Write in GERARD W RYAN - Not a PO Thread

Does anyone know why Author hasn't been around ?? Was it for a particular reason ?? It's been a while.

Wait a minute.

I think it's another Post Office thread!

Blame the guy who claimed voting for Jerry is like suing the MVA.

ml1 said:
yes. when you call us "know betters," that pretty much gives away your bias. I suppose I'm included in that. But I've tried not to act as though I know better. In fact, I'm on record (several times) on MOL saying that I actually appreciate a lot of what ohno60 accomplished in terms of scaling back the development. I just want people to stop purposely leaving out inconvenient information, and stop purposely making claims that they know are outdated or incomplete. And yes, "purposely" is an interpretation. But when you read on someone's FB page that claims aren't meant to be taken literally, but are meant to "generate discussion" or "get attention," it's not a stretch to say those exaggerations were purposeful.Do I always live up to my own standards? No. But do any of us always live up to our own standards? But I try, and I can say with clear conscience that my intent going into this debate was to try to correct the information in the public debate that I thought was not correct.
One thing in retrospect is that I would have insisted that our group not call ourselves "Village Facts" and I would have asked Paul not to start a thread called "Facts Matter." The use of the word "facts" clearly a) pissed off several people and convinced them we're a bunch of arrogant *****s and b) held us up to criticism every time we expressed an interpretation (regardless of how logical the interpretation might be).
But overall, I'm glad we entered the debate, because I think that even if some people have decided we're arrogant hypocrites, I think we made people more aware that their claims would be examined. I think our presence in the debate did elevate the factual nature of the information being shared. It was in some ways too late (there are still people criticizing the TC for allowing a five story building to go up ). But I think it was overall a positive contribution.

ml1, I don't disagree with any of this. Despite the unfortunately pompous name, I think that Village Facts has made a positive contribution to the discussion in counterbalancing the facts and opinions put forth by opponents of the Post House project. I had ignored this issue up until relatively recently (July or so), hoping it would go away after the election, but alas it has not. As a relative latecomer to the discussion, I have learned a lot by reading comments on MOL. If nothing else, they have provided food for thought.

I still doubt the allegations that the motivation for either side is, at this point, political. Mostly because I don't see why either side thinks it has much to gain (or lose) politically at this point. The only real TC election for this year has already happened, and I can't fathom that the Post House will be a big campaign issue in future years (unlike the reval). Am I missing something? I'm honestly curious.

I also remain unsure why, given the widespread dissemination of what are now alleged to be false or misleading statements about the Post House project and process, Jerry Ryan and/or his supporters didn't do more to combat or rebut this misinformation back during the primary election campaign. He's a capable politician with more 20 years of local government experience who had the backing of the Mayor and the local Democratic party. He had both the resources and the opportunity to correct the record, but does not appear to have done so. Are there any theories as to why? Given the wide margin of the results (which surprised me), it may not have made a difference at the end of the day, but I have trouble believing that Jerry and his supporters stood silently by while his opponents spread lies. I have just assumed that it's because, while there were differences of standpoint and opinion, the Lembrich campaign and its supporters did not distribute false or misleading information. If that's wrong, why didn't Jerry Ryan and the rest of the local Democratic establishment shoot back with guns blazing?

To be clear, I welcome both facts and opinions (as well as theories/guesses) in response. I think a thread about possibly writing in Jerry on the general election ballot is an appropriate place for this discussion, but apologies if this has already been discussed elsewhere.

You are not a master of your own domain...

mrincredible said:
Wait a minute.
I don't think this is about Jerry after all.I think it's another Post Office thread!

ml1 said:
Blame the guy who claimed voting for Jerry is like suing the MVA.

Sorry, I thought every thread on MOL was a post office thread, or at least one just waiting to happen

ArchBroad said:
You are not a master of your own domain... ">

mrincredible said:
Wait a minute.
I don't think this is about Jerry after all.I think it's another Post Office thread!

I was tricked!

ArchBroad said:
You are not a master of your own domain... " src="//static.wwstf.com/common/plugins/redactor/emoticons/1.0/images/4.gif" unselectable="on">

mrincredible said:
Wait a minute.
I don't think this is about Jerry after all.I think it's another Post Office thread!

Yes he is and so am I. I did not start this thread to discuss the Post Office. There is another thread for that in which I have not participated for months.

HarleyQuinn said:
Does anyone know why Author hasn't been around ?? Was it for a particular reason ?? It's been a while. HE HAS SOME FAMILY BUSINESS TO ATTEND TO OUT OF TOWN. HE IS FINE. DONT MEAN TO YELL BUT WANTED TO DISTINGUISH MY RESPONSE FRIM HQ'S QUESTION

mrincredible said:
Well, Jerry blew me off for the beer festival tonight. So I'm not writing his name in.
Granted I live in South Orange. But the principle is what matters.

I saw you there!

sac said:

mrincredible said:
Well, Jerry blew me off for the beer festival tonight. So I'm not writing his name in.
Granted I live in South Orange. But the principle is what matters.

I saw you there!

Well if I still lived in Maplewood I would write in your name!

I'm thinking of writing in Stoughton.

mrincredible said:

sac said:

mrincredible said:
Well, Jerry blew me off for the beer festival tonight. So I'm not writing his name in.
Granted I live in South Orange. But the principle is what matters.

I saw you there!

Well if I still lived in Maplewood I would write in your name!

Thanks, but no thanks!

tomdevon said:

I still doubt the allegations that the motivation for either side is, at this point, political. Mostly because I don't see why either side thinks it has much to gain (or lose) politically at this point. The only real TC election for this year has already happened, and I can't fathom that the Post House will be a big campaign issue in future years (unlike the reval). Am I missing something? I'm honestly curious.

I also remain unsure why, given the widespread dissemination of what are now alleged to be false or misleading statements about the Post House project and process, Jerry Ryan and/or his supporters didn't do more to combat or rebut this misinformation back during the primary election campaign. He's a capable politician with more 20 years of local government experience who had the backing of the Mayor and the local Democratic party. He had both the resources and the opportunity to correct the record, but does not appear to have done so. Are there any theories as to why? Given the wide margin of the results (which surprised me), it may not have made a difference at the end of the day, but I have trouble believing that Jerry and his supporters stood silently by while his opponents spread lies. I have just assumed that it's because, while there were differences of standpoint and opinion, the Lembrich campaign and its supporters did not distribute false or misleading information. If that's wrong, why didn't Jerry Ryan and the rest of the local Democratic establishment shoot back with guns blazing?
To be clear, I welcome both facts and opinions (as well as theories/guesses) in response. I think a thread about possibly writing in Jerry on the general election ballot is an appropriate place for this discussion, but apologies if this has already been discussed elsewhere.

ohno60 and Engage Maplewood existed long before the election, so I agree that their motivations were not to elect someone to the TC. Village Keepers --- again this is my opinion and not a "fact" -- formed around the time of the election. There was overlap between the personnel of VK and the Lembrich campaign. The Village Keepers appeared to be riding the momentum of the ohno60 efforts. Certainly the "keep the village a village" effort was intertwined with objections to the Post Office development. So the notion that the Lembrich campaign drafted behind the energy created by ohno60 is not a stretch of the imagination. and to this day, members of his campaign say the election was a referendum on the PO.

why were supporters of Ryan caught off guard? I can't and won't speak for Jerry, but personally I underestimated:

• the energy and tenacity of the PO opponents
• the degree to which incorrect information would spread, and how influential it would be. The number of people who knew little to nothing about the PO development before ohno60 "educated" them was surprising to me.

Lembrich's campaign did not distribute false information. But it was kind of like the transitive property. The opponents of the PO led people to believe a lot of things that were not accurate, and riled them up against the plan. Jerry Ryan supported the development. Lembrich did not. Therefore the people riled up by ohno60 and VK voted for Lembrich, not Ryan.

I don't think it was particularly complicated. It was smart politics in an off-year election, and it worked

LL_ said:

HarleyQuinn said:
Does anyone know why Author hasn't been around ?? Was it for a particular reason ?? It's been a while. HE HAS SOME FAMILY BUSINESS TO ATTEND TO OUT OF TOWN. HE IS FINE. DONT MEAN TO YELL BUT WANTED TO DISTINGUISH MY RESPONSE FRIM HQ'S QUESTION

Good to hear. Thanks.

ml1 said:
ohno60 and Engage Maplewood existed long before the election, so I agree that their motivations were not to elect someone to the TC. Village Keepers --- again this is my opinion and not a "fact" -- formed around the time of the election. There was overlap between the personnel of VK and the Lembrich campaign. The Village Keepers appeared to be riding the momentum of the ohno60 efforts. Certainly the "keep the village a village" effort was intertwined with objections to the Post Office development. So the notion that the Lembrich campaign drafted behind the energy created by ohno60 is not a stretch of the imagination. and to this day, members of his campaign say the election was a referendum on the PO.
why were supporters of Ryan caught off guard? I can't and won't speak for Jerry, but personally I underestimated:

• the energy and tenacity of the PO opponents
• the degree to which incorrect information would spread, and how influential it would be. The number of people who knew little to nothing about the PO development before ohno60 "educated" them was surprising to me.

Lembrich's campaign did not distribute false information. But it was kind of like the transitive property. The opponents of the PO led people to believe a lot of things that were not accurate, and riled them up against the plan. Jerry Ryan supported the development. Lembrich did not. Therefore the people riled up by ohno60 and VK voted for Lembrich, not Ryan.
I don't think it was particularly complicated. It was smart politics in an off-year election, and it worked

Thanks ml1. That is the best explanation I have heard, and certainly makes sense. I appreciate it.

Regardless of the thread title change this is now absolutely a PO thread.

DaveSchmidt said:

LL_ said:

HarleyQuinn said:
Does anyone know why Author hasn't been around ?? Was it for a particular reason ?? It's been a while. HE HAS SOME FAMILY BUSINESS TO ATTEND TO OUT OF TOWN. HE IS FINE. DONT MEAN TO YELL BUT WANTED TO DISTINGUISH MY RESPONSE FRIM HQ'S QUESTION

Good to hear. Thanks.

+1

LL_ said:

HarleyQuinn said:
Does anyone know why Author hasn't been around ?? Was it for a particular reason ?? It's been a while. HE HAS SOME FAMILY BUSINESS TO ATTEND TO OUT OF TOWN. HE IS FINE. DONT MEAN TO YELL BUT WANTED TO DISTINGUISH MY RESPONSE FRIM HQ'S QUESTION

Thank you LL for the info.

Good to know it was not about his health issue.

mrincredible said:
Regardless of the thread title change this is now absolutely a PO thread.

Just because you may not be the master of your domain does not mean that I am not the master of this thread.

I'm prepared. Wrote down his correct name on my sample ballot to use as a cheat sheet.

Yup, me too.

I'm voting for Pedro.

So let me get this straight.

If I want to, I can push the "Write In" button under "For Members of the Township Committee", type "GERARD W RYAN" on the keyboard below, and press "Enter". Is that correct?

I'm weighing whether writing in Ryan actually seems like a good idea. What message would we be trying to send by doing this? How many people would have to write him in for that goal to be accomplished? And how likely is it that enough people will do this in order for that to happen?

Seems to me that if only a handful of people write him in then it will have the opposite effect: the VK people will be able to claim that PO support is very thin, since so few people wrote Ryan in.

Whether Jerry has enough support tomorrow to retain his seat on the TC remains to be seen. I intend to write in his name because I think he would do a better job on the TC than at least two of the three candidates on the ballot.

I heard that G. Ryan will work as well.

Can we vote for Jeri Ryan?

I don't think that anyone, including Gerard W./Jerry/Jeri/Professor Ryan, thinks he is going to win on a write-in. (And speaking for his nearest and dearest, we are counting the days until he has more time and energy to spend on us!) However, if you don't like the other choices a write-in is certainly an option. It's not going to threaten the people who are up for election; it's a statement.