Your name is Carl Sciortino and you are running for Congress. Your campaign for the Fifth District of Massachusetts - with Ed Markey's old headquarters smack dab in the middle of Medford Square - but you have no public access TV to get your message out on in the city where you live.
http://medford.patch.com/groups/rock-journalist-joe-vig-/p/52-days-to-election--candidates--and-residents--in-need-of-a-free-speech-platform
It's not just Mr. Sciortino coming up short on a Free Speech platform. Anthony D'Antonio is at a huge disadvantage being blocked from getting his message to the cable TV subscribers. And before you give in to the joke that YouTube and the internet are equal footing - tell that to NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS and other networks. See if they think the internet is as accessible as broadcast and cable television and you'll get your answer, the correct answer, right quick.
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Carl Sciortino met with me in 2006 about the TV 3 issue and he ran quicker than Paul Camuso out of council chambers before a vote can be recorded. Sciortino was more interested in asking me if I thought his male secretary was gay. I did and he wasn't. Allegedly. My issue to the State Rep (though not in my neighborhood; State Rep Donato and Senator Jehlen are my representatives) was about the gay bashing down at the public access station under Ed Markey's office.
The candidate running on "progressive" anti-discrimination issues is just another self-serving politician not interested in public safety and the protection of same-sex people from bullies who are incapable of providing the public with the promises made to us in an agreement Mike McGlynn signed, funded mostly by our cable TV bills.
What's wrong with this picture?
Then there's Neil Osborne. When I was coming home from a recording session yesterday I was driving near Boston Ave and there was a car with an Osborne bumper sticker. Being a big fan of songs like "Paranoid" and "Iron Man" I was hoping to book Ozzie back on my show (we taped him at a Barnes & Noble signing.) Turns out it wasn't the lead singer of Black Sabbath but the leader of the Mystic Valley NAACP.
A discrimination attorney (which is how Mr. Neil "don't call me Ozzie" Osborne described himself to me at the Veteran's Day ceremony I was taping) running for City Council with a huge front page story on racism and ...Neil Osborne nowhere to be found.
So let's get this straight, so to speak. The gay candidate runs from gay issues, the head of the Mystic Valley NAACP runs from the issue of racism and a current councilor, Paul Camuso, runs from a vote in ridiculous fashion as his own uncle is calling for him - on camera - to come back and make his vote known to the public paying him $27,000.00 a year.
Oh, by the way, this is the first of a series of articles where I am attempting to get the voters to wake up, smell the coffee and vote. I don't care if you vote for Sciortino for Congress or Osborne for Council or Camuso for Dog Catcher (though I would certainly argue the wisdom of pulling the lever in those directions had we an access TV station), the key is to get twenty thousand people out on election day, in 52 days, so that the city can start to heal from years and years of incumbents who vote for their pet projects and not for the things the residents are in desperate need of.
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ALL of the candidates are running horrible campaigns. Jeanne Martin is doing a good job, but it is not good enough. D'antonnio is running a worse campaign than he ran in 2011. Jimmy Morse had a huge advantage and has made the same mis-steps that have hurt Neil Osborne. What is it with these people? Mark Crowley is fighting Bob Fitzpatrick for the lead role in the remake of "The Invisible Man" - they both may get the role because they currently are both getting the nod for the remake of Vanishing Point. Adam Knight has a few bumper stickers (and like Osborne, is hoping McGlynn's coattails are big enough to carry them both), Robert Cappuci's campaign is also lacking. Can you hear Marks, Dello Russo, Camuso, Lungo-Koehn, Penta and Caraviello all breathing a collective sigh of relief?
ELECTION DAY 2013. Thank you to Councilors Marks, Penta, Caraviello and Lungo-Koehn for doing the right thing in regards to Free Speech. The four of you deserve another term.
http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20131105T00&p0=43&msg=Election+Day+2013+McGlynn+Removal
Until the voters come out in droves and until we have an active TV station ...until these candidates start pressuring the Mayor to allow them airtime on the high school and government channels, the incumbents have the advantage. Why even have an election if both the corner office and the city council are as secure for the incumbents as the unopposed school committee is this time around. Get out there and campaign, candidates. Show some spine. Get the word out.
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OK, the logical question. why call for four incumbents to stay?
Change must come incrementally. Three of these councilors - Marks,
Lungo-Koehn and Penta - should have thrown their hats into the race for
Mayor. They didn't. But they still have work to be done on the council
and should consider a change of scenery in 2015. Going to the School
Committe is not a step backwards, especially if the incumbent Mayor is
still in power. Someone has to stop some of the absurdity going on at
the high school, which we witnessed at the last council meeting on 9/10.
As for Jeanne Martin, running a good but not good enough campaign is
not what we expect from a veteran. You've got the courage and the smarts
to get elected, but you're not using all your God-given gifts. Same
with D'Anotnio, Morse, Cappuci, Crowley, Fitzpatrick, Osborne and
Knight. The Boston Globe calls the campaign "lackluster" and the
response by those insulted by the daily paper is...lackluster.
Martin and Cappuci were the only candidates who spoke at the Council
meeting. Talk about opportunities.. Residents need to take notice and
speak up. AN election IS a big opportunity. This writer has invested
much time and energy into the possibility that Medford can improve with
some new leadership.
