Last week the Ward 21 Democratic Committee met to consider endorsements in the non-partisan election for Allston-Brighton District 9 City Councilor. Candidate Tim Schofield had been the committee chair until he stepped down during the campaign; Nan Evans is holding the position at least temporarily, and ran the meeting on the endorsement.
Five of the six candidates accepted the invitation to address the group and then answer questions. Greg Glennon was the only no-show, probably a result of the difficulty he had with the group in 2005 when they focused on social issues, like gay marriage, during that year's special election for State Representative.
The five who attended -- Mark Ciommo, James Jenner (both of whom put "Democrat" on at least some of their campaign signs in this non-partisan race), Rosie Hanlon, Alex Selvig, and Tim Schofield -- all were effective advocates for the issues, according to one committee member in attendance at the meeting. Questions were heavy on institutional expansion, drunk and rowdy students, and so on. In short, neighborhood issues, not national ones.
In the end, the committee voted to endorse Tim Schofield. "He's one of us. He's been our chairman," said the committee member. While a quorum was not present at the meeting, the rules for the committee appear to allow for endorsement votes without a quorum. The Boston Phoenix recently referred to Schofield as the most progressive candidate in the race, which must have been a selling point to the Democrats of Ward 21 when choosing who to endorse.
City Council Campaign in the Age of YouTube
While Schofield's website doesn't yet note the endorsement, they have embedded a series of videos onto the site. The videos are billed as being "unscripted"; the opening one reads mostly like a honed stump speech, but the others address issues in more depth than you're likely to see at any candidate forum or campaign event.
A month ago, Harry Mattison found just one City Council candidate with a YouTube video -- and it was At-Large candidate John Connolly's ad from 2005. It is refreshing to see Schofield embracing the new technology. I hope others follow the lead. Hey Tim, the new videos would, you know, be a great subject for a nice blog posting, don't you think?
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1 comment:
Good for him for winning the endorsement. I am beginning to think however that change will not come to this city from the left.
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