Quincy first lesser candidates for office forum a mixed bag

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– News about Quincy MA from Quincy Quarry News

Quincy’s first election candidates forum for various lesser local offices was a mixed box of chocolates.

Tuesday night’s forum, hosted by the Quincy GOP Committee at the Adams Inn, provided some unexpected surprises along with the only to be expected Milk Duds ®.

Positives included that The Donald did not stop by, no (obvious, ed.) funding was provided by the Koch Brothers (no apparent relation to embattled incumbent Mayor Thomas P. Koch, ed.) and no Teabaggers were anywhere to be seen, at least none obviously so.

Chump Trump on the stump bad hair day?
A deservedly embarrassing photo

The event was also well-run as well as wrapped up by when it was scheduled to be done.

The forum format allowed each candidate an introductory statement and then a closing one, with all candidates for a specific office asked the same two questions for that particular race in between.

Given scheduling conflicts for one of the candidates, the forum for the Ward Two Council race went first.

The challenger did not exactly awe anyone; fortunately for him, neither did the perhaps nervous incumbent who spoke way too loudly into a hand-held microphone and thus so managed to annoy even this hearing-impaired event attendee.

Still unfinished Old Quincy High memorial
A Quincy Quarry News file photo

Next up were three of the candidates running for one of three seats on the School Committee.  A fourth candidate and current School Committee member was MIA.

One candidate is a recent graduate of Quincy High.  He put in a surprisingly solid performance and so won the affection of many in the audience given his clear potential for a successful future in public service.

At the same time, the new kid out on the stump is unlikely to do better this time around come November than the other first time candidate for a School Committee seat, the somewhat recently retired and widely well-regarded former principal of Quincy High School.

More importantly, and however rare in politics, both will surely continue to view each other with admiration – if not also genuine fondness – regardless of the outcome come November.

The third candidate on the dais as well as a current member of the School Committee put in a perfectly rote and thus probably passing performance come November’s final exam whereas – and again – the MIA incumbent was, well, MIA.

Ward One parking spots
A Facebook photo

As for the Ward One City Council seat, the incumbent ward heeler was clearly more than a little over amped as well as overawed with herself.

After all, taking on all manner of other roles with other entities do not matter nearly as much to her constituents as does actually doing her ward work, much less also properly doing so as per the various legal mandates to do so.

In short, if only forum attendees could have hit the mute button whenever she spoke as when she did speak she all but invariably reminded many a male in the room of an ex-wife.

Conversely, her political newcomer of an opponent managed a reasonably fair first time public forum presenting of himself as well as duly pushed back on the ward heeler’s myriad of shortcomings.

Quincy Quarry thus views this race as the lesser office local race to watch this election season given its clear potential for an upset of its current seat-filling incumbent.

Retirement
A crfcommunities.com image

Ward Three is an open race this election given the pending retirement of its longtime Ward Councilor.  In turn, three people in the running to succeed the departing councillor.

One of the two newcomers in this race was reasonably polished and smooth, but he did not exactly nail things – much less was he sufficiently close to same as far as traditional Ward Three expectations go.

A prior unsuccessful but generally well-liked around town previous candidate for other offices did just fine per traditional Ward Three expectations.

As was noted by him, as well as often, “he gets it” as well as probably really does.

And as for the only female in this race, while a bit nervous during this first forum for her premier run for public office, she clearly displayed herself to be a little dynamo.

As such, do not bet against the dynamo absent securing an extraordinarily favorable payoff if she might falter.

There was no forum for the Ward Four seat as the incumbent is running unopposed.

Pension popper extraordinaire
A City of Quincy photo

Such was only to be expected as the incumbent has more money in the bank than any other local official other than duly embattled incumbent Mayor Thomas P. Koch and current DPW Commissioner, former long time Ward Two ward heeler and government pension popper extraordinaire Dan “Spanky” Raymondi.

Next up, the Ward Five forum.  Much to the disappointment of many in this ward, the incumbent Ariel is facing a disorganized newcomer and another perfectly nice challenger who would appear to perhaps be better suited at this point to be running for – say – the head of a school PTO than a Ward Council seat.

Even so, an upset of the less than consequential to date Ward Five incumbent is perhaps near the realm of a remote possibility.

The key reason for this admittedly remote possibility is the perception among at least some Ward Five residents that their incumbent ward councillor is spending far more time on both her day job as well as her growing household than working on ward work.

Sit Fido, SIT!
A onceandfuture,com image

Moving along, the Ward Six incumbent was on his own last night as his opponent was unable to attend given a scheduling conflict given that he works a real work job in the private sector.

Even so, incumbent Ward Six City Councillor Manatee yet again did not miss the opportunity to self-deprecatingly amuse the audience with his announcing that he (also, ed.) had a new day job career as a yoga instructor.

In turn, Quincy Quarry’s legal department refuses to even but merely consider but perhaps allowing publication of any picture of him doing the Downward Facing Dog for reasons intuitively obvious.

In short, given a pound for pound assessment, expect Manatee to continue to overfill his seat in the City Council chamber.

I am not a snook
An iconic White House lawn photo

As for the candidates for the three Councillors at Large seats, the large at large incumbent arrived late.

Even so, he was still allowed to speak and – amazingly – failed to stammer as he is wont to often do.

Smooth talking smoothly for a change notwithstanding, his smooth talking was largely regarded by the audience as is most overly smooth and platitudinous political talk.

The other incumbent, however, showed why he is the current President of the City Council with his displays of humor as well as duly acknowledging the myriad of difficulties in the way of actually achieving effective government.

As for the three newcomers seeking one of the three at large seats, the longtime and soon to be former long and hard working member of the School Committee made a solid case for his seeking a seat on the City Council.

As such, he should thus be considered an early favorite to win the seat that is to vacated by the local time council member who is instead running for mayor.

Mom, the deity of your faith and apple pie time

The first term and but half way into this term also current School Committee member also running for an at large seat put in a perfectly typical old Quincy stump performance.

Unfortunately, it is a new Quincy these days.  Fortunately for him he is well liked around town a homeboy and thus should be viewed as a viable contender.

Plus, worst case, he keeps his seat on the School Committee until the 2017 elections.

The surprise of the night among all candidates for all of the local offices, however, was the petite female challenger for an at large council seat.  She was well-spoken, focused and engaging.

Quincy could do a lot worse than see her do her best in a local political office both in the near term as well as going forward over many years yet to come.

Ultimately only voters and non-voters are to blame.

After all, Quincy has already all too often seen otherwise as well as all too often over the years.

Regardless, the race for the three at large council seats warrants watching to see who all snag seats when the music stops come November.

Given that much of the local electorate is less than pleased and at least three lesser office seats will see changes in their respective seat holders come January, many – if not most – of the current officeholders seeking reelection are surely nervous as well as most deservedly so.

Whether – or not – new blood and fear provides real as well long overdue changes in local governance as opposed to but ever more bovine product remains to not be seen soon enough.

Regardless of the final outcomes, expect Quincy Quarry to continue to cover what is clearly the most important local election in years, if not decades.

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