By: Brian Genest – 4-24 So long, Ron Kaufman! After decades and decades and decades and another half decade, Massachusetts finally has a new Republican National Committeeman, thankfully. But let’s not be insensitive, after all, Ron Kaufman was retired due to health reasons: The members of the State Committee got sick of him. And it […]
By: Brian Genest – 03/24 Dracut voters, beware. Josh Taylor, a bitter and angry second-time candidate for Selectman, is spreading lies about the town’s financial situation—and officials are calling him out. Here’s some irony that can’t be overlooked and shouldn’t be forgotten at the ballot box: As The Valley Patriot celebrates two decades of vigorously […]
By Brian Genest – Feb. 2024 If you’re a Republican and you care about the future of the Massachusetts Republican Party, you should care about the outcome of the upcoming State Committee elections. The 80 members of the Republican Party’s governing body, one man and woman from each of the state’s 40 senate districts, will […]
By: Brian Genest – Jan. 24 How can Dracut miss Phil Thibault if he won’t go away? Thibault, the town’s most rejected perennial candidate—a nine-time failure at the ballot box—has found a new way to add to his credentials as Dracut’s most monumental loser: Getting passed over for a variety of appointed positions on town […]
By: Brian Genest – 12-23 As we get ready to usher in a new year, here’s a look at some of the highlights and happenings from 2023 in Dracut. * The Dracut Scholarship Foundation’s annual telethon raised more than $162,000. Since it began, the scholarship foundation has awarded nearly $2 million in scholarships to 1,700 […]
By: Brian Genest – Nov. 2023 ‘Tis the season to count your blessings and there are plenty of reasons to be grateful in Dracut. Strong town government is at the top of the list. Things have been going well in Dracut and it’s not by accident. It’s because the right people have been in charge […]
By: Brian Genest 10-23 There can be a fine line between good government and bad government; in Dracut, a recent meeting of the so-called Tri-Board was an example of absurd government. At that gathering about town finances and potential future budget deficits, made up of the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, and members of the […]
By: Brian Genest 9-23 If you think Dracut’s most rejected perennial candidate—nine-time loser Phil Thibault—couldn’t be any more bitter than he already is about being the town’s monumental loser, think again. This time, Dracut’s self-proclaimed perpetual victim Phil Thibault and his fruit loop friends are lamenting because he wasn’t appointed to a town board, again. […]
By Brian Genest Valley Patriot DRACUT COLUMNIST The clock is ticking and the legal bills are piling up at Dracut Town Hall over a request for public records about Tony Archinski. In addition to already being a far-too-expensive and far-too-lengthy process, it’s also incredibly suspicious, based on the circumstances. If justice delayed is justice denied, […]
By: Brian Genest – 7/23 “You’re fired,” Dr. Marsha Della-Giustina told my classmate in our Broadcast Journalism 2 course at Emerson College. It was the fall of 1989, thirty seconds after the bell rang on the first day of the class. As my dilatory would-be classmate tried to enter the room, Marsha blocked the doorway […]
By: Brian Genest – 6-23 What was Selectman Heather Santiago-Hutchings thinking? For a year, she’s been a member of the Zoning Bylaw Review committee, which is in the process of trying to overhaul the town’s zoning bylaws for the first time since the 1980s. She’s been present, at least physically, but you have to wonder […]
By: Brian Genest (5-23) There’s a lot of developments when it comes to development in Dracut. A bit of a building boom is about to begin and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the town or citizens. Officials and neighbors are trying to grapple with several development-related issues and concerns, including zoning bylaw changes, affordable housing, […]
By Brian Genest – 03-23 Things are going well in Dracut right now and it’s not by accident. It’s because the right people are in charge of town government. And the wrong people aren’t, thankfully. Since taking over the job three years ago, Town Manager Ann Vandal has been making a tremendous difference for our […]
By: Brian Genest – 3-23 Dracut’s most-rejected perennial candidate—nine-time loser Phil Thibault—has a new hobby: giving voters electoral advice. Jack of all trades, and master of none, Phil Thibault’s latest desperate attempt to try to be relevant in town is to trash Dracut, the Board of Selectmen and yours truly in print. As part of […]
By: Brian Genest – 02-23 It’s been a hell of a week for new MassGOP Chairman Amy Carnevale. A hell of a bad week. Carnevale, the party establishment’s darling du jour who squeaked out a 37-34 win over conservative Jim Lyons, has already stepped in more piles of crap than a dog walker in […]