Dianne Wilkerson
On Blue Mass. Group, Cos reports on some Wilkerson backers crowding the entrance to one polling place and then refusing to move until the cops came. That pesky 150-foot limit!
Steve Garfield lives in state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson's district. He provides a video snippet on how to write in a candidate in Massachusetts (since, of course, none of the candidates are actually on the ballot).
Mass Marrier, who glumly notes that Boston has a long tradition of re-electing convicted felons, attended last night's debate between incumbent felon Dianne Wilkerson and challenger Sonia Chang-Diaz:
... Unbidden, the others I was with left the auditorium saying, "Sonia's toast." ...
On Blue Mass. Group, BlueCellular takes a look at some interesting items in Wilkerson's latest campaign-finance report.
Dianne Wilkerson and Sonia Chang-Diaz debate Tuesday, Sept. 12 at English High School starting at 8 p.m.
Via Adam Reilly, who is expecting a wild show.
Adam Reilly posts the formal announcement from John Kelleher, who claims he woke up two weeks before the primary and realized that he really, really wanted to replace Dianne Wilkerson.
You'd expect Dianne Wilkerson's allegedly Republican opponent, Samiyah Diaz, to demand the senator quit because she hasn't yet been even charged with perjury let alone convicted (well, or charged but not yet convicted in the case of campaign fraud), but, hey, she must be guilty. Kimberly Atkins reports that Republican candidates in other state-senate districts are now trying to make Wilkerson an issue.
Oh, speaking of Diaz, somebody might suggest that she either update the campaign blog or take it down.
John Kelleher's his name, Blue Mass. News reports, adding nothing else is known about him, including why he'd want to start up a sticker campaign this late in the sticker-campaign season.
Those teases at Blue Mass. Group say another Democrat could be getting ready to run a sticker campaign against state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson - but don't say who.
Because the incumbent forgot how to collect enough signatures on time, she is herself running a sticker campaign, currently against Sonia Chang-Diaz, another Democrat (Blue Mass. Group interview with her), and Samiyah Diaz, an alleged Republican who is running her sticker campaign in the Democratic primary next month.
Wouldn't it be interesting if it were Tom Finneran? Yes, I am completely making that up.
David Bernstein suggests it's payback time for the boys in blue as Wilkerson faces a tough election:
... Most of what you see about Wilkerson in the papers is leaked from within the BPD. The Boston Police Patrolmen's Association and the Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society have long despised Wilkerson, in large part because she has periodically advocated on behalf of those claiming to have been wronged by police. ...
Then again, it's not as if Wilkerson, facing a tough challenge mainly because she forgot to file enough signatures on time, hasn't managed to get herself in lots of trouble without the help of the Boston police.
Ernie on Blue Mass Group considers the role of DA Dan Conley in all this and says any leaking campaign could backfire:
... One of the biggest issues in urban crime fighting is trust of police officers. People in the "community' see dishonest cops all the time. The see abusive cops all the time. Many have experience with cops lying under oath. Many white decent middle class suburban people have had the occasion to experience a police lying about something they did. You can't do anything about that.
Now Dan Conley is saying, if you ever testify differently that that of a Boston Police officer then I will go after you. Nice warm and fuzzy feeling when you see something go down.
Dianne Wilkerson will be singing this to the community. A community that has life experiences making this a reasonable assumption. ...
Political Intelligence informs us that Dianne Wilkerson will be handing out ice-cream coupons in front of JP Licks on Centre Street on Saturday, Aug. 12 between 10 a.m. and noon. Oh, yeah, she'll also be giving a speech on why people should write her name in for state senate (since she managed to get her name taken off the ballot and all).
Writing as a voter, not a reporter, Kimberly Atkins says she has no idea whom to vote for in the write-in election between state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, Sonia Chang-Diaz and Samiyah Diaz.
First the city election department rejects her appeal and rules she didn't collect enough signatures to get on the ballot. Then she learns that Sonia Chang-Diaz of Jamaica Plain will run a sticker campaign against her for the Democratic nomination. And another Democrat or two could jump in.
Call it too little, too late. State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson filed her election petitions 12 minutes too late and 30 signatures too few.
She could, of course, run a sticker campaign. But so could any number of other Democrats in the district. Click on the link above for a discussion of successful Massachusetts sticker campaigns. Then again, the district is one of those rare ones with a Republican candidate.
Jason calls the office of his state senator, Dianne Wilkerson, to register his thoughts on the proposed T fare increases, in particular, his belief that the state should assume more responsibility for T costs, because the state legislature is at least partially responsible for the T's current financial condition. He does not expect the answer he gets from an aide:
... He informed me that he didn't believe that people in Springfield and communities not served by the MBTA should be forced to pay for it. I was taken aback and told him that while fascinating, I wasn't aware that Senator Wilkerson represented Springfield and that it seemed to me that she should be more concerned with the needs of the people who actually elected her. ...
It went downhill from there.
Dan Kennedy recently asked whether newspapers should fact-check op-ed pieces. Given Dianne Wilkerson's previous problems with facts (such as, oh, the date on which taxes are due), one might wonder whether the Globe asked her to prove her assertions in this op-ed article on the Boston Police Department's ability to solve violent crimes. She writes:
There is not one African-American commanding any of Boston's 13 precincts.
Boston Police beg to differ:
...It is assumed that by 'precincts' the author is referring to our police districts. "Precincts" is a term used by New York City, however it is not commonly used in Boston.
Boston has 11 police districts, not 13.
Captain James Claiborne, an African-American, commands District 13. ...
Click on that last link for more police fisking of the honorable senator.
My standard newspaper disclosure.
ChezNiki reports on a meeting in Roxbury about the last days of the last Katrina evacuees at Camp Edwards:
... Families separated, no privacy, no continuity of care, untreated depression and high stress, filth, open disrespect from the Base and State police. Additionally, Evacuees were only allowed to take two bags off the base and forced to leave items behind. Some were sent to Taunton during the time that the Whittendon Dam was about the break. Some have been offered jobs on the Cape at lower than the normal going rate; many of the women have been steered into Domestic work. But the most heartbreaking stories were about the evacuees who asked, "What took you (the Black community) so long?" and "Where were you?" People in attendance at the meeting on Wednesday were literally crying. ...
She also reports a bizarre confrontation after the meeting with Sen. Dianne Wilkerson's chief of staff about what she's posting on her blog.
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