The local group Sustainable Amherst has once again created an informative guide to the 2009 local election. Committeed to fiscal sustainability driven by a strong economic base in Amherst, Sustainable Amherst rates current Town Meeting members based on their past votes on items related to budget and economic development. This is really a detailed and fascinating analysis and a must-read not only before you head to the polls but for anyone interested in the items that have come before TM in the past few years that deal with these issues.
For example, a look at the scorecard reveals the voting record of the five members of our current Finance Committee with an established record. All five have a score between +24 and +31 (according the rating scale, +34 represents the highest possible fiscal sustainability score). A good sign, in my mind, for those who are minding the money!
Sustainable Amherst also creates a handy candidate endorsement checklist that voters who are concerned with fiscal sustainability can print out and bring to the polls. I was interested to see that, in some cases, they are endorsing newcomers to the Town Meeting scene who do not yet have a voting record. In my precinct (6), for example, they have endorsed not only incumbents Rob Spence (score of +17), Jim Brissette (+12), Michael Greenbaum (+11), and Josef Willie (+1), but also unranked candidates Michael Jacques, Paul Kaplan, and myself.
Whether you agree with the opinions of Sustainable Amherst or their approach to fiscal sustainability or not, their web site offers invaluable information on our elected officials in one convenient location. I encourage you to stop by today.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Alison - Thanks for the mention of www.sustainableamherst.org! And good luck on Tuesday!
All you voters who agree with our positions on the issues, you can just click on the "Print TM Candidate Flyer", print a few out and give them to friends. Most folks don't bother to research *all* the TM candidates in their precinct (or even vote). The flyer is a great reminder to folks to vote, and a helper for those who haven't researched all the candidates.
We need your help...This is how we can elect the most fiscally responsible folks to TM!
Thanks,
Baer
My pleasure, Baer. It is a great analysis. Even for voters who do not agree with your positions on the issues will find your web site to be one central place to check on the voting records of all our TM members on all issues of budget/economic development over the past few years. Very valuable. Thanks for stopping by.
So Rob Kusner gets a -25 the lowest score of anybody in Precinct 3, yet he's running for the Amherst Redevelopment Authority--an entity that epitomizes a fiscally sustainable Amherst. Hmmm...
Post a Comment