Friday, March 16, 2007

Everybody Running for Everything


Oh boy, there are candidates aplenty these days.

First, the local crazy people are aflutter over Ted DeSalvatore's official announcement that he's running for mayor. (even though we've known he'll be doing this for months).

Here's one of those crazy people now:
Patty E. Martin, who owns The Hair Cottage and is a lifelong resident, said to see the decline in the city “and not have anybody recognize it until certain people have stepped forward is very enlightening.”

“He’s a man of the people,” she said, “and for some reason you were led to this city, and you’re going to lead the city to a brighter future.”

Mr. DeSalvatore has found himself at odds with some of his colleagues on the council.

Mrs. Martin said she is proud of how he handles himself at meetings when “negativity” comes up. This is an effort to distract him from the issues, she said.
Of course, this focus on "negativity" is bound to be a recurring theme in Ted's campaign, with Ted presented as the "positive" candidate and everyone who disagrees with him portrayed as negative. Never mind that the only negativity we've really seen is other city councilors saying Ted's ideas suck. And that's only because they do.

Second, (but the first to announce, sorry Ted) is mayoral candidate Ronald Dionne, who pulled papers on Tuesday. The Sentinel didn't bother to report on it until Thursday though, because he's not Ted.

I don't know a whole lot about Dionne. He's a Democrat, he's been manager of the old Child World toy store, managed a liquor store, and was a truck driver. (Incidentally Ted is an independent, presumably because it suits his self-styled rebel image. Or because no party would have him.)

Right now those (fairly paltry) qualifications put Dionne well ahead of dangerous Ted DeSalvatore and incompetent Dan Mylott in my book, which is pretty sad.

Finally, Peter Allaire is a 58-year old former firefighter and is running for the Ward 5 city council position. He did say this, which I agree with:
"I'd like to see things in downtown that could draw college kids to Main Street."
However:
Allaire's brother used to be married to Cynthia Allaire, manager of the now-defunct Club Karma and the new Bourbon Street Food and Spirits.
Why is that a "however"? Well, DeSalvatore has some ties with Club Karma. Some potentially unethical ties.

That may or may not reflect badly on Allaire. But if he's a DeSalvatore groupie then he could very well be a dick. Time will tell.

On a side note about Club Karma, a friend of mine used to work part-time there and told me they had "bikini bull riding" on Thursday nights, which sounds awesome. She also told me the boss was a total raving jackass, which isn't so awesome.

So there you have it, three candidates I can't get the slightest bit excited about. One of whom worries me deeply (guess which!).

Which brings me to the next point; are you curious about which of the local papers has the biggest hard-on for DeSalvatore? Wonder no more, it's easy to measure!
  • The Worcester Telegram isn't too excited:
    A string of supporters stood up last night to talk about the candidate they were backing, while an audience of about 50 people looked on in the Stonehaven Restaurant.
  • The Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise is getting a little excited:
    "It is my hope that in '08, we can bar the egos and the shenanigans from City Hall," DeSalvatore told about 60 people who attended a kick-off dinner Thursday at Stonehaven Food & Spirits.
  • Fitchburg Pride is raring to go:
    "I guess I'm in this for the long haul," DeSalvatore told a crowd of about 70 people at the Stonehaven Restaurant. "I am your candidate for change."
Congratulations, Fitchburg Pride! You win!



[Addendum] Wait a second! "[B]ar the egos and the shenanigans from City Hall"? Did Ted just disqualify himself at his own kick-off dinner?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am proud to be one of the so called "crazy" people. I'm so sorry that you feel you must label some of us. I don't think it's wrong for us to have a little bit of hope that someone can straighten out the mess this city is in. You may disagree with his tactics, but I know MY neighborhood has improved, has yours?

The Unicow said...

First, thanks for being the first supporter of Ted to have a coherent comment and not just insane trolling about how much I suck. It's a nice change of pace.

No, my neighborhood hasn't particularly improved. Nor has it gotten worse. It's been pretty consistent.

What I find a bit odd is that you seem to credit Ted for the improvement you perceive in your neighborhood. What did it in your opinion? I have heard that Ted seems to be ok at dealing with some small problems, but that in my book does not a mayor make.

Incidentally, I share your hope that someone can "straighten out" the city. However, I don't see someone whose main claims to fame are an inability to get along with the rest of the city government, a racially charged march through poor neighborhoods, constant grandstanding, and a seeming infatuation with the largely discredited "Fixing Broken Windows" theory of criminology as being anywhere close to suited for the job.

Hope's great. But a competent mayor who's not going to be an embarrassment to the city would be even better.

Anonymous said...

watch out Unicow, Ted's supporters are really web-savvy. their campaign is starting off by ballot stuffing polls on Save Fitchburg AND cramming blogs with comments under many assumed names. All the while trying to ignore that no-one in the city really knows who Ted is.

The Unicow said...

Thanks for the tip Bryan. I can't bring myself to read Save Fitchburg anymore, but it's interesting to see they admit to the poll being stuffed. Now they just need to report that fact when they present the results in Fitchburg Pride (don't hold your breath).

I did chuckle a little at the thought of Ted's supporters being web-savvy, though. Check out the former website for the Team to Elect DeSalvatore (Google cache because they took it down after I made fun of it). Good stuff!

If their team of blog commenters is as angry and incoherent as most who've dropped by here, I wouldn't worry too much. But consider me warned.

Anonymous said...

yeah - the web-savvy thing was sarcasm...
they are as web-savvy as you are allowed to be on the free internet at the library.

I loved the Team DeSalvatore website. broken links and space holders are Web 2.0, right?

Anonymous said...

You're welcome-I would never tell someone they suck simply because their opinion differs from mine.

I suspect there are other DeSalvatore supporters out there like myself. I prefer to quietly observe rather than be all "aflutter". There are always some people who are "aflutter" somewhere about something and this doesn't strike me any differently.

As for my neighborhood, I do live in Ted's neighborhood. The change has happened a little at a time. I am not entirely sure what to attribute this to-but it has happened during the time Ted has been our Ward councillor. Perhaps it is just good timing on his part? Either way, I am not afraid to sit in my yard and this pleases me.

As for what makes a mayor-I heard (if I am wrong, please correct me) the present mayor used to measure inseams for a living. I was not aware that this was such an important qualification. Also, our present mayor doesn't seem able to handle ANY problems-so I think handling small problems would be an improvement.

I think (and hope) that given half a chance Ted would do a good job. His methods are unorthodox, I agree. But isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? I grew up here and I know that I am ready for something different.

The Unicow said...

I'm not here to defend Mylott (I agree he needs to go), but his former employment doesn't have a damn thing to do with his current qualifications.

While it's my understanding that Mylott did formerly work at a clothing store, he was also a city councilor for 14 years prior to being elected mayor three times. Compare that to DeSalvatore's being in his first city council term.

Dissatisfaction with the current mayor is a good reason to vote for a new mayor. But you presumably want one who's going to be a positive force for the city. Ted to this point has only shown himself to be divisive, short-sighted, and self-promoting. Not traits I see as desirable in a mayor.

I'd love someone to point to something good he's done for the city and say "here's the reason he should be mayor" but as far as I can see no such reason exists.

Instead we get speeches about how everyone else in the city is against him and how he's so dashingly independent. That's not leadership, that's grandstanding. Enough time has already been wasted with these stupid squabbles that revolve around Ted, let's get somebody elected who's actually going to get some work done.

Anonymous said...

Are you going to support Donnelly or is he on you shitlist?

The Unicow said...

I don't know quite enough about Donnelly's vision for the city at this point to say that I'd support him, but he hasn't been ruled out. Overall I get the impression he's a pretty reasonable guy.

He would of course need to announce he's running first, and present a platform worth supporting.

Actually, Mylott and DeSalvatore aren't on my shitlist either. They're on my people-I-don't-want-as-mayor list. My shitlist is currently limited to people who use the word "blogosphere" and clowns. Especially those horrifying porn clowns. Ick.

Anonymous said...

Is it permissible to use the word "blogosphere" if you give measured emphasis to the 'o'? As in, "Hey Matt, how are things in the Blog-O-Sphere?" or "See you in the Blog O'Sphere!"

The Unicow said...

No fancy linguistic tools will get "blogosphere"-sayers off my shitlist!

Though I do encourage enunciating the 'o' in other words. Like speed-o-meter.

Jason said...

Hi, unicorn.

First time on the site, and I like it. By the way, I got to 70 the old-fashioned way: I stood in the back of the room and counted heads while DeSalvatore was speaking and no one was moving around. So we may have won, but we did it right.

Jason Lefferts

The Unicow said...

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the compliment. Glad to see you have a sense of humor. You've confirmed my previously-stated belief that you're a pretty reasonable guy who runs a blog with really nutty commenters.

I guess I should also thank you for something else. It's partly because of the crazy-ass commenters on Save Fitchburg that I started this blog. Since then, I've managed to acquire my own crazy-ass commenters, along with a few good ones, which is great.

Also, I get good mileage out of making fun of Fitchburg Pride. Seriously, you guys need a better CMS. Weird formatting, broken RSS feed, etc. I do have to give you credit for appearing to have things better spell-checked now than in the first couple of issues. I'll miss my old "[sic]" though...

Anyway, welcome!


ps I'm actually the uniCOW. I don't want the Unicorn Union mad at me. They're strictly apolitical.