Hizzoner
Election Day is Tuesday, and while the rest of the nation focuses on an election that will take place a year from now, we here in Cowtown actually have some stuff to vote on, namely City Council, the School Board, and the Mayor.
Our School Board is run by a bunch of very well-meaning people, some of whom I've met and most of whom I like. My problems with the city's schools lie much more at the feet of the State than the District. Now, maybe they could be doing more, but I don't think anyone else is in a position to do more than those who currently hold the seats. So that's a no-brainer.
Similarly, City Council by and large does a decent job. About the only thing they could do better would be to abolish themselves and go to Ward representation. But again, in the current state, the folks who are there are doing a good job so I'll keep them in place.
As you can see, I'm not overly enthused about those races. My attitude is basically "eh." However Mayor Mike Coleman is a great guy. And he's doing a great job. On top of that his opponent, Bill Todd, is one of the biggest assholes I've ever seen in politics. His mere presence in the campaign is dragging absolutely everything down and stressing out the residents of this city. In the old days, I would've led the group to tar and feather him and ride him out of town on a rail.
What's he done? Well, for a start he can't say enough about how horrible the schools are. First, he's not running for the school board. Second, the schools aren't horrible, they're underfunded and suffering from bad press like what Todd's spewing. Finally, he owns a stake in a company that runs charter schools, which are essentially competing with the public schools (and still doing a crappy job of educating kids).
As if that wasn't bad enough, he's been spouting about how dangerous Columbus is (Please see yesterday's post for my views on this matter). However, he really took this to new heights with a radio ad featuring the the sound of a woman being raped while talking about how Columbus' rape rate is highest in the nation. Utterly tactless, offensive, and completely ignores the possibility that Columbus' stats are high because we actually report accurately.
Then on the other hand we have Mike Coleman. I was out with a bunch of friends at a spot in the Short North last night when we hear, "Excuse me, I just wanted to say 'hi,'" and turn around to see Mayor Coleman stopping by to chat. Yes, I know it's campaigning, and yes I saw his handler standing right behind me. But he stopped and talked to us, and one of my friends who chairs a political action group engaged him for a bit about what the mayor's already done for them.
I assume Bill Todd was out looking for rapes to record.
Our School Board is run by a bunch of very well-meaning people, some of whom I've met and most of whom I like. My problems with the city's schools lie much more at the feet of the State than the District. Now, maybe they could be doing more, but I don't think anyone else is in a position to do more than those who currently hold the seats. So that's a no-brainer.
Similarly, City Council by and large does a decent job. About the only thing they could do better would be to abolish themselves and go to Ward representation. But again, in the current state, the folks who are there are doing a good job so I'll keep them in place.
As you can see, I'm not overly enthused about those races. My attitude is basically "eh." However Mayor Mike Coleman is a great guy. And he's doing a great job. On top of that his opponent, Bill Todd, is one of the biggest assholes I've ever seen in politics. His mere presence in the campaign is dragging absolutely everything down and stressing out the residents of this city. In the old days, I would've led the group to tar and feather him and ride him out of town on a rail.
What's he done? Well, for a start he can't say enough about how horrible the schools are. First, he's not running for the school board. Second, the schools aren't horrible, they're underfunded and suffering from bad press like what Todd's spewing. Finally, he owns a stake in a company that runs charter schools, which are essentially competing with the public schools (and still doing a crappy job of educating kids).
As if that wasn't bad enough, he's been spouting about how dangerous Columbus is (Please see yesterday's post for my views on this matter). However, he really took this to new heights with a radio ad featuring the the sound of a woman being raped while talking about how Columbus' rape rate is highest in the nation. Utterly tactless, offensive, and completely ignores the possibility that Columbus' stats are high because we actually report accurately.
Then on the other hand we have Mike Coleman. I was out with a bunch of friends at a spot in the Short North last night when we hear, "Excuse me, I just wanted to say 'hi,'" and turn around to see Mayor Coleman stopping by to chat. Yes, I know it's campaigning, and yes I saw his handler standing right behind me. But he stopped and talked to us, and one of my friends who chairs a political action group engaged him for a bit about what the mayor's already done for them.
I assume Bill Todd was out looking for rapes to record.
Comments
It got even worse when she suggested that anyone who defends the accused were unpatriotic. (Forgetting that John Adams defended British soldiers after the Boston Massacre and got them acquitted.) The ads said, "While lawyers have a right to defend admitted cop killers, do we really want one as our governor?" and "What kind of person defends a brutal rapist?"
This lead to the Massachusetts Bar Association endorsing a gubernatorial candidate for the first time in nearly a century, just to condemn her remarks about the defense bar.
To quote from the Boston Globe: "The ads attack lawyers 'for doing precisely what the Constitution calls for, precisely what the founders of our country designed to be a democracy,' said Boston lawyer Michael S. Greco , former president of the American Bar Association.
'It is an attack on our whole justice system,' Greco said. 'And I would say it's irresponsible for anyone, for political gain, to trash our entire justice system to get some votes.'"
I guess Healey's Campaign manager figured that if it worked against Dukakis in a national then it should work here in Massachusetts. Bzzz! Wrong!