Tonight's election

I'm voting tonight in the local elections, and right now, I'm stumped.

The major contest is between Susan Menard, the current mayor of Woonsocket, and Todd Brien (pronounced "Breen"). Both are Democrats. Both seem to be somewhat corrupt, which isn't surprising given the town and the state - Rhode Island is a pretty crooked state, I'm sorry to say. Lots of Mafia influence, too, or so I'm told.

In Menard's favor is that she has been mayor for ten years, and there haven't been any major disasters. Things have been run tolerably well, for the most part.

Against her is that the school system is still bad.

In her favor - maybe - is that she hasn't raised taxes much in that time. Not that I'm against raising taxes, and I expect that would be necessary to improve the schools. On the other hand, we simply don't have the money to pay much more in taxes.

Against her is that she called her opponent "a tax-and-spend liberal". Democrats have enough trouble, even in Rhode Island; no Democratic official should be using Republican hatespeak against a fellow Democrat.

Also against her is that she has used some of the city's resources to intimidate people working for Brien. And she had city dump trucks moved to block views of Brien's campaign signs during a senior citizen event downtown; the drivers were paid overtime.

Brien is a cop. He's been a cop for nineteen years.

As far as I'm concerned, that's a strike against him. My opinion of most cops is bad, and particularly so when it comes to Woonsocket cops. They've never helped me when I needed it, but they've certainly screwed me over.

Apparently Brien is in tight with the police union. I generally support unions, but in my book police unions are the worst. Some people are saying that his candidacy is a bid by the police union to pretty much control the town.

He has some nice sentiments on his website and in his campaign literature. He wants to improve the schools. He wants to improve the city. But there are no specifics about how he'll do all that, apart from "listening to people" and having an open administration. I asked one of his campaign workers why he'd offered so few specifics, and she told me that it was hard to offer specifics until he got into office and got all the information he needed.

That doesn't cut it with me.

In his favor is that he's against the proposed expansion of Wal-Mart. Although that's yet another situation in which my conscience and my pocketbook are at odds: I strongly oppose Wal-Mart, but we're dirt-poor, and could use a cheap place to shop. But the expansion into a Super Wal-Mart would primarily be in groceries, I think, and the Price Rite across the street from Wal-Mart already offers really cheap groceries. Heck, Price Rite might even go out of business if Wal-Mart became a full service supermarket.

He's against the Med Zone, a low-tax zone that's being pushed by Menard. But that seems to be getting killed off on the state level anyway, so it may not matter. It does seem like an abuse of a law that was intended to help seriously run-down areas, though. Woonsocket has plenty of slums (I live in one), but the area that Menard is pushing for the Med Zone is anything but depressed. It's actually mostly woodlands, in a nice part of town.

It's a tough call.

Basically, though, I'm leaning towards Menard. She hasn't screwed things up in ten years, and although she's abusing her power, that hasn't affected me personally. And Brien would almost certainly be just as corrupt.

The thing is that Menard has a solid track record. Brien is an unknown, and that means that he REALLY should have made his positions clear. By offering mostly nice-sounding nostrums, he's asking the electorate to buy a pig in a poke...to gamble on the devil we don't know.

I think that was Brien's mistake.

But I wish I had another choice.

Tonight's election

I'm voting tonight in the local elections, and right now, I'm stumped.

The major contest is between Susan Menard, the current mayor of Woonsocket, and Todd Brien (pronounced "Breen"). Both are Democrats. Both seem to be somewhat corrupt, which isn't surprising given the town and the state - Rhode Island is a pretty crooked state, I'm sorry to say. Lots of Mafia influence, too, or so I'm told.

In Menard's favor is that she has been mayor for ten years, and there haven't been any major disasters. Things have been run tolerably well, for the most part.

Against her is that the school system is still bad.

In her favor - maybe - is that she hasn't raised taxes much in that time. Not that I'm against raising taxes, and I expect that would be necessary to improve the schools. On the other hand, we simply don't have the money to pay much more in taxes.

Against her is that she called her opponent "a tax-and-spend liberal". Democrats have enough trouble, even in Rhode Island; no Democratic official should be using Republican hatespeak against a fellow Democrat.

Also against her is that she has used some of the city's resources to intimidate people working for Brien. And she had city dump trucks moved to block views of Brien's campaign signs during a senior citizen event downtown; the drivers were paid overtime.

Brien is a cop. He's been a cop for nineteen years.

As far as I'm concerned, that's a strike against him. My opinion of most cops is bad, and particularly so when it comes to Woonsocket cops. They've never helped me when I needed it, but they've certainly screwed me over.

Apparently Brien is in tight with the police union. I generally support unions, but in my book police unions are the worst. Some people are saying that his candidacy is a bid by the police union to pretty much control the town.

He has some nice sentiments on his website and in his campaign literature. He wants to improve the schools. He wants to improve the city. But there are no specifics about how he'll do all that, apart from "listening to people" and having an open administration. I asked one of his campaign workers why he'd offered so few specifics, and she told me that it was hard to offer specifics until he got into office and got all the information he needed.

That doesn't cut it with me.

In his favor is that he's against the proposed expansion of Wal-Mart. Although that's yet another situation in which my conscience and my pocketbook are at odds: I strongly oppose Wal-Mart, but we're dirt-poor, and could use a cheap place to shop. But the expansion into a Super Wal-Mart would primarily be in groceries, I think, and the Price Rite across the street from Wal-Mart already offers really cheap groceries. Heck, Price Rite might even go out of business if Wal-Mart became a full service supermarket.

He's against the Med Zone, a low-tax zone that's being pushed by Menard. But that seems to be getting killed off on the state level anyway, so it may not matter. It does seem like an abuse of a law that was intended to help seriously run-down areas, though. Woonsocket has plenty of slums (I live in one), but the area that Menard is pushing for the Med Zone is anything but depressed. It's actually mostly woodlands, in a nice part of town.

It's a tough call.

Basically, though, I'm leaning towards Menard. She hasn't screwed things up in ten years, and although she's abusing her power, that hasn't affected me personally. And Brien would almost certainly be just as corrupt.

The thing is that Menard has a solid track record. Brien is an unknown, and that means that he REALLY should have made his positions clear. By offering mostly nice-sounding nostrums, he's asking the electorate to buy a pig in a poke...to gamble on the devil we don't know.

I think that was Brien's mistake.

But I wish I had another choice.