2001 Candidates

Mike Jones
Board of Finance

Give Rudy The Team He Needs

By Mike Jones, Democratic Candidate for the Board of Finance

Last week, I reviewed the key issues in the Board of Finance race. When elected, Joanne Murray and I will work to control town spending. We will seek new, unorthodox sources of revenues -- including new tax revenues from the commercial property on the south end of Bennett's Pond. We will fight for a REAL tax credit for the elderly. Lastly, we will implement improved institutional procedures so the Board of Finance becomes part of the town's management team, not a roadblock to progress.

So now let's address the most crucial issue: the need for real change.

You see, the Board of Finance has not changed for the better part of a decade. Every member of that Board is working with the same assumptions, philosophies, methods and goals. The result has been a Board so inbred, so dysfunctional and so out-of-step with the rest of the town that it makes your teeth ache.

The infamous meeting about Bennett's Pond last February is the best example of this detachment. After three years of public debate, the Board came to that meeting and announced that (a) they lacked the facts to make a decision, (b) no one there could address the issues they were raising, (c) there was insufficient time to get the answers, and (d) ROSA's 2,800 signatures were from people who did not understand what they were signing. The Board came to the meeting determined to stop the Bennett's Pond acquisition. They almost succeeded. The arrogance, negligence and incompetence of the Board was shocking.

Which brings us to election day, 2001. How do you decide between Jones & Murray vs. Savino & Bodnar? Ultimately, I suggest one factor over all others: it's time for a change. Messrs. Savino and Bodnar claim to be "new" Republicans, with new ideas and perspectives. But the Republican Town Committee would not have endorsed truly radical reformers. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, it probably is a duck. Savino and Bodnar look like do nothing, challenge nothing, fix nothing Financiers, and that's why they were endorsed.

That's not good enough in 2001.

If you like the dynamic changes of the past two years, you must vote for Jones and Murray. Are you pleased we're building new classrooms? Jones and Murray. Proud that we're saving open spaces? Jones and Murray again. If Rudy Marconi is on the right track, then give him the team he needs to finish the job. Joanne and I will break down the old-boys' club which has done too little for too long. We need a new perspective on the Board of Finance, and Joanne and I are exactly the right people for the job.

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