Neal's Challengers

A Year Before the Vote.

The election results on Tuesday strongly indicated that the political tide is turning against the Democrats just one year after they swept into office on a wave of "hope" with Barack Obama. Of course it's best to take these off year election trends with a grain of salt, since political situations are always very fluid and this year's hero can become next year's goat with amazing speed. Still, the Republican romp at the polls earlier this week should give Democrats reason to pause and reappraise their own electoral safety.

Locally this translates into the surprising development of two - count 'em TWO - people stepping forward to run against entrenched incumbent Congressman Richard Neal, who really hasn't had a strong head to head contest for re-election since Tony Ravosa in 1992. One challenger is Dr. Jay Fleitman, who is the current head of the Board of Health in Northampton.


Dr. Fleitman in Wilbraham

The other is Navy vet Tom Wesley, shown below.



It is hard to tell at this point who is ahead in the contest for the Republican nomination, but for whatever it's worth Wesley has 103 Facebook friends while Fleitman has only a dozen. On the other hand, the Republican establisment seems to like Dr. Fleitman, as indicated by $250 campaign contributions from both George W. Bush and John McCain as well as this photo of Fleitman posing with Michael Steele, the national head of the Republican Party.



From what I've seen, I agree that Fleitman appears to be the stronger candidate. His MD status and already holding a public position in Northampton give him a stature Wesley does not, at least not in this early phase of things. On the other hand, despite his status as a complete unknown Wesley appears to have a lot of initial enthusiasm behind his campaign. In any case the need for a primary will help whichever candidate wins the nomination, because the contest will create media buzz that will give the winner a higher profile and name recognition than they would have had were there no primary. That assumes of course that Fleitman and Wesley have the sense to focus their attacks on Neal and not on each other.

In any case it is nothing short of delightful that after nearly two decades of getting a virtual free ride to Congress, that Richie Neal will finally have to stand before the voters and explain to them why he deserves another term. And best of all he will have to do so while debating an opponent who will no doubt ask him the hard questions our local media has rarely done.

So how is Neal responding to his challengers so far? By playing it very safe. In accordance with the standard incumbent's political playbook, he is refusing to even acknowledge the existence of his opponents until he absolutely has to, lest he give them any free publicity. Neal's office even refused to respond when the newspaper for UMass, where Neal teaches a journalism class called him to question him about Fleitman. But what he's really been doing is grabbing as much money as he can with both hands. According to the Worcester Telegram:



U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, has accumulated the fourth-largest campaign war chest among House incumbents so far in the 2010 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan organization that analyzes the campaign finance reports filed by candidates with the Federal Election Commission.

Mr. Neal, who has $2.7 million in cash on hand and has raised almost $750,000 so far this year, is far ahead of the other Massachusetts congressmen, none of whom even makes the top 25 on the list of largest war chests, according to OpenSecrets.org, the center’s Web site.

Mr. Neal, whose district spans the region from Springfield to Milford, is also the only area representative with opposition in 2010. Two candidates — Jay Fleitman and Tom Wesley — are seeking the Republican nomination.

Neal has raised the fourth largest war chest in the entire Congress? That kind of frenzied fundraising makes it look as if Neal's afraid of something. It can't be that he's intimidated by the fundraising of his opponents. Fleitman has reported raising around $35 thousand dollars so far and Wesley $21 thousand. Meanwhile Neal raised nearly $750 thousand dollars in the same period.

But that huge advantage hasn't stopped Neal from collecting as much money as he can from anywhere he can get it. That's because in these uncertain political times just about anything can happen. If the unemployment rate remains above ten percent going into the elections a year from now, there may be a tidal wave of anti-incumbent sentiment that no campaign war chest, however large, can protect him from. That makes the GOP nomination seem less like a booby prize and more like a ticket to ride into Congress.

It's Coming

From the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal:



What was learned Tuesday is that the American voter is absolutely, totally, unremittingly disgusted with both political parties. More than anything, the American voter is desperate for political leadership.

Independent voters are spooked and on the run, a political stampede that veered left in November 2008 and now right a mere year later. They will keep running - crushing incumbents, candidates and political models of the left and right - through 2010 and onto 2012 until they find a person or party capable of leadership appropriate to our unsettled times.

And what do we call it when we reach that point when the public finally dumps the Democrats and Republicans and goes looking for a third alternative? We call it "the libertarian moment."

Toker News

A rare photograph has surfaced of WHMP talker Monte Belmonte with hair! Apparently he never did have much of it, as seen in this photo of him smoking a hookah in what appears to be a sleazy bathroom somewhere. Since he is simultaneously smoking a tobacco cigarette, what's in the pipe?



Incidentally, people have been so busy bashing Maine for its anti-gay vote that they've neglected to notice a victory against the Drug War in that state. Terry Franklin of Amherst explains:



There were 2 victories in Tuesday's election. Question 5 in Maine passed with 58% of the vote -- expanding the medical marijuana laws in that state, and legalizing dispensaries. In Breakenridge, Colorado, the town voted with an astounding 73% to legalize marijuana (under an ounce). This is not decriminalization, it's legalization, there is no fine. Of course, this puts them in direct confrontation with state and federal officials. The fear of such preemption usually gets voters to oppose any such measures, even if they support legalization philosophically. The fact that so many supported open conflict is delicious! The people are so far ahead of the legislators on this issue.

Today's Video

If you laugh real hard you win the game hands down.
WE ARE ALL CREATURES OF FAME LIGHTNESS AND LIBERTY.

Discriminatory Practices

Erasing the Legacy of the 80's



The University of Massahusetts has a proud history, despite having had students like me. But even in the rogues galelry of my family history there was my Uncle Steve Willis who played for UMass in the 1920's and then went on to play professional football for the Springfield Acorns. In fact it's safe to say that during every period since its founding UMass has always had much to be proud of.

However, some eras were certainly better than others, and a certain low point was reached at UMass during the 1980's. That was when political correctness ran rampant on campus, and a number of bad policies were implemented. For example pages of the UMass Collegian were set aside weekly for various "grievance groups" to rant about how oppressed they felt. Sections of dorms were set aside to segregate such groups. There were takeovers of campus buildings with the demand that members of the grievance groups receive more money or power or both, and the administration usually caved-in to their demands. There were also a number of racist or sexist "incidents" where no perpetrators were ever caught but the incidents resulted in actions favorable to the grievance group even when suspicion fell on persons belonging to that group. The university library, which never had a name in the more than a decade since it was built, was rededicated in the 80's in honor of W.E.B. Dubois, an admirer of both Adolph Hitler and Mao Zedong. Eventually even the beloved UMass Minuteman came under attack as a "white patriarchal oppressor bearing a gun."



Fortunately, like all fevers this foolish phase of political correctness passed, and the bad policies were gradually repealed, leaving only the misnamed library as its legacy. However in an excellent article in this morning's UMass Collegian, writer Alana Goodman reveals that another unwanted vestige of that era remains - automatic seats on the student government which are allocated by race and ideology. Some excerpts:



As we prepare to swear in our elected representatives to the SGA Senate next week, UMass students should be aware that 13 percent of our SGA Senators will not have even competed in Tuesday’s elections. Instead, they will be appointed to their positions before the election results even come in, solely on the basis of skin color.

This portion of the Senate is appointed by a registered student organization (RSO) called the African American, Latino, Asian American, and Native American (ALANA) Caucus (no relation to this columnist). Only minority students who fit one of those four racial categories– or other students who the Caucus approves as “minority allies”– are considered eligible for these Senate seats.

Proponents of the ALANA Caucus will argue that anyone can be a member of the group and have access to its appointed seats, and they may be right– technically. On paper, RSO’s like the Caucus are open to all fee-paying UMass undergrads. But while most RSO’s actively work to recruit a large membership, the ALANA Caucus doesn’t; you will almost never see their members “tabling” in the Student Union or advertising their meetings to the general public. They seem to prefer their organization small and close-knit, and why shouldn’t they? Unlike other RSO’s, ALANA’s annual funding isn’t contingent on the size of its membership – the SGA’s “ALANA Caucus Reserves Fund” earmarks an exorbitant $10,000 for the Caucus each year.

Not only is this practice undemocratic and unfair to non-minority students, but Goodman explains that it appears to be illegal as well:



In a December 23, 2003 memo, the UMass General Counsel Terence O’Malley informed former Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Mike Gargano that the Caucus seats violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prevents state governments from discriminating against individuals based on race or ethnicity.

“It is my opinion that the approval of the ALANA representation provision by the Board of Trustees would be unconstitutional,” wrote O’Malley. “The proposed [ALANA Caucus] amendment reserves positions in the student senate on the basis of race or ethnicity.”

On the advice of the Counsel, Gargano asked the SGA to remove the race-based appointments. Instead, the Caucus promptly branded Gargano a “racist” and held campus rallies comparing him to Satan.

In the wake of controversy surrounding the issue, the illegal race-based seats were never removed.

But now the subject is being broached again by the new Vice Chancellor, Jean Kim. On August 26, Kim sent a memo to SGA President Ngozi Mbawuiki asking that the race-based seats be removed by March 1, 2010. Hopefully Mbawuiki complies and puts an end to the Caucus’ exclusion of students who don’t possess the “right” skin color or the “correct” mindset.

It was nearly 55 years ago, after all, when Rosa Parks stood up against race-based seating on public busses. But today, right here at UMass, seats of a different kind are still being allocated on the basis of race and ideology. It wasn’t right then, and it isn’t right now.

Radio Blogging



Hey this is one of my pieces for WHMP. I like how they added polka music and Rod Stewart. To listen click here.

Tasteless but Funny



Around Amherst

Mount Norwottock.



The last sunflowers.



It's sad to see another school year begin and the Jeffrey Amherst Bookstore standing vacant.



Anti-war activists in the UMass Campus Center.



Today's Video

Today Bruce Springstein turns (gulp) sixty. Gosh, everybody's getting so old - good thing that ain't happening to me!

The first time I saw Bruce Springsteen was as a teenager when I hitchhiked from Springfield up to UMass to crash their Spring Carnival. Here's an account of that UMass Springsteen show by Jim Laford (class of 1976) with photos:



On a cold June day in 1973, close to 18,000 UMass Amherst students streamed into the football stadium to eat, drink, and listen to music as part of Spring Carnival week. Three bands were scheduled to play: Cold Blood, It’s a Beautiful Day, and the Elvin Bishop Group.

A few days before the event, the concert committee learned that the Elvin Bishop band had split up. Luckily, they had a replacement, someone they described as “a breaking talent.”

At 1 P.M. on June 5, to no fanfare, a young Bruce Springsteen and his band took the stage.



Because they were unknown, you can see from one photo that students just walked by the front of the stage with little notice. Not until a few years went by did I realize who that opening band was.

I still consider myself a Springsteen fan, although my enthusiasm faded as the music became more acoustic and the songwriting got preachy. But this video from 1975 captures the original magic.