Recommendations for Worcester's municipal election from Margot Barnet and David Coyne

Friends,

For several years now we have written and shared with friends and allies our opinions about candidates running for office.  We do this with sincere humility and a tremendous sense of responsibility, with our best thoughtfulness and attention.  We came to do this originally and now return to it in response to requests from some friends who, much to our amazement, respect and appreciate our attention to things political and electoral and actually have asked for our advice.

We offer this today, to some of you for the first time, to others once again.  Of course, you should feel free to ignore our views, to disagree partially or even completely, to vote your own conscience, or, if you so choose, to share our views with your friends and allies as well.  We welcome your sharing your own views with us.  

This year’s Worcester municipal elections are fraught with high stakes volatility.  At a level that we have not seen before in our more than two and a half decades living here, this election presents a series of choices that reflect dramatically different assumptions about both the purpose of government and its legitimacy, and about the current state of our city and its prospects for the future.  Our personal choices, in the light of such a debate, obviously reflect our own values and perceptions.  And we owe you at least a brief articulation of where we are so that you can determine for yourself if your own views and sensibilities would lead you to similar conclusions.

In a healthy democracy, people feel that their votes and voices matter.  When many people do not feel this, and feel squeezed, both economically and by unsustainable demands on their time, unscrupulous media and candidates can exploit their unease with demagoguery.  They fan people’s fears, and they blame and demonize the members of our community who have the least resource and the most visible breakdown of social fabric. 

By contrast there are many people in our community who struggle in many different ways to promote a livable community for everyone.  We have witnessed and been inspired by how people from really tough circumstances blossom, move toward self-sufficiency, develop leadership, and come together to solve problems when they are approached with respect and dignity.  Local government, while it often cannot on its own provide sufficient resources, can play a big role in shaping a culture that embodies the respect and dignity that allows people from different backgrounds to partner and find solutions together. 

We support candidates who believe that government has a constructive role to play, who respect the dignity and are willing to listen to the stories of everyone in our community, and who work to build consensus to solve the problems we face.  We need leaders who have the vision and courage to challenge demagoguery whenever it occurs. 

With all of this in mind we are supporting the following candidates:

Joseph “Joe” Petty for Mayor and City Councilor at Large

Morris “Moe” Bergman, Khrystian King, Linda Parham, Matt Wally, and Christina “Tina” Zlody for City Councilor at Large.

Some people contend that the best way to support their candidates of choice is by bullet voting, by voting for fewer and sometime many fewer candidates than there are spots.  In this case we believe block voting will be more effective, as bullet voting leaves too much room for candidates who should be defeated. 

We are declining to comment on district council races except for District 4, where our good friend Sarai Rivera is facing a challenge from a candidate with a very different agenda.  Sarai understands and embodies the vision we outlined above more than anyone else in our city leadership.  It is crucial that she return for another term. 

We have quite honestly paid far less attention to the race for School Committee this year.  Three incumbent members of the School Committee have, we believe, provided high quality consistent leadership and representation.  We will be voting for Jack Foley, Tracy O’Connell Novick, and Hilda Ramirez.  We also urge you to reject the candidacy of Donna Colorio, a Tea Party extremist.

For more background about our choices, see our September blog post here.  Our thoughts and vision about public policy for a healthy future require a much longer series of conversations, and we invite you to engage in them with us.  Please let us know if you would like to talk with us about anything we have touched on after Tuesday’s election. 

Thank you for your attention and for exercising your sacred right to vote,

Margot and David