Incumbents win everything

Okay, the election is over. Here's how it came out.

First, in a result that should surprise no one, Lisa Wong handily beat Fuzzy and Tom Donnelly in the mayoral "race".

• Lisa Wong - 60%
• "Write-in votes" (presumably mostly for Donnelly) - 26%
• Fuzzy Voisine - 14%

The city council elections were also predictable, sadly. All the incumbents are back, and known crazy person Rosemary Reynolds joins them. Blech.

In the ward elections, incumbents Boisvert and Starr beat their challengers (Rosado and McNutt).

Fitchburg sure does love its incumbents!

I have no idea why.

Pointless Primary Provides Predictable Poutcome

So, yesterday's primary election for councilor-at-large is over. Ron Dionne lost, despite having a fancy book on city council procedures or something.

He probably shouldn't have spent his time on FATV whining about the former mayor and complaining that the primary cost thirty grand to get rid of one person. Instead, he should just have dropped out and saved the city thirty grand. Dumbfuck.

This outcome is surprising to nobody, especially if you read the psychic predictions of Mr. Lincoln.

Per the Sentinel, the breakdown went like this:

1. Stephan Hay
2. Thomas Conry
3. Marcus DiNatale
4. Dean Tran
5. Rosemary Reynolds
6. Michael DiPietro
7. Robin Streb
8. Dan Mylott
9. Stephen Seney
10. Robert Boutwell
11. Ron Dionne (eliminated)

Personally, I like exactly two people on this list (Streb and DiPietro, though I have a certain fond sympathy for Boutwell). It's depressing to see lunatic Rosemary Reynolds above them, but it's pretty nice to see Mylott and the deeply-irritating Seney down near the bottom.

Thus ends the obligatory boring-as-fuck post-pointless-primary post.

People are running for office!

Oh boy!

Yesterday we had the heartwrenching news that we lost the only challenger to Lisa Wong for mayor. Today, we find out that we in fact have gained a number of candidates for other positions in town.

Let's look at them, shall we?

First off, the city council races present us with both old and new faces.

Stephan Hay, Thomas Conry and Marcus DiNatale are all running for reelection to their at-large city council seats. You may or may not already have an opinion of these people.

For instance, you might see DiNatale as a grandstanding yet poorly-informed buffoon. Or you might not. It's up to you, citizens!

Besides the incumbents, we also have Rosemary Reynolds bringing the crazy church-lady vibe to the at-large council race. Here's what she had to say:

Reynolds, a former City Councilor, has said she filed papers to reinstitute morals in the chamber.

Sweet!

Now that Rachel's not running, I'm hoping Reynolds provides the batshit-insanity this election desperately needs. So far so good, but she really needs a crazy website to bring the fun home.

Also running for the at-large seat is someone named Stephen Hartman, who I know nothing about. Maybe he's awesome! Or maybe he's crazy! It's like a little mystery that we will hopefully explore later.

For the ward seats we have two people so far. Emilio Bernard is running for Ward 6. I don't know anything about Bernard either, but at least the paper has a little information about him.

Bernard, 48, is a native of Puerto Rico and moved to Fitchburg seven months ago. He said he wants to increase racial diversity in city government.

"I think there's a lot we can work on in our race relations," Bernard said. "If we can all look at it in a positive approach, we could help each other."

Racial diversity in city government would certainly be a good thing. Though we'll reserve judgment until he actually puts forward a platform of some sort.

One thing's for sure, though. Whatever his platform, the local mouth-breathing racist sacks of shit are going to hate him. A native of Puerto Rico who has only lived in Fitchburg for seven months and has an interest in improving race relations? That's scary stuff to a lot of Fitchburg's more idiotic residents. Not like what they say matters, but get ready to be depressed about the state of the world.

Moving on, the Ward 4 seat is being contested by Ryan McNutt, who was one of the people behind that civic engagement thing I mentioned last week.

I should disclose up front that I know Ryan socially. So I may not be totally objective on my otherwise-totally-objective-about-everything blog! I can at least say that he's disturbingly well-informed when it comes to political and local government stuff, and he can name all the presidents of the United States in order, off the top of his head! The president thing is probably not that useful for city council meetings, but it's still pretty neat.

You may also recall that former mayor Dan Mylott is running for a city council position. He hasn't gotten around to doing the paperwork yet, apparently. Make snide comments about that fact if you wish.

Finally, we have one guy running for School Committee, by the name of David Thibault-Munoz. Here's what he had to say to the S&E:

Thibault-Munoz, who works as a director for community outreach for the Twin City CDC, said he wants to create a better way for parents and students to participate and give input about school policies.

"I feel that I have my ear to the ground with both students and parents in the community," he said.

Well, that's fine. Website, please.

I think that's everyone. Lisa Wong will be seeking re-election, but hasn't filed yet. Presumably a number of the city councilors and school committee folks will be doing the same.

So there you have it. New people to examine. Old people to re-examine. Will they be boring? Will they be exciting? Nobody knows!

Okay, that's enough fake excitement for now.

Return of the Living Dead

Hey, guess who's running for City Council!

It's former mayor Dan Mylott! Though you may know him better as "the guy who got us into this mess."

Truth be told, I actually like Dan Mylott. As a person, that is. He's a friendly, pleasant guy. I wouldn't mind having lunch with him or something.

But he shouldn't have been mayor, and he shouldn't be on the City Council.

Neither should other old-guard member Rosemary Reynolds, who's also running.

Look, old people, you already had your chance and you fucked everything up. Now is the time to fade away as gracefully as possible, not to return as flesh-eating political demons, determined to scrape the last few morsels of protein from the bones of the city of Fitchburg.

Fitchburg currently has a very intelligent mayor. We have a city council that, while certainly imperfect, doesn't include anyone suffering from any major mental disorders (though I'm a little concerned about Tran).

These people are working on cleaning up the mess that was made by the old guard (which includes a few of the councilors). It's a huge job, because it was a huge fucking mess. It'll take time to fix.

That job will become vastly more difficult if the people who are responsible for the mess in the first place get involved. Especially if they seem unable to admit they're actually responsible for anything in the first place...

Mylott, who served 14 years as a city councilor and two years as a School Committee member before a six-year term as mayor that ended in 2007, said he wants to "continue the legacy" and said he misses city politics.

Oh yeah, that's a fucking great legacy you've got there, Dan. What part of it should actually be continued?

All of it, I guess:

Mylott said he thinks he did a "great job" as mayor and on the council.

Ack!

Rather than have my head explode, let's just move on...

Here's a really weird quote from Reynolds in the Sentinel article:

Former City Councilor Rosemary Reynolds has already filed nomination papers to run for an at-large seat.

"I hope to be a steady captain of the ship through these difficult morale [Sic] and economic times," Reynolds said.

I'm assuming that the "morale" in that quote is just the typical S&E illiteracy acting up, and the word she actually used was "moral."

But what a weird thing to say. Difficult economic times, sure, but what's so difficult morality-wise about these times?

The answer becomes obvious when you realize that Reynolds is an antiabortion loon and anti-gay bigot, who "can't separate prayer from [her] life". Hell, she was (is?) President of the Massachusetts chapter of "Democrats for Life" (which does not mean "lifelong Democrat").

Oh boy! Religious zealotry and an obsessive focus on trying to outlaw abortion (not to mention euthanasia, cloning, and embryonic stem cell research) is just what I want in an elected official!

Could we please get a few new candidates who aren't deeply delusional and/or outright crazy, please?

Seriously, I'll take almost anyone. Just don't be crazy, a failed politician from the past, subject to massive delusions about your own competence, or any combination of the above and you're virtually a shoo in. Or maybe somebody out there has a particularly clever pet they'd be willing to run?

Anyone?

Please?