Nov. 8, 2009
The election results are in and Michael Pavia is new Mayor of Stamford, Connecticut. He beat his opponent Democrat David Martin to become the first Republican Mayor in 14 years. The tally was 12,680 votes to 10,024, which translates to Pavia's capturing 56% of the vote to Martin's 44%.
Sadly only 39% of eligible voters participated: of 57,304 registered citizens, 22,689 went to the polls. And, I can only wonder how many residents of voting age simply refuse to register--perhaps feeling so alienated from the safeguards of our democracy to participate. So, perhaps, only about 1/3 of us actually feel we can make a difference. The rest feel disenfranchised. Doesn't that make the average American citizen the real loser here?
According to the Stamford Advocate: the reasons for Pavia's success are three fold: money/fund raising, organization (Pavia started with greater name recognition) and backlash against high taxes.
Several observations are in order. When I went to my local polls at Dolan Middle School, mid-afternoon, there were some 15 campaigners outside asking for my support and handing me literature (which I had to discard before entering) and inside there some 20 volunteers and only 3 voters. Thus the voters were outnumbered by 35 to 3 or 12 to 1. A sad state of affairs.
Though I am a renter, I can relate rather strongly to property tax increases. About a year and a half ago, the house in which I live was reassessed from about $200,000 to over $400,000--suddenly doubling the property tax of my landlord. Naturally, my rent suddenly went up. Querie: what took the assessor's office so long to do their homework?
On the bright spot, the day after elections, I had the privilege of meeting one of Mike Pavia's campaign lieutenants while shopping at the local supermaket. Dan Mccabe is lawyer here in town and has been friendly with Mike from their days in Stamford Catholic School (Trinity). Dan is one of the most upbeat guys, I have met lately. And he waxed with so much genuine enthusiasm and praise for his life-long friend that I know our city will be in strong hands.
Another bright spot is that voter turnout where Pavia lives in District 18 (covering North Stamford and Newfield) was just under 50%.
Finally, hats off to David Martin, who leaves the Board of Representatives after 26 years of service. Dave, who arrived in Stamford in 1983 from his native Kansas City, Mo. ran for for this office as a Democrat in a Republic district after 6 months residence; amazingly enough, he won the seat! So good luck, Dave, who now returns to his consulting firm, Michael Allen & Co. in Darien.
The election results are in and Michael Pavia is new Mayor of Stamford, Connecticut. He beat his opponent Democrat David Martin to become the first Republican Mayor in 14 years. The tally was 12,680 votes to 10,024, which translates to Pavia's capturing 56% of the vote to Martin's 44%.
Sadly only 39% of eligible voters participated: of 57,304 registered citizens, 22,689 went to the polls. And, I can only wonder how many residents of voting age simply refuse to register--perhaps feeling so alienated from the safeguards of our democracy to participate. So, perhaps, only about 1/3 of us actually feel we can make a difference. The rest feel disenfranchised. Doesn't that make the average American citizen the real loser here?
According to the Stamford Advocate: the reasons for Pavia's success are three fold: money/fund raising, organization (Pavia started with greater name recognition) and backlash against high taxes.
Several observations are in order. When I went to my local polls at Dolan Middle School, mid-afternoon, there were some 15 campaigners outside asking for my support and handing me literature (which I had to discard before entering) and inside there some 20 volunteers and only 3 voters. Thus the voters were outnumbered by 35 to 3 or 12 to 1. A sad state of affairs.
Though I am a renter, I can relate rather strongly to property tax increases. About a year and a half ago, the house in which I live was reassessed from about $200,000 to over $400,000--suddenly doubling the property tax of my landlord. Naturally, my rent suddenly went up. Querie: what took the assessor's office so long to do their homework?
On the bright spot, the day after elections, I had the privilege of meeting one of Mike Pavia's campaign lieutenants while shopping at the local supermaket. Dan Mccabe is lawyer here in town and has been friendly with Mike from their days in Stamford Catholic School (Trinity). Dan is one of the most upbeat guys, I have met lately. And he waxed with so much genuine enthusiasm and praise for his life-long friend that I know our city will be in strong hands.
Another bright spot is that voter turnout where Pavia lives in District 18 (covering North Stamford and Newfield) was just under 50%.
Finally, hats off to David Martin, who leaves the Board of Representatives after 26 years of service. Dave, who arrived in Stamford in 1983 from his native Kansas City, Mo. ran for for this office as a Democrat in a Republic district after 6 months residence; amazingly enough, he won the seat! So good luck, Dave, who now returns to his consulting firm, Michael Allen & Co. in Darien.
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