Outlaws On The Run

Gunn, Asselin and Dawson

In the normal course of events, politicians are first elected to office and then they get arrested. But here in the bizarro world of Valley politics, first comes the perp walk, then comes the nomination papers.

Local Tea Party hero Bill Gunn

Yet an arrest record may actually work to the advantage of William Gunn of Ware, who will officially announce this weekend that he is running for U.S. Congress against incumbent John Olver. Gunn came to national attention last month when he was arrested in the balcony of the House of Representatives in Washington D.C. for yelling at the lawmakers below to "Kill the Bill" meaning the government healthcare takeover legislation which was under consideration at the time. Gunn and his companion in civil disobedience, Dave Sanders of Wilbraham, became instant folk heroes among the very active Tea Party movement here in the Valley. Gunn summarizes his campaign platform as follows:



I am running for the position of United States Representative for the first district of Massachusetts. I am currently collecting signatures and I can use all the help I can get.

We are going to oust John Olver, and the PEOPLE are going to take back the house. The house of representatives is supposed to be comprised of CITIZEN REPRESENTATIVES; people like you and me. It is time to show a renewed reverence for the Constitution and bring spending under control and actually CUT SPENDING ON EVERY GOVERNMENT PROGRAM.

The tax burden needs to be reduced, and if any are going to pay an income tax, ALL must pay an income tax. Only then will the majority of the people start voting for fiscal restraint.

Can Gunn win? Olver has faced better known challengers in the past and won re-election handily, but this is an unpredictable year when the winds of change are blowing at gale force. Gunn will also get a ton of free publicity when his case goes to trial. I put his chance of victory at fifty-fifty.

However former State Representative Christopher Asselin of Springfield is unlikely to be able to turn his former arrest record into a political plus, but that hasn't stopped him from announcing that he will be running to reclaim his old job. As explained by Masslive:



With 18 months in prison, $140,000 in restitution and one major corruption scandal behind him, former state Rep. Christopher P. Asselin is primed for a political comeback.

Breaking a long public silence, the 40-year old Democrat announced on Monday that he is considering running for his old seat in the 9th Hampden District, which straddles the Springfield and Chicopee border.

Asselin, the youngest son of a well-known political clan, won two terms on Beacon Hill before being named in a 122-count indictment accusing him, his father, mother, wife, four siblings and others of looting the taxpayer-financed Springfield Housing Authority for a decade.

After pleading guilty to bribery, theft and fraud conspiracy charges in 2007, Asselin was given an 18-month prison term. His father, Raymond, director of the authority until 2004, was ordered to serve 10 years behind bars.

Here is the first half of an interview with Asselin yesterday on the Bax and O'Brien Show, in which Asselin comes out swinging by essentially accusing incumbent Sean Curran of being a liar and a phony.



Here's the second half, where O'Brien asks Asselin about his alleged "mental issues":



Can Asselin rise from the ashes? Well, Springfield makes up most of the district, and Springfield voters are notorious for electing and re-electing bad guys, so it's impossible to say that Asselin has no chance. But incumbent Curran is popular, and is sure to remind voters of all the sordid details of the Asselin scandal. I would put Chris Asselin's chances at no better than one in three.



But to top it all off, after a sordid domestic scandal last year devolved into incidents of public violence that sank the re-election hopes of Agawam Mayor Susan Dawson, most observers thought that her political career was over. Not so, apparently, as Dawson is now running for State Senate! But hey, if Gunn can be arrested in the halls of Congress and run as a hero, and Asselin can walk out of prison and announce his own race, then why shouldn't Dawson run as well? Agawam voters adore dirty politics and she was the mud-wrestling queen they loved to hate. The electorate may choose Dawson just for her future entertainment value.

I took this picture in Northampton's Haymarket Cafe early this morning.



Portraits on the Haymarket wall.



Haymarket staircase.

Endorsements

And Predictions



Oh no, don't tell me we've slithered around to another local election! Well, I guess I must do my duty and advise you how to vote. Not that I expect you to follow my advice, I certainly don't allow anyone to tell me how to cast my ballot and neither should you. However if you're a wiseass like me who spends the whole campaign season pretending to be some kind of ultra-informed pundit, then I think I owe it to you, dear readers, at the end of the process to give you my frank opinion of who I perceive as being the best (and worst) candidates and who I think will win. Of course the voters may end up making me look like a fool at the polls tomorrow if my preditions turn out wrong and my appraisals incorrect, but that won't bother me. You don't play this game as long as I have without developing the hide of a rhinocerous.

Let's start with the Springfield Mayor's race:

Dominic Sarno

The long awaited arrival of ward representation in Springfield has turned out to be something of a dud, at least in the short term. Of course it didn't help that for at least three decades the corrupt Democrat Party machine in Springfield, afraid of talent and hateful towards idealism, systematically drove out of town nearly everyone who wasn't a criminal or a hack. Now the talent pool is so thin that when ward representation finally arrived to water down the power of the political establishment, there really were hardly any good activists left still living in town to vote for. Yet, it is crucially important that the few decent candidates win.

Unfortunately, at the top of the ticket there are no decent candidates. There are instead Dom Sarno and Bud Williams, with Sarno being the least undesirable. Ironically, less than a year ago voters were anxious to punish Sarno for doing a bait and switch job on the city's hated trash fee, which Sarno used to dupe voters into foolishly choosing him over the sainted Charles V. Ryan. However, if the only alternative is Williams, then voters would only punish themselves by dumping Sarno.

I like Bud Williams, but he has no business running for mayor. In fact if elected he wouldn't even really be mayor, the real power behind the throne would be his best friend and controversial deal maker Frederic Hurst. Both Williams and Hurst were shameless servants of Mike Albano during his reign of incompetence and corruption, and they have long associations with some of the shadiest characters in town. You don't want to find out who shows up in City Hall once Williams and Hurst are in charge. Therefore, the wisest voters will put a clothespin on their nose and vote for Sarno.

Fortunately there are some good candidates to choose further down the ballot. Fiscal conservative Tim Rooke deserves a return to the City Council, and would have able allies by his side if Pine Point's John Lysak and former Councilor Carol Caulton were elected as well. Dynamic School Commitee member Antonette Pepe deserves re-election as does Chris Collins. Joe Flebotte (below) MUST defeat Albano stooge Peter Murphy.



Predictions - Voters re-elect Sarno, but without enthusiasm as Williams gets a depressingly high percentage even as he loses. The councilor and school committee candidates I chose will all win despite being saddled with my endorsement.

Next let's look at the mayor's race in Northampton:

M. Clare Higgins

It's odd how hotly contested this race is, since it is between two big government liberals with no known differences on any significant issue. With no issues to disagree on, the race had no place to go but to become very personal. The real challenge to whoever wins the mayoralty is to try and reunite the city after so much hard feelings on both sides.

Simply put, challenger Mike Bardsley hasn't made a compelling case to remove incumbent Clare Higgins. She may have suffered a little from the hubris that comes from holding an office for a longtime, but her second place finish in the primary was a sufficient wake up call. There are big budget cuts coming at the end of this fiscal year, and Northampton will need a seasoned pro like Clare in charge to squeeze the pennies. Higgins was a clear underdog two weeks ago, but indications are that she's surging in the homestretch.

Prediction: It's Mary Clare in a squeaker. Dave Narkowicz takes one of the at-large seats.

Turning to the World Wrestling Federation, um...I mean Agawam politics:



Despite occasionally keeping bad company (see above) I endorse Richard Cohen for Mayor of Agawam. It's not like I have much choice. His challenger, once perceived as an appealing fresh face, has turned out to be Anthony Ardolino without the smarts. There are some high profile write-in candidates also running, but it is impossible to win on a write-in campaign. Cohen, a competent mayor who was thrown out for boring the voters to death, now looks like dynamic leadership in light of the scandal plagued current mayor and the painfully inexperienced kid trying to succeed her.

Prediction; Plodding virtue triumphs over reckless youth as Cohen takes it in a landslide.

Rand Rising

Here's a good three minute video explaining how "Ayn Rand is proving to be even more influential in the 21st century than she was in the 20th."



Paglia Slams Media

Feminist philosopher and literary critic Camille Paglia recently made some insightful comments:



I have been deeply impressed by the citizen outrage that spilled out into town hall meetings this year. And I remain shocked at the priggish derision of the mainstream media (locked in their urban enclaves) toward those events. This was a moving spectacle of grassroots American democracy in action. Aggrieved voters have a perfect right to shout at their incompetent and irresponsible representatives. American citizens are under no duty whatever to sit in reverent silence to be fed propaganda and half-truths.

The mainstream media's failure to honestly cover last month's mass demonstration in Washington, D.C. was a disgrace. The focus on anti-Obama placards (which were no worse than the rabid anti-LBJ, anti-Reagan or anti-Bush placards of leftist protests), combined with the grotesque attempt to equate criticism of Obama with racism, simply illustrated why the old guard TV networks and major urban daily newspapers are slowly dying. Only a simpleton would believe what they say.

Hamp Hater

As you know everyday I traverse the woodland way into downtown Northampton, which is particularly beautiful this time of year.



However, it takes away from the beauty to stumble upon this.



Actually there seems to have been a rash of hateful graffiti painted around town recently. I wish whoever is behind it would go find someplace else to be an asshole.

Halloween Shots

Iron Horse dude Jim Neill was a work of art for Halloween.




School for the Dead playing in the park.



Northampton ghouls.




Mary Carey captured this gorgeous shot of the Halloween moon rising over the Norwottock Trail.

Papers Alive

The New York Exception

Newspapers are dying? Not if you live in New York, according to the Village Voice:



On the southeast corner of 96th Street and Broadway, on any weekday morning, you would swear that the U.S. daily-newspaper industry isn't dying. In the bodega there, New Yorkers who don't already have the Wall Street Journal or New York Times tucked under their arms plunk down cash to buy the Daily News, the New York Post, and Newsday. At the nearby mouth of the subway, hawkers push the free tabloids amNew York and Metro at scurrying straphangers.

It's a scene that doesn't exist anywhere else in the country. In a city of outsize egos, you can credit some of the biggest in town for keeping alive at least the appearance of a once-thriving industry that is vanishing elsewhere. This is the biggest city in the country, and it's the capital of capitalism, but why seven dailies?

To read the article click here.

Bad Fall



The conventional wisdom on the street in that Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins is leaning towards a fall in next months's election. In the meantime, the winner of last month's primary against Higgins, Michael Bardsley, has a big thank you sign on the front of his headquarters in Florence.



But the big news in local politics was yesterday's primary in Agawam where the scandal plagued Mayor Susan Dawson got bounced. Top vote getter Derek Benton will now face former Mayor Richard Cohen for the mayoralty in November. Cohen was a good mayor when he was in office, but he is a terrible campaigner whose dull speaking style makes even his supporters cringe. Benton on the other hand, a former aide to former State Senator Brian Lees, is Mr. Personality.

Mayor Dawson must in some ways be relieved to be forced out of the public spotlight, which was no doubt very uncomfortable for her over the past year because of a scandal involving another man's ex-wife. The hard part to bear is that she now has to accept the bitter truth that her enemies have succeeded in ruining her career.

Among the Dead

A cold rainy morning today along the woodland way leading to downtown Northampton.



A good day to poke around this little cemetery in the center of Florence.



There are lots of old graves dating back to the 1800's.



This old monument is getting rather lopsided.



Despite being reinforced by stones, this tower will soon topple.



We yearn and grasp for worldly immortality, but eventually time is triumphant over us all.

Today's Video



That's Lord Russ above in March playing the Northampton courthouse steps as Elvis. Here's a classic bit of video that has surfaced of him playing outdoors in Amherst way back in 1996. Did he have more fun as a blonde?