Amherst Center: Vote for fiscal sustainability Tuesday

Published on March 23, 2007

We began "Amherst Center" a year ago to present our view of a moderate, centrist approach to fiscal sustainability for our town. We've laid out some key priorities of the Amherst we love, priorities that we believe are broadly shared: good schools, open space, diversity, a small-town feel, all without soaking the taxpayers. And we've spent the past year discussing specific things our town can do to create a more sustainable Amherst.

An important step toward fiscal sustainability is to choose elected officials who will actively support this vision. Our town election will be held this Tuesday (polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.). But how do we know who to vote for?

How do we know who shares and acts on this vision, and who just gives lip service to it? What if we had voting records that could provide supporting data? In an effort to separate "walking the walk" from "talking the talk," we have reviewed how the candidates have voted in Town Meeting on 21 votes that we feel are indicative of support for a fiscally sustainable Amherst. We've put this analysis on our new Web site, sustainableamherst.org.

Based on this information, we would like to share with you the candidates we will be voting for because their voting records indicate that they can help lead us to fiscal sustainability:

Alisa Brewer for Select Board. Alisa has cast 18 of her 19 votes for a sustainable Amherst. As a leader in the comprehensive planning process and as a School Committee member, she has been a hard-working advocate for better planning to ensure Amherst will have the revenues necessary to support vital town and school services.

Harrison Gregg for moderator. An important aspect of being moderator of Town Meeting is neutrality. Harrison has purposely never voted in Town Meeting to preserve that neutrality. His opponent, Nancy Gordon, has a voting record that shows 16 of her 17 votes against what we consider a sustainable Amherst, which puts her at the far end of the spectrum. The moderator also appoints the Finance Committee, and Ms. Gordon has specifically stated a goal of changing Finance Committee membership. We believe our current Finance Committee serves us well, and we wonder what kind of changes she has in mind.

Town Meeting candidates. There are 132 candidates for Town Meeting and we are endorsing 72 of them. These candidates either have voting records supporting a fiscally sustainable Amherst or, for those running for the first time, have indicated support for this common-sense agenda. You can view a printable list of these candidates at sustainableamherst.org (www.sustainableamherst.com/candidates).

Andy Churchill for School Committee. As you might expect, we will be voting for our colleague Andy Churchill (whose name has not appeared on this column since he announced his candidacy). Andy has cast 16 of his 17 votes for a sustainable Amherst, and he's been a thoughtful and dedicated contributor to the schools and town.

We have received a number of comments about our analysis of Town Meeting members and their votes on SustainableAmherst.org. Many are thankful for the useful data to help with voting decisions, commenting that for the first time they can vote based on real information, and not just guessing. Others have accused us of "politicizing" our "Norman Rockwell-style" Town Meeting. But since Ebenezer Kellogg called our first Town Meeting to order on Sept. 11, 1735, through Shay's Rebellion and on to the battle of the Plum Brook soccer fields, Amherst Town Meeting has always been full of politics, free speech and passion for our town. What has been lost lately is open access to that political activity.

Back then, all of the town's voters came to "open" Town Meeting. Everything was out in the open - everyone knew who was voting for what and where everyone stood on local issues of the day. But with a representative Town Meeting that can last for weeks, it's become hard for citizens/voters to find out how their representatives voted. Until now.

Our town is in fiscal crisis. Our schools are being stressed, and we are being forced to raise people's taxes because there has been no long-term planning. Town Meeting asked the Select Board for a long-term revenue strategy in June 2006, which has not been delivered. In fact, candidate Hubley's response at a February Select Board meeting was that he thought they had already done that, confusing the projection provided by the finance director with a strategy to generate more revenue.

Take a look at how candidates have "talked the talk" and how they have "walked the walk." Then walk into your nearest voting booth on Tuesday and vote for a more sustainable Amherst.

Amherst Center is a monthly column that seeks to present local issues from a centrist point of view. It is written by Town Meeting members Baer Tierkel and Clare Bertrand.