Sunday, March 28, 2010

More campaign propaganda.

Robert Z. Nemeth is back with a glowing endorsement of Lew Evangelidis for Worcester County Sheriff.  In a stunning surprise, Lew is a registered Republican, much like Mr. Nemeth's previous glowing endorsements of Karyn Polito and Scott Brown

I don't have a problem with Mr. Nemeth's endorsement of Republicans, nor do I have a problem with his constant repetition of Republican talking points.  After all, his weekly article is found on the Opinion page (and I know the difference between an Opinion piece and a news piece.)  I don't like Mr. Nemeth's use of independent as a synonym for Republican.  To my surprise, Mr. Nemeth didn't use the word independent at all in today's article.  I wish the T&G had a counterpoint to Mr. Nemeth, but every year their Sunday Opinion page gets smaller and smaller.
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"He (Mr. Evangelidis) advocated charging inmates fees to defray the cost of their incarceration — a policy he wants to enforce at the county jail."
Mr. Nemeth did miss on this point.  In 2004 the Superior Court of Massachusetts struck down Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson's attempt to charge fees for inmates (details here and a counterpoint here).  Whether or not you agree with the daily fee, sheriffs don't have the ability to levy these fees under state law, so if Mr. Evangelidis becomes sheriff, he'll have to lobby the State Legislature (where he used to serve) to change the law.

Mr. Evangelidis also promises the following:
"Inmates on occasion can earn small amounts of money for labor performed while they are incarcerated.  I will make sure that every penny earned by inmates goes towards paying any monetary responsibilities that are not up to date.  These will include child support payments, restitution payments and legal fees."
It's an admirable goal, but on top of a daily fee plus fees for medical visits, dental visits, and haircuts where will this money come from?  Either inmates will be forced to beg for money from their families, or the fees won't be collected at all and become an added burden when an inmate is released.  (Unless they have a good work release job like Joseph Duggan.)

3 comments:

Nicole said...

Thanks so much for this. I tend to avoid RZN's columns -- which, really, are less columns than press releases for various Republican candidates -- but those comments are really going to shape how I vote in the Sheriff's race.

Sean Dacey said...

It's almost a perverse pleasure to read him every Sunday morning. I actually look forward to it, kind of like how I look forward to finding loonies on Fox News.

Anonymous said...

Lew Evangelidis is running for Sheriff to have the ability to reach out to potential new voters for bigger office. His true intentions are not with the Sheriffs Office. Typical politician using this office as a stepping stone. He quotes how California Sheriff's do business, but in California he would not Qualify to run as Sheriff since he is not a peace officer. I wonder if he will serve the full six years or quit in four to run for another office? How much will he fix while running for another office? What qualifies this man to be Sheriff, he is not a law man, but a politician.

Double Dip Foley, he wants to be Sheriff and collect his disability benefits from the State Police? If he could not run the State Police because of a medical disability, how can he run the Sheriff's Office? Seems to me is either it is an attempt to use this office for further financial gain, or may be for other political offices in the future. Nothing like ripping of the people of Massachusetts with his double dipping.

May be it is time to look away from the Democrats and Republicans and get someone that has no political ties, nor ambitions of other offices, but a candidate that wants to be Sheriff for what the job is. We don't need another politician in the Office of Sheriff, we need a Sheriff!