The Eisenthal Report

Hiatus

With my election earlier this week to the West Brookfield Board of Selectmen, I am thinking carefully about my priorities. While I do that, I have decided to put The Eisenthal Report on hiatus. I have not decided how - or in what form - The Eisenthal Report will continue. I know that I need to keep writing in some form - for all kinds of reasons. I expect to make long-term decisions regarding TER before the end of June. I expect to announce my plans regarding TER by July 1.

I Won!

I was elected yesterday to the West Brookfield Board of Selectmen.

On a beautiful spring day, 621 of West Brookfield's 2,159 registered voters, about 28 percent of the total, went to the polls - a very impressive turnout for a local election in which there was one race to be decided. I received 400 votes, or 64.4 percent of the total. My opponent, former Quaboag Regional School Committee member Diane S. Vayda, received 219 votes, or 35.3 percent.

This is a victory for West Brookfield. There is now a real opportunity for the Town to build the confidence that its citizens have in the services it provides. I'm looking forward to working with Selectmen Barry Nadon and Tom Long to build that confidence.

During the campaign, I really got to see how beautiful and friendly West Brookfield is. I knocked on almost 600 doors since mid-March - something like half the households in West Brookfield. While this was hard work, it was a real treat to see the town's natural beauty in a way that it can't be seen from a moving car. It was also heartening to see the reaction of those whom I visited in my door-to-door campaign - that reaction was almost uniformly friendly. Perhaps they were relieved that I wasn't a Jehovah's Witness, but I think that many people were pleased that a candidate cared enough to ask them for their vote.

There's one more thing. I had a great group of supporters - I couldn't have done this without them. They have my deep and humble thanks.

Now the hard work begins.

More West Brookfield Politics in the Media

With three days to go to West Brookfield's annual town election, two area newspapers have stories on the race for Board of Selectmen - in which I am one of the contestants.

The Quaboag Current ran profiles of the candidates for the West Brookfield race, as well as races in other communities that will be decided in the coming week. (Page 3)

This morning's Republican (Springfield) ran a story on the race by reporter Chris Hamel, with whom I spoke on Thursday evening. (You may need to scroll down to view the story.)

West Brookfield Selectman Candidates Respond

This week's edition of the Spencer New Leader, a weekly newspaper that serves the Route 9 corridor west of Worcester, has responses that my opponent and I gave to a questionnaire that addresses our qualifications and our positions on issues that affect West Brookfield. The responses are on page 12. Also in the paper was some paid advertising (page 9).