If there is one lesson to be learned about politics in general and specifically in Northampton, it is the necessity of candidates to cater to members of special interest groups. Though some candidates will attend the local ribbon-cuttings or otherwise tromp around neighborhoods every couple of years seeking votes the old fashioned way, in our fair city as elsewhere special interest groups garner much attention from politicians. In my mind the Northampton public school system as a whole qualifies as the single most influential group in the city when it comes to local elections. Though there are other powerful interest groups with significant influence, like Smith College, the Chamber of Commerce, the Broad Brook Coalition, the Council on Aging and the Pioneer Valley Chapter of MassBike, nothing compares one on one with the political activity that sometimes transpires in our schools and how that activity impacts local elections.
Take for instance the fact that the schools based and mayoral appointed Youth Commission recently sponsored a mayoral debate. Dressed in black against a black backdrop the mayor appeared on my television screen as a Wizard of Oz-style bobbing head. Sandwiched between her two opponents, Higgins seemed quite comfortable in the format and why shouldn’t she be? Higgins advises the city commission along with one of her staunchest supporters, Ward 2 Councilor Paul Spector. The commission’s goal: "To give youth their own voice in city politics, a voice that without the presence of the Youth Commission was all too often dismissed or ignored." Its meetings are held every other Monday in Higgins’ city hall office calling into question the commission’s supposed nonpartisan nature. In fact according to the city website several activities commission members have been involved in include the Mayor’s Hot Chocolate Run, the Senior Center initiative undertaken by Higgins, and a summit held in opposition to the creation of Northampton’s Noise Ordinance, an issue Higgins and former Youth Commission organizer Bill Dwight opposed as well. So much for its "own voice."
Never one to stick a campaign button on my child when sending her to school, why professional politicians are guiding our Youth Commission’s activities as opposed to school guidance counselors or civics teachers is beyond me. I suppose if one supports the policies spewing out of the current administration the influence on one’s children is considered great, and for those who think less fondly of Higgins’ decisions, the influence is not welcomed and is deemed not so great.
As further evidence consider that the Finn-Ryan Road Elementary School community presented the former Hampshire Community Action Commission day care teacher and current School Committee Chair, Higgins, with fifty cakes in honor of her birthday a few years ago. That’s a lot of confection and this speaks volumes to the importance of Higgins’ multiple appearances each year in all of Northampton’s schools as she acknowledged during the Feiker School debates. Of course her regular forays as an entertainer at Transperformance are probably designed with a dual purpose in mind as well, to raise money for public school PTOs and also to raise her stature in the community, not unlike the U.S. President raising money for members of Congress during mid term elections. (Personally I’d prefer to see Transperformance and the school system depoliticized.) Doubtless some of the people who now vote for Higgins are parents of children she once shook hands with at the HCAC or perhaps at an elementary school DARE ceremony. Perhaps in some cases children who first met Higgins during school-hours years ago now feel obligated to vote for her because, "she seemed really nice when I was a kid." Clearly Higgins knows how to speak to and maneuver around children and I find this a little creepy as generally I don’t want politicians bonding with or otherwise unduly indoctrinating my child thank you very much. Let’s keep Northampton politicos out of the schools and let the children form their own interests to rally around under the guidance of less partisan school staffers.
Moreover, as a community organizer I’ve observed ample municipal meetings through the years, where scores of people have voiced their opinions and often their dissent on issues like the Hilton Garden Inn, the Smith College Educational Use Overlay District, the discontinuance of first run movies at the Academy of Music, the demolition of Old Main on Hospital Hill, budgetary issues, and on and on. With the notable exception of some soccer parents who appeared recently during the Planning Board’s hearings on the Oxbow Marina playing fields, I have come to accept that the people I observe in the audience at meetings of the Planning Board and the like are generally not the same mass of folks that appear at meetings of the School Committee, School Councils and PTOs. Is it fair to generalize and say that school parents or now-grown-up-kids base their votes for mayor on one issue, that being support of the schools? No, hardly, but there are different issue networks operating within the community and in speaking to a school parent the other day I was dryly bemused when he said to me, "What hotel? What are you talking about?" As the cartoon character Charlie Brown might opine I thought, "ugh."
When I ran for elective office in 2005 I was soundly defeated collecting only 23% of the vote in my ward. During the learning experience I’ll call a campaign I noted how many people I recognized from the school system posting signs in their yards or holding them at the polls on behalf of my then opponent, Ward 4 City Councilor and apparent mayoral hopeful David Narkewicz. Though as a work-at-home-parent myself I was active in Bridge Street School’s PTO and volunteered in the classroom, I was not prepared for the vehement support other parents bestowed upon the past president of the Northampton Education Foundation and political appointee in the Higgins administration. When I observed "DNark’s" campaign sticker adorning the back bumper of Higgins’ hybrid motor vehicle, I knew that the gig was up and that I would end up on the outside looking in (or perhaps keeping a participant web blog for an alternative weekly!).
As well, almost as a precursor to winning a seat on the City Council, several present or past councilors first won elective office as School Committee members. It should come as no surprise then that municipal committee appointments are often granted to people who first became active in the community on behalf of our schools in one way or another. The preponderance is telling. Thus in short, anyone who overlooks the base of Higgins’ political support as stemming from the local school system just ain’t doin’ their homework. This leaves Gene Tacy, write-in candidate for mayor, with a formidable challenge indeed.
