My Cambridge Election Slate, 2003

Last modified: Sat Aug 6 11:17:32 EDT 2005

My Cambridge Election Slate, 2003

Update: The election is over. Rent control was convincingly rejected (3-to-2 margin), all nine incumbent City Councillors were re-elected, and there was modest turnover on the School Committee. For complete results visit the official Cambridge government web site.

Cambridge will hold citywide elections on November 4th, electing City Councillors, School Committee members and voting on a rent control proposal. I'm still doing my research, but here are my current thoughts on how I'll be voting.

Rent Control

This one's easy - NO!. As I've noted on my rent control page, I think the current rent control proposal is bad for tenants, landlords and the city as a whole. I strongly support the work the City Council has done on affordable housing, and I'd like to see an expanded state and federal role in this issue, but rent control does not contribute to the solution.

City Council

I'll probably be giving my #1 vote to Brian Murphy, a one-term incumbent. Murphy calls himself a "pragmatic progressive", and from what I've seen of him, that seems like an appropriate summary. I met him at a recent "meet the candidate" coffee, and I was impressed by his intelligence, grasp of the issues and and considerate personality. He clearly prefers working with opponents rather than "defeating" them, and he seemed very much like the sort of person I would like to work with.
My other possible choice for #1 is Craig Kelley.
While I have yet to meet Kelley, I like most of what I've read on his web page, particularly with respect to education. I also like the idea of having some newcomers on the Council.
These two candidates will definitely be getting my first 2 votes (which are far and away the most important).

I'm still not sure how I'll rank the remaining candidates, but here's who I have on the short list:

David Maher
Maher is an incumbent; he has demonstrated a fairly cool head and an ability to work well with other City Councillors. He has also worked hard in the job, and I find his position on most issues reasonable.
Matt DeBergalis
DeBergalis is an MIT student and would be another newcomer to the council.

School Committee

One the basis of pretty slim research, I'm supporting:

Ben Lummis	Marc McGovern

Narsil-->Politics-->Cambridge citywide elections, 2003

I'll probably be giving my #1 vote to Brian Murphy, a one-term incumbent. Murphy calls himself a "pragmatic progressive", and from what I've seen of him, that seems like an appropriate summary. I met him at a recent "meet the candidate" coffee, and I was impressed by his intelligence, grasp of the issues and and considerate personality. He clearly prefers working with opponents rather than "defeating" them, and he seemed very much like the sort of person I would like to work with.
My other possible choice for #1 is Craig Kelley. While I have yet to meet Kelley, I like most of what I've read on his web page, particularly with respect to education. I also like the idea of having some newcomers on the Council. These two candidates will definitely be getting my first 2 votes (which are far and away the most important).
I'm still not sure how I'll rank the remaining candidates, but here's who I have on the short list:
David Maher Maher is an incumbent; he has demonstrated a fairly cool head and an ability to work well with other City Councillors. He has also worked hard in the job, and I find his position on most issues reasonable.
Matt DeBergalis DeBergalis is an MIT student and would be another newcomer to the council.