Political Digest, May 20th, 2022

Sifting Local Sources

Here is a political digest from local sources. Very exciting news comes from the shores of Buzzard’s Bay:

Ferretti Elected First Wampanoag Member of Bourne Select Board; Historic Election For Region

In an historic vote on May 17th, Melissa H. Ferretti was elected to the Select Board in Bourne, the first Wampanoag person to be elected to that office, with a result that will resonate across the entire region.

 Ferretti currently serves as the Chairlady/President of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, and will be one of the most prominent Native officeholders in our region.

( Melissa Harding Ferretti, Chairlady/President of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, and newly-elected Selectwoman in Bourne; photo credit — Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, www.herringpondtribe.org )

    There were four candidates for two seats on the five member Select Board. Alongside Ferretti, Bourne Selectman Peter J. Meier was reelected. According to the Bourne Town Clerk’s Office, Mr. Meier received 1570 votes, or 40.6% of votes cast. Ms. Ferretti, a first time candidate, received 1109 votes, or 28.68% of votes cast.

A ballot question asking state legislators to push to stop the proposed dumping of a million gallons of irradiated wastewater passed, by 1897 votes, or 93.5%, to 131 votes, or 6.5%.

    Turnout was 14.1%, which is higher than recent local elections in Bourne.

    I first met Ferretti via our successful, grassroots effort to halt the O’Connell family’s attempt – via their cutout corporation Notos, which preceded Boston South Real Estate Group – to build a casino/horsetrack (sound familiar?) in the woods and wetlands where Red Brook, the stream, has its headwaters.

     Ferretti has been a consistent advocate for the common lands, waters, and people of Bourne and the entirety of southeastern Massachusetts, territory that was originally Wampanoag and which that nation has never ceded.

     It is very heartening to see her victory in Bourne.

Wurts Elected to Wareham Select Board

Next door, in Wareham, Patricia Wurts, who was likewise part of that effort to preserve our commons, has been elected to the Select Board on May 3rd.

    There were two separate Select Board races in Wareham; one, with four candidates for two three-year positions, and one, with two candidates for retiring Selectman Peter Teitelbaum’s seat, which has one year left in the term.

 According to the Wareham Town Clerk’s Office, Jared Chadwick and Ronald Besse were elected to the two three-year positions on the Board, with 29.2% (690 votes)and 26.4% (626 votes) of the vote, respectively. James Munise, who was serving as Selectman, and Jody Santagate, came up short, with 23.2% and 21.2%, respectively.

 Wurts, who ran a write-in campaign last year after becoming active in the fight against the casino (where I also was glad to make her acquaintance), produced an impressive margin of victory this year, winning the seat with 71.8% of the vote (890 votes) to Brenda Eckstrom’s 28.2% of the vote (352 votes).

It is another encouraging sign to see such a strong margin of support for a woman who has been so strong and outspoken in defense of Wareham’s common rights and resources.

Muratore Endorses Doughty for Governor

Meanwhile, the MASSterList political newsletter reports that State Representative Mathew J. Muratore (R-Plymouth) endorsed Wrentham businessman Chris Doughty in the latter’s quest to obtain the Republican nomination for Governor.

Whitman’s Geoff Diehl, himself a former State Representative, has proven to be less than popular with most Beacon Hill Republicans, with Muratore just the latest in a long list of state legislators who are supporting the comparatively moderate Doughty’s underdog campaign against Diehl, the hard right frontrunner.

The Massachusetts GOP finds itself in the middle of an internecine conflict between the moderate wing, associated with Gov. Charlie Baker, and the hard right wing clustered around Diehl. The latter has, despite Baker’s popularity, steadily and successfully maneuvered to take over the machinery of the Massachusetts Republican Party. 

Baker has consistently publicly rejected former President Trump, whereas Diehl remains a Trump loyalist.

Muratore remarked to MASSterList in its May 18th edition that while he appreciated Diehl’s 2018 U.S. Senate run, “he hasn't been successful and in Massachusetts you have to be able to attract folks from both sides of the aisle in order to win as a Republican….I think Chris [Doughty] is a lot like the current governor, Gov. Baker. He's a guy looking to work across the aisle and get things done. I've seen that's a formula for success here in the commonwealth."

"Geoff's been a friend and a good guy,” Muratore continued, “but in order to have a chance of winning in November, I think Chris [Doughty] is the guy to do it[.]"

Urban Farm Proposed in Brockton

The Brockton Enterprise reports that a vertical, urban farm has been proposed for Downtown Brockton by a group of Maine developers who are currently building a similar project outside Portland.

Geoff Day, of Day Brothers, a Westbrook, Maine, group of developers, was both hopeful and tentative about the prospects for urban farming in the City of Champions. The close proximity to Boston could provide a ready market for freshly-grown food. Because the facility would be indoors, food could be grown all year round.

City of Brockton Director of Planning and Economic Development Rob May sounded optimistic notes to the Enterprise.

"When you think that 95% of produce that you get in the grocery store is coming from California, that has no water and an enormous carbon footprint to bring it all the way up to New England, we could be growing that produce here, providing local jobs,” he told The Enterprise in its May 18th edition. “It's fresher. It's better for you because it's not sitting on a truck somewhere."

Construction could begin in late 2023 at the earliest.

School Goes $10 million over-budget in Tisbury

The Town of Tisbury got an unwelcome surprise when it discovered that the school it is currently building is approximately $10 million over the original budget, reported Rich Saltzberg in The Martha’s Vineyard Times on May 17th.

The school was originally set to cost a little over $42 million; it is now clocking in at a bit over $52 million.

The contractors blame inflation, and the island’s position at the end of the supply chain.

The Martha’s Vineyard Times was not in a forgiving mood, however, and noted that the Select Board was not informed of the price change at its most recent meeting when school construction was raised.

Rollins Investigates Quincy Over Bridge to Long Island

The Boston Herald reported on May 17th that US Attorney Rachael Rollins has opened an investigation into whether the City of Quincy violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by fighting to close the bridge to Long Island in Boston Harbor, where a substance abuse recovery campus was located. Substance abuse disorders are covered under the ADA.

The closure of the Long Island community is often pointed to as one of the precipitating crisis for the severe homelessness, substance abuse, and mental health crisis that has engulfed metropolitan Boston.

Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch’s office promised full cooperation with the investigation, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has indicated that the Long Island campus – where once the homeless could grow their own food and enjoy the natural wonder of the Harbor’s dozens of islands and coves and inlets – could once more be a part of the solution to homelessness in the region.