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Tom Duggan's Notebook

Our Readers Get the News First!

As if it was actually NEWS, the Eagle~Tribune ran a FRONT PAGE story last month about how North Andover School Committeeman Al Perry has decided not to run for reelection. In the story, the Trib also “broke” the news that former selectman Don Stewart may run for Perry’s seat. For the record, The Valley Patriot ran the Perry story over five months ago and the Donald Stewart story two months ago. Just more proof that our readers get the news first while the Tribune is completely out of the loop.

Cowards at WRKO Fire John Depetro

The cowards at WRKO radio have fired talk show host John Depetro for calling Grace Ross (the Green Party candidate for governor) a “fat lesbian.” Ross, who is fat and is a lesbian, brags about her sexuality on her Web site for governor. Depetro’s description of her as being fat, and being a lesbian, was no revelation to anyone. Yet the management of WRKO, beholden to the gay lobby, fired him anyway. This is not the first time that the politically correct censors at WRKO have overreacted to remarks made on the air by conservative hosts who use language which might be offensive to homosexuals. The Valley Patriot hopes that 96.9 FM talk radio hires Depetro and blows away WRKO in the ratings.

Impotent GOP in North Andover

While the majority of voters in North Andover cast their ballots for Republican Kerry Healey for governor, the Republican Town Committee was nowhere to be found on Election Day. As voters streamed by sign holders at the high school, several people could be seen displaying signs for Republican candidates Kerry Healey and Lonnie Brennan.But none of them were members of the town’s GOP Committee. While a few members of the North Andover Republican Town Committee made phone calls for GOP candidates running for office, not one member of the committee bothered to show up at the polls on Election Day to support the party’s candidates. And you wonder why Republicans don’t do better in Massachusetts?

Mass Taxpayers Alliance??

During the state representative race between Barbara L’Italien and Lawrence “Lonnie” Brennan, a piece of campaign literature was sent out to voters on behalf of L’Italien by the so-called “Massachusetts Taxpayers Alliance.”  The postcard stated: “Without the efforts of Representative Barbara L’Italien, property taxes in the Commonwealth would have risen even higher.” It’s odd that such a bogus claim can be made on behalf of a candidate, considering that property tax increases are held to 2 1/2% per year by state law and cannot be raised without the consent of the voters in an override election. So, who is the Massachusetts Taxpayers Alliance? Nobody knows! Neither Ted Tripp, president of the North Andover Taxpayers Association, nor Barbara Anderson, Executive Director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, have ever heard of any such group. A Google search by The Valley Patriot found that no such taxpayer’s group apparently exists. So, not only is the claim about L’Italien lowering our taxes bogus, so too is the phony group which circulated the literature to the voters. Now that the election is over, recipients of the postcard might be interested to know that Representative L’Italien has a rating of 20 (out of 100) by Citizens for Limited Taxation when it come to supporting legislation friendly to taxpayers.


 

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The November, 2006 Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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