"All Politics is Local"

Political Family

2006-01-10T10:56:00.000-05:00

Shuana and Meghan Murphy’s deaths are a tragedy to be sure. A Southborough family lost two teenage daughters in a car crash in October 2005.

The reverberations of which are being felt throughout the Commonwealth today, because a candidate for governor attempted to do the politically expedient thing.

There appears to have been a fundraiser in Southborough for gubenatorial candidate and Attorney General Tom Reilly, back in June of 2005. A lot of people who are or want to be well connected, contributed up to $500 to meet the AG. Southborough and its neighboring town Northborough, where the accident occurred, are suburbs along Route 495, where the well heeled who work in the city, live and raise their kids.

Although their business is in Boston, their politics are in Worcester County. This is a city that the AG needs to win to be nominated and elected Governor.

He would like to have the Mayor of the Worcester supporting him, which maybe he did. Tim Murray contributed to him last year, before he himself jumped in the race for Lt. Governor. Being a former DA, Reilly has leaned on the DAs across the state for their support, some of whom he knows well, like the Worcester DA, John Conte.

Back to the point. At these fundraisers, candidates meet with potential supporters, ostensibly friends of donors. There is a hierarchy of political giving, at the top of which are the guys who raise money for the candidate by inviting their friends to contribute. And Southborough is typical. On the very same street, there are several major contributors to Tom Reilly.

Reilly has admitted to doing one of them, Chris Murphy, a favor, by calling the DA in Worcester to withhold the release of information in the drunk driving deaths of his daughters.

But the likelihood is that Reilly, sensing the loss to not just one family, but "his political family", took the call from either Bob Davis, or Joe Shay both next door neighbors of Murphy, both major contributors and both scions of the Boston business establishment, and followed up by making a political call on their behalf to the DA.

How did a simple plea to spare the Murphy family further pain turn into a political favor? This son of Springfield needs to win an election, and this is how it works.

On a purely political level, the AG should not have made the call himself. That’s what campaign staff is for. Or better yet, no one should have made the call at all.

Despite his protests of good intentions, his actions reveal the most base of instincts in the AG. He was attempting to serve and protect his political family by using his position as the Commonwealth’s Chief Law Enforcement Officer. Can he differentiate between responding to a request from a friend and a political favor for a donor? The question goes not only to Tom Reilly’s political, but his professional judgment.

Rate-Fixing

2005-12-30T09:53:00.000-05:00

Today is the deadline NStar imposed on the Commonwealth for a $90 million deal in rate hikes for its electricity customers.

Nstar supplies electricity, which they don’t produce, to hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts customers. They also distribute electricity to even more customers by virtue of owning the transmissions lines that they all use to get electricity.

Most are familiar with the two charges on the electric bill. Here on the Cape the vast majority of us buy our electricity from the Cape Light Compact (CLC), the county sponsored aggregator of Cape and Island users, kind of a buyers club for electricity. In this function, the CLC competes with Nstar to supply us our electricity. But Nstar still distributes it.

Now comes the intrigue. Nstar wants to raise its rates. Maybe with good reason maybe not. But in order to minimize the impact on their electricity customers, they want to raise the charges on transmission and keep the prices on supply fixed for 7 years. In the sum total, Nstar is still raising rates to all their customers by some 40%, but not the 50% other companies are this year.

They need approval to do this from the Department of Telecommunication and Energy (DTE). But rather than go to the DTE for a rate hearing, they went to Attorney General (AG) Tom Reilly for a deal, a Rate Settlement, because they knew that they were treating different customers differently. Namely, the Cape and a couple other areas that get their electricity from other suppliers, would end up paying the higher transmission rates, while not benefiting from the “less-than-otherwise” price increases in supply.

This would be catastrophic for the Cape Light Compact if it comes to pass. It would put Nstar in a competitive advantage over the CLC, because we would all then move back over to NStar to get the better deal on electricity. Also, to sweeten the deal, Nstar is willing to defer these higher transmissions charges, to be paid later with interest. By the way, the deferral of transmission charges for now, would come with a usury interest rate of 11%, to be paid after 7 years.

The AG saw some political hay to be made with this deal. While making it look like he was brokering a deal for less of an increase for most of the Commonwealth, if not all Nstar customers, he made a political calculation that we on the Cape wouldn’t notice. By the way, the main benefactors of the rate deal, are industrial customers, big consumers, and poverty advocates. The guys that have real political clout.

The AG thought he had kissed the Cape on the lips by opposing the wind farm. That was easy, it didn’t cost any money, and only a few votes in a County he wouldn’t win anyway. But now we’re getting the royal treatment from the AG. Personally, I don’t liked getting kissed before I get screwed.

But what’s the AG-running-for-Governor supposed to do? The numbers are with NStar. More customers are getting a better price, even though some, like the Cape, are getting screwed. And besides, there’s another numbers game that matters too. Thomas May, the overpaid CEO, (salary $4.5Million plus options) of the very profitable NStar (earnings up over 15% this year, and stock price at recent highs), covers his bet by contributing heavily to Reilly for Governor.

Had enough? The story gets better. Not to be out tacked by changing political winds, the firm hired by Nstar to argue the case for the deal, (Robert) Keegan and (Robert) Werlin are heavy political contributors to Governor Mitt Romney and Governor-wannabe Kerry Healy. How does this matter? Romney recently appointed a political crony to chair the DTE, the agency charged with making a decision on this scheme, non other than Judith Jackson, the same DTE Commissioner who was doing the Governors’ bidding when she voted against the transmission line for the Cape Wind project.

Last night there was a last minute hearing in Yarmouth to take testimony from the Cape electricity customers. Present were all the usual suspects, State Legislators, County officials, and CLC representatives. But the only one with any courage to call out the snake was County Commission Bill Doherty. “And keep in mind,” Doherty told the DTE staff, “that next year one of the parties to this agreement is running for Governor.”

State Senator Rob O’Leary, one time County Commissioner and driving force behind the creation of the CLC, was left wondering out loud, how could the AG make such a deal without first consulting the affected parties, like the pols who are supporting him in his run for Governor. Well, to borrow the famous line from Edward G. Robinson, “Where is your Moses now?”

Is Tom Reilly feeling the heat? Maybe. He sent down an Assistant AG last night to read a statement. Nstar also sent down a manager to handle the media. They were sitting together.

But the best line of the week comes from a staffer from the CLC, who shall remain anonymous for obvious reasons, who said, “I wish I was a Democrat, so I could vote against Reilly twice next year.”

Barnstable Manifesto

2005-11-27T20:17:00.000-05:00

Dateline: Charter Review Committee Report
to the Assembly of Delegates

Barnstable County undergoes a review of its Charter every five years. It may be easy to miss since it's a fairly archaic exercise. The Review Committee is appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly Tom Bernardo, who over a year ago appointed 11 citizens of various categories to the committee. Since almost all of them are political cronies, it was easy to get to the end game this time around: maintain the Status Quo.

Of all the deficiencies in County goverment the Committee could have addressed, they chose to focus only on minutia allowing them to keep things just as they are. This is an election year after all. No use rocking the boat. Everyone County official is up for re-election, again. They all want to keep their jobs. Assembly and Commissioners alike.

The Speaker recently decided he wants to be a Commissioner too. Any major overhaul of the County at this time would require the full commitment of the Speaker to see them though. Not possible while running for the Commissioner's job. Not that it had anything to do with it.

The Charter Review Committee's first recommendation involves appointing a Standing Committee on County Governance. In other words, a permanent Charter Review Committee, ready to punt at a year's notice when changes are warranted to the Charter.

The second recommendation leaves the current structure of Assembly Delegates and Commissioners alone. Of course. Everyone gets to keep their parking spaces. No reason to make the Assembly more responsive to the electorate. Not having any competitive races last year except one, (out of 15) means the voters must be extremely happy with the Delegates, so they keep voting them in by acclamation. The Reveiw Committee could have devised a better system to make the election of Delegates meaningful.

The next recommendation involves removing the residency requirement for the County Adminstrator. He no longer has to live in Barnstable County. Not that he ever has, going against the County's Charter for the last 4 years. The Review Committee simply removed this little impediment, er embarassment, from the books. The County Adminstrator for the record lives in Attleboro.

Call me old fashioned, but I think that anyone who gets paid by the County tax, should have to pay it. Including the elitests who work at the Commission. More than 1/3 of them don't live on Cape Cod, but they get to tell us how we should.

The Review Committee further recommended that the Adminstrator's job and that of the County Treasurer be seperated, thereby creating 2 full time $100k year jobs in the County. Having the proper check and balance, is important. Let's see if they can find someone who lives on Cape Cod to fill the new position.

Most of the Committee's attention was focused on alleviating any future budget crisis. Like when the Assembly doesn't agree with the Commissioners' budget proposal. The next recommendation sets up a strict review and submit schedule between the two bodies with a reconciliation committee appointed to broker any potential compromise. In effect, it's the system that exists now, but a little friendlier.

Budget surpluses are tricky things. The practice of late has been that the County spends them before they occur. That was supposed to avoid an ugly food fight over who get the leftovers. But that was what the confrontation last spring was about, anyway.

Spend it all the Commissioner Bill Doherty said. Give some more to the Commission. And make sure there is no surplus to send back to the Towns. Speaker Bernardo disagreed, so now he running for the Commissioner's job.

After presentations by the County departments, it was decided that they were all necessary and function well. As a matter of fact, greater services may be needed in the future and that the County should be prepearing to deliver them. The Cape Cod Commission was of particular interest since it is a department of the County but not part of the Charter.

The Review Committee decided better communication betwen the County and Commission was needed and that should be translated that to the public, so as to make sure that people understand that when the Commission screws them, its not the County's fault.

And, oh yes, the Review Committee recommended changing Barnstable County Government to Cape Cod Regional Government. This nominclature would give them a better chance of getting any future enabling legislation passed by the State House. In other words, hide the fact that we are an archaic form of government slated for extinction by the State, so call it something else in hopes that they won't notice.

So there you have it. After a year of review, the Charter Review Committee recommended that we that we keep things just as they are. That if it ain't broke don't fix it. And if it is, don't fix it either. We have an ever expanding County, er Regional government, and let's make it even more obscure to the electorate. But let's enhance and institutionize the bureaucracy.

The Report now goes to the full Assembly and the Commissioners for approval. They will no doubt protect their collective sinecures and vote for the Status Quo.

Sleeping with the Enemy

2005-11-27T14:15:00.000-05:00

The Cape Wind project can make for strange political bedfellows. Take the for instance of the newly minted co-chairs of the Alliance to Save our Sound (ASS).

Bill Koch of Kansas, Palm Beach and Osterville, would appear to be a dyed in the wool Democrat from a quick look at his political largesse. Who would have thought the industrialist was a (D). His favorite playing field seems to be the US Senate, with multiple contributions to Democratic Senators from all over the country, including Rockefeller, Harken, Daschle, Torricelli, Graham, Grassley, and others. And when they couldn't find a candidate to run, like in Montana, he contributed to that state's Democratic Senatorial Committee. He also favors the Democratic National Committee with extra large donations, as well as some State Democratic Committees.

But last year ('04) Koch shifted gears and donated large sums to the Republican National Committee. Wonder what that was about? He must not like John Kerry. No do-re-me for JFK.

For the record, Jim Gordon, developer of Cape Wind, seems to be a Democrat as well. Something about renewable energy that makes Democrats out of developers like Gordon and Koch. Gordon, a straight line (D) contributed to John Kerry, who hasn't come out yet on the wind farm.

Christy Mihos, though not born to the manner, unlike his cohort Koch, is a staunch Republican. He has supported mostly in-state (R)s. Particularly Mitt Romney and Kerry Healy, and a smattering of other Republicans running for office, as well as the Massachusetts Republican Congressional Committee.

But here's the fun part. Both Alliance co-chairs broke ranks to contribute to local candidates in the other camps. In Democrat Koch's case, he gave to Larry Wheatly, a Republican. In Republican Mihos's case, he gave to Demetrius Atsalis, a Democrat. What do both local candidates have in common? They both oppose the wind farm.

As for their predecessor at the Alliance, the old line energy CEO emeritus, Doug Yearley, normally contributes to Republican candidates. In keeping with his pattern, he contributed $1000 to Republican Lamar Alexander's Political Action Committee this year. At just about the time the Tennessee Senator was proposing legislation taking the tops off mountains in West Virginia and Kentucky for mining interests, while blocking a wind farm on Nantucket Sound where he owns land.

But Yearley did a more curious thing when it came to the local races, he contributed $500 to the Massachusetts Republican Congressional Committee in the last election cycle, thereby masking his contribution to Congressional candidate Mike Jones (R). Then 2 weeks later he contributed $1000 to his opponent Democrat Bill Delahunt, more than effectively canceling out the partisan contribution. This time both candidates were opposed to the wind farm. Yearley prone to excesses, was just hedging his bet.

Time to Call an Audible

2005-11-06T22:29:00.000-05:00

Things don't always work out as planned.

The Massachusetts Democratic party should be commended for attempting to get its political house in order. Especially in light of the debacles of the last 4 gubenatorial elections. They've had the means to do so, they've just lacked the will. Until this year.

Relegated to political irrelevancy since Phil Johnston took over the party machinery, the MassDems almost got it right this year. To most it might appear as an act of desperation, but it was actually a pretty shrewd move, frontloading the party calendar. First to nominate a candidate early enough next year to set up a head to head race with the incumbent Republican well before the primary.

And a couple of other changes to create party discipline, like the 15% recent rule on the first ballot at the convention to keep non starters out of the race, this knocked Secretary of State Bill Galvin out of the race. And the "Nominee Designation" on the primary ballot in September, that was designed to scare away money (political donations) from going to any other challengers.

The party favorite was Tom Reilly, current office holder and party stalwart. Despite his personal failings, let's face it he's dull, and his institutional ones, the last Attorney General elected to higher office was John Volpe, he's managed to amass a warchest largely because the regular Dems thought they were going to have to run against Mitt Romney next year.

The problem is that Romney's not running for re-election. Now the Democrats are getting wedding night jitters. Not so much because they might lose with Reilly, but because they might win with him. He's the wrong guy. They're not in love with him.

THE Democratic party of Massachusetts is largely made up of liberals. And not the run of the mill kind. The hardcore, in your face, lefties. Most of us outgrew this phase of life when we started making money and having kids. But not the party insiders.

A marriage of convenience with Reilly was OK with the liberals so long as the honeymoon was going to be in the Corner office. But now that Romney has cleared the way back to the Statehouse, the wedding bed doesn't seem so inviting anymore.

With Romney no longer the obstacle, the Dems could whip likely Republican nominee Kerry Healy with a liberal. Only thing left to do is convince the independents (the majority of voters) that a liberal won't give away the store, in other words, give in to the legislature. (The liberals retook the two houses of the legislature since the last election with the ouster of moderates Finneran and Birmingham.)

Ironically, the best way to stand up to the Statehouse mafia is not with a Republican but with a Democrat that didn't need their support to get elected Governor. Dimasi and Travaligni are not so much about tax and spend liberalism as they are about patronage, pork and power, self interest and special interests. Find a Democrat that will stand up to that, even from the left, and you've got a Governor.

Enter Deval Patrick. A historic candidacy in the making. And not just for the obvious reason. But also for a compelling story of the rise to political power that rivals any immigrant son's. And for the tale the Dems will get to tell of how they won back the Governor's office with a real liberal.

The Dems set up at the line of scrimmage with one play. Now they have to call an audible. Will they do it?

Our Winter of Discontent

2005-10-12T07:05:00.000-05:00

This year's heating bills are going to be brutal. Keyspan expects natural gas prices to go up by 50%. And in case you haven’t already heard, our electric bills will be going up too. NSTAR got a 27% rate increase approved. And that’s not even the bad news.

The Cape Light Compact may go out of business next year.

The Compact originally set up as a municipal buying cooperative, decided to go into the aggregation business by offering consumers and business the ability to opt in to the power supply buying pool. Over the past couple of years, they have had success negotiating lower electricity rates for the larger pool of customers.

Until now, those who were in the Cape Light Compact pool have enjoyed competitive electric rates. But this year will be different. The Compact hasn’t arranged for a contract when this one expires. With ConEdison or any other supplier. Chances are that all the suppliers will not only be getting higher prices, higher than Nstar’s, but they may not even be in a position to contract with the Compact.

The result will be that the Compact customers will be paying more, more than the Nstar customers, maybe lot more. That’s if they stay in the Compact. For the first time in recent years, Nstar may have the better rates, as lousy as they will be.

Therefore, customers will be opting out of the Compact over to Nstar. Except of course for the municipalities that are bound to stay in the Compact. The Compact may avoid going out of business altogether because of those municipal customers, but they too will be very unhappy that they are stuck in the high cost pool. No matter though, it’s the tax-payers that will be footing that bill. But if the Compact can’t find a lower cost source of energy, they may eventually have to vote to disband.

Governance does matter. You may rightly be asking, who’s been running the Compact? A fair answer would be a competent staff, covering for a not so competent Governing Board. Appointed by their respective Boards of Selectmen, the Representatives are not elected by the rate payers. And therein lies the pitfall.

The Towns appoint the Representatives to the Compact. A system designed when the only customers were the municipalities. But if the Compact now includes residential and commercial customers as well, who represents them? Their interests are not necessarily the same as the municipalities. Especially when one group can opt out while the other has to stay in. The Compact Representatives will never vote to favor the whole over the part that appoints them.

See the problem, enter the solution. Representative Matt Patrick (D-Falmouth), who has alot of experience in these issues thinks that the Cape Light Compact should have elected representatives. This would balance the financial interests of both constituencies. He is filing legislation authorizing it.

The Towns oppose this, of course. They would lose control. The Compact Representatives oppose it too. Most of them would lose their sinecure. The County opposes this because, well, it goes against its go along to get along culture. The Cape Cod Times is opposed to the proposal because they are deaf to anything Rep. Patrick has to say, (he’s beaten them twice at the polls).

If you want to get the best possible deal on electric rates, the combined buying power of the Compact is a good thing. Until it becomes too much of a good thing.

Blind to the obvious. The Compact needs to find a low cost energy solution to stay in business, and to, incidently, provide the maximum benefit to its customers. There is on our doorstep the potential for the mother of all lost cost energy supplies. But the Compact will not even contemplate buying electricity from Cape Wind, despite the obvious cost advantages stretching out for decades, and the other health, environmental and economic benefits to the Cape's residents. This would be a violation of the political code that exists on the subject.

We couldn't possibly expect the Representatives to consider such a thing in light of the fact that the very same Selectmen who appointed them also voted to oppose the wind farm. All the players understand the political ramifications of having the Compact negotiate to buy the electricity generated by Cape Wind. It would be political suicide for all concerned. The whole finely tuned political order would collapse.

Maybe, it will require an elected governing body to tackle the difficult decisions. Otherwise, it will be interesting to see if the Compact can swallow the hard political reality and re-consider buying Cape Wind's energy to save their own skin. Unfortunately, it will take a crisis to finally get the Compact to do the right thing.

Labor Day on Cape Cod: UMASS and Profiteering

2005-09-03T18:57:00.000-05:00

20 years ago, the wise-guys of UMASS came up with an ingenious plan to rid the Cape of those pesky college kids during the most glorious weekend of the season, so they could savor it for themselves.

My neighbor on the not-Great-Island-side-of-Lewis-Bay, is a muckamuck in the office of the President of UMASS. He is down this weeknd, enjoying the holiday, while the students of UMASS are doing the same ... only elsewhere.

Ironic isn't it. UMASS starts its fall semester the week before Labor day, requiring all those kids to leave their summer jobs on the Cape early, leaving all those seasonal businesses stranded for help the last best weekend of the summer.

But not to worry, the patrons from UMASS are still here, like my neighbor from UMASS administration. I wonder if he appreciates the irony. He conscripted the students back to campus just as he was coming back down for the weekend. Probably not, because he still complains about the service around here, (lack thereof) during this weekend. Well, dah.

For years (former State Senator) Henri Raushenbach fought to get UMASS to officially start after Labor Day, so we could keep our seasonal help one more crucial week. Little did we all appreciate who's vacations he was stepping on.

And one more observation from my beach chair this Labor Day weekend.

As I was looking out over Great Island, I heard one of those obnoxious ads by the Alliance (to save the view for the priviledged few) on the radio, repeating the lies about the birds, the fish and the air, but mostly hocking their new tactic; CapeWind stands to make a profit from the project. Holy Wampum Batman!

So now it's about profits. Isn't it strange that this has come down to the capitlists from Osterville, and may I say uber-capitalists, objecting to the capitalist from Bass River making too much money. Didn't Egan make too much money selling computers? Didn't Koch make too much money selling, well, coke? For that matter, isn't Mihos making too much money selling gas and milk? And how about Kurker making too much money selling boats?

I think what the capitalists from Osterville object to most, is that the capitalist from Bass River is making too much money in their backyard. I bet that's what grates them the most. It would be better if they were the ones doing the profiting.

Winderkind

2005-08-03T19:44:00.000-05:00

With Desperate Housewives off the air for the summer, some of you may have tuned in the local Cape Wind saga again. The story plays like an English Farce, because nothing that the characters do matters a hoot to the powers that will decide the fate of the project. In case you've lost track of the cast of characters, here's a quick review.

For the Alliance to Save the Sound for the priviledged view of the few:

Sue Nickerson, like Isaac Rosen, her predecessor, hasn't lost the battle so much as her reputation as an ardent environmentalist and preservationist. But she can take solace in that she got paid a quarter million dollars to lose her innocence.

Audra Parker, truly peculiar character. She has nothing to gain in this fight, and everything to lose. She should know better with that MIT education, that even her children would be on the other side if it weren't for all that money.

Cliff Carroll, plays the heavy. Every team has its rabid fans, the guys that paint their chests and yell their heads off at the game. They're somebody's son, husband, or father. But who's?

Charles Vinick, newest member of the cast, brought in too late to save the production. He has nothing at stake, no skin in the game. He's been trading on someone else's reputation for years. The ultimate understudy.

Dan Wolf, like the man behind the curtain, figured it out before anyone else. He professes "extreme ambivalence", because he understands "the show must go on."

Christy Mihos, one of the producers of this farce, bought the future for his family and wants it to stay exactly where it is.

Cliff Schectman, played the role of status quo man. Carried water for the upper echelon. Wouldn't know the future if he ran into it. Like the boxer in On the Waterfront, he could have been a contender. Instead he's Gone with the Wind.

Wastewater Backwater

2005-07-13T23:45:00.000-05:00

An Unholy Alliance and the Gang of Four
The Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod (APCC) and the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce (CCCC) . What would possess perfectly respectable environmentalists like Elliott Carr and Maggie Giest, who serve the APCC, to do business with the likes of John O'Brien and Wendy Northcross, who run the CCCC?

The preservation community needs the growth community to put its agenda across on development. The business community needs the environmental community to puts its agenda across on development. Once they worked as opponents on issues like the Commission and the Land bank. Today, they work together as partners.

Thus was created the Business Roundtable, affiliated with the APCC. A marriage of convenience. (Note: the Business Roundtable is not so much. There is only one businessman on it, Dan Wolf, CEO of Cape Air.)

The business community needs relief from the onslaught of regulation and conservation. Not much land left to develop, and what there is, is being competed for by land trusts, and the Cape Cod Commission. The preservationist would like to direct development, they realize there is going to be some, into growth centers, using the new buzz words, Smart Growth.

The APCC would genuinely like to protect the watersheds, along the Cape rivers, bays and estuaries, currently being nitrified (polluted) by the houses that abut those areas. But it cannot find the right regulatory mechanism (post Title 5) to stop it. The business community would like to find a way to continue to develop, without paying the extortion imposed by the Commission, or paying ridiculous prices competing with the land trusts.

So the idea is to concentrate future development in the town centers. If you can't build out, better build up, i.e., 2nd and 3rd floors in the downtowns. Only one problem; the centers cannot carry increased septic and are not sewered.

So recognizing the mutual dilemma that these two groups find themselves in, it seems that they've found some common ground. Now all they have to do is find a way to treat wastewater from the new growth in the town centers. A billion dollar undertaking some would estimate.

Wastewater is the intersection where the two agendas meet, and it's the Business Roundtable, chaired by O'Brien and Carr, that's driving the bus right through the intersection.

So how and where do you get that kid of money? You need a governmental entity, like the state or the county, and you need a financing mechanism like a user fee or tax, to pay for the capital improvements and infrastructure.

A Solution in Search of a Problem
But wait a minute, that problem doesn't exist yet. The wastewater problem is supposedly in outlying areas, like near the bays, harbors and marshlands, not the town centers. The equitable thing to do would be to tax the source of the problem, the more expensive homes around the wetlands. That would be fair, but politically impossible. So to institute a fee or a tax on every user of water, they make up some rationale like, "every one enjoys the estuaries, or better yet, everyone drinks the water".

Not one selectman on Cape Cod has complained about the nitrification of our harbors. And not one municipal water official has ever said that our drinking water supply is in danger of nitrification by the homes that are polluting our bays. Only goo-goos (good government types)have said that the Cape's aquifer is susceptible to extreme forms of pollution. For the record, the Mass Military Reservation has contaminated a lot of land, local water supplies and even shoreline. But it does not threaten the aquifer.

The Gunga Dins
Whenever you plan to tackle a problem that does not exist, who better than some ambitious politicians to help you champion the issue. Enter Tom Bernardo, Speaker of the Assembly of Delegates, looking to further his career and Bill Doherty, Chairman of the County Commissioners, looking to get re-elected. They are the county officials that are championing a wasterwater collaborative idea.

After creating their own blue ribbon commission, and the Barnstable County Wastewater Implementation Committee (WIC), the duo realized that the APCC and the Business Roundtable's preferred modus operandi, a state authuority, could not pass muster with the locals, so they finessed the issue with a collaborative. (Read; the camel getting its nose under the tent for now.)

And then they saw that their dog and pony show before the towns Boards of Selectmen fail, so they decided that there was a need to convince the regular folk of the urgent need of a wastewater something or other.

So for now, it's a collaborative, without a revenue generating component, ostensibly to help organize the towns around the fix. The people need to understand the problem before they can address it. A public relations campaign is warranted to convince the residents and voters of the dire situation we are in.

So last week, the County Commissioners and the Assembly of Delegates, passed an $116,000 appropriation to hire a PR flack to spend the year convincing the yokels that there really is a problem, and that the County, rather than their towns on there own, should fix it, and oh yes, it won't cost them any money to do so. Not yet. Testifying on behalf of the county spending item was none other than Wendy Northcross.

Trouble is, that neither an authority nor the collaborative will address the problem; older more expensive homes along the waterways polluting the bays. Building sewer capacity in the town centers to treat wastewater from newly invented development will not do that.

If that isn't outrageous enough, the real reason behind any wastewater initiative is that Maggie Geist wants a job, and John O'Brien wants to keep being a player. The Wastewater Collaborative would give Maggie a new job, Executive Director. She's tired of the one she has, of waiting on the County hand and foot for yearly handouts of $20K and $30K to do growth "forums" and wastewater "planning".

They couldn't get the preferred independent authority from the state, so they settled for a county based entity. They can't get the County to buy in all the away, so they have to do it incrementally. But they'll get there, eventually.

Tom Bernardo's gets the Gang of Four's support for State Rep.'s race next year, and Bill Doherty gets their undying gratitude and re-election next year. And then those guys are in place for the next step, state legislation for a taxing authority. (See yesterday's Cape Cod Times on Maggie and John's ed-op piece on the "Flush Tax".)

And thusly, John O'Brien, having dreamed up this idea of the Business Roundtable, with the express purpose of marrying these two constituencies, to create new bureaucracy, would like to be the new Wastewater Authority, er, Collaborative Chairman

His reward, and he deserves it, would be to oversee the expenditure of vast sums of monies, doled out to new public construction, lobbying, and bonding contracts, and not least of which, hiring. Because you see, all governmental power is derived from two things; pork and patronage.

And you thought this was about wastewater.

EPT for Republicans

2005-06-29T06:59:00.000-05:00

Republican candidates for the Massachusetts legislature next year will have to pass a litmus test on Gay Marriage.

The Republican State Committee has a problem. They're planning to support the amendment referendum that should be on the ballot in November of 2006, once the legislature approves it again in this session. This issue is the heart and soul of the party. The problem is that some of the Republican incumbents and the many of the potential republican candidates do not support the constitutional amendment defining marriage to the exclusion of gays while creating a special civil status for their unions.

Public opinion has shifted since the Supreme Court authorized gay marriage last year. Getting elected anywhere but in the Romney suburbs opposing gay marriage is not a good bet. But in order to create support for the amendment referendum, the State Committee has to create discipline in the party. In other words, they can't have the Gubenatorial candidate running in one direction and the undercard running in the other.

So the party is looking for a few good candidates to run in the districts, who support the amendment referendum, even at the expense of candidates who do not.

Here in our own lower Cape district, currently represented by Shirley Gomes (R) Harwich, (she's retiring to avoid the question), there seems to be a candidate that has a chance to keep the seat for the Jumbos, but doesn't support the amendment. So what do you think the State GOP's going to do? Find a candidate that will support it. Even if he doesn't live in the district. I kid you not!

You'd think they would learn. Last year they sent us a couple of carpetbaggers to run for the Senate seats from the Cape. That and all their other attempts to win some seats in the legislature and gain some credibility, failed utterly. So let's try it again.

But check with Mitt first. He's made some curious moves recently. Particularly backing away from the compromise amendment. Now he needs to be outrightly opposed to gay marriage. After all what would his friends in Utah say about his supporting Civil Unions? What would the voters of Ohio say?

With Mitt running for President, you'd think they'd just call the whole thing off. So what's this all about? Kerry Healy is calling the shots at the party now. Don't forget she used to run the State Committee. She needs support from the party regulars, and doesn't need voters to be confused next year. It's hard enough running for Governor without having the candidates for the House and Senate from her own party defecting to get elected.

Just like with the early pregnancy test, where you can't be a little bit pregnant, with this early political test, Republicans can't be a little bit gay.

A Fool's Errand

2005-06-02T21:53:00.000-05:00

Saving Otis, that is.
Senator Warner has been trying his best to kill the Cape Wind project, while Senator Kennedy has been trying to save Otis AFB. Has it occurred to Kennedy, who has been asking Warner to help him kill the wind farm, to ask him to help save Otis?

Senator John Warner (R-Virginia) is a member of the all-powerful Armed Services Committee, (and chairs the subcommittee that oversees the Army Corp of Engineers, the regulatory agency permitting Cape Wind). Doesn't the same committee have jurisdiction over the defense budget? You'd think he could exert a little influence on base closings even though the process is suppose to be non-partisan.

Is Kennedy Warner's Senator? Or is Warner Kennedy's Senator?
But this is where the state's part time senator from Osterville parts way with the state's full-time senator from Hyannisport. You can't pick and choose which issues you want to deal with if you're the senior Senator from Massachusetts. Kennedy is for saving the base. And he's for killing the wind farm. Keep the government jobs. Forgo the private (union) ones.

But if you're not elected from here, you can pick and choose what you want to save or kill. Osterville cares about their precious view. They could care less about the 102nd Airborne. Even if Warner were to take an interest now, don't look for Otis to survive. The writing's on the wall. And Warner is nobody's fool.

Senator Warner was in Osterville this past weekend attending a family wedding. Maybe Bunny Mellon, Osterville doyen, (and Warner's ex-step-mother-in-law) should have asked him to save Otis.

Guns and Butter

2005-05-19T14:42:00.000-05:00

First published April 21, 2004,
prior to the recommendation to close Otis AFB.
There's alot of fear(mongering) going around these days, what with all the talk about closing the Massachusetts Military Reservation on the Upper Cape. But like most things, nothing is what it seems.

There is alot of speculation about what the Base Closing Advisory Board will recommend. Alot of guessing what Donald Rumsfeld will say. The expected posturing by Kennedy and Delahunt. And ultimately what President Bush will decide. This one of the perogatives of being the President.

My guess is that the MMR will neither be abandoned completely, nor kept intact. Things will change, as they should. Closing military components of the base would not be a bad thing. I remember a similar situation, about 35 years ago.

Nixon v. Kennedy Redux
Richard Nixon was still seething about his defeat at the hands of Jack Kennedy 8 years earlier, but he was euphoric at his political ressurection and triumph in 1968. Paranoid as we now know he was, Nixon set off to settle the score in Kennedy's home state. He lost Massachusetts in '68, and it would be the only state he would lose in '72.

Nixon closed 5, count them 5, military installation in Massachusetts, shortly after coming into office. Bases, like the Chelsea Naval Shipyard, were moved to southern states, which Nixon had won, helping turn the tide towards Republican domination of the south for the next 35 years. To be sure, alot of the Massachusetts installations were being politically propped-up by the preceeding Democratic, Kennedy-Johnson, Adminstrations, but hey, there was a war on.

While instituting payback however, Nixon inadvertantly launched the high tech economy of Massachusetts. He literally threw tens of thousands of highly trained and educated military personnel out onto the street in Massachusetts during his first term. Alot of those guys decided to stick around and put their knowledge and talent to work here. Every wonder how Digital (Equipment Corporation) got started? Thus the nation's high tech industry was borne. "America's Technology Highway", Route 128, was so dubbed before Silicon Valley was even a gleam in David Packard's eye.

Brother, Can You Spare a Government Job?
The parallels are striking. Nixon beats Kennedy closes bases. Bush defeats Kerry, the other son from Massachusetts, and closes bases?

Let's have it. Dump a thousand military personnel from MMR onto the Cape's economy and let's watch what happens. How many of these guys will stick around, start companies, turn their talents into commercial enterprise, hire others or hire themselves out, and really contribute to the local economy.

As we debate the merits of keeping the 102nd Airborne, the Coast Guard, Air National Guard, Pave Paws, Homeland Security Training Center, environmental clean-up, and the rest of it, don't pay any attention to the politicians' bluster. Government jobs are nice, by only for those who have them. They do little to help the local economy. When those jobs get privatized, then you really have something.

The Rich and Powerful (Again)

2005-05-15T22:19:00.000-05:00

They Are Among Us
How did Senator John Warner (R) of Virginia come to throw the biggest hurdle in front of the Cape Wind farm in Nantucket Sound? Family connections, and a coincidence of Senatorial Committee assignments that makes the Perfect Storm look like an afternoon thunder shower.

Mellon, remember that name. Senator John Warner married money, both times. It was very instrumental in advancing his political career. (Sound familiar?) His first wife was Catherine Mellon, daughter of Paul Mellon, of the famed Pittsburg Mellons. But by the time Paul Mellon got the money, the family had moved to the Virginia side of Washington, DC.

There, John Warner and Catherine Mellon, had 3 children, Virginia, John and Mary. Turns out Mary and Virgina have homes in Osterville, Oyster Harbors, where they are preoccupied with philanthropic and environmental causes.

Senator John Warner has a vested interest in not seeing, the wind farm built within sight of the family homes in Osterville. Virginia and Mary would be very put out if it were built, not least because they had the clout to kill the project, and the gaggle at the Wianno Club would be mortified if they found out that they hadn't used it.

But wait, there is an even more important family connection at play here. Turns out the family patriarch's (Paul) 2nd wife is non other than the much beloved Bunny Mellon (formerly Rachel Lloyd Lambert) of Osterville, which would make her Catherine's step-mother and Virginia's and Mary's step-grandmother. Mrs. Mellon owns ALOT of real estate in Osterville.

Also, Paul Mellon's 1rst wife and Catherine's mother was Mary Conover. Senator John Warner's first wife, Catherine Mellon, now Catherine Conover (very generous to local environmental causes) is also living in Osterville. And as anyone who has ever been divorced will understand, " now what's a Senator to do?"

Enter Opportunity
US Senator John Warner, is Chairman of the Armed Service Committee, and also chairman of the subcomittee that oversees the Army Corps of Engineers (the permitting agency of the Cape Wind project).

While the Cape Wind Environmental Review was being held hostage at the Pentagon, Senator Warner proposed an amendment to a military appropriations bill pending in the Senate, to kill the Cape Wind project. I'll leave it up the the professional scribes to expose the inner workings of the Senate and the Pentagon from here on, but let's not forget, Senator John Warner once served as Secretary of the Navy.

There's nothing like having a third Senator from the Cape to get the job done, (stopping CapeWind) when the other two can't or won't get their hands dirty. Especially when there's a really good family tree to do so. Turns out it was Mellon's, not Kennedy's, or Heinz's.

First published on Thursday, October 7, 2004.

County Dynasty

2005-05-10T13:17:00.000-05:00

As we begin to witness the political equivalent of a cock-fight between the two branches of Barnstable County, one has to wonder, what ever happened to the collegiality of the once so congenial county government?

For the past 3 years, the County has had to suffer the embarassing task of having to decide how to spend the surplus revenues from the Registry of Deeds. The unseemly jockeying by ne'r-do-well, non-profits agencies on the Cape competing for a little largess from the County fathers every year, just got to be too much for our County Commissioners.

They finally figured out that they could spend the surplus before it became one, and then shipped a budget over to their collegues at the County Assembly of Delegates, that not only spent all the anticipated revenues, but also the anticipated surplus, while cutting-out the hand-outs to the towns in the process.

When you're elected to county-wide office, as are the Commissioners, you advocate for county-wide programs, and spend the money you take in accordingly. It's good for getting re-elected. But if you are elected on a town by town basis, as are the Assembly of Delegates, it's better if you advocate that some of the money go directly back to your town, so that the town fathers will leave you alone. Not that anyone really notices what the Delegates do anyways, but better smart that sorry.

So naturally, the Delegates miffed that their usual stash of cash would be tampered with, they in turn have devised an altogether different plan to distribute the county funds. By giving less money to the Cape Cod Commission, no money to the Cape Cod Economic Development Council (EDC), and a smaller piece of the pie to the county human services department, they found a way to cut out of the budget some of the Commissioners' favorite benevolence, while sending half a million dollars back to the towns.

The Assembly even hinted that the license plate funds that the County (EDC) receives from the Cape & Islands plate, may also be re-directed to the towns in the form of grants to their local EDCs, thus bringing the over all total sent back to towns to $1million, about what they've been getting for the past 3 years.

Underlying this disagreement, is a differnce of opinion, between Commissioners, between Delegates, as well as between Commissioners and Delegates, as to the role of the non-profit agencies on Cape Cod.

In the past, both the EDC license plate revenues and the County's surplus revenues have been diverted to various Cape organizations to ostensibly do good work in the community. In reality, the groups that get money (all the ususal suspects) have some connection to the EDC board members, the Commissioners or sometimes even the Delegates.

But some Delegates, notable Marcia King (Mashpee) disagrees with this practice. She thinks County revenues, in all its forms, should be spent by county agencies on county programs, and for any expenditures that cannot be justified, the monies should be rebated back to the towns, in fairness to the taxpayers.

Other Delegates, like Julia Taylor (Falmouth) thinks that the County owes nothing to the towns and that the County's revenues should be spent as they and their political allies see fit. (Note: The Chair of the County EDC is also from Falmouth.) Taylor was quoted in the Cape Cod Times (5/10/05) as saying that the $70,000 that her town would get in rebates, "they couldn't do very much with". I'm not making this up, folks. That's how insulated the Assembly Delegate's position is.

So here we are, the County Commissioners want to spend the real estate tax windfall this year by rewarding County agencies with bigger budgets, and non-profit agencies with friends in high places, with special hand outs.

The Assembly of Delegates, and least most of them, recognizing that this practice can lead to future financial instability, wants to spend what is necessary to run the County and send the rest back to the towns.

At loggerheads over the issue are the heads of the two bodies of county government, Commissioner Chairman Bill Doherty (R-Harwich) and Assembly Speaker Tom Bernardo (D-Chatham). Doherty is up for re-election next year. Might there be a fued brewing here as a lead-up to an election match-up next year?

Doherty's attempts to cut the towns rebates, flies in the face of the their combined efforts to get the towns on board with a Wasterwater Authority, er, Collabrative. While Bernardo is trying to sweet talk the towns into going along with a new county bureaucracy, er, agency, Doherty is cutting out the legs from under him. Hmm, was Doherty ever really for the Wastewater initiative?

Bernardo, turning around and threatening to give the County's do-nothing EDC's money directly to the towns to beef up their own local EDCs' efforts, smacks of the bribe, er, kick-start that the Wastewater initiative needs.

A display of political leadership or a just old fashion retribution?
Stay tuned for the next episode of Dynasty.

Children Need Not Apply

2005-05-02T09:48:00.000-05:00

Old vs.Young. Retired vs. Working. Have vs. Have Not.

Our fellow citizens, the old fogies, and our town governments, are at it again. It's reminiscent of a bygone era of xenophobia. Like hanging out a storefront sign, No Kids Allowed. Not in our community, not in our neighborhoods, and definitely not on Main Street.

The issue has reared its ugly head again in Barnstable, with the bidding war for the old 5th Grade School in downtown Hyannis.

The Catholics want to build a high school there. The Developer wants it to build housing for the wealthy elderly. Both bid about the same for the surplused municipal building. They each threw in a kicker (in-kind) to sweeten the deal. And the Town wants the money.

Aside from the $3 million to buy the building, the Catholics point to the savings the town would realize if the parochial school attracted kids from the town's public high school. (And man, would they!) The taxpayers would save a million dollars a year in school costs.

Aside from the $3.5 million offered the town, the developer proposed giving the Housing Assistance Corp. (not affiliated with the town, politically connected, private non-profit), a million dollars to move the homeless (shelter) from downtown Hyannis to the outskirts of town. Anyone else see the self-serving nature of this magnanimous gesture?

Along comes the Cape Cod Times, defenders of the everything Osterville, and proffers in an editorial that the wealthy retirees would fit better into the downtown than the school kids. Never mind that this used to be a school.

(I once met a man with a yacht, who said to me, "I've got mine, now you get yours." Whenever I remember that advise, I always think of the Times.)

There you have it, in these two competing interests for once public space, the Cape's internal struggle for identity.

It's a myth that residents of (elderly) housing for the rich, spend money in their own neighborhoods, and oh yes, that they walk to do so. What makes the housing proposal so appealing to the developer and potential residents, is not the proximity to the Main Street businesses, but to the Cape Cod Hospital. That's where they expect to spend their money, or more aptly, our Medicare dollars.

The town doesn't want to be shown up by a group of parents that wants to use the former school building for teaching. What town council would want to be known for closing a school, ostensibly because it was too costly to repair, only to have a group of parents do so privately.

Maybe the town is still smarting, having fought this battle before with the Sturgis School on Main Street. A group of parents showed that they could run a charter school better than the public servants could run a public school.

But it took the intervention of the business community to make the Sturgis School a reality. It's time for the business community to get involved again and bring our kids and our families back to the downtown.

Not Just Barnstable
In yesterday's town election, Yarmouth voters said No to Schools and Yes to Libraries. They voted not to pay for repairs to the schools, but voted to pay for repairs to the library. Not to state the obvious, but kids use the schools, while retirees use the libraries.

A local publisher, suggested once, that there should be a program to have senior citizens on Cape Cod daycare for kids so that their parents could work. (He meant the ones that don't need daycare themselves.) At that time in his life, he was between kids and grandkids. But I was still surprised at his naivete. And told him so.

If our local retirees wanted to take care of kids, they would have stayed in their hometowns and raised their own grandkids. They didn't move to the Cape to take care of someone else's kids. And apparently, they don't want to pay for them either.

Tax Equity

2005-04-08T09:16:00.000-05:00

In a recent editorial, Tax Inequity (3/30/05) the Cape Cod Times took on the issue of a split tax rate in the Town of Barnstable, recommending that commercial property owners pay a higher tax rate. The concept of split tax rate allows for the municipal taxation of real property at different rates for commercial and residential uses. Currently, all towns locally, tax property at the same rate.

The idea was borne out of the the towns' running municipal budgets that are outstripping the abilty of the tax base to support it. They can't go to town meeting to raise money to cover shortfalls, because of Proposition 2 1/2. (By the way, every town does raise their tax revenues by 2 1/2 % every year.) They can't borrow money for operation budgets, it's illegal. And they would never win a vote among resident tax payers to raise the residential tax rates. Even though they are the constituency that uses almost all the municipal services.

The Times editors suggested they couldn't afford it anyway. Well, we can afford it. We would just have to rent fewer movies at Blockbuster, or do without some such extravegance. But they are right, we would never vote for a split rate in the other direction.

So the only constituency left to hit up, is the non-voting business community, local merchants, commercial property owners. It would be sort of like passing laws for victimless crimes. Besides, did I mention that they don't vote. (There is one other constituency that doesn't vote either, but more on that later.)

Many arguments can be made against this practice, but the Times couldn't seem to identify even one. Well, let's start with ... it's a really bad idea. We already have too few businesses that pay real estate taxes on Cape Cod. Primarily because of our location, we cannot sustain any industry, other than tourism. The little that we do have operates at marginal profitability.

The Cape's business today is old people. Fortunately, the last wave of them came to this side of the bridge with alot of money, bought big houses and pay alot of real estate taxes. But they really don't support alot of other businesses, except the Cape Cod Hospital. And FYI, the CCH doesn't pay any real estate taxes.

The Times dismisses the fairness argument that "you shouldn't tax the commercial sector any more", because they don't even use the most expense item on the town menu, schools. The Times made some cockeyed analogy about "neither do the senior citizens".

Last time I checked, we still have a social contract in this country between the generations. That we will pay for our schools for as long as we live and pay taxes in our communities, 30-60 years, even if we don't use them. We couldn't finance our edcuation system solely on the backs of households that use them. So, thank you Mrs. Meyers for paying for my schooling. Please send my parents a thank you note Mr. Mills, since they're paying for your kids now.

Collectively we, on the Cape, have done our level best to discourage a natural evolution of and a balance between commercial and residential development here. We have instituted land banks, 2-acre zoning, wetland protections, Title 5 regs, conservation areas, etc, etc. etc. No wonder we priced our chidren out of the housing market. Oh, and then there's the Cape Cod Commission, holding the onslaught of commercial develoment at bay. Now along comes the Times and says we should raise the rent on our businesses, and price our kids out of the labor market as well.

I'm not one to complain without actually having a solution in mind.

The real culprit is our municipal budgets that increase at disproportionate rates, more than 2 1/2 % each year, because of unionized labor costs (including health insurance). More than 80% of our school and operating budgets is labor. We're never going to solve that problem until everyone moves out of Massachusetts. And, besides it's not the point of today's lesson.

Let's look at our tax base then. Our defacto industry today is second home owners. Not the snow birds, but the weekenders and summer folk, who have decided to store their family's wealth in homes on Cape Cod. They are actually good for the economy, employing construction workers and generating net revenues to the towns. They don't use the schools, and in some communities they account for 50% of the town's revenues. So in essense they are paying for the schools that they don't use. But lets be honest, they're just taking up space.

Let's tax this class of taxpayers differently. How about a split rate for non-resident residential tax-payers. They can afford it. And they don't vote. We could actually hold the vote at town meetings in November, when they're not even here. Only the real estate agents would care.

If the Times is so keen on chasing out commercial real estate owners, not that the Commission hasn't done a good enough job already, then it should be just as keen on chasing out the interlopers. Non-resident residential taxpayers are our new commerial tax base. Let's tax the hell of them.

Boom or Bust ?

2005-04-06T09:31:00.000-05:00

Neither. But that is the question on the minds of erstwhile Cape Cod homeowners. Recent reports of the imminent demise of the real estate market are greatly exaggerated. Even with average house prices breaking the $400K mark in some towns on the Cape, this real estate boom is different than the last one. It's based in equity instead of debt.

Many of you will remember the last boom. Lots of condominiums were being built and purchased for speculation around here. And the financing was easy because, hey, the sky was the limit. But now, the signal has come from California, that alot of really big houses are being bought and sold for speculation. Ala the internet stock boom.

But on Cape Cod for the last 10 years or so, lenders have only been lending at about 75% of valuation, with strong income requirements, for non-primary residences. Very unlike the last boom, when even the average investor was buying a condo for speculation and developers were typically getting 90 -110 % financing from local banks.

But most of our recent real estate boom, and the resulting rising housing prices, has been due to second home buying with cash, mostly because of wealth passing between generations and/or the tax cuts for upper incomes.

The great movement of money in this country is between real estate and the equity markets, with short stops in the debt markets (treasury bonds) along the way. We are seeing one of those transitions right now, helped along by the Federal Reserve Bank.

Money is moving back into the equity markets (stocks and bonds) because interest rates are rising. (Real estate prices are inversely related interest rates.) The Fed is raising rates because it is worried about inflation. Well not really. They are beholden to the money changers, the guys that make money when the shift is on, in either direction, and it's, well, time to make the donuts again.

That's what makes this country great. This elite group will always make their money off the top, because they actually get to decide when it's time, in other words, safe, to do so. They decide when the markets get to move, and in doing so, get to scrape the fat off the top of that market, in this case the real estate market, before the much smaller kids on the block figure out what is going on. And changing interest rates is the mechanism that signals the shift is on.

But, I digress. The point was, money is moving from real estate to equities, and the real estate market is flattening out as a result. But real estate valuations this time around, are relatively safe because with the new rules, this time we bought with cash instead of debt, we have safeguards against the bottom falling out.

So, you don't have to sell your house to preserve the equity you have in it. But don't buy that empty house on the beach thinking you're going to make some money if you just hold on to it for a while. And for those of you who like to speculate, it's OK to call your stock broker again. Come on, you know you want to.

Who Killed Christa Worthington?

2005-01-11T16:06:00.000-05:00

Michael O'Keefe (R), the District Attorney for the Cape and Islands, hears footsteps these days. You might think that they're the haunted footsteps of Christa Worthington, murdered daughter of the Cape. But they're the footsteps of political opponents yet to declare, who will be stalking him, no doubt, soon enough.

The DA is running for re-election. The race is already on. So secure is he in his position, in this County, that there would otherwise be no serious opposition, Democrat or otherwise. Except for this pesky little matter of an unresolved murder case in the most unlikely of places, with the most unlikely of victims, that craves the national spotlight.

So concerned is he that the case remains unresolved going into the election of '06, that O'Keefe is risking his legal reputation, to save his political skin.

For those of you who have not yet heard, the DA, with the assistance of the local and state police is taking DNA samples from every able-bodied male in Truro, albeit voluntarily. Ostensibly to find the guy who made the last deposit into the victim; not necessarily the killer.

Remember, O'Keefe was first a cop before he became a lawyer, and then a prosecutor. His instincts are sharp but shaped by his first impressionable years in law enforcement. Round up the usual suspects. When that doesn't work, round up the rest of them. It's legal, if you ask nice.

The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and a flurry of other news hawkers latched onto the O'Keefe angle this week, and thereby the Worthington story again. Maybe that was the point. Move this case to the edge of legality, tilt the moral compass of the community, get everyone to focus again on the who done it.

"Stir the pot", as the DA put it. Say what you will, he has put the case back on the front pages.

And now the other shoe, the ACLU has weighed in. The indignation that the ACLU expresses is justifiably righteous. As our legal and moral conscience, it has built a legacy on just such matters, but usually when it involves a minority class. Which reminds me, this is Truro we're taking about. We can surmise from this dragnet that the DA is looking for a white guy.

What makes this whole affair so disconcerting is that the killer is not only believed to be still among us, but also one of us. We may have truly become a color blind society. Now everyone, regardless of race is under suspicion.

Back to the point. Words, such as those of the ACLU and of the editorial boards are important. Sometimes they are a call to action. But it's only action that will change the mind.

As we approach Martin Luther King Day, we are reminded that it was his action, his passive resistance, his nonviolent protest, as well as his words, that awoke a nation from a century-old nightmare. To honor MLK this year, let's dispense with the traditional speeches for the day and take action instead.

If they are intent on swabbing the residents of Truro, let them swab on the nation's holiday as well. But let the ACLU put out the call for all fair and just minded souls to come to Truro. Let's all meetup in Truro on Monday to celebrate the justice that Martin Luther King fought for. Let's gather at the town dump and the post office, and let's all volunteer to be swabbed.

I'll bring the buttons. I gave DNA for MLK. Let the irony begin.

Who killed Christa Worthington? Those are not only the words of an incredulous and sorrowful community. Inevitably, they will also be the words of the District Attorney's political opponent two years from now.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

2004-12-31T13:44:00.000-05:00

Hillary Clinton is certainly running for President in 2008, what with all the talk recently about The Plan. If that thought doesn't scare you, the only other viable scenario for the Democrats in '08 is even more frightening.

What the Democrats need to do to save themselves from becoming a marginal party for another generation, is look to the past. Not the recent past, ala 1992, but the real past, like 1980.

This is not a satire. I repeat, this is not a satire.

Ted Kennedy had the right idea back then. He saw that the sitting President could not get re-elected, (Jimmy Carter, for those of you who can't remember, and Iran Hostage Crisis), and tried to save the party from sure defeat. His own ambitions notwithstanding.

Had Ted gotten his turn at the wheel, so to speak, things would be a lot different around here. Instead of the Reagan Revolution, we would have had the Kennedy Renaissance. Good or bad, you can argue it either way.

But in the intervening years, all the local Dems that have run for President, have been running as for proxies for Ted anyway. Dukakis, Tsongas, Kerry, gave it a valiant try, but it's time to have the real thing, again. Kennedy '08.

Hillary won't sit down for this. But she really has no choice. Unlike her refusal to accommodate Kerry by joining him on the ticket, she wouldn't dare refuse Ted. Think of it; the Democrat's wet dream. Clinton, Bill, I mean, and Kennedy back in the White House again, but together.

The Plan is the deal Bill and Hillary made to get Bill into office first, and then get Hillary elected President. Let's call this The New Plan, and the Democrats Campaign for 2008, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Staged Not Advanced

2004-12-27T20:30:00.000-05:00

Thank you Sam Allis, you said it better than I did, in the Boston Globe this weekend. Romney's events are staged not advanced. There is a difference.

The occassion was his observation that the Governor has staked his political fortunes almost exclusively on the suburban voter. And so obsessed is the Governor with appearences, style more than substance, that every event is staged. That's what we saw on the Cape recently.

First at the Cape Wind hearings, where the Governor floated in and out of the meeting without ever touching a soul, like shaking hands. Then at the Mirant plant press conference. A sanitary performance. In and out. Pose for the cameras.

These events were intended to counterbalance each other. Oppose the wind farm to curry favor with one constituency, then hammer the polluters publically to appease the other. But cut a side deal privately with the polluters, to get them their above-ground ammonia storage tanks. The Governor's appointee to the Cape Cod Commission has something to do with that, but that's a sidebar for another time.

Selling out Sandwich, to buy off Osterville. The locals won't catch on.

We have a Governor who likes to drive around the suburbs, looking to make them safe for Republicans. As my college roomate used to say, it's not how you drive, it how you look while you're driving.

Y.A.W.N.

2004-12-20T14:40:00.000-05:00

Yachters Against Windmills Now protest Cape Wind at MIT hearing.

A new organization of patrician yachters protested the Cape Wind project at the December 16th Army Corps of Engineering hearing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“We’ve reached the end of our bow line,” said Preston Cabot Peabody, chairman of the new Osterville-based organization, Yachters Against Windmills Now. “We’ve decided to speak out to defend our unobstructed views. Frankly, we’re not used to NOT getting our way.”

YAWN opposes the new Cape Wind proposal and pledges to spend millions to drag out the regulatory process. “We are big supporters of coal,” said Peabody. “We believe that strip-mining in distant states is a far superior energy source than sustainable wind generation. I’ve seen those flat-top mountains flying over Appalachia in my Gulfstream IV, and it’s not that bad. What about the coal miners jobs? Doesn't anyone care about them?”

YAWN members arrived at MIT shortly after a flotilla of nautical protest. “We had 20 yachtsmen with cabin-cruisers arrive in Boston Harbor for the demonstration,” said Muffy VanAuchencloss, Chief Steward of YAWN. “This is an issue that moves our member’s rudders. The very idea of a limited horizon makes our blue blood boil.”

YAWN prepared a number of protest signs and chants including:
"Get Your Energy from Someone Else’s Backyard!"
"Global Warming: A Longer Yachting Season."
"Cape Wind, not on our soil. Lets get our energy from Middle East oil!"
"Global warming what a bore. Just protect our views from ship and shore!"
"Walter Cronkite, stick to the News. We’ll spend millions to protect our views!"
"Save our Sound, Save our Sound. Save the views from the Kennedy compound."

Looking for the Men's Room

2004-12-16T11:20:00.000-05:00

Elections are about a series of opportunities, missed and otherwise.

With the political season heading into hibernation for the winter, what with all the incumbents getting re-elected and going on well-deserved vacations, and the new guys trying to figure out where the men's room is in the Statehouse, Cape Codders recently got a glimpse of a heavyweight battle to come; Romney vs. Reilly, the Governor vs. the Attorney General.

Shorty after the spring thaw, the candidates for the Corner Office will declare, but in the meantime we were treated to a dance of sorts, or a prelude to a fight where the combatants walk around the ring showing off, well, their manhood. What was taking place at the Yarmouth Middle School last week was like a rehersal of Cover Your Ass, an updated version of Lord of the Dance.

The occassion was the public hearing for the Cape Wind project held by the Army Corps of Engineers. The paire de deux ostensibly came to voice their opposition to the wind farm. In attempting to outdo each other, they almost tripped over each other, literally.

Romney, made a smooth entrance and exit to cheers form the crowd. A very well orchestrated appearance. His sponsors, the local Repubicans, were pleased. Reilly, on the other hand, had to arrive early to get a seat and had to speak immediate following the Governor, to less than enthusiastic reviews.

The Governor is a tough act to follow, but the difference was this; the AG had no serious advance for his appearance. Speaking at the behest of the local Democratic establishment, the Congressman and the State Sens. and Reps., Reilly made a rookie mistake; he relied on the locals to handle his performance.

Take it from an old advance man, never trust the locals to handle your appearances. Had Reilly any political instincts, he would have had his aides arrange for a coincidental meeting of the two within shot of a camera. This would immediately have raised the AG's stature in the media, and within the party.

And make no mistake, for these two guys, the confrontation was not about the windmills. It was about the election. And it was about singing for their supper with their supporters.

So this was our preview of the general election two years from now. The Governor, perfect in apprearance and execution. The AG, looking for the men's room.

Location, Location, Location

2004-12-08T10:59:00.000-05:00

Cape Cod has been around for 3000 years. As we know it, it has a history of about 300 years. The Nantucket Sound wind farm will occupy a window of a mere 30 years on that timeline. Not very much against the backdrop of all of time. But quite significant if it happens to be the same 30 years that you, who are here now, plan to occupy it. That’s what all the fuss is about.

Yes, it's still about the view. And the most visually impacted real estate locations are not open to the public. In fact they are the gated-communities of Great Island and Oyster Harbors. For that matter, so is the Kennedy Compound. The views from these vantage points are not public. They're private.

The folks who live in those gated communities paid for the right to have their views. They are therefore proprietary. Bought and paid for, like the beach in front of their homes.

We can’t walk out to and stand on Point Gammon to enjoy the view, can we? Therefore all us have-nots are really arguing about is the view from the very limited locations of our public beaches.

What we should be arguing for instead, is to change the only-state-in the-nation law (Maine notwithstanding, the priviledge was granted when we were still one state), that allows for private ownership of public shoreline. Then we would really have the right to complain about the view.

It's OK for the Chases, the Mellons, and the Kennedys to own the sound. But not the Gordons? Where's Billy Bulger when you need him?

Note: State Senator William Bulger (D-South Boston) proposed legislation 20 years ago to change private ownership of tidal lands (the shoreline) from the low tide to the high tide marks, thereby allowing the public access to the tidal flats. The haves objected, of course. You know the rest of the story.

The score from last night's debate (the Army Corps of Engineers Hearing on the Cape Wnd project held at the Mattacheese Middle School) was 106 speakers testified including the Governor. 53 spoke in favor, 53 spoke in opposition. The Cape Cod Times characterized the outcome as the overwhleming majority spoke in opposition to the Wind Farm.

Room With A View

2004-12-06T15:50:00.000-05:00

Bikepaths, Flyovers, but No Windmills. What we want is more time to enjoy the Cape, with less traffic and cleaner air. What our elected officials want to give us is quite another thing. And the most solicitous offender is the holder of the Corner Office.

The Governor wants to give us a better tourist infrastructure; more bikepaths. He wants to fix our traffic problem at the bridge, answer; a flyover. But make no mistake, these aren't really for us.

The bikepaths are for those visitors that want something to do when they get here. We'd prefer to fix the roads we have. The flyover will make it possible for the part-timers and seasonals to get here faster, no waiting. That means more visitor trips and more commuting residents. So much for less traffic on Cape. And let's not talk about what that will do to already outrageous real estate prices.

Energy costs are higher here. And the air is dirtier. Windmills may actually help us do something about it. No matter, electricity prices don't bother them, they're only here in the summer. Clean air? Not necessary, they're only here a few days a year when it's bad.

You want less traffic, too bad. You want cleaner air, so what. Windmills would help, you say? Tough. We like a room with a view.

The thing is the Governor is actually listening to his constituency. It's just that they're not us. They're the voters that live in the rest of Massachusetts.

Can't blame him, I guess. He talks to these swells, who want to drive to the Cape to ride their bikes and sail their boats. And it doesn't bother him a bit that's it's not what we want. The Governor vacations in New Hampshire.

Charlotte's Web

2004-12-02T13:49:00.000-05:00

"Never a follower but a L-E-A-D-E-R be!" Seems that for Assembly Delegate from Yarmouth, Charlotte Striebel, some of the slings and arrows of the recent election struck a nerve. She thusly decided to make the next two years in office more notable, by vaulting herself into the Speakership of the Assembly.

At the beginning of each year, along with the swearing-in of new Delegates, the members of the Assembly elect one of their own to lead as Speaker, and also a lesser, for Vice Speaker. As they approach that day in January, it seems that Charlotte wanted to rid herself of the label "follower", so-called by the Cape Cod Times.

Encouraged by a minority group of Assembly Delegates, mostly Democrats, who did not want the current Speaker, Tom Bernardo, to continue, Charlotte, currently the Vice Speaker, made a play for the post, using the endorsements of two of the County Commissioners, Mary LeClair, and Bill Doherty as further entanglements.

But wait a minute, Charlotte's not a Democrat. And even though Doherty is a Republican, he didn't endorse her. Unlike his colleague Leclair, he honors the tradition of non-involvement by members of the one body in the procedural affairs of the other, saying "leave me out of it".

As the coup was unveiled, and her supporters waivered, Charlotte's lust for power was alas, not satisfied. And in the light of day, having failed to snatch the Big Office, she will now have to surrender the Vice Speakership as well.

So as the Speaker consolidates his power, where does that leave the Grande Dame of Yarmouth? As is also the custom in the House of Commons, banished to the back benches with the followers.

Landmark Decisions

2004-11-30T14:48:00.000-05:00

The Massachusetts Historic Commission has weighed in on the aesthetics of the Nantucket Sound Wind Farm, as the Army Corps of Engineers report bears witness. The sight of the windmills, six miles off shore, will impact historic landmarks along the south coast of the peninsula. There are six lighthouses and one compound that will be affected.

The compound refers to the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, hamlet of once and once-future presidents.

But it's a curious argument that the detractors of the wind farm are making; that the compound is a tourist attraction. Ever tried to see it? I've lived here for 35 years and the closest I got was sailing my dinghy over to their jetty.

In fact you cannot see it if you're a visitor. You can take the Hyline tour boat over to the vicinity, but even they keep their distance. The tour busses that head down to Hy-port, turn by and drive by, never really seeing anything of the compound.

Ted still lives there. And for a time even Ted didn't live there, opting to hide out on Squaw Island, before of course, he let Joan have the place. But now that he's back ensconced in the compound, sans matron, he's started to reshuffle the ownership of the properties among the next generation, allowing a nephew to buy a house, thereby perpetuating the Kennedy abode familia for years to come.

It's a disingenuous argument to make in the least that the Kennedy compound is a tourist attraction. A historic place maybe, but with no visitors allowed, not really a landmark. The windmills will definitely get more visits, to use the industry jargon.

The lighthouses, were always public, now they're open to the public. And so the Kennedy compound should be. Instead of passing the houses on to clan members, how about passing them on to the public's trust. Or even allowing private trusts to buy them, with tourism promotion dollars from the state, for instance.

Give tourism a real chance on Cape Cod; Presidential Tours of Hyannisport. That might actually boost the local economy. But until then, the days of visiting for the aura (the past) of the place are long gone. People want to see the real thing now. Even if it's just the windmills.

I was just thinking. Suppose the Cape Cod Times' new publication as christened, The View, is coincidental?

As the folks at Clean Power Now like to say, "It's not the view, it's the vision."

Give Thanks and Pass the Checkbook

2004-11-29T11:24:00.000-05:00

Conversation at my Thankgiving Day table evetually turned to the Red Sox. Like all multi-generational New England families, we were thankful for the bounty of joy the hometown team had brought us this season.

And we were especially thankful that we were able to share it with every member of the family that had come to this country since 1955, (since they are all still with us), and have suffered alongside the native faithful. And like every year before, we said a prayer for the boys of summer, Why not us ... again?

Conversation turned to next year, and what the "bunch of idiots" would have to do to repeat. There was talk of dynasty from the younger crowd. But the elders, tempered by years of drought, and a heritage that dares not temp the gods, warned about the hubris 0f success.

So back and forth we went alternating between the entitlement of winning and and fatalism of losing, when I asked, so who's going to be the team leader next year. Everyone (else) was stumped for minute, then the argument started anew, with the youngers advocating for no team leader, just a team, like the bunch of idiots who got us here this year. They'll get us there again.

The olders heralded back to Ted Williams '46, Carl Yastremski '67, and Carlton Fisk '75, Roger Clemens '86. All were necessary ingredients for a winning team. But not necessarily a World Series Champion, the youngsters responded.

Come to think of it, look at today's roster and who jumps out as the team's leader? Only one in my book, Jason Veritek.

The Red Sox need a leader. Sure they have great players, Ramirez, Martinez, Shilling and Ortiz. They lead, but by example. The Red Sox now need a take charge guy on the field every game. Veritek is a man of quite strength. Except of course when he's bashing Alex Rodriquez's face in, which not coincidently, was the turning point of this season.

The Red Sox management should recognize this and bestow the mantle on Veritiek as the team leader, for their own sake. For in years past, these self professed bunch of idiots have disintergrated into, well ... a bunch of idiots.

The man wants $50m for 5 years. Give it to him. Infact, if the head office is so hung up on length of contracts, (no five year deals, no no-trade clauses) then give him $50m over 4 years. Make him the most valuable, if not the highest paid, catcher in baseball.

Now that our crusaders have brought home the holy grail, it's time to re-create the mystique forged over the last 86 years. Start by giving the next generation of Red Sox nation a leader.

The New Scarlet Letter: U

2004-11-24T15:26:00.000-05:00

Governor Mitt Romney said yesterday that he envisions a range of penalties for businesses that fail to provide health insurance, such as forcing them to pay a higher minimum wage, banning them from doing business with state agencies, or slapping a decal on their window to publicize their refusal. - Boston Globe.

The Republican Governor actually floated the idea that small businesses should suffer the social scruge of having a decal in the windows at their place of business if they don't comply with the government's request. There's something wrong here.

I guess this is what passes as a market-based solution for the Governor. Since when did it become the employers' sole responsibility to provide everyone with health insurance? This is what the Democrats have been trying to do for over a decade, when they first tried and failed to get the government to do it. (Remember Hillary?)

I think Romney's Mormon roots are showing. It's that 10% tything thing. Either that or once again the Governor is showing his political deafness.

What ever happened to small business is the backbone of the economy; what ever happened to entrepreneurship?

We should raise the minimun wage, especially when we import so much of our cheap labor. We should absolutely change the law and allow everyone to buy catastrophic health insurance again. Take it from an economist, just these two measures could solve the problem of too many uninsured. Too many vested interests, to do the right thing, I guess.

But just to show you that "all politics is local," one of those small businesses would be Christy's, owned by Romney political benefactor, and the Cape's own Christy Mihos. In fact, most businesses on Cape Cod would have to sport he decals in their windows.

Better yet, let's put them on our SUVs: U for Uninsured. These will no doubt be followed by the bumper stickers of Romney's opponent in 2006.

Moving Day Comes Early

2004-11-22T15:47:00.000-05:00

There's a job opening on the Lower Cape, but you have to live there. The Cape Cod Times got it just about right this morning, when they suggested that Gail Lese could now move to Chatham and run for State Representative.

With the ill-timed (and ill-advised) announcement of retirement by State Representative Shirley Gomes, (R) of Harwich, comes the obligatory jockeying for position to succeed her. Breaking from the pack early are, Sarah Peake and Ray Gottwald both Democrats.

Sarah Peake, you'll remember just ran against Gomes and lost. She's running for re-election to the Selectman's job in her hometown of Provincetown, and does not want to seem too anxious running for State Rep. again before getting re-elected to Town Rep. But she cleary thinks she's entitled at another shot since she was game to take on Shirley this year.

Ray Gottwald, of Harwich, would be borrowing from the same constituency if he runs. Gay marriage will still be THE issue in the district next time around. But he can also lay claim to the local Democratic party machinery, such as it is, for having spent many years serving it.

Not really interested in running again now that Peake has the inside track is Len Stewart (D), also from P-Town. He got everyone excited in challenging Gomes this time around, eventually abandoning the race to concenetrate on his job. Also mentioned is Ron Bergstrom (D), Selectman from Chatham, and not yet mentioned, Tom Bernardo (D), Speaker of the Assembly of Delegates, also from the fishing village. Discretion is the better part of valor here, boys.

The Republicans will have a job on their hands, first finding someone to run, then getting them elected, given the way Gomes is leaving. The obvious choice is Mark Boardman of Orleans, who ran a couple of years ago for State Senate against Rob O'Leary. Although somewhat quixotic, he ran a credible campaign against O'Leary, stuck to the issues, lost with dignity, and went back to work. He preserved his options for a future run. That's how it's done on Cape Cod.

The chastised, but not chastined, lame-duck Gomes, will now have to figure out how she gets anything done on Beacon Hill, or even gets her phone calls returned from state bureaucrats. Shirley, if you were going to retire, you should have told us before the election. Then the election would have been a true reflection of the voters sentiments on gay marriage. You still would have won.

Gomes probably didn't think she could survive another tortured vote on gay marriage at the Constitutional Convention, let alone run again in 2006 when gay marriage will be on the ballot as a Constitutional Amendment question. She still could have won.

Wedding Announcements

2004-11-19T09:34:00.000-05:00

Is there a gender gap when it comes to gay marriage? Sounds funny to ask the question that way, but looking at the statistics of gay marriages that have taken place on Cape Cod, since the beginning of time, or one year ago actually, an interesting trend has emerged.

Except for Provincetown, it seems that most gay marriages performed here are between women. Significantly so, like 2 to 1. Much to our surprise, it would appear that the gay couples living among us are predominately women, or at least, the gay couples willing to get married are mostly women. And they tend to get married in their own community.

It would also appear then that gay men, even though their numbers may be greater, are not as eager to get married. They may not be as monogamous, or they may not need the safety net of a marriage certificate. Gay or straight, sounds very familiar, if you're a guy.

Except for P-Town. There are obviously a disporportionate number of gay marriages in P-Town, even for P-Town. This suggests that gay couples, mostly men, from around the state, are traveling to P-Town to marry, bypassing alot of other lovely communities along he way, like their own.

So the boys who want to marry, go to P-Town and the girls who marry, go to their town hall.

As the local town clerks struggle to make the relevent information fit into new marriage certificates, a new issue has cropped up. What to do with the birth certificates of children born to a legally married gay couple?

They told us that this was going to get complicated. And just wait until the first gay marriage couples end up in divorce court. Be careful what you wish for, you may not like what you get.

The Midas Touch

2004-11-16T18:30:00.000-05:00

Will someone please explain to me what the upside is for Romney in opposing the Nantucket Sound Wind Farm? What's the Governor doing running down to Washington to oppose the project? Or better yet, on who's behalf is he opposing the wind mills? Don't believe that's why he went to DC. That was just the cover story.

The last time Romney took such a tough stand on an issue was to insist that the taxpayers were not going to bear the brunt of the cost overruns from the Big Dig. (Weren't we suppose to get $50 million back from Bechtel in overpayments?) And just this week he stood firm for the resignation of the Turnpike Authority head for papering over the agency's dereliction in the management of the project.

So exactly what was he doing in Washington last week? He was there to get his marching orders from Andy Card, Chief of Staff to the President of the United States. Let's connect the dots.

Andy Card, gatekeeper for the President, was not only a Massachusetts legislator, around when the Big Dig was first approved, but years later he was Secretary of Transportation when the state got its first Big Dig bail-out from the federal government.

First, Mitt gets the disappointing news that he's not in line for a Cabinet position. Go home and run for re-election, raise some money for the party and wait your turn. Mitt plays it like it was his idea. He promised the voters of this state that he would serve out his term. What a trooper.

Second, he's told to lay off Bechtel. They're the largest construction company in the world. Their Board reads like a who's who of former Republican Administration officials. Talk about firing the manager, instead, even though you can't actually fire him. That's the ticket.

Last, keep up the bluster on Cape Wind. This project was made in dog heaven for the Bush Adminstration. It's renewable energy; it gives the President cover from the environmentalists. It's big business; GE manufactures wind turbines here with union labor. It's politics at its best; sticking it to both John Kerry and Ted Kennedy. With the propect of windmills in their backyard, let's see how long they hold out before they agree to drill for oil in the Artic.

But most of all, Mitt, your job is to keep Richard (do you know who I am) Egan off the President's back. Pay lip service to the Ambassador and the opposition. Cover the President's back from those ungrateful Pioneers on this one Mitt, and we'll talk about that Cabinet post in a couple of years.

Appearances can be deceiving. In opposing the wind farm that's going to get approved anyway, he will mollify local Republicans that oppose the project. But be careful to lose this one smart. Don't go down with the ship. And hedge your position. Buy some GE stock.

Coming off the party building disaster this election season, Romney needs a win. But you have to wonder, can he do for the wind farm what he did for Republican legislative candidates this year?

When it comes to the state's highway adminstration and the state's party politics, the Governor seems to have lost the Midas touch. Let's hope he has the same feel for the state's energy future.

NewsFlash: Left Still Blaming Right

2004-11-12T13:06:00.000-05:00

The recriminations from last week's Presedential election are continuing, which always make for interesting diatribes, but this one was particularly fun. It seems some Kerry insiders are putting the nexus of his defeat squarely at the feet of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

For putting the gay marriage issue on the ballot, of course. Not the Massachusetts ballot, that remains to be seen, but on the ballot of 11 other states, some crucial to Bush's election last week, like Ohio.

To show you what a truly curious lot the Kerry people are, they were not happy blaming the Chief Justice, Margaret Marshall, for being the architect of the Court's decision to allow gay marriage in Massachsetts, (apparently she was prepared to write a minority opinion).

But instead they blame the otherwise usually can be counted on to vote conservative on the bench, Judith Cowan. She turned out to be the swing vote. Justice Cowan was supposed to vote against gay marriage, but she saw through all that moral values claptrap and voted her conscience, and with the majority.

Now far be it for the Kerryites to criticize the liberal Chief Justice, after all she is married to that scion of the left, New York Times writer, Anthony Lewis, and she, like Teresa Heinz, is also a product of colonial Africa, yet another reason not to canibalize her.

But it's quite another matter to victimize a supposed conservative, and a Cellucci appointee. You'd think she did it on purpose to sabotage the Kerry campaign, or to help the Republican Bush. You'd think that the Ambassador lobbied her on behalf all the way from Ottawa.

What a great conspiracy theory that it is. But yet it remains, the only Cellucci appointee (out of 4, a majority by the way) votes to create gay marriage in an election year, resulting, according to Kerry partisans at least, in a election issue to lose for.

But just to show you that all politics is local, Judith Cowan had help framing her opinion from a member of my clan. Her law clerk at the time was none other than, Nicholas Mitrokostas, yes, a cousin. He is the son of the famous Kreme n' Kone patriarch, an outspoken conservative. Upon learning of his son's accomplice, the father was reported to have asked for his law school tuition payments back!

Where's the Party?

2004-11-08T18:23:00.000-05:00

Ideas from the left on how to save the Democratic Party. And so the Boston Globe asked 5 "astute" observers to offer their views on where the party goes in the wake of President Bush's election victory decided largely on voters affirmation of moral values.

Although they varied in their scripts, they all chanted substantially the same mantra, Back to the Past. Particularly lame in her post game analysis was Elaine Kamarck, of the Kennedy School of Government, former member of the Clinton Adminstration, and policy advisor the Gore presidential campaign. Her writing contribution to the Globe caught our eye because of her $2000 cash contribution to John Kerry which listed her address as Brewster.

So what was our fellow Cape Codder's take on the election debacle? Blame it on Clinton, Bill that is. "For red America," she writes, "he is emblematic of a culture and value systerm that they abhor".

Clinton never paid a price for his indiscretions inside the Democartic party, which led many Americans to view the party as out of the mainstream of traditional moral values. Kamarck recommends that supporters, such as herself, stop adoring Clinton, as the first step to regaining the moral high ground. That part she got right.

But here's where she gets lost. She further suggests in order to take the moral high ground, that Democrats talk about families, talk about security, talk about helping fathers and mothers be good parents, talk about the importance of stable marriages, and among other things she suggests going back to Humbert Humprey's America.

She wants to talk about moral values. She wants to speak the language of the moral majority, she wants the Democrats to show the evangelical nation that they too can identify with their moral values.

But this is not the same as being moral, it's not the same as living a moral life. It's not the same as incorporating faith into one's daily work.

The Democrats want to talk about how an abortion can be reconciled with moral values, how gay marriage can be explained in moral terms. They are willing to acknowledge the ten commandments, but not live by them.

Democrats can not take back the moral high ground. They shouldn't even try. They should stick to riding the cultural divide, and hope that they eventually outnumber the moralists. They do not need to find common ground, they need to find their way back to Ground Zero.

It's about the moral values, Stupid!

2004-11-07T09:02:00.000-05:00

Moral values made an appearance in the election, big time. Nationally, it was the issue in the campaign. 20 % of those who voted, cited it as their #1 issue. And 80% of them voted for George Bush. That's a 17+ million vote differential between the two candidates.

The press didn't see the issue during the campaign coming. They seem to have missed it completely, one of the most imporatant issues in the presidential campaign. Many critics will say they buried it. I think they really missed it. In fact, they wouldn't recognize it if it kissed them on the mounth. Mea culpas by the press ensued in the days following.

The press is supposedly unbiased. But apparently they're just oblivious to their own bias. They are incapable of seeing what was before them because they don't know what to look for.

I, like the media, am a product of the liberal education establishment in this country. They do a good job of rescrambling the brain to make you see the world in certain ways. I remember getting the United Nation indoctrination, about the same time Bill Clinton was getting inducted into the Trilateral Commission.

But the Republicans do know what to look for. They exceeded turning out their base target by 30%. But this alone doesn't make up for 17+ million more votes. It appears therefore that moral values mean something to democratic voters as well.

We forget most American's didn't go to elite northeast liberal colleges. And some of those who did, were content with just drinking while there. Thank God!

Lose One for The Gipper

2004-11-05T20:47:00.000-05:00

Time for a post mortum. The Romney Reform train derailed last Tuesday somewhere between Boston and Washington. Far from having its intended effect, the party building excercise Romney undertook actually resulted in some self-inflicted wounds.

The campaign was built on a shaky foundation, Romney's own election, and a faulty premise, that the Legislature needs reforming.

The Massachusetts voter, astute as he is, has grown weary of the Democratic Party controlled Legislature. But it would take a Herculean effort to rectify the inbalance in the institution. So for the last 14 year, and 4 elections, we have opted for the easier quick fix; hiring someone to keep an eye on them.

Romney, like Weld and Cellucci, before him was elected to get us back to a kind of equilibrium between the two branches of state governmnet. (With the advent of an activist State Supreme Court, the voters will also be looking for ways to curtail the Court's self-assumed powers, probably through referendums initiated by the other two branches.)

During this election, Romney tried to transfer his political capital to his hand-picked Republican candidates for the legislature, ignoring a very important dictum in politics: you cannot transfer political capital, you can only (make it or) spend it. You can campaign, fundraise, and endorse a candidate. You can't choose them, and they still have to get elected on their own.

The point is that Romney is the solutionto the Democratic Legislature in the voters minds. Further reform is not welcomed. The attempt by the Governor to disguise his efforts as reform failed, utterly. It was too transparent.

Romney was really trying to remedy what is the Achilles heel of every Republican from Massachustts lusting for higher office; coming from a state that he can't carry in a general election. Romney Reform was undertaken instead to prepare the Governor for the next train to leave town, the one carrying him to Washington in 2008.

Software or Soft Pillows

2004-11-05T14:37:00.000-05:00

Technology never made an appearance in this election. In the last decade, 3 billion people from India, China, and Eastern Europe, (Russia) joined the world economic system. Many of them are well educated engineers that are going to compete with the us for jobs.

Fat and stupid in no way to go through life, son. (Dean Wormer, Faber College)
The United States is losing its competitve edge over other nations in education, technological infrastructure and R&D. To get back in the game, we need to increase the budget of the National Science Foundation ($5B), and reduce agricultural subsidies ($25B). We are investing 5 times as much in food as we are in basic research.

Investing in science and technology creates jobs. The presidential election focused instead on how we were going to protect a textile worker from South Carolina. The future of the US is not in pillowcases.

Thank You for Running

2004-11-03T09:23:00.000-05:00

Every election has it's quintessential moment. It's usually when you know whether you've won or lost the race. Most good pols know that it comes well before the final tally. It sometimes comes with the lastest polling data, and sometimes it's with the first returns.

But sometimes its during the course of election day. It my case, it came about mid-afternoon standing outside a polling station with one of the poll workers of another candidate for another race. You make some of the best aquaintences standing in the fall weather waving aimlessly at cars driving by with voters. I didn't get her name.

After about an hour of conversation about her candidate and other races, we got onto the subject of my candidacy. She said "Thank you for running." I could tell in that moment, that it was not meant to be. She was very complimentary, but she could not tell me that she had not voted for me.

So we carried on throughout the rest of day, waving robotically, going from polling place to polling place, hoping that these last gasps, (after all the lawn signs, advertising, mailings, sign holding, interviews and non-debate debates), wouldn't be necessary to make the difference.

For the record, I lost my race for Assembly of Delegates from the town of Yarmouth, decidedly. My opponent was re-elected with about 8,100 votes, about the same number she got 2 years ago when she ran unopposed. I got 4,400 votes, about 1,300 more than blanked her last time.

Along the way, we campaigned about how we would each approach the job, and what the priorities of the county government should be. In the process, my opponent managed to raise the Assembly to a new level of obscurity.

No matter how smart you are about politics and elections, (refer to previous blog, Romney Reform: NIMBY), it doesn't necessarily translate into election victory.

Shoot the Messenger

2004-11-01T10:31:00.000-05:00

"Rob O'Leary is the candidate of the NRA."
O'Leary has acheived what few Massachusetts liberals have ever received, an A grade from the National Rifle Association. Defined as a "solidly pro-gun candidate", that grade earns him an (√ ) endorsement from the NRA.

I don't know what O'Leary did, or didn't do, to deserve it, but what is even more bizarre is the Massachusetts Republican Party, and by extention his opponent in the Senate race, Gail Bronwyn Lese, sending a mailing to every voter in the district, this past weekend, telling voters of the endorsement.

Now anyone who knows O'Leary, knows he's a solid Democrat, with strong liberal leanings. In this race, he already has the registered democrats on his side, he has the liberals in his column, hell, he even has some liberal republicans in his corner, due to the environmental climate on the Cape.

But now he gets to lay claim to the gun enthusiasts, sportmen/hunters and the 2nd Amendment supporters, all constituencies that usually vote Republican. Courtesy of the Republican party and his republican opponent. And they even paid for the postage!

Desperation Makes You Do Funny Things
Any suggestion that Lese is going after O'Leary's base; democrats, liberals, or gun control advocates, is just plain nuts at this stage of the game. But that's exactly what they're doing.
It's the result of youth and inexperience. Both on the part of the candidate and her campaign manager.

Romney Reform: NIMBY

2004-10-30T21:13:00.000-05:00

No real surprises in store on Tuesday. This is an incumbents' year. Plus this year there is a Democrat (Kerry) pulling up the ticket instead of a Republican (Romney).

State Races
Terry Murray goes back to the Senate. She's the Ways and Means Chairman, the first time in the Cape's history. Let the pork flow freely. She needs Rob O'Leary to cover her left flank on Cape though. (You can't defeat a W&M Chair from the right.) So he gets the nod too.

But let's be honest, Gail Lese ran the most sophomoric campaign ever. It's like she got a no-limit credit card from her dad, but forgot to do her homework. No amount of money can buy an election that's about issues. Christ, Lou Gonzaga ran a better campaign with no money. He had better issues.

Demetrius Atsalis, won re-election on election day 2 years ago. He learned his lesson about not taking an opponent seriously, did the work this time, and wins going away. It doesn't hurt to be running against the same opponent again either.

Matt Patrick survives his own rerun against an opponent who has no issue other than the wind farm to run on, again.

Cleon Turner comes from the right part of his House district. He's got the numbers to get elected.

Shirley Gomes spent her legislative career preparing to run against a challenger from P-Town. She has the liberal credentials to fend off even a gay-rights activist in a gay marriage year.

Jeff Perry gets to go back to the State House, like every first term pol who has a weak opponent. Eric Turkington goes back too, like every verteran pol who has a weak opponent.

The Romney Reform train leaves Cape Cod station without any passengers.

Federal Races

George Bush takes Florida and Ohio and wins an electoral victory. Popular vote doesn't matter, again. The boogie-man (aka OBL) conveniently reappeared the day before Halloween, just in time to scare all the kiddies, and mommies. The soccer moms have morphed into security moms.

Bill Delahunt fends off a decent challenger, for a change. Mike Jones made a credible case for sending at least one Republican from the Massahusettts delegation to Washington. The problem is that we'll just have to wait for Christy Mihos to be that Republican.

If you support Cape Wind, vote for Bush and Delehunt without a guilty conscience.

This may seen counterintuitive, but really, when does a President get to stick it to his opponent and his Senate nemesis, both at the same time. The wind farm sits directly between John Kerry and Ted Kennedy's summer homes. Besides, Kerry would have to kowtow to Kennedy if elected.

Delahunt is powerless if Bush is President. And the Republicans in the House will keep sticking it to him. Jones would have both a voice with the White House and the House leadership.

The Usual Suspects

2004-10-27T09:36:00.000-05:00

Caught Red Handed and Red Faced. Now we know who's been taking down the Lambros signs up and down the Cape. Why it is none other than George D. Bryant, the Assembly Delegate from Provincetown.

While we might expect some deviant behaviors from Provincetown natives, kleptomania is not one of the approved of vices of the Cape-tip town or the Democratic party.

Scene of the Crime. Shortly after 7PM, on Tuesday, after attending an O'Leary fundraiser, Lance Lambros, County Commissioner from Sandwich, running for re-election, stopped by the corner of Route 28 and Yarmouth Road in Hyannis, to retrieve a 6' campaign banner that had been bungee-corded to a chain link fence, earlier that evening. But the banner had disappeared!

Crime of Opportunity. Upon arriving at the scene, Lambros encountered a white four door sedan, with the motor running and a 76 year old white male inside. Thinking he would inquire if this elderly gentleman had seen anything, Lambros instead found the missing banner in the back seat of the car. Imagine the shock and amazement upon finding his colleague, Assembly Delegate Bryant, behind the wheel.

Conspiracy? Bryant's delight at having scored such a big prize that evening was alas, short-lived. It's obvious Bryant is not supporting Lambros' candidacy. He is supporting one of the other candidates in the race, the other Democrat, from Chatham. But did Bryant have help in the disappearance of the other Lambros signs? Maybe from other Assembly Delegates from the Lower Cape that support his opponent as well? An awful lot of signs have gone missing in Harwich and Dennis.

More Than Signs Missing. For God sakes man, are you out of your mind? You don't have enough to do representing the residents from P-Town? Maybe the Speaker of the Assembly should appoint you to a County Task Force. Better yet, give you detention after the Assembly meetings, or assign you some extra homework.

By the way George, I'm missing some signs from the same neighborhood. Any idea what happened to them?

Cape and Islands : FOR SALE

2004-10-26T15:50:00.000-05:00

Gail Lese will spend $250,000 more than Rob O'Leary to get elected. The difference being the amount Lese and the Republican Party will pay out of pocket to reclaim this Senate seat. According to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, as of October 15th,

Lese for State Senate has raised about $291K. Of that total Gail Lese has lent her campaign $150K. The campaign has also received $77K in-kind from the Mass Republican State Committee, and another $14K in-kind from the candidate herself.

Incredible as it may sound Gail Lese has already spent $369K and well spend up to $450K in this campaign. Much of the spending will not be detailed until after the election.

Committee to Elect Robert O'Leary has raised $152K in the same period, and started with $16K in the bank. The candidate has not lent to his campaign. The campaign has not received in-kind contributions from the Mass Democratic State Committee (this will change), or the candidate himself (this will not change).

Not quite as, but still impressive, Rob O'Leary has spent about $100K so far and may well spend up to $200K to get re-elected.

This will be the most expensive race in the Cape & Islands history. But what is ironic, is that absent the $150K that Lese gave her campaign, they have raised about the same amount of money from contributions!

The color of money. But most of Lese's contributions come from off-Cape, while most of O'Leary's are from the Cape & Islands. While Lese has quite a few well heeled and notable contributors, many of whom delivered by the Governor, O'Leary relies on Labor Unions for the bulk of his largesse.

Ritchie Rich

2004-10-23T19:47:00.000-05:00

The Provincetown Banner must be selling a lot of advertising these days. According to the Federal Election Commission reports filed by the presidential candidates and the major parties, the single largest contributor who lists their address from Cape Cod is none other Alix Ritchie, Publisher of the Provincetown Banner, by far.

So far in the 2003 - 04 election cycle, she has given to:

Democratic National Committee $10,000
John Kerry $2000
Howard Dean $2000
Democracy for America, $1000 (Howard Dean's PAC)
Kerry-Edwards (Compliance Fund) $2000
Kerry Victory 2004 (DNC/PAC) $25,000
Hillary Clinton, $2000
EMILY's List, $7000
America Coming Together, $1000
Hill PAC $500
Moveon PAC $500

TOTAL $53,000 (as of 8/31/04)

Postscript: Add $5,000 to the MA State Democratic Committee

Blogger's Note: Timing of these things is sometimes pretty tricky. Like a lot of other good Democrats, it seems that Ms. Ritchie first gave to Kerry, then when it appeared that Dean was going to win, pre-Iowa scream, she switched horses. Then she went back to Kerry after the nomination was assured.

But no longer getting credit for being there from the beginning, had to make up for it by contributing to the DNC, big time.

Also looks like she's covering the bet with contributions to Hillary Clinton. The election cycle for 2008 apparently has already started.

In Lone Assembly Race

2004-10-22T11:10:00.000-05:00

Mitrokostas Challenges Striebel
http://www2.townonline.com/barnstable/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=110094

The Register, Newspaper of record for Yarmouth.
A map of busy life, its fluctuations and vast concerns.

Lese is More

2004-10-21T08:43:00.000-05:00

Let's make this debate quick, the Red Sox are playing. I got a chance to catch the State Senate race up close and personal last night at the Cape Cod Women's Organization dinner meeting. The CCWO is a fantastic networking and mentoring organization for women on Cape Cod.

The candidates staked out their territory early; Rob O'Leary's (D-Barnstable), primer is Education, Gail Lese's (R-Yarmouth), perscription is Healthcare, and Lou Gonzaga's (U-Hyannis), trade in stock is the Economy. O'Leary wants more money for our schools; Lese wants medical insurance for the uninsured; Gonzaga wants better paying jobs for local citizens.

But the best shots took place over needle exchange legislaton that O'Leary sponsored. As a doctor, Lese opposes the plan endorsed by the Mass Medical Association to give needles to heroin addicts. Far from promoting drug abuse, it prevents the spread of AIDS and infectious desease, according to O'Leary.

Lese objected, siting the danger of improper disposal of used needles "washing up on our beaches". For those of us who have grown up on these beaches, the faux pas was instructive. Lese is reading from a script.

Some years ago, needles did wash up on some (non-Cape) shores from the improper disposal of medical waste by hospitals; disposed of in sewer systems with outfall pipes, or trash barges that dumped in the ocean illegally. The problem was addressed. Laws were passed.

Although, I can imagine a few addicts shooting up on the beaches of P-town, the greatest risk for shore walkers is the aftermath of sex on the beach, not drugs on the beach. You would know that if you walked the beaches of the Cape.

But it was Gonzaga's turn to remind the audience that Lese is not from here, holding up a t-shirt with the words "Cape Cod is not for Sale", refering to her spending over $250K to unseat O'Leary.

Lese uses the word "exponentiates" alot. She is "profoundly grateful", has the "highest honor", and the "priviledge", to pursue this "noble" profession. In all she had a pretty good night in front of friendly audience.

Memorable lines from the debate:

Lese to O'Leary: "You have to live by the votes you take."

O'Leary to Lese: "You can't spend the same money twice."

Gonzaga to voters: "A vote for Lou is a vote for you."

(U) may stand for Underdog, but then again the Red Sox are in the World Series.

The Real World

2004-10-20T12:43:00.000-05:00

John Kerry: "Boy, to listen to that, the president, I don't think, is living in a world of reality with respect to the environment. Now, if you're a Red Sox fan, that's OK. But if you're a president, it's not."

And this is not the first time he's insulted Red Sox Nation. But you wanna bet he'll be in the front row at Fenway next week. Beleive!

W is for Ketchup

2004-10-20T12:26:00.000-05:00

W Ketchup™ is made in America, from ingredients grown in the USA. The leading competitor not only has 57 varieties, but has 57 foreign factories as well. W Ketchup comes in one flavor: American. www.wketchup.com

A portion of every W Ketchup sale is donated to the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund which provides scholarships for the children of active duty service members killed in the line of duty.

Choose Heinz and you're supporting Teresa Heinz and her liberal causes, such as Kerry for President. Choose W Ketchup and you support our brave heroes who have fallen in battle.

Who's Your Daddy?

2004-10-17T15:03:00.000-05:00

Are we on the verge of greatest comback in, a. political, b. baseball history ? As our local heros stuggle with the likes of dynasties, the Bushes and the Yankees, I was struck by the similarity in their respective seasons. Both Kerry and the Red Sox surged early only to fade in the end.

But one coincidence really stands out. Bush had his convention in New York and Kerry had his in Boston. And as conventions go, it was no contest. The Democrats, they are no Red Sox.

Did I hear Kerry say, while in Arizona last week, that if he had to choose between the Presidency and the World Series this year, he would choose the former ? In that statement lies everything you need to know about John Kerry. Who's your daddy, John?

Log Cabin Democrats

2004-10-16T16:10:00.000-05:00

Sounds like the Kerry-Edwards campaign is getting a little desperate in the final days. You can always tell, when as a last ditch effort they go after the other guy's base.

In the last two debates, first Edwards and then Kerry "outed" Lynn Cheney as first being gay, by Edwards, and when it didn't get enough play, or indignation, then as a "lesbian", by Kerry.

Far from being a "compliment" as Kerry offered afterwards, it was designed to get Bush's evangelical base to stay home, not vote on election day. Or if that doesn't ultimately work, give him a little momentum in the polls leading up Nov. 2.

Kerry campaign manager, Marybeth Cahill, covered for Kerry's mistake, by saying that Lynn Cheney, was "fair game". But then Mrs. Edwards weighed in, by saying that Mrs. Cheney must be ashamed of her daughter for not recognizing her more often in public, making sure that the evangelicals understood what they were supposed to be thinking.

Mrs. Edwards' piling on had the effect of tipping the media over on the issue, exposing the intent from the beginning was to embarass the Vice President, and here we are 5 days later talking about Kerry's utterance of the "L" word as if it were Howard Dean's scream.

By the way, not one to cast aspersions, but have you noticed that the Edwards' never stand together in public. Looks a little familiar doesn't it, like Charles and Diana. Can Camilla be far behind?

Who's Fighting For Who?

2004-10-15T08:59:00.000-05:00

"If you liked Sen. Rauschenbach, You'll love Gail Lese." says a recent mailing to registered voters in the Cape & Islands Senate District, by the Mass GOP on behalf of Gail Lese, the Republican challenger to Senator Rob O'Leary. The piece accuses O'Leary of choosing special interests over the voters.

The problem is, Henri Rauschenbach is a registered lobbyist and represents those special interests on Beacon Hill that O'Leary is accused of listening to. Or maybe O'Leary isn't, which is why Rauschenbach is lending his name to Lese.

Very clever piece though. It doesn't actually say that Rauschenbach is backing Lese. With Lou Gonzaga also in the race, he may be keeping his options open.

The Times Nostrum

2004-10-12T15:49:00.000-05:00

None of the Above is not on the ballot this November. There is however a choice on the ballot for the Assembly Delegate from Yarmouth. It's not a traditional partisan race with a choice between a Democrat and a Republican, but it does allow the voters to choose between an incumbent and a challenger.

In a not so visable position, the Assembly Delegate (AD) serves in the legislative branch of county government, the appropriating body of Barnstable County. Each one of Barnstable County's 15 towns sends a representative, but each delegate gets a vote proportional to their town's population.

Barnstable County resident voters are probably more familiar with the County Commissioners who are elected to 4 year terms and represent everyone. Each AD comes up for election every 2 years, and this year there is only one AD race, in the town of Yarmouth.

Running for the post is the incumbent, Charlotte Striebel, former Selectwoman from Yarmouth The challenger is yours truly, Spyro Mitrokostas, former Executive Director of the Cape Cod Technology Council. Both candidates bring various qualities and experience to the task at hand, but that is not the subject of this article.

What is, is the recent editorial in the Cape Cod Times, not recommending either candidate to the electorate. So disparaging was their criticism, that they went so far as to recommend leaving the ballot blank to send a message.

Everyone I have spoken to (who has read the editorial) is stunned. The suggestion left many agog at the obstinacy, to say the least. It's hard to know where to begin to respond; defend the candidates, the institution, or the electorate, from the newspaper's own subversion.

The editorial's description of the candidates' positions was substantially correct. The editors, however, seem to be confusing a difference of opinion with holding no opinion of value.

There is no litmus test for this office. You don't have to beleive in regionalism to serve in the Assembly, just as one does not have to espouse Federalism to serve in Congress. You can be an advocate for state's rights. Same holds true for the County Assembly. You can be a town first candidate.

The ADs are elected by the towns' resident voters to advocate their towns' interest. The County Commissioners, on the other hand, have to be advocates for the region's needs. And the budget process is where the tension between the two branches plays out.

The Times should take their own advice and read the report of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Wastewater. I beleive my position, of locally based solutions aided by County resources, is much closer to the Commitee's position than the Times'.

We may disagree on the usefulness of the Cape Cod Commission, but the Times is so blinded by their fealty to the Commission, it fails to see that almost every elected official (and candidate), has dismissed the idea of a county wide wastewater treatment agency with revenue raising authority. Sorry, read the report.

But I digress. The real point is that the Times missed the point about the race for AD intentionally. Where there actually is a competitive race for an Assembly, they advocate the voter not vote. Where is the editorial outrage that there aren't any races in Barnstable, Dennis, Falmouth, Bourne, Sandwich, Mashpee, Harwich, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, Chatham, Truro, Wellfleet, P-Town? Those resident voters have no choice. But it's OK to tell Yarmouth voters not to vote?

By the way, for the record, I grew up in Yarmouth and graduated from DY. I went to college, graduate school, worked in Boston for a number of years, and came back to the Cape 14 years ago. I've lived and served in public office in Mashpee and Brewster before I moved back to my hometown of Yarmouth, to raise my kids, start a local business, and care for parents who still live in the old neighborhood.

I think I know what Yarmouth voters want from their County government. Far from not knowing what Yarmouth' needs are, Yarmouth doesn't need to find better candidates, it needs to know that it has a choice in candidates, as it does in newspapers.

Maybe we should make the election ballot a referendum this year. Why stop at the Assembly Delegate's race? If you don't like the choice of candidates in any given race, send a message, blank it. Let's make a blank vote on November 2nd, a vote for the Cape Cod Times.

Editorial Available at www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/edits

nos·trum (nstrm)n.
A medicine whose effectiveness is unproved and whose ingredients are usually secret; a quack remedy.
Source: The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary

Spyro Mitrokostas for Yarmouth

2004-10-11T22:00:00.000-05:00

Mitrokostas Announces Run for Assembly of Delegates

Yarmouth resident and native, Spyro Mitrokostas, announced his candidacy for Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates today. The Assembly of Delegates is the legislative body of Cape’s regional government. It is responsible for deliberating, and approving the appropriations of Barnstable County.

“Having grown up on Cape Cod, working in my family’s restaurants, I really see the problems with a seasonal economy based in low wage industries.” According to Mitrokostas, “What we need is to move our local economy to year round wages and salaries, so we can afford to compete for housing and keep our young people from leaving to find better jobs or cheaper housing.”

As the Executive Director of the Cape Cod Technology Council, which works to foster the growth of the technology industry on Cape Cod, Mitrokostas has been advocating moving our local economy into year round employment at better paying jobs.

“The County is uniquely situated as a public entity to promote regional economic development initiatives, as well as develop regional solutions to the Cape’s health and environmental challenges, and also provide for various human services Cape-wide”, said Mitrokostas.

Recognizing the financial resources that the County has to address regional problems, Mitrokostas offers, “Given the recent surpluses that the County has been seeing, it is also incumbent on the County to help Yarmouth by returning that surplus to the towns so they can meet the demand for local services as well.”

Mitrokostas serves many community organizations including the Workforce Investment Board, The Governor’s Regional Competitiveness Council, and the Cape Cod Community College Foundation. He has also served in various town appointed positions, including the Yarmouth Economic Revitalization Committee.

Shortly after graduating from college, the D-Y graduate joined the Dukakis Adminstration serving in several economic development positions. He also worked on Mike Dukakis’s gubernatorial and presidential campaigns.

Although Mitrokostas is a registered Republican, he has helped candidates and worked to elect office holders from both parties. “I always look to see which candidates could best serve their town, the Cape, or the state.”

Non-profit organizations on Cape Cod make up a large part of the civic and cultural life on Cape Cod. “It’s important to serve your community at every level, said Mitrokostas. Aside from his commitment to the Community College, he also serves on the Cape Cod Cultural Center Advisory Board, and is a Director of Clean Power Now.

Mitrokostas lives in West Yarmouth, with his wife Krista and their 3 children.

O'Leary in League with Gun Owners

2004-10-11T17:30:00.000-05:00

Who Would Have Thought
State Senator Robert O'Leary (D) Barnstable would have scored an A grade from the Gun Owner's Action League. According to their Candidates' Rating for 2004, O'Leary "has consistently voted to support gun owners rights in the State Legislature".

This will certianly come in handy in his contest for relection against his Republican challenger, Gail Lese, of Yarmouth, no matter how embarassing it is to the history professor.

No doubt envious at how an ultra-liberal scores with the Gun Lobby, Senator Therese Murray (D) Plymouth, scored a D grade from GOAL for "... rarely voted to support gun owners rights...".

"I don't know how he does it," said Lou Gonzaga (U), Hyannis, who is also in the race for O'Leary's seat. "It must have something to do with his shooting himself in the foot all the time."

The Good Doctor

2004-10-11T17:29:00.000-05:00

Time for another Pop-Quiz: Complete the following sentences.

A pediatrician can be pro-choice by also being ...
A. a liberal
B. a Democrat
C. Dr. Gail Lese
D. all of the Above

An MD can manage a mutual fund of alcohol and tobacco stocks by also being ...
A. a conservative
B. a Republican
C. Dr. Gail Lese
D. all of the above

Correct answers can be found at www.leseforsenate.com, the offical website of LA Doctor- Boston Fund Manger Gail Bronwyn Lese, the liberal-conservative, Democrat-Republican running for State Senate from Nahant-Yarmouth.

The Rich and Powerful

2004-10-07T10:55:00.000-05:00

They Are Among Us
How did Senator John Warner (R) of Virginia come to throw the bigggest hurdle in front of the Cape Wind farm in Nantucket Sound? Family connections, and a coincidence of Senatorial Committee assignments that makes the Perfect Storm look like an afternoon thunder shower.

Mellon, remember that name, because you're going to hear alot about it in the next few months. Senator John Warner, married money, both times. It was very instrumental in advancing his political career. (Sound familiar?)

His first wife was Catherine Mellon, daughter of Paul Mellon, of the famed Pittsburg Mellons. But by the time Paul got the money, they had moved to the Virginia side of Washington, DC. John Warner and Catherine Mellon, and had 3 children, Virginia, John and Mary. Turns out Mary and Virgina have homes in Osterville, Oyster Harbors, and are preoccupied with philanthropic and environmental causes (you'll see the irony) here.

Senator John Warner has a vested interest in not seeing, in this case, the wind farm built within sight of the family homes in Osterville. Virginia and Mary would be very put out if it were to be built, not least because they had the means to kill the project, and the gaggle at the Wianno Club would be mortified if they didn't use their clout.

But wait, there is an even more important family connection at play here. Turns out the family patriarch's (Paul) 2nd wife is non other than the famed, and much beloved Bunny Mellon (formerly Rachel Lloyd Lambert) which would make her Catherine's step-mother and Virginia's and Mary's step-grandmother. Mrs. Mellon owns ALOT of real estate in Osterville.

Still with me? There is more.

There are a few Conover's living in the neighborhood too. Paul Mellon's first wife and Catherine's mother was Mary Conover. Senator John Warner's first wife, Catherine Mellon, now Catherine Conover (very generous to local environmental causes) is also living in Osterville. And as anyone who has ever been divorced will understand, " Now what's a Senator to do?"

Enter Opportunity
US Senator John Warner, is Chairman of the Armed Service Committee, and also chairman of the subcomittee that oversees the Army Corps of Engineers (the permitting agency of the Cape Wind project).

While the Cape Wind Environmental Review is being held hostage at the Pentagon, Senator Warner proposed an amendment to a military appropriations bill pending in the Senate, to kill the Cape Wind project. I'll leave it up the the professional scribes to expose the inner workings of the Senate and the Pentagon from here on, but let's not forget, Senator John Warner once served as Secretary of the Navy.

There's nothing like having a third Senator from the Cape to get the job done, (stopping CapeWind) when the other two can't or won't get their hands dirty. Especially when there's a really good family tree to do so. Turns out it was Mellon's, not Kennedy's or Heinz's.

Show Me the Money

2004-10-05T16:17:00.000-05:00

and I'll show you an Editorial. In case you missed it, the Cape Cod Times endorsed Demetrius Atsalis (D) Hyannis, today.

The Cape Cod Times, not known for their won-loss record in endorsing candidates, (they're batting about .500), came around to seeing the advantage of a local representative working together with leadership in the Statehouse to benefit the district (read, get our fair share of pork).

Blinded by their dislike for Tom Finneran, the Times took Atsalis to task 2 years ago for siding with the Speaker of the House in the Clean Elections debate. Never mind voters in his district had misgivings about the referendum, his allegience to the Speaker doomed Atsalis in the minds of the Times.

Now that the Speaker has departed from the pulpit, er, podium, the Times can focus on the real work being done in the legislature by Atsalis; $3.9 million for rehabing Main Street, Hyannis, $3.7 million for Hyannis Youth Center, among other funding. That's what they're supposed to be doing in the legislature.

Ironically, the Times contributed to Atsalis' effectiveness in these last two legislative sessions. Standing with the Speaker, while withstanding the Times onslaught 2 years ago, empowered Atsalis with the Leadership. He became Vice-chairman of the Commerce and Labor Committee and got the appropriations for his district.

This time around, Atsalis is fending off the Governor. Who knows, with Mitt Romney targeting him for defeat, maybe Chairman Atsalis can rewrite the education funding formula if he wins.

Recent Cape Cod Times Editorials at http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/edits

Loyal Flush

2004-10-05T15:13:00.000-05:00

On being true to one's colors.
If you are a candidate running for partisan political office, shouldn't you have at least voted for that party's standard bearer in the previous election?

I mean wouldn't it be at least intellectually honest to have voted for Mitt Romney for Governor in 2002 if you're going to run for office as a Republican in 2004? I mean if you were a Democrat in 2002, you would have voted for Shannon O'Brien, right?

It stands to reason, if you were a Republican, you would have voted for Romney. Then, what are the chances you would have voted for Romney if you were a Democrat in 2002? Are you following this?

Guess who was a Democrat in 2002, voted for the Democrat running for Governor in 2002, switched teams to run for office as a Republican in 2004 at the behest of the Republican who was elected in 2002? First one to guess right gets a prize.

66-6

2004-10-01T17:06:00.000-05:00

Did you get a Permission Slip for that War ?

My take on the Presidential Debate last night; it was a football game. Kerry played mostly offense, while Bush was mostly on defense. You need the ball to score. Kerry threw incomplete passes and a couple of interceptions but Bush didn't score with them. The President drove to the goal line several times, but only kicked feild goals.

Democrats thought that Kerry won because he didn't get slaughtered. Plus he looked good in his uniform. Republicans thought Bush won because he did what he had to do. But it wasn't pretty. Everyone else should think that they played to a tie, the way the NFL used to 20 years ago. So we have to wait until the next time they meet to settle the score.

The couple of interceptions Kerry threw were his pronouncements that the US (1) pass a global test to go to war, and (2) has had the historic right to preemptive strike especially during the Cold War. Say what? The President should have run these statements back for touchdowns, but like alot of verteran defensive backs who see the end zone before they catch the ball; they never quite get there.

Bill Cosby used to do a comedy routine about the Hosftra University football team. They would routinely lose 66-0. One game they lost 66-6. The Hofstra fans went crazy. They thought they had won.

Is There a Doctor in the State House ?

2004-10-01T13:59:00.000-05:00

POP QUIZ: If all three candidates for State Senate from the Cape & Islands district were in State House last week for a meeting with the Governor, and he suddenly took ill, God forbid, which one could legally minister to his ailment? ANSWER: None of them have a license to practice medicine in Massachusetts.

Going 15 Rounds in the Sound

2004-09-30T12:09:00.000-05:00

In This Corner
I was just wondering when the wind farm in Nantucket Sound was going to be making an apprearance in this year's elections. It's tough to see how when almost everyone running has a variation of the same position on the issue.

With the exception of Rep. Matt Patrick (D), of Falmouth, who supports the project, but is waiting to see the results of the environmental review, all the other candidates for state or federal office, are opposed to the project, but are waiting to see the environmental report.

Patrick's opponent for the House seat from the Falmouth-Mashpee-Barnstable district, Larry Wheatley (R), Barnstable ran mainly as an opponent of Cape Wind two year's ago, with the overwhelming backing of the Cape Cod Times, to the degree that voters could not decifer his position on any other issue. Wheatley could hardly do otherwise, since the district includes the village of Osterville, Ground Zero for the opposition forces. Wheatley could not stray far from this base, without other hamlets of support in the district, like Falmouth.

This time around both candidate's have moderated their positions somewhat, or at least turned down the volumn. And the Times has stopped reminding everyone that Wheatley is opposed to the project, since it tends to bring out voters who might vote against Wheatley for his opposition to the project. Got that?

The House race in the Barnstable-Yarmouth district, which includes the Hyannis and West Yarmouth waterfront precincts, pits two candidates, Rep. Demetrius Atsalis (D), and Ann Canedy (R), both opposed to the wind farm, against each other, again in another rerun. They've stopped trying to outdo each other in their opposition to the wind farm, this time around. Given the similarity of their positions, neither is bringing up the subject this year.

In the Yarmouth-Dennis-Brewster district race, Dick Nietz (R) of Yarmouth has taken the offensive on the field of opposition to the wind farm, while Cleon Turner (D) of Dennis has taken to defending his opposition to the wind farm. Both postions are nuanced; Neitz's hometown stands to gain significantly from Cape Wind's construction, while Turner's proclivity for taking positions on the left, has many of his supporters supporting the wind farm as well.

Footnotes: The incumbent, Tom George (R) of Yarmouth, not running for re-election, interestingly supports the project. George is still the most principled man in Cape politics. Cynthia Stead (R) who was defeated in the Primary by Neitz, was the only other candidate in the field for a state house office supporting the wind farm.

The Lower Cape district features Rep. Shirley Gomes (R) of Harwich running for relection, and Sarah Peake (D) of Provincetown. Both women have staked out positions against the project, having more to do with their strategy to get (re)elected, than their principles. Gomes would like to nail down (win) the town of Chatham, whose voters largely oppose the project, while Peake wants to placate the true environmentalists in the district (read Democrats who need a reason to vote for a Democrat again). Peake doesn't need to complicate the election with the wind farm issue, since the it's a referendum on gay marriage anyway.

The Lightweights
In the race for State Senate from the Cape & Islands district, political newcomer, Gail Lese (R) from Yarmouth opposes the project. It seems she's taking her marching orders from Governor Romney, who recruited her specifically to move into the distrct and run for this seat as part of the Romney GOP charge to take back (part of ) the Senate. While incumbent Sen. Rob O'Leary (D) Barnstable, came out early in opposition (2 years before Gail Lese had even moved into the district) to the wind farm at the behest Congressman Bill Delahunt. Recently, both candidates were the beneficiaries of fundrasing efforts on their behalves by their political patrons. Don't expect a lot of debate on this topic during the campaign, Romney and Delahunt are on the same page on this one.

Footnote: Lou Gonzaga (I) of Hyannis is opposed to the wind farm, even though the only politcal hay to be made in his race, (read votes) would be to stake out a position contrary to his opponents.

The Referee
Most candidates realize that their positions now cut both ways. Cape Codders seem to be evenly split on the issue. Despite the Cape Cod Times best (worst) effort to slant the results of a poll to make it appear that a majority of residents opposed the project, the polling data reveiled that about 2/5 of us support the wind farm , about 2/5 oppose the wind farm, and the remaining 1/5 of us could go either way. So however the candidates pose their position, they will try to bury it somewhere beneath their postions on issues like, school funding/aid formulas, and gay marriage.

The Heavyweights
The most interesting race this year seems to be in the 10th Congressional District because of the geography of the region, which includes both Osterville and Quincy. The most vociferous opponent of the wind farm has been Congressman Bill Delahunt(D) of Quincy. In responding to the early calls from the Cape based opponents, like the Chamber of Commerce, he has gone so far as to file legislation to stop the project, lobby federal agencies against it, and recruit opponents to fight it.

What is curious about these actions is that there has been no mention of them in the Quincy Pariot Ledger. Quincy is where the Fore River Shipyard is located, the most ideal location for the manufacture(r) of the wind turines (GE). Delahunt opted to preserve the view of the Osterville crowd, some of whom are Pioneers (fundraisers) for Bush, at the expense of union jobs for the folks back home.

His challenger, Mike Jones (R) of Plymouth seems to be taking the same tack, but for a slightly more ethical reason. He doesn't care about Quincy, which he can't win anyway, because it's overwhelmingly Democtratic, but he needs the Governor's support, who opposes the wind farm, in the rest of the district to win.

Blonde Ambition

2004-09-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

The Sin of Ommission
Candidate for State Senate from the Cape & Islands district, Gail Lese is fond of telling people that she was a finalist for a White House Fellowship in 2003, six months before she moved to the Cape and began her campaign for the Legislature.
Interesting then, that she would neglect to mention that she was also a finalist for the same honour in 1998.The difference being that the 2003 application was serving George W. Bush, quite nice if you're a Repubican running for political office. The 1998 application however was under William J. Clinton, not so circumspect if you are a (R).
Not to worry though, Ms. Lese was a registered Democrat in 1998, according to her campaign manager, a fact also conveniently omitted from her curriculum vitea. At the time she applied for the Clinton White House Fellowship, sometime between the being a pediatrician and a mutual fund manager, she was a filmmaker living in Cambridge, according to a White House press release.
Ms. Lese could be forgiven her mistake as a first time candidate, if it weren't for the fact that she has a Republican campaign consutant on retainer for $8,000 a month, so if not guilty of the sin of ommission, then chalk it up simply to Blonde Ambition.

Editorial Note: At post time, Lou Gonzaga, Independent candidate for the same Senate seat, had yet to apply for a White House Fellowship.

Blind Ambition

2004-09-30T07:30:00.000-05:00

In a recent MassNews.com item featuring Lou Gonzaga, the story states in part that he has never been elected to political office and knows that unseating a popular Democrat will be a tough task. That's why he announced his run 16 months before the election and began running immediately. He told a reporter at the time that getting a head start was "the only way I'm going to win this race."

Political Anagram:
Timothy Duncan, resident of Cambridge,and candidate for State Senate from Falmouth, is an anagram for "Thy Nomadic Nut".

Political Daffi-nitions:
CARPETBAGGER, During the Reconstruction period (2002- present) following the election of Governor Mitt Romney, any Northern Shore politician or financial adventurer accused of going South to use the newly enfranchised freedmen (Unenrolled) as a means of obtaining office or profit. The epithet originally referred to an unwelcome stranger coming, with no more property than he could carry in a satchel (carpetbag), to exploit or dominate a region, such as Cape Cod, against the wishes of some or all of its inhabitants. Although carpetbaggers often supported the corrupt financial schemes that helped to bring the Republican Party into ill repute, many of them were genuinely concerned with the freedom and education of Cape Cod citizens.

Red added by Blogger
________________________________
Spyro Mitrokostas is the former Executive Director of the Cape Cod Technology Council and has held the same position at the Cape Cod Internet Council. He has been a politically active going back to the early Dukakis and Kerry campaigns and he is presently a candidate from Yarmouth for the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates. He is a lifelong resident of Cape Cod and a graduate of the London School of Economics.

Where to Vote: For a list of all of Cape Cod's polling places click here.

To See Previous Blog, Click HERE.

Apathy for the Assembly - Thumbs Down

2004-09-29T19:04:00.000-05:00

Charlotte Striebel of Yarmouth, who is running for re-election to the Assembly of Delegates against Spyro Mitrokostas, recently told us that in her six years on the Assembly, not one voter has called her about a county issue.
Now we realize that the Assembly directly serves the Cape's 15 towns and indirectly its 230,000 residents, but one would think that Yarmouth voters might have something to say about county government.
Although anecdotal, does this tell us anything about the health of democracy on Cape Cod?

Cheers & Jeers

Treasures that washed ashore recently,

flotsom we hope the next tide carries away.

Cape Cod Times (9/24/04)

Patriot of Barnstable

2004-09-28T21:55:00.000-05:00

Trenchant and often trench-coated political correspondent Jack Coleman has left the Cape Cod Times for the virtual reality of blogging on the Cape Cod TODAY Web site. Coleman, who wrote the “Political Notes” column for the daily and covered the Democratic (but not the Republican) convention for the Times, has joined forces with former Cape Cod Technology Council executive director Spyro Mitrokostas.

Mitrokostas is running for Yarmouth’s seat on the county Assembly of Delegates, and Coleman has announce that he’s working as a volunteer in Demetrius Atsalis’s re-election campaign. Will Cape Cod Today offer a blog to Yarmouth’s incumbent delegate, Charlotte Striebel, and Atsalis’s opponent, Ann Canedy?

Coleman is following a well-worn path from the Times newsroom to the Atsalis boiler room. The representative’s chief of staff, Michael Karath, used to report for the daily.

Those who’ve followed the wind farm controversy will enjoy another of Coleman’s contributions to the Web site: “Two Wrights Make a Wrong,” the satiric story of how rich beachfront property owners opposed the Wright brothers’ experimental flights in 1904 through the Alliance to Protect Kitty Hawk. In this alternate reality, the Kitty Hawk Times opposes this “private takeover of public skies” even though this marks “a sharp departure from the paper’s previous support for many technological advances of the era, such as the light bulb, moving pictures and indoor plumbing.” Chalk it up to Times editor Charles Ulmer Farley, “who refuses to dispatch any of his reporters to scheduled flights of the Wrights’ aeroplane, even though two local weekly newspapers have done so.”

Political Potpourri (9/24/04) See original here.

See Jack's cautionary tale here.

Candidate is stealing credit due legislators

2004-09-28T06:07:00.000-05:00

I do not understand the Times' reluctance to give credit where credit is due regarding the Hyannis Youth and Community Center.

No matter who lobbies the governor, all appropriations start in the Legislature. Rep. Demetrius Atsalis starts the ball rolling in the House with the $3.5 million request, hands off to Ways and Means Chairwoman Therese Murray in the Senate, and now candidate Gail Lese gets credit for saving the appropriation from a Mitt Romney veto?

Spyro Mitrokostas, West Yarmouth

Letter to the Editor (9/24/04)

Cape Cod Times

What the Legislature Giveth,

2004-09-27T19:45:00.000-05:00

The Governor Can Taketh Away, or he can try at least.
The Romney Administration has denied election year politics had anything to do with the Governor's decision to veto a number of popular projects in districts where he was targeting Democratic incumbents.

Besides the recent broohaha over the Hyannis Youth and Receation Center's $3.5 million appropriation, (which the Governor eventually signed), controvery surrounded several other projects involving Cape projects. Three in particular were sponsored by Rep. Demetrius Atsalis (D) of Hyannis, running for reelection in the 2nd Barnstable Dictrict, against a Romney endorsed opponent.

Funding for the projects, originally passed in the State Budget, were vetoed by Governor Romney, only to be overridden (and reinstated) later by the legislature.

The projects in question included the Cape Cod Chamber's, EntreCenter, The Cape Cod Technology Council's, Technology Education and Training Collaborative, and Yarmouth's Cape Cod Cultural Center.

AWNAA Passes

2004-09-27T17:36:00.000-05:00

September 12, 2005, WASHINGTON, DC (AP)
Congress approved sweeping legislation, which provides new benefits for many Americans. The Americans With No Abilities Act (AWNAA), signed into law by President John F. Kerry shortly after its passage, is being hailed as a major victory by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills or ambition.

"Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society," said Kerry, a long-time AWNA supporter. "This is why many of them voted for me. We can no longer stand by and allow People of Inability to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they do a better job, or have some idea of what they are doing", said Kerry.

President Kerry pointed to the success of the US Postal Service and Medicare, both of which have a long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. Approximately 80 percent of the employees of these two important organizations lack job skills, making these two agencies the single largest US employers of Persons of Inability. Private sector industries with good records of nondiscrimination Against the Inept include retail sales (72%), the airline industry (68%), and the home improvement "warehouse" stores (65%). President Kerry has also set an example, personally selecting hundreds of Non-abled people for top level government positions, including many Cabinet level jobs.

Under the Americans With No Abilities Act, more than 10 million "middleman" positions will be created, with important sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance. Mandatory non-performance based raises and promotions will be given, to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable employees.
The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations which maintain a significant level of Persons of Inability in top positions, and gives a tax credit to small and medium businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires.

Finally, the AWNAA contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the Non-abled, banning discriminatory interview questions such as "do you have any goals for the future?" or "Do you have any skills or experience which relates to this job?" and "how can you make this company successful?".

"As a Non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them," said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a Lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, MI due to her lack of notable job skills. "This new law should really help people like me. "With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented and/or unmotivated citizens can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Said Kerry, "It is our duty to provide each and every American Citizen, regardless of his or her adequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation."

Contributed by a Private Sector Employee

with apologies to the truly Disabled