On Brookline

Let’s begin our 2007 review near the middle and the election of Jesse Mermell to the Brookline Board of Selectmen. It’s been proven, over these few short months, that those who dubbed the May election as “Jesse’s turn” found the perfect stooge for the bullying self interests who wield clout at Brookline Town Hall. It’s as if they cloned the factose intolerant Nancy Daly to a seat on the board.

Mermell, an alleged progressive, has opposed a plan to restrict campaign donations by special interests, made loans to a religious organization for an ill-conceived housing project and cast attempts to review police actions in the Arthur Conquest matter as “a good opportunity to talk about race.”

It’s what happens when only nine percent of the electorate turns out to vote. And the pathetic May turnout was as solid an indictment on the irrelevance of Brookline’s system of representative town meeting as there has ever been. As I wrote in a column that appeared after the election:

What should be in a community such as Brookline is an active and engaged electorate motivated by a clash of ideas. What should be in Brookline is a field of candidates that have been unburdened by the financial commitment to running (remember that as a town meeting member Mermell opposed limits on campaign donations). What should be in Brookline are campaigns that are bruising, passionate and controversial…especially in light of the town’s current financial condition.

If the May election was a referendum on whether it was “Jesse’s turn”, then 94 percent percent of voters said no by staying home. This, in a community where 3/4’s of the population holds at least a bachelor’s degree. I guess that means voters are smart enough to see through the nonsensical propositions put out by out local hacks political activists.

And even those activist/dimwits were able to see that a nine percent turnout (and a six percent share of registered voters to Mermell) was hardly a vote of confidence. That’s when they switched gears to make the story “Jesse the Youthful”, dubbing her the youngest selectman in the Town’s 300 year history.

Doubtful, that. But not to worry, Mermell has quickly laid claim to another superlative inasmuch that she appears to be the most shallow to hold a seat in three centuries.