By Scott Smyers
As reported in Acton Forum on August 15, Senator Eldridge actively interfered with citizens collecting signatures for a ballot question over the summer. The grassroots effort was gaining momentum and the signatures were piling up. Powerful politicians like Eldridge coordinated a network of volunteers to harass and sometimes physically block signature collectors from the public. One of Eldridge’s most active and enthusiastic volunteers was Harmony Wu from Needham (ABRHS graduate 1989).
On July 30, the Berlin Police were called with reports of conflicts between signature gatherers, interference specialists and innocent customers. There were some problems, the store manager and police reset the setbacks to protect customers, but no one was arrested. The details are in the documents below. On August 9, 2022 Wu filed a Criminal Complaint against a resident of Acton involved in signature collection. On October 18, 2022, the Magistrate at the Clinton District Court dismissed the complaint.
Ms. Wu’s accusations were unfounded and her likely objective was to harass and intimidate anyone collecting signatures for this ballot referendum. This was obviously stressful, expensive, and time consuming for the accused. Was this all encouraged by Senator Eldridge?
Please read the following Incident Reports and Wu’s Criminal Complaint. The highlights include: Wu was involved in similar incidents in different towns requiring police intervention and she showed up at the Berlin Police Department to file a Criminal Complaint with booze on her breath, then drove home (about 35 mi).
It appears Eldridge has a talent for motivating volunteers, but when they go overboard he’s not around to share responsibility or even provide support to those he asks to do his dirty work.
If you disapprove of these tactics and want to send a message to Eldridge, please VOTE NO ON QUESTION 4 and Vote for Christakis in November.
What this boils down to:
We brought tables and we checked in with management.
They did not bring tables and they did not check in with management – they thought they could usurp OUR tables, and ‘canvas’ with an opposing viewpoint along side us.
They CANNOT do this, affirmed with ‘Heckler’s Veto’ case law.
When my son was in 4th grade, I chaperoned a field trip to the House. The kids saw Jamie talk in front of the podium. He asked for questions, and I raised my hand from the back of the room. I asked him if his constituents contacted him to vote against something, and he disagreed, if he would vote with his people or his own opinion. He said he would vote with his own opinion. This was more than 20 years ago. I have voted against him ever since.
Thanks Scott. The sad things is, we keep electing these people with such comfortable margins, they don’t have to care what we think.
This guy even wants to prevent the $3B refund that is coming to us, on the theory that high-earners (who paid extra taxes) should have their refunds redistributed to people who barely paid into the system. Not that he will give away his refund to anyone, or even voluntarily pay more taxes (using the check mark available to everyone).
Also, Vote No on both Question 1 and Question 4.