Left In Lowell

So, as the cliché goes, ‘the emperor has no clothes.”

Now those in favor of Paul Schlichtman have switched their votes to Dr. Bouquillon #glths

— Sarah Favot (@sarahfavot) June 18, 2013

The deadlocked didn’t break.

Boutin makes motion to appoint Bob Lussier interim superintendent for month of july contingent on successful negotiations. Passes.

— Sarah Favot (@sarahfavot) June 18, 2013

The political stunt by the Boutin faction of the GLTHS school committee lays bare the shallowness of the Gitschier cabal.

My apologizes to soon to be former Supt. Santoro, for drumming up her name with my old mantra. But, it is clear, Cassin style politics is not being forced out of that school. Same shit. Different spoon.

And, to top it off, Mike Hayden pulled papers to run for a seat. Is he running for one of the 4 year seats, occupied by O’Hare & Bahou? Or, is he going to try and snipe Boutin off of the balance of Lenzi’s term?

There was a period of time, I was thinking of hijacking the Shallot brand and running my own bootleg jihad. But, that would not be cricket.

The Shallot has risen.

There will be No Quarter. The Shallot is, apparently, a Thelemite. Do what thou wilt is the whole of the Law.

All I ask for is an updated Crony Map.

‘Tis the season…for kickoffs!

I’ve attended several so far - notably, Stacie Hargis, Vesna Nuon, and tonight, Derek Mitchell, on the city council side. (KRS on the School Committee side so far as well.)

Derek, impressively, held his event in the heart of the Acre, at the longstanding French Canadian club Passe-Temps. (I can’t see that without sounding it out in my head with a French accent.) I thought that this was a nice touch for a campaign whose slogan is “for ALL of Lowell.”

Here is my crude taping of his speech, as well as part of the intro (sorry, I got a call in the middle of taping at the beginning, looking at YOU Mr. Lynne!) and after his speech, there was another speaker and she got cut off by the fact my phone sim card, apparently, is full. (Could be that my method of leaving all my photos and videos on there forever might be to blame…)

Had a lot of fun tonight, and feeling really optimistic about Lowell’s candidates this year. I think you are all in for a great surprise in how good they are. I’m excited to see Van Pech running again, Jim Milinazzo has pulled papers, and many (though not all, we’ll talk later) of the challengers are on the side of Right and Good (and by that I mean, they have more than a lick of common sense and care about facts and stuff).

Welcome to the race Derek (again, since this is not your first event)!

Here is a refresher of the game:

Now, your turn:

MOTIONS
19. C. Kennedy - Req. City Council Neighborhoods SC consider recommending to the DPD work with backyard chicken enthusiasts to establish a chicken cooperative as an alternative to backyard chickens.

20. C. Martin - Req. Police Supt. report to City Council concerning smart policing and other initiatives planned to reduce violence in summer months.

21. C. Lorrey/C. Mercier - Req. City Mgr. have the proper dept. explore a long term solution to the parking shortage around Callery Field.

22. C. Leahy - Req. City Mgr. have proper dept. replace parking lot signage at the Wang and Pawtucketville Memorial Schools.
23. C. Leahy - Req. City Mgr. have proper dept. make exterior repairs at the Pawtucketville Memorial School.
24. C. Leahy - Req. City Mgr. have LPD report on traffic safety in the neighborhoods.

25. C. Mercier - Req. Law Dept. begin the process of abandoning Worcester Road.

26. C. Elliott - City Council discuss proposed trash contract.
27. C. Elliott - City Manager provide update on transferring of non-emergency fire signals and cost estimate for the work.
28. C. Elliott - City Council discuss setting up revolving fund for Cawley Stadium.
29. C. Elliott - City Manger provide report on status of Solar Renewable Energy Credits for city solar projects.
30. C. Elliott - City Manager provide report on status of new Charter School.

I’ve been hoping that Erik Gitschier & Ray Boutin could lead the dysfunctional GLTHS School Committee through the troubled waters of selecting their next Supt.

It seems I’m a bit of a naïve optimist:

(h/t Julia Malakie)

Note: Boutin loses his cool, no argument. But, please keep in mind, Gitschier has a way of getting under your skin. He takes pride in it.
…

Maybe, it is supposed to be about the kids? That is, at least, a cute campaign slogan. But, it is also about the admin, staff & teachers that live out there for 20+ years. They matter, in my mind, as much as the kids. Also, it is about the school committee. But, in a different way.

Maybe, it is my military background? I spent about 3 years in Arlington National Cemetery, performing honor duty for fallen soldiers. I say that to say, I believe in the sanctity of institutions, oaths & ceremony. I believe that the School Committee is a body that deserves respect by earning respect.

To be blunt, I favour Paul Schlictman in this kerfuffle. Though, after reading the slimy hit jobs that the Lowell Sun has slammed Dave Norkiewicz with, I’ve lost my appetite to pull for Paul. He’s got some friends that are the worst kind to have. They are not above pulling the same kind of stunts that Chris Scott wants to assign to Gitschier & Fallon. When we get to the point of kettles finger pointing at each other’s blackness, it is time for me to step back.

We are dealing with damaged goods, all around. But, none are more damaged than the reputation of the GLTHS SC. After a fairly decent approach to culling through candidates, one that was noted favourably by those watching; this silly, petty, ego driven clan members have pissed their good names away.

Unfortunately, they are the best we are gonna get out there. Who really cares what the hell happens out there in the woods? How else could Mike Hayden get re-elected, repeatedly? Oddly, they aren’t paying the high salaries in monopoly money. They can still invent jobs like ‘public relations’ or whatever title Mike McGovern has. They can still hire in an incestuous manner that would make a West Virginia moonshiner tip his jug.

Ultimately, they are completely fucked out there. They know it. We know it. And, on it goes. Unabashed.

Moneyball! C.Leahy is not considered by many that I talk with, as having much of a chance to keep his seat. But, he crushed the fundraising effort in the last reporting increment. Reporting $7,190 in 2 weeks. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

Now, just to keep from damaging himself with self-inflicted wounds in the Council Chamber. #rodneyformayor

Update: Put them all together and you get “Bob LeBlanc joined the Morning Show.” h/t to Teddy Panos for putting this ’stuff ‘ on line.

…
F.U.D.: fear, uncertainty and doubt. Also known as scare tactics, either accomplished by threat or making the opponent doubt his standpoint. Not only used in lawsuits, but also in politics and military propaganda.

shit house lawyer: an unqualified person who gives legal advice. Usually distorting the advice to favor a desired outcome.

big mouth: used in reference to somebody who likes to spread gossip, or who cannot keep a secret

The dominoes are tumbling. Everyone has an opinion about Wally Bayliss’ ill gotten goods. This thing is still playing out. And it won’t stop with Wally, (the poor bastard).

From the Blog of Record:

LOWELL — The city is targeting the Retirement Board, an autonomous city agency, for nearly $100,000 the city paid in retiree health benefits to former License Commission member Walter Bayliss Jr., who the current board has determined was improperly granted retirement in 2006.

In a letter submitted to the Retirement Board last Friday, City Solicitor Christine O’Connor says the city paid approximately $97,000 towards Bayliss’ health-insurance premiums from 2006 to the present.

“But for the Board inappropriately allowing Mr. Bayliss into the retirement system in 1995, and further allowing him to retire in 2006, the City would have never incurred such expenses,” O’Connor wrote.

“This letter is to inform the board that the city intends to hold the board responsible for its actions in this matter as well as for any and all damage that the city has and may incur as a result of such actions.”

In the letter, O’Connor highlights that the board approved Bayliss’ entrance into the retirement system in 1995 based on documents saying he had served on the License Commission.

Bayliss had in fact served on the Lowell Memorial Auditorium Board of Trustees from 1984 to 1995 and was not compensated.

Level heads will prevail. The Tuesday Night Kabuki, City Life & the Blogs will all go quite, right after the November election.

And, it will all come down to these:
Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC)

General Laws >> PART I >> TITLE IV >> CHAPTER 32

I’ll see you on the other side.

Campaign activitis for this fall’s municipal elections have begun with a number of candidates holding fund raising activities. Athough the pool of announced candidates is not as large as it has been in past years, what we lack in numbers is being made up by energy and enthusiasm.

It appears that the School Committee may not have a single challenger. There is a name being floated but I do not know if it can be attributed to a Lowell political rumor or if it a fact. Same can be said of the Greater Lowell School Committee.

However, on the City Council side, there are a number of challengers who have announced their candidacy and have begun their campaign. There are reports that others may join the growing list.

I think we will all benefit from the upbeat message and positive outlook that these new voices and new ideas bring to civic engagement and municipal government.

LiL readers may I introduce Lowell City Council candidate Derek Mitchell:

For those of you who do not know Derek, this is a good introduction.

This will be the 5th City election that LiL will experience and I truly believe this year the campaign strategies will be dominated by facebook, twitter, and you tube. Of course, nothing beats a face-to-face meeting but facebook is an effective alternate. But this is a topic for another post.

The Blog of Record tries to enhance C.Mercier’s ’street cred.’

CITY COUNCILOR Rita Mercier proved once again Tuesday night she has the courage to bring a motion forward that many other councilors fear.

At the core of The Column’s boasting, on behalf of Rita, is her electoral strength. She is the #1 vote collector. This ‘position’ gives Rita the gall to act with impunity.

My point of view leads me to see Rita as NOT acting with “courage,” as The Sun projects. Rather, Rita will err towards bullying, immune from the consequence of electoral failure. She is cocky and arrogant. She tinges her swagger with a sickly sweet, hand wringing humility. Just enough not to decimate her wrinkled base of support.

The red line is Rita’s waning support:

Waning or not, so far, she is #1!
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Hey, Teddy.

Your ass is in a knot over welfare fraud. (Yes. I do listen.) And, you are a proponent of the big government intrusion of mandating citizens present photo identification when they go to exercise control over government, via ballots. As social engineering is an incrementalist’s game, whether progressive or classic liberal, you should be happy as a clam to hear this:

From the Boston Dead Tree Rag:

It’s time to slap photos on EBT cards and crank up oversight of the state’s “broken” welfare system before more dead people can collect benefits, an incensed House Speaker Robert DeLeo told the Herald yesterday.

“Why do we have to let the wound fester? We have to stop this fraud, and we have to stop it now,” DeLeo said, adding he was “appalled” by a state audit released Tuesday that showed $2.4 million paid to more than 1,100 dead people and $27 million to live recipients collecting EBT benefits out of state, including in Alaska and Hawaii.

DeLeo said House proposals to put photos on EBT cards, create a Bureau of Program Integrity and allow the Inspector General to monitor the embattled agency “are needed now more than ever,” and promises by the Patrick administration that they are addressing the problems aren’t enough.

No?

For sure, if EBT cards are printed with a photo id of the benefit holder, an idea I fully support; then this will be a valid id. Thus, should the photo id intrusion into our ballot system of checks and balances move forward, those of us guarding against voter suppression will be partially relieved.

I love ‘checks and balances.’ It’s the wisest creation of The Founders.

Update: David Bernstein, of Boston Magazine, did a nice job sorting through the spin factor around the Auditor’s report. Such revelations will not help Teddy regain his composure. Maybe, it will help you, as it did me. Please proceed below the fold for an outtake.
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