Do Worcester (and yourself) proud! Please go out and vote!
Thank you!
– R.Tirella
INCITY TIMES ENDORSES THE FOLLOWING CANDIDATES/Please vote for:
Mayor: Konstantina Lukes
City Council District 4: Barbara Haller
City Council District 1: Virginia Ryan
City Council-at-Large:
Konstantina Lukes
Bill (William) Coleman
Mike (Michael) Germain
Joseph O’Brien
Worcester School Committee:
Hilda Ramirez
John Monfredo
Jack Foley
Ballot Question
Vote YES for School District Representation! YES!
By Rosalie Tirella
City Councilor at Large Mike (Michael) Germain has never, ever, EVER taken the 84% pay raise the Worcester City Council so sneakily awarded itself four or so years ago – right after the November election, of course! Right in the middle of a recession, of course!
Mike Germain stood tall. He told his colleagues that it didn’t seem right to take city/taxpayer money (almost another $15,000 per city councilor) – especially at a time like this. Hooray! We applauded such behavior then and we applaud it now, seeing Mike continues to refuse the money – a good chunk of change. Germain’s decision smacks of integrity – something sorely lacking in many of our Worcester political “leaders” these days!
We remember our old pal, former city coucnilor Dennis Irish, doing the same – he refused the pay hike, too. Dennis had/has a ton of integrity, too!
Germian’s good choice, something he hasn’t played up this election cycle, should be noted by the voters. Germain, who is up for reelection, could have taken the dough – raising his stipend from almost $15,000 to almost $30,000 a year. HE DID NOT. He believes in Worcester, loves Worcester and felt during these tough economic times, the City Council doesn’t need to wring blood out of a turnip.
Everyone else on the Worcester City Council is taking the money. Add it up! That’s a minority teacher recruiter pay check – or maybe a jumpstart for the Worcester Public Library Book Mobile program!
This says a lot for Mike Germain (and Dennis Irish). If re-elected, Mike Germain will still forgo the pay raise, unlike his colleagues who, we think are being a bit greedy, since as a city councilor, you get tons of perks like getting city health insurance at the cheapo premium rate (25%), getting a city pension and a free lap top.
Again, voters should remember this come November.
Please vote tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 20!
It’s our city’s preliminary election, which will narrow the field for Worcester city council at large candidates and candidates for districts 1 and 5.
We ask you to VOTE FOR:
AT LARGE city council candidates:
– Michael Germain
– Konstantina Lukes
– Joseph O’Brien
– William (Bill) Coleman
District One (1) city council candidate:
Virginia Ryan
All the above folks are good people who have a moral compass and will do right by ALL the people of Worcester. These candidates are also hard workers, folks who will study the issues, advocate for YOU and return/will return phone calls! They are passionate about public service!
Vote for them! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!
Thank you!
Rosalie Tirella
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Now this from the Mass. ACLU:
Massachusetts law permits organizational T-shirts at polling places
In advance of tomorrow’s (Tues., Sept. 20) election, ACLU concurs with Worcester Elections Commission that people may wear T-shirts supporting organizations such as Neighbor to Neighbor at polling places.
WORCESTER — In advance of the preliminary election in Worcester on Tuesday, Sept. 20 – and in light of recent controversy over T-shirts worn at polls by supporters of the community organization Neighbor to Neighbor – the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts concurs with the recent ruling of the Worcester Elections Commission, which affirms the right to wear organizational T-shirts at polling places.
Today the ACLU issued the following statement, attributable to staff attorney Sarah Wunsch:
“Massachusetts law provides for a zone of 150 feet around the entrance to a polling place, within which no one can engage in activity aimed at influencing how a voter will vote on candidates or ballot questions that are on the ballot in that election. Wearing a T-shirt with the name of an organization is not prohibited advocacy.
“Those who tried to get the Worcester Elections Commission to prohibit the wearing of T-shirts bearing Neighbor to Neighbor’s name are not only misrepresenting the law for their own political purposes, they are trying to divert attention away from real issues about access to the polls, such as efforts to intimidate and deter people from voting. Wearing a T-shirt that supports a community organization like Neighbor to Neighbor, the Main South Alliance, or the Worcester Homeless Action Committee is not prohibited at the polls under state law, and people willing to assist with and observe the elections process should not be attacked for their commitment to our democratic system.”
By Rosalie Tirella
On September 20, we ask you to vote for incumbent City Councilor at Large Mike (Michael) Germain
Vote Mike Germain!
Readers of InCity Times may not see or hear Mike Germain, one of Worcester’s City Councilors (at Large), in our ICT pages very often. Sometimes we may not agree with Mike on some of the issues; sometimes we may. But on this crucial issue, one that is near and dear to our hearts, Mike Germain and ICT are absolutely simpatico:
BANNING EXOTIC ANIMAL ACTS FROM THE CITY OF WORCESTER.
Yes! This means no Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus for Worcester! Yes! This means no travelling bottom-of-the-barrel mini-circuses/animal shows – where exotic animals like lions and tigers and leopards are chained in teeny cages, rented out to various travelling hell holes for weeks upon weeks. Many die on the road from dehydration, heat exhaustion, stress, the cold. Just like they do with Ringling Bros. – a rich global organization that has the millions of dollars to hide the facts. Ringling Bros. Circus is making one of their bi-annual pit stops in Worcester in October.
This must be stopped/protested!
By re-electing Mike Germain to the Worcester City Council, I can promise you this: We will always have a vote on the city council – along with a few other of our progressives – for BANNING wild/exotic animal acts from Worceser. For keeping the cirucs OUT OF OUR TOWN! A vote for compassion – a vote against cruelty to animals.
Last year, InCity Times tried to get the ball rolling in terms of having the Worcester City Council keep Ringling Bros and other animal (torture) shows out of Worcester. We tried to make the case to our city councilors that Worcester is economically healthy enough to do without these shows. We have great restaurants, museums, the Hanover, etc. We DO NOT NEED THE BLOOD MONEY that Ringling Bros. brings into our city when they come to town every fall and spring. The march of the elephants down Soutbridge Street is heart breaking! I cry every time I see pics or film footage!
But there is hope! I was ELATED when Mike Germain told me last year: YES! YOU have my support! You have my vote to ban exotic animal acts. Then Germaine went on to say how he and his girlfriend took her little child to a travelling “animal show” in Worcester. He said they walked in, saw how the animals were stuffed into cages, saw a kind of freak show with some of the animals having two heads and some dead – in a jar and pickled in formaldyhyde.
“”We walked in – we walked out,” Germain told me, shaking his head and looking sad.
I knew then I would always vote for Mike Germain.
Germain, an animal lover who is the proud owner of lovely parrots, told me what he was against exposing kids to such horrific sights and having animals experience such cruelty.
Recently, upon hearing the circus was coming to town again, we again went to Germain and he just shook his head in sadness … . We know the lions and tigers and elephants have the love and support of Mike Germian. We want to keep his voice on the Worcester City Council. (To learn more: Please look at our past blogs and read all about “The Cruelest Show on Earth.”)
This is why I am voting for incumbent Michael (Mike) Germain next week, Sept. 20, and why you should too. We believe InCity Times, Mike Germain and a few other of our city councilors – Mayor Joe O’Brien, District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller and City Councilor at large Konnie Lukes – are way ahead of the curve on this one – joining Western Europe and, in Massachusetts, Cambridge, Northampton and Revere.
By voting for Germain, a man who can appreciate the beauty and intelligence of some of the most magnificent animals on earth, you are also voting for a person who is compassionate – a person who cares about vulnerable beings, and that includes our children, and our elderly.
Good people make our great city!
Vote for – re-elect – Mike Germain!