Quincy Quarry Primary Elections betting lines: Let the candidates cull begin!

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– News and commentary about Quincy from Quincy Quarry News.   

Quincy Quarry Primary Elections betting lines: Let the candidates cull begin!

While many local are still suffering a manner of hangover from 2016 national elections, locals now have to buck up with the hair of the dog if need be.

While the term of office for the mayor of Quincy is now a four year term and thus the Koch Maladministration has a two year reprieve, this fall’s two elections are most likely best seen as referendums on the just short of decade-long maladministration of Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch.

Why spend on education when I have friends yet to hire?
A Quincy Quarry News file photo

That and how far has fallen the ability of local politicians in what is the birthplace of three American presidents.

In any event, the school committee candidates are for the most part even less important than usual. 

While two long term school committee members are not running for reelection and so opening slots for newcomers, the fact of the matter is that Mayor Thomas P. Koch, the automatic Chair of the School Committee given his election as mayor, has long had the Quincy Public Schools operating budget on a starvation diet of minimal annual spending increases that have fail to keep pace with inflation.

As such, class sizes have increased and the range of educational services offered has decreased as compared to what was the case during the previous administration.

A City on the Move not exactly moving apace?
An Iconic Quincy Quarry News file photo

Then again, this should come as no great surprise as Mayor Koch is widely known to have been but barely a C student at North Quincy High School and later dropped out of then Quincy Junior College.

Plus, Mayor Koch is far more interested in the photo op opportunities provided by finally replacing a few long ago worn out schools. 

Even so, these efforts are taking awhile to accomplish as he has concurrently split his limited focus by overspending on a now not so new couple of million dollar track and even greater overspending on an almost fifteen million dollar and not exactly needed football stadium and parking lot complex at North Quincy High which he had originally said would only cost twelve million.

And as proof of a larger as well as sorry situation, all one has to do is look to MCAS scores to see that Quincy Public Schools have not seen any obvious improvement in their bottom third of the state average rankings. 

A roadside test
A file photo

Granted, many look with disdain upon MCAS, especially those with failing scores as well as their parents, the indisputable fact of the matter is that MCAS has long been a far sounder student performance benchmark than what has long been used in all other states in the United States as well as that the MCAS has helped see Massachusetts public schools rise to the top of heap nationwide.

So what also, apparently, for the fact that but modest and steady increases in effective spending on education services in local public schools are by far the most effective as well as ready way for local government to improve local residential property values.

Campaign Finance
A wemu.org image

In any event, next up are the ward council seat races.

Interestingly, the three ward councilors who have shown the most of the still but generally modest push-back against but some of the Koch Maladministration’s myriad of excesses are running unopposed.

Two ward councilors who are all but invariably administration sycophants, however, are facing multiple challengers. 

While one is likely to survive both the primary and general elections, the other might find himself one term and one come November’s general election, if not perhaps even sooner.

And finally, the Ward 1 seat is wide open as Quincy’s Number One Ward Heeler is now running for an at Large Council seat. 

Rock Island Road Lobster to get rocked by voters?
A now thankfully former Facebook avatar image

Obvious irony as for her notwithstanding, the at Large candidate field this year is a large one.

Seven candidates will face off in the primary, with the shortest straw holder kicked to the curb and so leaving six contenders battling for but three seats come November’s general election.

As for Quincy Quarry’s prognostications for this week’s primary, the Quarry has relied on its own take on the innovative polling methodology of the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times “Daybreak” poll.

The “Daybreak” poll was the only poll to spot that underdog candidate Donald Trump was making a horse race out of last year’s Presidential election and then winning it in one of the greatest upset since President Truman beat odds on favorite Dewey in 1948.

An illegally placed campaign sign
A Quincy Quarry News file photo

As such as well as initially, Quincy Quarry had been expecting current at Large City Councillor Noel DiBona to secure the most primary votes even if he has precious little to show in the way of truly compelling accomplishments during both his single term on the School Committee as well as his currently ongoing rookie term on the City Council. 

More recently, however, the Quarry now suspects that onetime and longtime Ward 2 City Councillor and former City of Quincy Department of Public Works Commissar Dan “

” Raymondi will be giving the rookie a run as Spanky runs for the primary election day roses.

Why is this man smiling?
An official City of Quincy mugshot

Next up are the three other as well as all female viable at Large council seat contenders.

All three are expected to make the cut in tomorrow’s primary and so continue campaigning until November’s general elections; however, making projections on their vote tallies in the primary is nowhere near as easy as is identifying the likely primary vote totals top dogs.

For example, while incumbent at Large City Councillor Nina Liang is looking likely to be reelected in November given significant significant bullet vote ballot support by her stoic supporters, her primary vote totals are not as readily projected at this point.

That and current School Committee member Anne Mulligan Mahoney surely seeks to have a strong showing in the primary and so endeavor to further improve her stature among voters for the November general election given that she has long been a (valid, ed.) critic of the Koch Maladministration and has thus long suffered accordingly in return.

Soliciting for support at the polls
A Quincy Quarry News file photo

And finally, the Quarry ponders the wild card at Large council seat candidacy of current Ward 1 ward heeler Margaret LaForest.

“This is something I did for me,” said LaForest when she announced her plans last spring to run at Large this fall.

Large ambitions notwithstanding, Quincy Quarry suspects she may well end up running no better than a not exactly close third behind the (but, ed.) charming DiBona and the late surging Raymondi in her own Ward 1 home ward.

Further, citywide votes for the ward heeler in tomorrow’s primary are also looking to be a tough call to make as it is unclear how much effort the Koch machine will expend to see its lieges both head to the polls for the primary as well as then vote for the mayor’s longest ongoing head cheerleader on the City Council.

Needless to say, an unimpressive third place finish among Ward 1 voters would not bode well citywide for Quincy’s currently Number One Ward Heeler in November’s general election. 

An infamous Ward 1 parking lot
A Facebook photo

Granted, she has variously endeavored to develop support citywide, but can she overcome her checkered reputation?

Needless to say, Tuesday’s primary will provide locals with a hint of what is to come come November.

As such, continue to watch Quincy Quarry’s always hard-hitting coverage into the soft underbellies that overload local politics.

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