MOOREcol.01-03-05,  , , , , , , , , ,28

  Hed :

So close to change;
Don't let standpatters
Dislodge your vote



By BOB MOORE


Northside, Southside, all around the town . .  . there's been more than a
little grumbling about "how things are going."

For months it's been : Who's in charge? How do we know? What can we do?

And since there's an election on April 5 that could resolve the doubts, I 
think it's about time to clear the air before it gets too murky. A lot's 
being said now that needs some attention. Left out, that's when, 
collectively, we say, "Aw, what the hell, let it go!"

That lethargy is in danger of being noised abroad. Watch out.

What people have come to know as the 4-1 board has given their right to 
set the pace to Town Manager George King. He decides and the 4-1 board 
waves him on. So King tells them and they do. It's if he has their votes 
and he has. If he plans and then leaves everyone [you and me] wonders
what's coming.

Remember, it was last September when King came up with an $86 million 
capital project but never offered it until late December. And then without 
details. The board never pressed him. Let it ride. It still is.

But this is not about Town Manager George King. Under manager law he is 
free to bring up anything or, silently, leave us guessing. That's not 
considered "politics:;" just the law as written.

No, this is about the 4-1 board. It meets now and then. A meeting and two 
or three weeks off. And when it does, it does not decide much, Until late 
at night after you've gone to bed. And sometimes, not even then. They've 
been busy as a bee arguing three hours at a time, four weeks in all - so 
far - to reject a cable contract with Comcast.

How much town business can you wrap up when you use hours in that legal 
battle. And it isn't over. Marlborough recently settled a contract with 
Comcast.

Generally speaking, the board is thin-skinned when confronted with a 
complaint, however simple. This has left many residents leery of 
confronting the boad.

There's been some talk lately that the 4-1 split represents a liberal vs. 
conservative split. Wait a minute. The split is personality-driven. 
Longtime town official and former selectman John Kahn and Esty have a 
mutual dislike.

OK. The 4-1 board: Chair Chris Ross, Former Chair Esther Hopkins, Former 
Chair Charlie Sisitsky and Katie Murphy. Left out is Selectman Ginger Esty 
who got nearly 600 votes more than the veteran Sisitsky in last 
spring's 
election. Someone liked Esty.  Murphy is up for re-election next year and 
a strong defender of the 4-1 vote lock.

In a Boston Globe story last Sunday, Murphy told the reporter : "If 
thoughtful, progressive voteers stay home [this year], I could end up in 
the minority. I think that would be a shame."

At the recent fund-raiser for former-Rep. John Stasik, Murphy was 
introduced as "the next chairman of the Board of Selectmen." The speaker 
was Jerry Desilets, veteran candidate picker. Standing by was John Kahn. 
Desilets and Kahn were largely responsible for the election of Murphy 
Sisitsky. Recently Kahn called the inactive 4-1 board as "disfunctional". 
Ross and Hopkins have decided not run.

So the election affords a chance to elect two new persons to the Board of
Selectmen. Who? Will the winners vote for change?

Running are Finance Committee member Dennis Giombetti, who was top aide 
for former Rep. Drew Roger; Ellen LaRose, a longtime Town Meeting Member 
and active on the Government Study Committee. Both La Rose and Giombetti 
seek to change the present slack board. Stasik served three years as state 
rep and a decade on the Planning Board. He is touted as a candidate who 
has "name recognition."

La Rose supports the drive to end Esty's solitary position. And Esty is 
lending her backing to La Rose. Interesting. I won't say what that means.

Those three are the leading contenders. Three others - Jim Rizoli, Dennis 
Paulsen and Harold Wolfe - are contending. Wolfe has long been a contender 
that the town overspends. In short appearances before the board he has 
said his piece and retired with an "oh well." His campaign against a 
King-promised override seemed to stall the manager's follow up on his 
September suggestion.

Who's lining up with whom? And what candidates will follow through on a 
promise to end the 4-1 board's reluctance to act? That's the question. Not 
cleared up by the lineup at the fund-raisers.

My feeling is that after so many have begun to see that their vote for change
can make a difference, there is a feeling aboard of "let's not be rash."

___________________________________________________
You can reach Bob Moore at edmoore4@aol.com or at
1-508-620-1449. [Let it ring; he's slow.]











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