Being a newcomer to Epsom with less than a month to town elections (which we know is the most important level of government regarding property taxes), time was of the essence in finding out who to not/vote for. Coming from a city that has local elections every other November, it’s a new environment that allows for voting for offices and warrant articles that I was previously at the mercy of the whims of the mayor, Alderman Dowd, and their ilk. I certainly welcome the positive change in the individual’s ability to be heard, but the situation is not without imperfections. One of those imperfections is the candidate inventory. What I mean by that is the holes in the ballot(shortage of volunteers to be candidates) and people running unopposed. Hey, Nashua’s mayor didn’t have an opponent in 2019, and many of the aldermen got a free ride to reelection in 2023 for the same reason. I even stepped up myself at the last minute to be Alderman Dowd’s opponent and got 830 votes out of the 1833 ballots cast in that race. We all know what We the People need to do about such things, whether or not our communities are rural or urban.
Having looked at the sample ballot, which did not include the school seats, I reached out to Ms Virginia to ask if there’s a separate ballot. Schools, after all, are the biggest monster in a town budget, and I say that as the daughter of a former school committee member of a Massachusetts district. Virginia suggested attending yesterday’s candidate forum, so I did. I made a lot of observations and could easily ramble on about many of them, but first, a quick plug for Adam Perry, who is running for selectman in one of the very few races in which voters are given a choice aside from writing in someone. Adam is a quiet, mild-mannered young local native that has an opponent who appears well connected and swampy. I won’t discuss her in this article because my focus is on another candidate running for TWO offices simultaneously: library trustee and school board.
All the candidates for all the offices had an opportunity to introduce themselves to the audience, field questions submitted to the moderator, and make closing remarks. Because Dr Brian O’Sullivan is running for two offices, he was allowed to double dip, something I will not begrudge. “Library Candidate (LC) O’Sullivan” spoke first, meaning before “School Candidate (SC) O’Sullivan.” When LC O’Sullivan had the floor, he said the usual stuff about how great the library is, and I was pleased that there was no promotion of lewdness or wokeness. However, he went into a sales pitch for a warrant article that he sheepishly admitted to having a tax impact. Red flag alert! I mean that in a fiscal way rather than in a ballistic way. No other candidate for any office used their mic time to promote any warrant articles, though I haven’t researched who sponsored each of the 20 of them.
The moderator recognized each candidate in the order that the office being sought appeared on the event flyer and it was later time for SC O’Sullivan to introduce himself. At that point, he went into the school part of his political resume and identified himself as a doctor, a pediatric pulmonologist, and said he was “all about the kids.” Red flag number two came to mind as I wondered if he, a subject matter expert on breathing, was a promoter of Mask Madness. I wanted to submit the question “Do you support HB 361?” At this point, I will note that many of the participants and audience members were quite uninhibited about criticizing the legislature, particularly the local reps. I was disgusted, and for multiple reasons. All these critics are certainly free to move to Ward 2 and have the Newmans accurately represent their views on “school funding fairness,” among other stupid crap, and I will add that Mrs Newman is a realtor and therefore could assist with their moves while I help them pack.
Dr O’Sullivan was one of those whiners. He also said he hailed from some small town in Massachusetts that (in his opinion) was like Epsom. I immediately wanted to submit a different question: “Did you support Proposition 2 1/2?” Obviously, the answer would have been NO, if asked. Since Dr O’Sullivan appears to be a senior citizen, he was certainly old enough to vote when Proposition 2 1/2 was a hot topic. Alas, both times that I had the desire to submit questions, the room was really crowded, and the index cards and pencils were on the far side of the room, and laziness prevailed. Since the candidate for the other school seat was absent, it was an opportunity to put him on the hot seat both times, even though it’s unknown(to me) where the other candidate hails from.
After the introduction round, the moderator asked questions submitted from the audience, and a good one came up. Kudos to the astute person who submitted it. The question was, “Would you support combining the duties of both superintendents into one position(saving the total cost of the compensation of one of them)?” Predictably, his answer was NO, and he attached typical Democrat talking points to his explanation, followed by lavish praise of the school administration. Um, people who are NOT politically asleep at the wheel know darn well that school budgets are bloated everywhere because of top-heavy administrations and the per student spending dollars are being skimmed by lots of parasites before reaching the classroom.
I recognize that there is nothing I can do to stop Dr O’Sullivan from getting elected(to both offices he’s seeking), but Epsom is stuck with him for 3 years. It’s not too early to start recruiting strong candidates for future elections, starting with next year’s. There appear to be 5 seats on the school board and I haven’t researched the incumbents. Perhaps some of them are worth keeping, but the school piggy bank can’t afford more than two Dr O’Sullivans.
