Fear of the Unknowing.
By Jim Conley • May 29th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Advisory Committee, Brookline Selectmen, Nancy Daly, Previous ColumnsWhat’s really extraordinary about the Advisory Committee is the fear that its members try to produce among each other and project to those who may come before them. It is often the case that people who are contemplating a contentious appearance before the Committee will receive a call from its more offensive member (think Dicken’s Mr. Smallweed) and suffer threats of ridicule should they disagree with the party line.
I mean really, the threat of humiliation before the Brookline Advisory Committee (or the full town meeting assembly) is kind of like fretting over finishing last in the village idiot balloting. I’d worry if I started to make sense in front of that group.
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Cardinal O’Malley Comes Calling.
By Jim Conley • May 26th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Nancy Daly, Previous Columns, Robert Allen, St. Aidan'sI hope that the Cardinal has healing in mind for his Wednesday visit. I hope he speaks to neighbors so that he can hear first hand of the toll this project has taken on them. I hope he asks his development team why the buildings are not being draped to prevent the release of asbestos and lead from window caulkings (pictured left, click to view) when they agreed to this as part of the lawsuit settlement.
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The New Selflessness.
By Jim Conley • May 19th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Advisory Committee, Brookline Selectmen, Jesse Mermell, Nancy Daly, Override Ballot, Previous Columns, Robert Allen, St. Aidan's, The Allen FilesI’ll tell you what’s selfish - it’s school administrators and teachers whipping parents into a state of fear so as to vote them a pay raise. It’s the selectmen and the school committee unwilling to manage their $200 and $70 million budgets, respectively, in a way that avoids a tax increase on the elderly, who now get to choose between winter heat and paying their property tax bill.
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Brookline Does a Flashdance.
By Jim Conley • May 15th, 2008 • Category: Betsy DeWitt, Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, Gil Hoy, Jesse Mermell, Nancy Daly, Police, Previous Columns, Robert Allen, The Allen FilesWait a minute. Don’t voters have the right to know of Hoy’s traffic transgression before the election? Sure. But Hoy is also due that the charges be aired by more reliable sources than his opponent and her two campaign chairs (Selectmen Bobby Allen and Jesse Mermell). Voters also have the right to know that these three “colleagues” were likely lying when they said that they had first heard of the badge flash from Hoy himself.
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Blowback (3).
By Jim Conley • May 6th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Gil Hoy, Nancy Daly, Politics, Robert AllenAs voters go to the polls today, it’s not too early to put up the first postscript to the recent campaign for Brookline Selectman — everything is on the table.
With the hit job on Gil Hoy appearing in Thursday’s TAB; and with that serving as the reason for their endorsement of Nancy with an Asterisk [...]
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Blowback (2).
By Jim Conley • May 5th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Campaigns, Gil Hoy, Nancy Daly, PoliticsI’ve never quite understood how this works, but apparently there’s a movement afoot on the part of Gil Hoy supporters to “bullet” their votes. I don’t know if the message being sent is in support of Hoy or out of anger towards the TAB for running last Thursday’s hit piece on badge flashing.
[An aside: [...]
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On Brookline Selectman Nancy Daly.
By Jim Conley • May 5th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Zoning, Campaigns, Gil Hoy, Jesse Mermell, Nancy Daly, Politics, Robert Allen, St. Aidan'sOh, where to begin.
If, after reading this site, for even the shortest period of time a voter is confused on the merits of re-electing Nancy Daly to the Brookline Board of Selectmen, let me put it to you this way — there are none.
Nancy Daly is nothing if not contemptuous of the public interest. [...]
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Can’t Make This Stuff Up.
By Jim Conley • May 2nd, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Nancy DalyAfter several years of covering Brookline town hall, I thought nothing could surprise me. I’ve come to expect as commonplace the mendacity and lunacy that results from putting damaged adolescents in charge. Most times, a roll of the eyes will suffice to relieve the agony.
But I never thought I’d see something like [...]
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Hypocrisy Is So Hip.
By Jim Conley • May 2nd, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Campaigns, Goldberg Follies, Nancy Daly, Override Ballot, Politics, Robert AllenI updated a previous post with this material, but I don’t want it to be missed.
Readers will recall that the last time the TAB addressed the issue of selectmen flashing badges, (as they did in yesterday’s front pager on Gil Hoy) it was when they passed over former Selectman Deborah Goldberg for Lieutenant Governor on [...]
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Sign of the Times.
By Jim Conley • May 1st, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Campaigns, Nancy DalyRemember when Brookline residents wanted to use a dud of a property on Thorndike Street as cause to create a local historic district?
It was a big deal.
So a few days ago I was driving by the property in question and it featured a Nancy Daly campaign sign. See, Nancy doesn’t have any real [...]
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Blowback.
By Jim Conley • May 1st, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Campaigns, Gil Hoy, Jesse Mermell, Nancy Daly, Politics, Robert AllenMy ear is bleeding from being on the phone all day on this TAB political hit job [see post below].
Seems to me that the paper has really stepped in it. You just can’t run a story like this a few days before an election. Especially when the sources are a candidate (Nancy with [...]
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Going to the Candidates Debate (2).
By Jim Conley • Apr 17th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Campaigns, Gil Hoy, Nancy Daly, PoliticsI suppose that the big news out of last night’s selectman’s debate is that it is possible for a person to aspire for the post and have more than a few neurons working at the same time.
In fact, it felt to me like candidate Dick Benka was so far out front in this three person [...]
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Character Watch.
By Jim Conley • Apr 13th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Nancy Daly, Politics, Robert Allen, St. Aidan's, The Allen FilesThe Globe’s City Weekly section takes a run at political analysis in today’s issue. And let’s just say they’d better stick to re-purposing press releases from Brookline Town Hall.
Beyond not knowing the proper spelling of the saint (Aidan) whose name graces a demolition project wreaking havoc in North Brookline, the Globe thinks that the [...]
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Truth in Advertising.
By Jim Conley • Apr 11th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Nancy Daly, Override Ballot, Robert Allen, Town FinancesWhether or not a proposition 2.5 override ballot bailout passes on May 6th, it’s hard to miss the fact that the current town hall team is not up to handling the people’s business. They have only one arrow in the quiver - raise taxes.
This is not a surprise.
We have no meaningful audit function in Brookline. [...]
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Brookline’s Race Problem (2).
By Jim Conley • Apr 6th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Selectmen, Nancy Daly, Police, PoliticsWe’re fast approaching the one year anniversary of the May 24, 2007 Brawl at Town Hall, and we’re no further ahead in addressing civil rights in Brookline than we were the day police tried to charge Arthur Conquest with assault, of the verbal variety.
Why so?
It’s simple. Because for once, the victim of racial discrimination, [...]
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