Another candidate for the Board of Selectman has dropped out of the race. Joe Hubley has opted to withdraw his name. But he’s still weighing in on the election by endorsing two candidates.
The endorsement may carry weight with some residents. Hubley is a former Southborough firefighter and current Chair of the Historical Commission.
Hubley’s open letter says after speaking with some of the other candidates, he endorses Selectman Dan Kolenda (running for re-election) and John Wood.
Also still in the running are three other candidates. The updated list running for the two seats is now:
- Lisa Braccio – Chair of the Open Space Preservation Commission
- Dan Kolenda – Incumbent selectman (and former Chair), member of the Northborough-Southborough Regional School Committee
- David Parry – Former Selectman
- Sam Stivers – Advisory Committee member, former Chair of Zoning Board of Appeals
- John Wood – Advisory Committee member (and former Chair), designated member of Public Safety Study Committee
(Those are just the positions I know about. Some of them may have served on additional boards/committees in the past.)
The original roster also included Planning Board member Jesse Stein who withdrew shortly after the filing deadline.
In his letter Hubley thanked everyone who supported him. Here is his full statement:
Today, I withdraw my name as a candidate for Selectman. I’ve given this decision careful thought. After speaking with some of the candidates, I feel confident they will work with the town’s best interests in mind.
Therefore, I fully support and endorse John Wood and Daniel Kolenda as Selectmen. I want to thank everyone who encouraged my candidacy, signed my nomination papers, and provided advice and support.
I’m confident our next Selectmen will work hard to face any upcoming challenges in our town government.
Thank you,
Joseph E. Hubley
To the editor
In your listing of candidates for Selectmen, and in particular their qualifications, I think you should be a little be more objective and fair.
For instance, you cite Mr David Parry as having been a “former Selectman”. Period. End of town involvement. But in the case of other candidates, you cite their former positions of “Chair” of this or that Committee, and you state: “These are just the positions I know about. Some of them may have served on additional boards/committees in the past”.
Well, let me enlighten you, reading from Mr Parry’s own flier for his campaign, (and by the way you most certainly have his flier from his last campaign. You omit the following:.
Mr Parry was “Chair” of the Board of Selectmen for three separate years (in 1998, 2001, and 2004).
Mr Parry was on the Planning Board on two separate occasions, in 1986 and 1994.
Mr Parry is presently an appointed member of the Committee for Adaptive Re-use of Historic Buildings Bylaw, which has an Article at the 2017 Annual Town Meeting in a few weeks.
You know, but omit, that he is also presently a key member, with John Wilson, of the “Save Our Golf Course” Group. That group demonstrated how the course could be saved by modifications. Mr Parry alone sponsored Article 3 at the March 2017 Special Town Meeting, and that Article called for Conservation Restrictions to protect the course as open space in perpetuity. The Selectmen initially disagreed with Mr Parry, and continued t pursue their concept of a “multi municipal buildings campus”. But eventually they saw the wisdom in a more preservationist concept, and came around to agreement with Mr Parry’s concept of saving 90% of the course and accommodating only the Public Safety Complex, and nothing more. s areasult, the BOS decided to unify and incorporate Mr Parry’s Article into their own Article 1, so as to form a complete package containing all elements, for voters to consider. Many voters have told me they found this simple concept, (saving the course and accommodate only the PS facility), to be the most compelling in persuading them to vote overwhelmingly (91%) for approval. As a result 90% of the course was saved forever, and the Public Safety facility was approved on the remaining 10 %. Now that is a very significant achievement. — But throughout this project you were questioning Mr Parry’s position on the Conservation Restrictions, and accusing him of being evasive or unclear, or words to that effect, when , in fact, the truth is that his concept was fundamentally clear and obvious.
On to other committees. Mr Parry has served this Town on many other Committees, including the following in the 1909’s and 200’s. : The Traffic Safety Committee, the Sidewalks Committee, the Housing Partnership Committee, the Affordable Housing Committee, the MWRA Water Tunnel Committee,. The MBTA Station Planning Committee, the Woodward School Planning Committee, and I could go on. He was chair of some.
This does not even include the innumerable citizens groups Mr Parry has created or served on, including the creation of the Main Street Association back in the 1980’s, which actually saved key historic homes from destruction. And he created the Main Street Council in the 2000’s, in partnership with Mr Dennis Flynn, (formerly President of the Village Society, owner of the Community House. Mr Flynn has recently moved to CT). The Main Street Council was successful in getting the Selectmen to acknowledge that the Main Street Reconstruction Plan needed to be thoroughly re-examined because it was far too large and disruptive to Town Character. . St Mark’s School headmaster officially joined Mr Parry and Mr Flyun and demanded publicly that the project be cut back in scale. After a long, protracted argument, the Selectmen agreed and the project was reexamined in detail. As a result, the revised plan now fits much more appropriately into our small-scale, scenic streetscape, which makes Southborough truly unique.
I am not alone in detecting an unconscious bias in your reporting, as witnessed recently in the extraordinary story denigrating the character of Selectman John Rooney, under a completely misleading headline, leading to widespread public disbelief, and personal dishonor to Mr Rooney. You were looking for publicity by eye catching headlines, but in fact you did serious harm to his personal reputation, and once harm has been done to someone’s character, it can never be undone. Please don’t let this happen again in this current race for new Selectmen.
As for your story about Mr Hubley’s withdrawal from the race, you could not resist the temptation to mention that his endorsement of other candidates (quote) “may carry weight with some residents”, etc. This is such a superfluous statement, and nothing but pure speculation on your part.
Why don’t you stick to reporting, and stop inserting your opinions into article after article. You are not the opinion editor. You are the reporter of facts. If you continue your trend toward becoming the opinion editor, then you can kiss the readership of MySouthborough goodbye.
Thank you for letting me state my concerns.
As I stated in the story:
As for the weight the endorsement may carry, I didn’t opine that it should. It was just an observation.
I don’t endorse the two candidates that Hubley endorsed or any candidates. How I will choose to vote I have yet to decide. And when I do decide, I will keep that private.
As for keeping the speculation out – this is a blog, not a newspaper. It is titled “My Southborough” because it is about Southborough as I see it. Though, in town news I try not to opine on what side of an issue people should take, how they should vote, etc. But I do try to include context to facts based on what I observe.
Ann, your response was the most ridiculous, condescending thing I have read lately. You chastise this blogger for not endorsing you candidate better, Seriously?! You fall under that group of people who say “you can have your own opinion, as long as it’s the same as mine”.
I loved this one: “As for your story about Mr Hubley’s withdrawal from the race, you could not resist the temptation to mention that his endorsement of other candidates (quote) “may carry weight with some residents”, etc. This is such a superfluous statement, and nothing but pure speculation on your part.”
CLICK THE DARN LINK!!!! Those are NOT the bloggers words, those are the ex-candidates words straight from his open letter!!!! YOU FAILED TO SEE THE FACTS.
Beth, I just want to give you a high five for the BS you have put up with.
I appreciate the support. But I have to point out that the objection was to the words that I inserted that weren’t in the statement that his endorsement “may carry weight with some residents”.
Who is Ann? She sounds like a campaign manager. I agree with Townie and D. McGee, and would like to thank Beth for devoting so much of her precious time to keeping Southborough citizens informed. I have found her coverage to be fair and, when she makes a mistake, she says so. I certainly agree with Mr. Rooney about the need for civility, which I have found lacking in many of the complaints about Beth’s coverage. Beth – don’t get disheartened – keep up the good work.
I wholeheartedly agree with Jane’s comment.
Every Village Needs One
Wow, the potshots leveled at this site’s author are just getting ridiculous, and the ones that assume intent are even more obnoxious. I’m not sure what these complainers think they are reading, but it’s not the New York Times (with absolutely no disrespect to Beth, who I can’t thank enough for keeping me informed the past few years). Perhaps a definition of blog is in order:
“blog: a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is WRITTEN IN AN INFORMAL AND OR CONVERSATIONAL STYLE” (emphasis added).
It is not a newspaper. It is not an investigative journalistic site. There is no editorial staff, there are no copy editors, there are no contributing journalists, there are no staff reporters. IT’S A BLOG!!
If you want a local newspaper, go the Metrowest Daily News. Otherwise, stop whining and flinging baseless accusations. It’s getting really petty and tiresome.
Did I read that comment from McGee correctly?
“If you want a local newspaper,read the Metrowest Daily news”. Tha’s strange because there is so little news about Southborough in the Metrowest Daily News, That leaves us with the weekly newspaper called the Southborough Villager,but that is barely breathing and is not even available in the town library.
The fact is that My Southborough IS our daily newspaper and it is more than a blog. It should focus on facts not ALT facts provided by the editor. Matters of opinion can come from comments such as this one from individuals.
Write your own blog then. Be sure to come back and tell us just how easy it is to do it perfectly.
Mira, Ann, others like you,
Beth continues this blog despite voices like yours that come to do nothing but rant and rave about her and how she should write. If Beth decided to move and close up shop, sell the domain, and mysouthborough was no longer live, you act as if you’d have the right to sue…
There’s a lack of print publication for small town politics, and Beth does an excellent job covering those topics in what is appearing to be an increasingly judgmental town. I for one, could not do this under this current environment. Think of how she must feel going to grab a coffee, or to the bank, and hoping that she doesn’t run into you or one of these nasty online voices?
Disagreement in the comments amongst townies? That’s healthy and expected. Tirades over sourcing and citing the blogger’s reporting? Cmon…
CHILL. OUT.
And if you don’t like how things are covered here… next time there’s a town meeting that goes until 11, make sure you attend, get a babysitter, take detailed notes, write them down in a editorial format, proofread it, log online and post it, find an image, manage advertising so the site can be sustained, contact important figures for additional comment to include in your piece, maintain and pay for a domain registrar, web host, email client, and security, and then wake up to see what nasty comments your fellow townspeople left for you.
Southviller…that was PERFECTLY stated.
Mysouthborough is an important source of town news and sometimes opinion and most importantly a sounding board for those who want to be heard. If anyone takes issue with it they are free to spend the enormous amount of time to start a competitor.
Sad to see Joe back out, he certainly had my vote!