While I have focused in my previous analysis on the systemic downsides of creating recall elections in Longmeadow, including the unpredictable downsides of making long term changes for short term political advantage, the case against the recall can also be made in purely political strategic terms that should be compelling to the present supporters of…
Author: Jerold Duquette
Professor of Political Science
Director, Public Policy and Management Program
Central Connecticut State University
Longmeadow’s STM Showdown: When You Fight Fire with Fire in Politics Everyone Gets Burned
This is the fifth recent post related to the controversy over the Longmeadow School Superintendent’s contract. To read the previous four, go here, here, here, and here. Longmeadow residents will meet in a Special Town Meeting (STM) this Thursday to decide the fate of a citizen petition calling for an amendment to the Town Charter…
Hard Lessons: Longmeadow’s Education Pros Confront the School Committee
Last night the Longmeadow School Committee held a public discussion with the School Department’s entire 10-member administrative team that proved to me that the political firestorm ignited by the School Committee’s 4-3 vote not to renew the Superintendent’s contract has exacerbated a serious problem that is far bigger than the Superintendent. For my analysis of…
Emailgate Longmeadow Style: The Battle Over the Superintendent’s Fate Gets Uglier
The anger and frustration sparked by the Longmeadow School Committee’s controversial 4-3 vote against renewing the contract of the current Superintendent of Schools (which I previously wrote about HERE and HERE) flared up again this week with the public release of an email sent to the Chair of the School Committee from a town resident…
Compromise in Longmeadow is the smart play
Did unfair treatment of the vanquished after World War I help produce World War II? Sorry, this question is a bit out of my wheelhouse, but I can tell you that if the Longmeadow School Committee doesn’t acknowledge and deal forthrightly with its present fracture, the future with or without the present superintendent will be…
Let the Longmeadow voters have their say.
Elected officials often find themselves on the horns of a dilemma. Should they be more focused on accurately representing the sentiments of those who elected them or should they rely on their own judgment to make decisions about which they have more information than voters? In other words, should they act as delegates or trustees?…
Baker’s Re-Election is Business-as-Usual in MA Politics.
The coverage of the Bay State’s gubernatorial election this year is both business as usual and just a bit surreal. A Globe headline in today’s paper illustrates my point. It reads “Charlie Baker says he’s been tough on Trump when it matters. Is that enough for Mass. voters?” Average Massachusetts voters have taken no great…
The Experts and Question One
Economists and healthcare policy experts have weighed in on both sides of the debate over Question One. There are clearly compelling expert arguments on both sides. My analysis on this question to date (which can be reviewed here, here, here, and here) has been about how average voters ought to consider this and every other…
Question #1: Voters Shouldn’t Be Confused!
In my essay about how voters “should” decide on Question One I recommended that voters use the same basic methodology that their elected representatives use to decide how they will vote on issues because it is both an effective and efficient method that is far superior to unrealistic attempts to make “objective” or “non-partisan” judgments…
How “should” you decide on Question One?
Looking to cut through the political spin and find unbiased facts to make the “right” decision on Question One? Nope. Nobody is actually doing this. That’s not how humans work. Your vote is a “political” decision. If you are trying to “cut through the political spin” in order to “get the facts” you are kidding…