>>Valley Patriot>>
|
Tom Duggan's Notebook
10/03/06
 Habitat
for Humanity Commits Fraud?
Former Lawrence School Committeeman Amy McGovern
hasn’t been employed by Habitat for Humanity for
nearly a year. Yet, Habitat’s leaders continue to
advertise Amy McGovern as their public contact person in
all their advertisements, in an effort that misleads the
community as well as using McGovern’s public name to
recruit volunteers and raise donations. (See the
Tribune’s weekly posting below.) Both the
Eagle~Tribune and Habitat have been informed that
McGovern no longer works for the
“non profit,” yet both have refused to
discontinue using McGovern’s name in their
advertisements. Would YOU call that fraud if your former
employer was still using your name to drum up business
long after you left employment?
Nothing Like That Lawrence Pride!
The racists at the “Latin Pride Awards” (white
people need not apply) held their little award ceremony
last week where they honored Wilfredo Laboy (for being a  Latino, quite an accomplishment, I
guess) and Police Chief John Romero (who was also honored
for his ethnicity). “Latin Pride” is brought to
you by the same racists who run Latino News (is anyone a
legal citizen over there?). Besides the racist element of
this farce and the fact that Dirma Espada (or should we
say Milagros Dominguez?) was one of the organizers, what
made this gathering of Lawrence Latinos so hysterical is
that they held the ceremony at the Wyndham Hotel in
ANDOVER! So much for Lawrence pride!
Speaking of Lawrence Pride...
During last month’s primary election, state
Representative Willie Lantigua’s WIFE was allowed to
be the warden of a polling precinct in North Lawrence,
where her husband was on the ballot seeking reelection.
(Can anyone say conflict of interest?) Then, Nazario
Esquea was seen actively participating in the recount
process between Lantigua and Devers even though he is not
a voter or even a citizen of the U.S. (Can anyone say
election fraud?) Who is to blame? Well, for one, Billy
Maloney, the city clerk who directly oversees the
election process, then his boss, Patrick Blanchette (who
is a Lantigua ally), and then you can blame Secretary of
State Bill Galvin who oversees elections at the state
level and supports the “right” of illegal
aliens to vote and take part in the election process. (I
wonder if Dirma Espada voted in that election?) Like I
say, you can’t make this stuff up!
Not Quite the Power Broker He
Thinks He Is
City Council President Patrick Blanchette likes to play
power broker at election time and frequently shows up at
fund-raisers for other candidates to lend his
“public endorsement.” But how much does the
council president’s endorsement really mean? Well,
Blanchette endorsed Arthur Broadhurst for Register of
Deeds (though the Kelley supporters swear he promised to
endorse Kelley) and Tim Murray for Lt. Governor before
last month’s primary election. So how did Blanchette
do in his quest to show power at the polls when endorsing
other candidates? Well, Broadhurst overwhelmingly lost in
Lawrence and though Murray won state-wide for Lt.
Governor he lost in Lawrence too, (Goldberg 2061 - Murray
1726 - Silbert 1084). Maybe everyone on the city council
should worry about the job they are suppose to be doing
instead of constantly using it as a stepping stone to
feather their own nests. Recount Is a Waste of
Money
Former Lawrence Mayor Marcos Devers far exceeded
expectations on primary election day when he garnered
more than 700 write in votes in his bid to unseat Willie
Lantigua as the State Representative in Lawrence.
Lantigua garnered more than 1,800 votes in contrast but
his name was already on the ballot, Devers name was not.
It was a pretty impressive showing and certainly proved
that Devers is a lot stronger in that district than
anyone had given him credit for (even me). But now Devers
has called for a recount (HUH?) because he believes his
vote total should have been higher, citing the same tired
rhetoric about election “irregularities”. And
maybe he’s right. But costing the city thousands of
dollars on a recount that will not effect the outcome of
the race is a total waste of time and taxpayers money. I
support Devers’ plan to continue his write in
campaign for the final election, if for no other reason
but to drive Lantigua crazy for six more weeks. But
Devers should have looked at how much this recount cost
the taxpayers at a time when Lawrence needs every penny
it can save, and he should concentrate on doing what he
does best, harassing Willie Lantigua!
 DePena Was
Lowest Bidder on Broadway Property!
The Lawrence City Council voted last month to give
favorite son Bryan DePena a piece of property on Broadway
despite the fact that he was the lowest bidder (sound
familiar?). The highest bidder was willing to pay more
than three times the amount DePena offered the city for
the lot. Only one city councilor, Grisel Silva, refused
to vote to give the property to DePena, but even she
didn’t expose the special sweetheart deal DePena was
getting. According to documents obtained by The Valley
Patriot, the original Request for Proposal for this land
on Broadway had a minimum bid which was mysteriously
changed after being issued to the public - so that DePena
could qualify to purchase the land and others would be
discouraged by the minimum bid. It is amazing that the
City Council cries about the budget and how little money
Lawrence has, and yet it keeps giving away property to
the lowest bidders. It kind of ruins the councilors’
credibility when they start making speeches about
“protecting the taxpayers’ money.”
Tribune’s “Expert” a
Three-Time Loser
Have you noticed in the last few years that the
Eagle~Tribune has nobody else to get quotes from except
for Lenny Degnan when doing stories on Lawrence and North Andover elections? Now, how funny
is this? The three-time loser, Degnan, was appointed
acting mayor for a few weeks in Lawrence back in 1994(?)
and is still trying to recapture the glory of that high
point in his life! You can’t make this stuff up,
especially given Degnan’s political resume. The
Tribune’s go-to-guy on Lawrence politics, Degnan,
LOST a city-wide race for mayor (in a primary, no less).
Desperately seeking to be relevant, Degnan moved to
North Andover and ran for selectman against Susan
Haltmaier (and LOST) and in a last ditch effort to get
elected to ANYTHING, he then tried to run for what he
calls “DA VOKE” School Committee and
couldn’t even get elected to THAT - even though he
was running against a guy who just moved into town that
nobody knew! He hasn’t picked a winning candidate in
10 years and the only election he has ever won himself
was a district City Council seat in Lawrence. Yeah, a guy
with that kind of track record is just the kind of
“EXPERT” the Tribune should be quoting on
election strategy! I guess birds of a feather really do
flock together.
Too Much Time on the Links?
Try getting Myles Burke, aide to Lawrence Mayor Mike
Sullivan, to return phone calls or actually show up for
work these days (it’s called doing your job). You
might as well be waiting for Lawrence police to arrest
Dirma Espada for identity theft. Burke is spending a lot
of time out of the office (it has been great golfing
weather) and seems to show up late, leave early and
abandon the mayor when work needs to be done. Maybe
ole’ Myles is spending too much time on the links up
at the Andover Country Club, or maybe he is just hiding
from Andrea.
Broadhurst is a Class Act
Methuen state Representative Arthur Broadhurst is a class
act and has honorably served the people of Methuen in the
Legislature for 14 years. He had good name recognition, a
large war chest and the endorsement of almost every
elected official in the area. So, when Broadhurst lost
the register of deeds race to local attorney Bob Kelley
last month, the political insiders were shocked. Kelley,
to his credit, was everywhere during the campaign. He
out-hustled Broadhurst, showing up at events in North
Andover, Lawrence, and Andover, walking the entire
district, putting up signs and knocking on doors. By
Election Day, Kelley had quietly out-campaigned
Broadhurst at the grass roots level, proving once again
that it takes grunt work to win a campaign no matter how
well respected a candidate may be or how many politicians
endorse him. But the day after Broadhurst was defeated,
the Eagle~Tribune wrote a blistering (yet comically
inaccurate) editorial attacking his service in the
Legislature and claiming that Broadhurst lost the race
because the people of the Merrimack Valley simply
didn’t like him. The fact is, Broadhurst lost the
race because he seriously underestimated Bob Kelley. It
wasn’t because people don’t like Broadhurst. It
wasn’t because of voter turnout (though that always
factors in) and it wasn’t because Broadhurst
didn’t tow the line with the Eagle~Tribune editorial
board. Given the fact that the Trib endorsed him in the
last seven campaigns, and always treated him like a
favorite son, it was surprising to see such vitriol from
the Alabama newspaper (maybe they are getting their info
from Lenny Degnan). A guy like Arthur Broadhurst deserves
to be thanked for his years of service on his way out of
the State House door, not kicked in the teeth after
suffering a devastating loss.
LCW, Not Quite the Liberals They
Pretend To Be
They pretend to be so liberal over at Lawrence Community
Works (Poverty Pimp Central), but last week an LCW
employee verbally attacked a Lawrence city employee by
accusing him of being gay after a public meeting. The
employee of LCW used homophobic epithets and accused the
male city worker of being another man’s
“girlfriend.” Just imagine if it had been
the other way around and a city employee had made racial
and homophobic remarks to one of them? Do you think Bill
Traynor would demand that the city worker be fired? Ah,
so many questions. Like, does LCW tolerate or even
encourage this kind of attitude and behavior by their
employees? Will LCW fire the homophobe in their ranks or
will they give him a promotion for making blatantly
offensive, anti-gay remarks? Is being a homophobe a
prerequisite for getting a job with LCW? You would think
a liberal “non-profit” like LCW would step up
to the plate immediately and say “we do not endorse
hate speech; this guy is GONE!” No, no, don’t
hold your breath, because that’s never going to
happen. This is just MORE proof of what LCW is
really all about and the tactics they are willing to
employ when they don’t get their own way.
Speaking of LCW
By the way, anyone ever ask LCW what they did with the
$30 thousand the city of Lawrence gave them last year to
“increase public participation in the city budget
process”? After all, they were given the
taxpayers’ money to do just that, yet not one person
(not even employees from LCW) bothered to show up at ANY
of the city budget hearings. Now, if you hired someone
for your company to do a job and he spent the money but
produced zero results, would you ever give them another
dime? Of course you wouldn’t. Yet, as budget time
approaches again next year, LCW is already geared up to
ask for more of your tax money to produce more of
NOTHING! By the way, how much city money do you think
Chet Sidel and the poverty pimps got this summer to put
on dance shows on Appleton Way … at the very same
time Mayor Sullivan and the City Council were raising
your taxes? All I can say is this: Any city councilors
who vote to give a nickel to LCW will be on The Valley
Patriot’s radar screen come election time because
they should be voted out of office.
That Pesky Gay Marriage Issue
 State representative
candidate Chris DiBella seemed to have the biggest
momentum just two weeks before the primary election last
month until MASSEQUALITY, a gay marriage advocacy group,
started sending out campaign literature for the former
prosecutor. The literature touted DiBella’s stand on
education and other issues, but nowhere in the campaign
pieces did it mention his stand on gay marriage (more
proof that even MASSEQUALITY knew gay marriage was a
losing issue in Methuen). DiBella ended up losing the
primary to Linda Campbell who also supports gay marriage,
but also supports putting the issue on the ballot.
Campbell will square off against Republican Bob Andrew
and independent Ken Henrick in November. But don’t
expect gay marriage to be a big issue. From the people we
spoke with on Election Day, voters didn’t seem to be
angry at DiBella for supporting gay marriage. They seemed
more upset about the “sneaky” (their words, not
mine) way DiBella accepted MASSEQUALITY’s help
without trumpeting his position on preventing the voters
from having a say on the issue. They also seemed to be
put out that MASSEQUALITY stepped into the race in
Methuen, but never explained why they supported him in
their literature. We believe that Chris DiBella has a
very bright future in politics and we look forward to
covering him again.
Tom Duggan is the president of Valley
Patriot, Inc., is a former member of the Lawrence School
Commit-tee, and hosts the Paying Attention! Radio Program
on WCAP, 980AM, every Saturday afternoon from noon-2pm.
You can email your comments to Tdugjr@ aol.com.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The September, 2006
Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 9,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
North Andover,
Methuen, Haverhill, Chelmsford, Georgetown, Groveland,
Boxford,
Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury, Hampton & Salisbury
Beach, and Lowell.
|
Valley Patriot Archive
Prior Columns by Dr. Chuck
Prior Lead Stories
Prior interviews by Hanna
Prior columns by Paula Porten
|
