There will be two tours of the historic Lowell Cemetery this weekend. The first on Friday, September 10 at 1 pm. The second on Saturday, September 11 at 10 am. All tours begin at the Knapp Avenue entrance which is right next to Shedd Park. The tours are free, open to the public and require no advance registration. They last about 90 minutes, involve a good amount of walking and go rain or shine although that shouldn’t be an issue this weekend.
September 8th, 2010
Doherty – Donoghue finances compared
Yesterday was the deadline for legislative candidates to file the pre-primary report with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Covering the period from January 1, 2010 to August 27, 2010, these reports show all incoming contributions and all outgoing expenditures. Eileen Donoghue’s was filed early enough in the evening to allow me to write a post last night but Doherty’s didn’t appear until sometime after 10 pm. Rather than doing a separate post for him now, I thought it would be more helpful to compare the data from the two candidates:
Contributions received:
Doherty – $135,354
Donoghue – $98,217 (plus $2047 on hand from city council campaigns)
Number of donors
NOTE: Doherty listed all donors regardless of amount while Donoghue aggregated smaller donations and listed only those contributing more than $50. Thus, she had more donors than my number, but I have no way of knowing how many although they were all small dollar amounts.
Doherty – 669
Donoghue – 430
Average donation
Doherty – $202
Donoghue – $214
Percentage of donors from within the district
Doherty – 28%
Donoghue – 53%
Number of donors making maximum $500 contribution
Doherty – 158
Donoghue – 78
Total Expenditures
Doherty – $90,198
Donoghue – $73,190
Amount spent on mailing (printing, design, postage)
Doherty – $51,121
Donoghue – $22,207
Amount spent on consultants
Doherty – $22,582
Donoghue – $9750
Amount spent on paid staff
Doherty – $3575
Donoghue – $26,206
Amount spent on Lowell Sun
Doherty – 0
Donoghue – $650
Amount of money on hand as of August 27
Doherty – $45,155
Donoghue – $27,075
September 8th, 2010
Greater Lowell Area Dems to Meet on Saturday September 11, 2010 ~ Niki Tsongas Special Guest
The regular breakfast meeting of Greater Lowell Area Democrats will be held this Saturday morning September 11, 2010 at 8am SHARP at the Independence Grill at the Radisson Hotel in Chelmsford. This is the first GLAD meeting since the summer break! The upcoming primary and impending November elections are at the top of the agenda for dissection and discussion. Representatives of the Patrick/Murray campaign team will be attending.
Congresswoman Niki Tsongas of the 5th Congressional District will be the special guest. The Congresswoman will talk about the upcoming election, the state of her race and what she’s been doing in Washington for the District. She is looking foward to taking some questions.
GLAD Members, Associates and interested Democrats are urged to attend the meeting, bring a friend and join in the discussion.
Meeting Reminder
Greater Lowell Area Democrats (GLAD)
Saturday September 11, 2010
8:00AM Sharp!
Independence Grill/Radisson Hotel in Chelmsford
Special Guest
Niki Tsongas
Member of Congress – 5th Congressional District
Candidate for Reelection
Marie Sweeney sweeney133@verizon.net
Directions: Independence Grill at the Radisson Hotel – Exit 34/Rte. 495 – take right off Rte 110 at the hotel sign / parking behind the hotel.
Congresswoman Niki Tsongas at the Lowell Senior Center
Election 2010, Greater Lowell, History, Lowell, Politics | 
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September 8th, 2010
E. J. Says It’s Not Over; the Fat Lady Has Not Sung
Read E. J. Dionne’s latest take on the recalibrated mid-term election battle in this pick-up of his regular column from truth-out.org. E. J. says President Obama has moved to reshape the narrative just about nine weeks from voting day. What’s great about this link is that it includes the full transcript of today’s speech in Ohio provided by the White House.
web photo courtesy of AP
Culture, Election 2010, History, Lowell, Politics | 1 Comment »
September 8th, 2010
Addison Gallery in Andover Re-Opens
We don’t like it, but we write about guns and shootings on this blog because that’s part of what happens in our lives. Fortunately, we live in a place that offers many ways to uplift and enrich us day to day. Dick wrote about the Bread and Roses Festival in Lawrence on Labor Day, which is a wonderful community festival with a lot of spunk. He also shared a photo of the Robert Frost memorial on the common in the middle of downtown Lawrence. That tribute to Frost pre-dates the Kerouac Commemorative in Lowell and was in my mind when we started planning a public space to recognize Kerouac. Sunday’s Globe included a feature article on the renovated Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy in Andover, which is considered one of the best small museums in America. Read Sebastian Smee’s article here, and consider buying the Globe if you appreciate the writing.
web photo courtesy of andover.edu
Culture, Education, Greater Lowell, History, Lowell | No Comments »
September 8th, 2010
Gubernatorial Debate Impressions
I watched the gubernatorial debate last night sponsored by WBZ. The format of the debate worked well and Jon Keller did a good job as moderator. Over the one hour the candidates covered many issues with “money, or lack of” being the most important.
Here are some of my general impressions about each candidate…
Democrat Deval Patrick hasn’t lost his ability to express himself clearly and confidently. He IS the Governor and he came across that way. But at times I thought Patrick backed himself into a corner trying to convey the message that things are getting better and the state is on the road to recovery. Whether this is true or not doesn’t matter. It is going to be difficult to sell “optimism” right now to the average guy whose house has lost 30% of its value recently.
Republican Charlie Baker had a better command of the issues than I expected. He fired most of his barbs directly at Patrick with side zingers toward Cahill. Being continuously on the attack has its problems and it showed. In my opinion Baker came across a little flippant and nasty. And it is obvious from last night that his opponents see the Big Dig as Baker’s Achilles heel.
I thought Independent Tim Cahill underperformed in this debate, so much so that I wondered at times if it was part of his strategy. On many issues Cahill was happy to let Baker and Patrick battle it out then simply state that he is the alternative to this. Patrick gave Cahill an easy ride for most of the night, but Baker had not problem throwing Cahill’s own words in his face. The sharpest moment came when Baker made the Treasurer address his statement that patronage is part of the culture on Beacon Hill.
Finally I remember listening to Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein debate eight years ago when she first ran for Governor. I thought she did an excellent job back then. But truthfully Stein didn’t live up to my expectations last night. She seemed off target. Health care dominated her discussion as she called for reform…over and over.
Did anyone win this debate? Not in my opinion.
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