What will likely be the easiest re-election campaign of the year is officially underway.
Franklin County Sheriff Chris Donelan launched his 2016 bid with a standing-room-only fundraiser at the Country Club of Greenfield, an event that was apparently quite a happening.
“The place was packed,” said Someone Who Was There. “I don’t know what he pulled in, but there were a lot of checks in that basket.”
Donelan, who wasn’t about to give me a dollar figure, certainly seemed pleased by the support, even with the absence of a challenger.
“It felt great to have that kind of terrific turnout,” Donelan said. “It’s amazing how quickly six years goes by. I used to say that about two-year terms, but these six years have really flown.”
Among those in attendance at Terrazza were a whole bunch of Franklin County House of Corrections employees, which is often the case when the boss throws a party. But it seemed to mean a lot to Donelan, who six years later finally appears to be getting the jail’s “old guard” to buy into his vision.
“We’ve got a lot of new employees, but the men and women who have been here for a long time, who were kind of settled in the way things operated before, have been very open-minded and actually very enthusiastic about transforming the way we do business here,” Donelan said.
I think it might behoove them to build on that enthusiasm, because it doesn’t look like Donelan is going anywhere anytime soon.
Imperfect though it may be, the state referendum question process continues to be a catalyst for reform efforts that, ordinarily, might forever remain on the Beacon Hill back burner.
The latest example came this week, when the Senate opened debate on a charter school reform measure mere months from a 2016 ballot question that would lift the cap on such schools. It’s a prospect that terrifies public school officials whose systems are already being decimated by revenue lost to students departing via school choice and charter.
The Senate bill is incredibly detailed, but one proposed change mandates that charter school boards of oversight include at least one member from the elected public school committee where the charter school operates. This would open up lines of communication that have heretofore remained largely closed, Senate President Stan Rosenberg says.
“The creation of commonwealth charter schools was intended to lead to innovation, which was supposed to lead to change in the public schools,” Rosenberg said. “That means there has to be communication, and sharing, between the public and charter schools, and that’s not been happening at a level that a lot of people have been satisfied with.”
Rosenberg believes this charter reform effort will see a better fate than what happened in 2014, where a similar bill only garnered 13 Senate votes. But even if it gets by his chamber, the Senate president still has to sell it to the House and Gov. Charlie Baker, whose love for the current charter school model appears to know no bounds.
A Greenfield political era of sorts came to an end this week with the passing of former Precinct 8 Town Councilor James R. Hutchinson Jr.
The longtime Main Street resident died Tuesday at the age of 62. To say he was a local character is something of an understatement. Hutch and I had a bit of a love-hate relationship dating back to my days in the late 1990s when I covered the Greenfield beat for this newspaper. He took a run at me once over a piece I did regarding the GBA — he was a longtime member of that body — and the former Lunt Design Center and Marketplace, where he made the mistake of bringing my brother Michael’s connection to a failed downtown building purchase into the discussion.
Imagine my delight a few months later when I got to report Hutch being jailed for nonpayment of child support, making him the first town councilor ever sent to the slammer while in office. When he got out, I was served with a “no trespass” order, that basically meant I couldn’t go interview Hutch at his apartment in the then-Harco Rooms. What fun.
Over the years, Hutch’s animus toward me seemed to fade, probably because he realized I wasn’t going anywhere. I never ceased to be amused by his antics, especially his penchant for hijacking the public forum section at the end of Town Council meetings. This resulted in a rule change to move all public comments to the beginning of the meeting, something I’ve come to know as the “Hutch” rule.
Although I didn’t always agree with him, I never questioned Jim’s commitment to the town, even when I didn’t fully grasp the points he was making. If every official holds that same attitude, Greenfield will forever be in good shape.
Rest easy, councilor. Say hi to Bernie for me.
Chris Collins, who worked in local radio in a number of capacities, has observed political life in Franklin County for years. He also is a former staff reporter for The Recorder and a Greenfield native.