Hello Stoneham voters! The daffodils are up, the sun is shining, and it’s time to go to Town Hall and elect our representatives for another year! I’ve been impressed at the transformation of the information available to voters in the 16 years since I first gazed in dismay at a local ballot with absolutely no idea who the candidates were or what they stood for. So much more is now available, mostly through the hard work of our local civil servants. But for those of you who still text me asking how I’m planning on voting, here’s the breakdown!
First some resources:
Election Tuesday April 2nd, 2024 7AM-8PM at Town Hall
Sample Ballot
Candidate Statements
Candidate forum
I also read the candidate statements in the Stoneham Independent.
Now for my picks:
YES:
Raymie Parker has been serving Stoneham for several years. It’s difficult, time consuming and thankless work that probably pays way less per hour than snow shoveling for the DPW. She’s always been thoughtful, prepared, present, hard working, honest – really everything you would ask for in a decision maker for the town. I appreciate that she continues to innovate and is very available to hear perspectives and concerns.
David Pignone is also a candidate for re-election. I have seen less of his work up front than I have Raymie’s, but his reputation and service in the community is deep, and with his work in the schools he has a front row seat in some of the big challenges facing our structures.
NO:
Stephen Ternullo (no publicly available site). I drive past his house regularly, and while I’m glad he recently took down the “F**K BIDEN” signs (note that his did not include asterisks) he still has up several similar signs using language I was not allowed to use growing up. His tag line on the yard signs is “I will be your voice” but I don’t have a potty mouth so I’m not sure that’s true. I do not want a town government that is uncivil, and the face he puts forward to his community is not one that speaks to collaboration or with whom I think it would be easy to work.
Robert Verner (no publicly available site). For this candidate, I rely on the information in the candidate statements. Our community will be opening a brand new high school in the fall, and a lot of his statements were around starving that school of resources – which is a bit like buying a new car and then not driving it because you don’t want to spend gas money. Cutting resources was pretty much the only thing he talked about, which actually seems wasteful to me given how much we’ve already invested.
I would love to be able to offer guidance on the Constable race, but I have no insights there. So if anyone has any thoughts, please drop a comment! See you at the ballot box on Tuesday!
My Truant Pen 