Tom Duggan’s Notebook – November, 2012

FROM THE PAGES OF VALLEY PATRIOT PUBLISHER, TOM DUGGAN’S NOTEBOOK

November, 2012

 

PANTS ON FIRE AWARD – Of all the candidates telling all the lies they could this election season, by far the winner of the Valley Patriot’s “Pants on Fire Award” for the 2012 election goes to Congressman John Tierney.

Tierney took a template from the playbook of the Democrat National Committee in Washington D.C., which advises candidates to accuse their republican rivals of being “right wing extremists” and tie them to conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and the Tea Party.

It didn’t matter to Tierney that many members of the Tea Party actively opposed Richard Tisei (Tierney’s opponent). And it didn’t matter to Congressman Tierney that Senator Tisei is an openly gay man who supports abortion, gay marriage and softening gun laws.

Congressman John Tierney went out on the campaign trail and falsely repeated, over and over, that “Richard Tisei is a right wing extremists” and added he was a “Tea Party candidate”. Twice on my radio show when he called in, he said the same. Even after it was pointed out to Congressman Tierney that Members of the Merrimack Valley Tea Party were handing out anti-Tisei literature at meetings, (I know, I watched my friend Lyndi Lanphear of that Tea Party chapter spearhead the anti-Tisei movement in Essex County), Tierny continued his falsehood.

MARCOS DEVERS EMBARRASSES JOSE SANTIAGO WITH EPIC WIN – You have to hand it to Lawrence State Representative Marcos Devers, who has the distinction of being Lawrence’s first-ever Dominican and first ever “Latino” mayor. While Democrats across Massachusetts enjoyed election wins in nearly every race by a 2-1 margin, Devers outright destroyed Jose Santiago on Election Day receiving 9,253 votes, to Jose Santiago’s 1,707 votes. That’s about and 84% margin of victory for Devers who proves again and again that he is a “love and power” not to be messed with.

When Willie Lantigua finally leaves office as the worst mayor in human history, someone will need to fill that power vacuum and someone is going to need to fix the disaster Lantigua will leave behind. Whenever I ask people who can fill the void and do the job when Lantigua finally leaves, they scoff at the suggestion of Marcos Devers righting the ship. But if you look at those numbers above, I will say again, Marcos Devers is the heir apparent to the Lantigua throne and I don’t see anything short of scandal that will stop that from happening.

AS PREDICTED MORAN DEFEATS CUFF – (Moran: 8,392 votes or 63% – Kevin Cuff 4,828 votes ) – I tried so hard to convince Independent State Rep. Candidate Kevin Cuff that the fix was in and that the newly created “Latino District” (the 17th Essex District”), was created specifically for Lawrence City Council President Frank Moran, (Willie Lantigua’s friend and right hand man in city hall).

In fact, I announced it on my radio program on 980AM, WCAP long before Frank Moran and Kevin Cuff even announced their candidacies, and days BEFORE the new redistricting maps were even released by the legislature. I knew then, (and therefor, so did you) that Lantigua and his allies had traded favors with state legislators to create a “Latino District” tailor made for his friend Frank Moran. The fix was in, and my readers, my listeners and my Facebook followers knew what was going to happen in this race long before it even began.

But, you have to hand it to Moran’s destined-to-lose opponent, Kevin Cuff. Cuff was accessible, he went out and raised issues, talked to voters, knocked on doors, and even though he lost overwhelmingly, his candidacy resulted in more proof of election fraud in Lawrence. That’s right, weeks before the final election last month, it was learned that there were forgeries on Frank Moran’s nomination papers, and that Willie Lantigua’s head of Elections Department, Rafael Tejeda had forged them and then certified his own forgeries. Of course, nothing will ever be done about this, Lantigua was quoted afterwards saying that Tejeda deserves a raise. Listen, I have been saying forever that the fix is in at the Lawrence Election Department. I just wonder if this blatant election fraud would be tolerated if it was done by a white, republican mayor (like Mike Sullivan)? I think you all know the answer to that one.

 

State Rep Jim Lyons and Valley Patriot PupyGirl Kate Whitney
State Rep Jim Lyons and Valley Patriot PupyGirl Kate Whitney

LYONS WINS, PUPPYGIRL HAPPY – On election night, Republican State Representative Jim Lyons (of Andover), won his first reelection bid by defeating former State Rep. Barbara L’Italien for the second election in a row. The Valley Patriot’s very own PuppyGirl Kate Whitney (of Boxford) endorsed Representative Lyons for his strong support for rescue dog shelters. During the campaign Lyons even adopted a dog from PuppyGirl’s shelter “One Tail at a Time Rescue” in Haverhill. Lyons said that he will continue to advocate for rescue shelters and will continue his investigation of the State Department of Agriculture and their cozy relationship with the dog breeder industry.

FINEGOLD SMOKES ADAMS – (Barry Finegold: 44,223 votes; or 65% of the vote. Paul Adams 23,648 votes). Like Most Republicans on the ballot last month, Paul Adams never really stood a chance against his Democrat opponent (incumbent State Senator Barry Finegold). But then again, if you look at the election results across the commonwealth it’s pretty clear that Alex Vispoli , or any other Republican candidate would have suffered the same fate. And that’s too bad. Adams has not been my favorite State Representative, but by the end of his one and only term on Beacon Hill, Adams had learned some very hard lessons and seemed ready to redeem himself if only given the chance. At the end of the day, the issues didn’t matter, the pledges and promises didn’t matter, and Finegold’s cushy relationship with Lawrence’s Mayor William Lantigua didn’t matter. Voters cast their ballots on election day based on party lines alone.

1ST ESSEX SENATE RACE- IVES RUNS THE TABLE
(Kathleen O’Connor Ives (D) 36,175, Shaun Toohey (R) 26,483, Paul Magliocchetti 12,764, Jim Kelcourse 3,340)

Newly elected State Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives ran the table on Election Day defeating all three of her rivals in every community of the 1st district. After her win, the Democrat City Councilor from Newburyport appeared on the Paying Attention! radio program on 980WCAP, saying that she will attend local Tea Party meetings. This might not make her too popular with her Democrat colleagues on Beacon Hill but I have a feeling Ives will be doing a LOT of things in her two year term that are not going to sit well with the Democrat leadership. Ives pledged during the campaign to champion 209A reform, and legislation requiring financial penalties on individuals who refuse to comply with Freedom of Information requests for public documents and public information.

Ives says she is eager to listen to constituents who have different views than her, and that people should not assume where she stands on issues just because she is a Democrat. (And you wonder why I endorsed her??) Ives says she doesn’t just want to represent her Democrat constituents in the 1st district “I want to represent everybody. That means listening to and talking to people who have very different views. I really feel that it’s important to talk to the other side, so to speak, because there are some issues we will have in common and I want to be able to work with people on those common concerns.” Ives will follow in the tradition of her predecessor Senator Steve Baddour who also attended and frequently spoke at Tea Party Meeting in North Andover.

As for Paul Magliocchetti and Jim Kelcourse, I wish I could have voted for both of them. I hope they both stay involved in the community and run again for public office. They ran clean campaigns, brought a breath of fresh air to the civil discourse during debates, and showed that they have the ability to lead if given the chance.

DIANA THE DRAGON SLAYER
(Diana Dizoglio (D) 11,133 Karin Rhoton (R) 6,555)

Newly elected State Representative Diana DiZoglio pulled the upset of the election season in the Merrimack Valley when she defeated incumbent David Torissi in the primary. But, DiZoglio still had to beat the Republican candidate Karin Rhoton in the November election. And that’s exactly what she did. DiZoglio nearly ran the table, winning Haverhill, Lawrence and Methuen, and only lost North Andover by about 60 votes. For her part, Rhoton worked hard and had many issues on her side, but she was just no match for the type “A”, go getter from Methuen who knockd on more than 5,000 doors in the primary alone. I am hoping Karin stays active and runs again for local office, and I congratulate Diana DiZoglio for ridding the Valley of one of the worst state representatives the Valley has seen in a long time. Now, Willie Lantigua will have one less puppet on Beacon Hill to push through his corrupt agenda. Maybe in the next election we ought to run a Democrat candidate against Barry Finegold in the primary. It seems like the only way to unseat a Democrat incumbent.

FROM THE MA OFFICE OF CAMPAIGN AND POLITICAL FINANCE.

CPF-12-37: Christopher Griffin, Braintree. Did not comply (public employee); 7/26/2012. Griffin began serving as treasurer of the Rep. Mark Cusack Committee in May 2010 and became a public employee in March 2011, but did not resign as treasurer of the political committee until May 2012. The campaign finance law prohibits public employees from serving as treasurers of political commit-tees. To resolve the issue, Griffin agreed to make a payment of $200 to the state’s general fund.

CPF-12-37: Rep. Mark Cusack, Braintree. Did not comply (public employee); 7/26/2012. A public employee, Christopher Griffin, served as treasurer of the Rep. Mark Cusack Committee. The campaign finance law prohibits public employees from serving as treasurers of political committees. To resolve the matter, the committee made a $750 payment to the state’s general fund.