behalf of victims of domestic violence, she has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of women and their families.”

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

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Posted in Local issues, Politics | 12 Comments »

The Week In Politics – April 20, 2012

Friday, April 20th, 2012

Looks like we have our first official candidate for the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates.

(Yes, the assembly. Stop laughing.)

That candidate is Andrew V. Putnam of Falmouth, who is planning to challenge veteran delegate Julia C. Taylor (that is, assuming she runs for re-election). He’s a member of Falmouth Town Meeting and the current chairman of the town’s Affirmative Action Committee.

Mr. Putnam said he wants to enhance the assembly’s visibility among voters, and in doing so increase transparency in county government.

Check out Mr. Putnam on-line at www.youtube.com/andrewvputnam, www.facebook.com/andrewvictorputnam, and www.twitter.com/andrewvputnam.

What, no Foursquare or Pinterest accounts? Slacker.

***

Some people run a campaign. So far it looks like C. Samuel Sutter is stumbing his campaign for US Representative of the Ninth Congressional District.

The Federal Election Commission recently posted online Mr. Sutter’s latest campaign finance report, which shows that as of March 31 the Bristol County D.A. has about $21,000 in campaign funds. Meanwhile, his primary opponent, incumbent William R. Keating (D) had close to $400,000 in his campaign war chest as of the end of March.

Add Mr. Sutter’s lackluster finances to his DA-related woes (accusations of professional misconduct) and you’ve got a campaign that’s one step away from needing a hougnan to bring it back to life (no offense to the voodoo priests out there).

***

Someone whose campaign apparently is apparently faring much better is that of Sandwich Republican Thomas F. Keyes, who is challenging Senate President Therese M. Murray (D – Plymouth).

Mr. Keyes has been assembling “leadership teams” throughout the district, people within each town to lead campaign efforts, and last week he named Ralph Crossen, Jr. and Bill LeBeau as his Sandwich town captains.

It looks like Mr. Keyes is forming a much more solid and coordinated organization than he had in 2010, so Sen. Murray could be in for a decent fight this year.

Now, that all said, I have to shake my head in disapproval over Mr. Keyes’ recent announcement that he has signed a “no new taxes” pledge with the Citizens for Limited Taxation.

All pledges of this nature are nothing more than quick and easy and ultimately meaningless campaign gimmicks. It is President George H.W. Bush’s famous “No new taxes!” slogan in written form — and Bush, as you might recall, abandoned that pledge when the cold hard practical reality of running a government reared its ugly head.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for cutting government waste and I’m not thrilled about having to pay taxes. I’m also not thrilled about understaffed police and fire departments, inadequate public schools, and roads that are impassible by anyone not driving a Panzer.

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

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The Week In Politics – March 30, 2012

Friday, March 30th, 2012

After suspending his candidacy for Barnstable County Board of County Commissioners earlier this month, citing a health scare, Ronald R. Beaty Jr. of Barnstable is back in the running – and, perhaps, then some.

Last Friday Mr. Beaty issued a press release announcing that he was back in the race. A day later, in a highly unorthodox move, he issued a second release formally endorsing fellow candidate Eric R. Steinhilber – one of his potential opponents in the November primary.

But the oddest turn came a few days before Mr. Beaty re-entered the race, when he sent out a copy of an e-mail from Norah K. Mallam, staff attorney with the Massachusetts Ethics Commission, saying, basically, that there is nothing in the state’s conflict of interests law that would prevent him from simultaneously holding seats on both the board of county commissioners and the assembly.

“The conflict of interest law will not prohibit you from running for and holding two elected positions in the same county,” Ms. Mallam said, but she added that were Mr. Beaty to achieve this feat, he would have to exercise extreme diligence in avoiding instances when a vote as a member of one body has a direct impact on his role with the other.

“For example, if a matter comes before you as the Barnstable County Commissioner involving the amount of compensation that members of the County Assembly of Delegates should receive,” she wrote, “then you would be prohibited from participating in that matter as a Commissioner.”

Mr. Beaty has not made any public statements indicating he does indeed plan to run for both seats, and my advice is to keep it that way. Pick one race and commit to running it.

***

Which is exactly what Andrew Putnam plans to do — if he runs at all, that is.

The Falmouth resident announced this week that he is “strongly considering a run for both the Assembly of Delegates and (for) County Commissioner at this time. I will be announcing on Wednesday, April 11th whether I will run for one of the offices or none at all.”

Here’s hoping that he does run for something. I’m a big fan of giving voters choices and making incumbents work for their re-election.

***

On a related note, the aforementioned Mr. Steinhilber has formally launched his campaign for county commissioner. He held his kick-off event last Saturday in Hyannis.

Notably, both Mr. Steinhilber and Mr. Beaty are going after one of the same targets: the regional wastewater authority proposed by the Special Commission on County Governance – and both men are jumping the gun quite a bit by acting like this authority is a done deal, which it is not.

“Is it the proper role of the County or its newly created authority to have taxation powers to potentially impose billions in new taxes and fees on the already overtaxed, over worked people of Cape Cod?” Mr. Steinhilber remarked at his event, while Mr. Beaty warned that “an autonomous authority would unilaterally seize specific decision-making, fee imposition and taxation powers from the 15 municipalities of Cape Cod regarding wastewater infrastructure issues and/or services. Wastewater/sewer rates and relevant taxes would incessantly go up year after year.”

Readers, be clear on an important point here: no authority has actually been created and none of the details, from its administrative structure to its method of raising revenue, have been sketched out. The special commission made a recommendation, and the county commissioners voted to explore the concept – not to create an authority, not even to endorse the proposal, simply to look into it.

Mr. Beaty and Mr. Steinhilber are straying into the realm of fearmongering, which might make for good campaign sound bites but it also hampers a serious, honest discussion about what is undeniably a thorny issue for all of Cape Cod. They need to dial down the rhetoric and stick to the facts.

For a more in-depth analysis of this issue, check out this installation of Fact-Check Theater.

***

Finally, another Democrat has entered the race for US Senate: Eno Mondésir, a public health practitioner, self-published author, and ordained minister from Randolph.

Learn more about the candidate at his official website, and don’t be surprised if that’s the only place you can learn more about him. Mr. Mondésir is one of three Democrats who isn’t Elizabeth Warren, and if you’re not Elizabeth Warren, you’re as good as invisible to the big city media.

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

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The Week In Politics – March 16, 2012

Friday, March 16th, 2012

Looks like we have our first big controversy of the year.

Several news outlets last week picked up on allegations of misconduct against Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter, Democratic candidate for the Ninth Congressional District. Mr. Sutter allegedly released confidential records of phone conversations between murder suspect Jonathan Niemic and his attorney, Robert M. Griffin, and now Mr. Griffin is asking for the indictment against his client to be overturned.

This is the second such instance of alleged misconduct by Mr. Sutter. In 2003 murder charges against two suspects were dropped after a Massachusetts Superior Court judge found Mr. Sutter had displayed “a reckless disregard for the truth” by knowingly presenting an eyewitness who lied to a grand jury about the case.

Between this and the fact that incumbent Congressman William R. Keating (D) already has the backing of the state party, Mr. Sutter is facing a serious uphill battle in the primary.

***

In other Ninth District news, Plymouth Republican Christopher Sheldon will officially launch his Congressional campaign on Tuesday. He’ll make the announcement at the John Carver Inn and Spa on Summer Street in Plymouth.

Mr. Sheldon will hold a private reception at 6 PM, a public reception at 6:45 PM, and full festivities begin at 7:15 PM. If you want in on this, shoot an e-mail to Allan Knowles at sheldon.congress@gmail.com or call 508-591-0195.

***

Ronald K. Beaty Jr. of Barnstable, who all year has been making much ado about his candidacy for the Barnstable County Board of County Commissioners, on Saturday very suddenly suspended his campaign.

Mr. Beaty said in a follow-up to his e-mail announcement that a medical crisis was behind the decision. He said the suspension was indefinite and gave no hint whether he would return to the race once his medical issues are addressed.

***

I normally don’t pay much attention when people say, “Oh, I hear so-and-so is going to run for such-and-such this fall,” but this one has piqued my interest.

Over the past week I’ve received two calls from folks saying the word on the street is that Andrew V. Putnam of Falmouth is contemplating a run for the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates. Mr. Putnam is a Town Meeting member for precinct nine, chairman of the town’s equity/affirmative action committee, and son of Falmouth Selectman Brent Putnam.

When contacted this week, Mr. (Andrew) Putnam confirmed he is considering a run for the assembly. “My reason for considering running is simple,” he wrote in a brief statement. “I believe that I could give a new perspective on many of the issues that face Falmouth and the Cape and help those that have been ignored be brought to light (such as the importance of the Assembly of Delegates).”

Mr. Putnam is referring to a proposal to merge the assembly with the Barnstable County Board of County Commissioners – an idea that his possible opponent Julia C. Taylor, a 22-year member of the assembly, is open to exploring.

Still, I’m curious about the buzz that seems to be building over this tentative campaign. For starters: over a race for the assembly? The county body that few know about and fewer care about? Nothing personal against the delegates, but let’s call a spade a spade: I’ve been covering the assembly for 13-plus years now and people STILL ask me, “What’s the assembly of delegates?”

This occurs, I must note, despite the assembly’s traditional annual rallying cry of, “We need to increase the visibility of county government!” Which stands in contrast to the fact that many delegates show up to maybe one board of selectmen’s meeting per year to talk about what’s happening at the county level. But I digress…

It’s not unprecedented for candidates to start a “whisper campaign” in advance of a formal declaration of candidacy to build some name recognition, but my advice to Mr. Putnam is this: don’t whisper, dude. Shout. Loud. And a lot.

***

Finally, I present a slightly paraphrased version of one of Senate President Therese M. Murray’s (D – Plymouth) jokes from last weekend’s Barnstable Democratic Town Committee St. Patrick’s Day Brunch: a conservative, a moderate, and a liberal walk into a bar. The bartender says, “Hey, Mitt.”

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

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The Week In Politics – February 10, 2012

Friday, February 10th, 2012

After several weeks of will-he-or-won’t-he-tinged press releases, Ronald R. Beaty Jr. of West Barnstable announced this week he will – run for the Barnstable County Board of County Commissioners, that is.

In a press release Mr. Beaty said he has pulled nomination papers and is now out and about collecting signatures. The self-described “fiscal conservative/social progressive” is running as a non-party candidate, meaning he skips over the primary race phase and, assuming he collects enough signatures, will be on the November general election ballot.

The two seats currently held by Mary L. (Pat) Flynn of Falmouth and Sheila R. Lyons of Wellfleet are up for grabs this year. There have been no official announcements from either commissioner whether they will run for re-election.

Mr. Beaty in his announcement made much ado about the fact he had signed a Citizens for Limited Taxation “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” but those things are worthless as far as I’m concerned. Pledges, like campaign promises, have a habit of falling by the wayside when certain cold realities hit a lawmaker square in the face.

The real key here will be if Mr. Beaty, who has turned himself into something of a scholar of county government, can parlay that knowledge into a viable campaign platform that overcomes his lack of political experience. According to the man himself, his only forays into the world of elected office are two unsuccessful runs for the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates.

The other issue for Mr. Beaty – and I’ve broached this topic before – is his criminal background. In 1991, Mr. Beaty spent time in prison after he was convicted of sending threatening letters to President George H.W. Bush, US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and then-State Senator Lois Pines.

Mr. Beaty, who is seeking a presidential pardon for those offenses, called that episode in his life “mainly a terrible lapse in judgment” brought about by an alcohol problem he has since overcome.

Whether this truly matters will be, and should be, up to the voters, but I’ll give credit where it’s due: the man has been very open and forthright about this skeleton in his closet, which is a whole hell of a lot more than what we’ve seen from some of our politicians.

Anyone who would like to read up on Mr. Beaty and his background, head on over to my blog and look up the Week in Politics columns for December 16 and 23, 2011.

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

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