Amherst Residents Declare Intentions To Run For Town Office
Photo: Patch.com. Creative Commons.
Source: Amherst Town Clerk’s Office
Amherst residents who, as of August 27, have taken out nomination papers indicating their intention to run for office are listed below in alphabetical order.
Candidates must collect signatures and submit them to the town clerk by September 14. Fifty signatures (25 for district councilor seats) must be verified by the clerk to be eligible to be on the ballot. Those marked with an asterisk (*) have taken out papers for both district and at-large council seats, and must withdraw from one of those positions before the election.
In addition, there will be a referendum on whether to affirm the borrowing for the $35,000,000 Jones Library building project.
Councilor At-Large (Town wide) 3 Seats Available
| Vira Douangmany-Cage |
| Robert Greeney* |
| Lynn Griesemer* Incumbent |
| Mandi Jo Hanneke Incumbent |
| Irv Rhodes* |
| Andy Steinberg Incumbent |
| Ellisha Walker* |
District 1 Councilor (Precincts 1 & 3) 2 Seats Available
| Michelle Miller |
| Cathy Schoen Incumbent |
District 2 Councilor (Precincts 2 & 6) 2 Seats Available
| Pat DeAngelis Incumbent |
| Lynn Griesemer* Incumbent |
District 3 Councilor (Precincts 4 & 10) 2 Seats Available
| Robert Greeney* |
| Dorothy Pam Incumbent |
| George Ryan Incumbent |
| Jennifer Taub |
District 4 Councilor (Precincts 5 & 9) 2 Seats Available
| Anika Lopes |
| Pam Rooney |
| Evan Ross Incumbent |
District 5 Councilor (Precincts 7 & 8) 2 Seats Available
| Shalini Bahl-Milne Incumbent |
| Ana Devlin Gauthier |
| Ellisha Walker*Ā Ā Ā |
Housing Authority (Town wide) 3 Seats Available
| David Williams Incumbent |
Elector, Oliver Smith Will (Town wide) 1 Seat Available
| Carol Gray Incumbent |
| Sarah Marshall |
School Committee (Town wide) 5 Seats Available
| Peter Demling Incumbent |
| Ben Herrington Incumbent |
| Heather Lord Incumbent |
| Allison McDonald Incumbent |
| Irvin Rhodes* |
Library Trustees (Townwide) 6 Seats Available
| Farah Ameen |
| Lee Edwards Incumbent |
| Tamson Ely Incumbent |
| Alex Lefebvre Incumbent |
| Robert Pam Incumbent |
| Austin Sarat Incumbent |
If my math is correct, (as at August 27) there are 31 candidates for 28 seats up for election this fall, four of whom took out papers for more than one seat and will have to choose which one to run for.
School Committee is uncontested.
Library Trustees is uncontested.
Council Districts 1 and 2 and possibly 5 are uncontested (depending on whether Ellisha Walker decides to run at large or in District 5).
Since candidates cannot run for two offices, it could be that four of the seven candidates for the three At-Large council seats (Bob Greeney, Lynn G, Irv Rhodes, Ellisha Walker) choose not to run At-Large, meaning those three seats would be uncontested too.
For the Council seats, I think that works out to be either 31% (4 seats) or 46% (6) or 69% (9) are uncontested.
I count ten new candidates and 18 incumbents across the 28 seats.
In Councils in Massachusetts, I believe 91% of incumbents get re-elected (presumably many in uncontested races).
Benjamin Disraeli’s quip (about lying with statistics) notwithstanding, Toni Cunningham’s statistics reveal a stark truth: unless more Amherst residents agree to stand for office (and collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot ā as we learned this summer, better get a lot more than the minimum), the promise of the (now not so) new charter bringing us a “more democratic Amherst” appears to be running on… running on empty… running blind….