The South Portlander

It is time for Hughes and Morgan to get their health insurance elsewhere. With the wave of hope and optimism that Obama is spreading, now is the time for us to vote in fresh faces on the Council. Time to vote in those who will actually return phone calls and emails from those who elected them. Time to vote in those who are there to serve the best interests of the public and not self-serving interests. Yes, we can!

I know there are quite a few people here in Claude’s district who would disagree with you—about Claude, not Obama. We think he’s been pretty responsive and helpful. And I am not a member of DOG.

I live in Claude’s district, too. Most people in my neighborhood have no idea who he is. Those that do know him, say he is unresponsive and if he does happen to reply to an email or phone call - which is rare, that he has an air of “I know best.” The Claude I met while he was campaigning is certainly a different Claude than the one in power now...his ego or ambition has gotten in the way of serving the public. If no one runs against him, I will write in “Mickey Mouse” because he certainly doesn’t deserve my vote again.

Change can only come about if people are willing to step in and run for office.  If people run unopposed, like Mr. Hughes, he will continue to be in office.

its true. jim hughes never returns phone calls either.

I’ve watched Jim at televised Council meetings. I may not always agree with him, but he seems thoughtful and honest.

I have e-mailed him, and never heard a thing back.

Thoughtful and honest are okay, but, advocating for the public and returning phone calls are another thing completely. There must be something in the water here in SoPo...we elect them and then they stop listening to us and we keep putting them back in. I like the comment about health insurance...just like farmer Fickett, Hughes and Morgan are going to keep running for office just to get the health insurance benefits. At least Boudreau is term-limited and can’t run again...we can finally get her off our payroll.

With regard to Boudreau term-limiting out, I have never been a fan of term limits, but this is one case where I could not be happier about them. Talk about aloof-after-elected!

If anyone thinks Morgan is “responsive”, they must be out of their minds! I never thought anyone could be a worse Mayor after Beecher, until Morgan!! Now with Soule as Mayor, my definition of “worse” has changed yet again. Dear dear me...their heads fill the room and hardly leave space for anyone else to fit in there. You would think ONE of them had enough sense to show some humility--but not likely. Beecher may be kind but not very bright; Morgan is simply too full of himself, distrusting, and dishonest; Soule is an angry man with nothing more than soundbites. Secede, remember? Help us all!!

Soule may have raised a few eyebrows with his secession speech, but I have found him (and Councilor Tom Blake) to be extremely responsive, communicative, and fair-minded. Soule and Blake are the class of the council.

We can debate Soule’s merits next year...this year we have to elect candidates willing to listen and respond. Surely not everyone is going to agree with everything, however, when my councilor can’t even return an email or a phone call about a question we have, then it is time for him to go. This goes for both Morgan and Hughes. I agree with the posts that they are in it for the power and the health insurance benefits. How about electing someone with no agenda or ego who just wants to make South Portland a better place to live? Hows that for radical thinking!?!

I haven’t lived here long enough to know why so many of you seem to dislike Linda Boudreau, but she has always responded to my calls and e-mails and seemed genuinely interested in hearing my concerns.  I’m not sure why the other councilors are so phobic of speaking with their constituents…

To reply to sopo_westend,
Linda Boudreau is what is wrong with politics. She appears to be a great listener and very kind to the public. She then gauges which way the wind is blowing before deciding her stance. She never wants to be on the losing end of an argument. She absolutely HATES to be wrong, or at least told she is wrong. And, she has this very patronizing way of handling others. She has been known to say I have been doing this for 25 years and “I know best” regardless of whether one brings new ideas or approaches to the table.

She is a lot like her former boss, Susan Collins. Both so desperately want people to like them (perhaps their low self esteem needs this validation) that they do and say what is necessary to acheive this. However, once they know there is nothing more than can do to make you like them, they can be very mean-spirited and short with you. Once Linda has decided she has no use for you, then you aren’t even allowed at the table. When Linda lost her Senate race against Lynn Bromley, she was so emotionally devastated, she retreated to be with family up north for weeks to recover. She couldn’t imagine that not everyone loved her.

For too long, she has helped foster the back room deals that this city was known for before fed up residents started calling for more honesty and transparency. Has she done some good during her tenure? Yes. However, it definitely is time for her to go. Hope this helps!

I am so incredibly happy to see everyone writing about what needs to change with politics. Do you all see the similar threads here? 1.) listen to your constituents, 2.) respond to them, 3.) put your own needs aside and do what is best for the community.
I looked over the City Charter and it says the City Councilors are to be paid $3,000.00 a year for their work; it says nothing about them receiving health care benefits. So why do they receive them? I wonder if that is inconsistent with the charter or if that could be changed. I think they should get more money but if health care were taken out of the picture then we might get more people in Council who are going to do the job for the best reasons - the people in the community!

I agree. If taxpayers didn’t pay their health insurance, we certainly wouldn’t have been saddled with Fickett or Boudreau all these years. And I agree that is why Hughes and Morgan are running again since they are self employed.

I enjoyed the article in The Sentry about Patti Smith running for the District 2 seat. The more I hear the more I like. Sounds like Tom Blake will finally have an ally on the council and won’t be the only one talking common sense.

See the article at: http://blog.southportlandsentry.com/2008/08/15/weekly-interview-patricia-smith-aug-15-2008.aspx?results=1#SurveyResultsChart

Claude and then-Mayor Beecher are the folks whose egos ("We know best") resulted in hiring Ted Jankowski as manager.  Jim Hughes may appear thoughtful and honest, and he may be a nice man, but he doesn’t know what his job is as a city councilor and he also has an ego problem.  None of them understands what transparency means.  South Portland has a lot going on, we should be able to come up with seven people who can conduct city business professionally, in a collaborative spirit, in the best interests of the people and without overblown egos.

I, too, was wondering why city councilors get free health insurance.  That seems unusual.  I’ve lived in several Maine cities and towns and have never heard of such a thing.  Usually they just get a small stipend, $1000-$3000 a year.  Granted, I firmly believe that everyone deserves healthcare… but giving it to city councilors isn’t the best way to accomplish that, nor is it the best way to attract candidates who actually care about the city and the constituents.

If they are not truly entitled, per the charter, to health care, then it should be revoked and we can use the money to set up recycling for all taxpayers in the city.
We all need health insurance these days, we all know that, but free health insurance is a thing of the past.  Companies are making workers pay more and more each year.  My company, in the last 5 years, has gone from free to having employees pay 30% of the cost, and I can tell you there has not been a 30% increase in my salary! 
Councilors work a lot less hours for the city than I do at my job.  Times are tight, budgets are crunched… Do all city employees get FREE health care??????

did Boudreau really complain about her constituents posting feedback about the councils shortcomings? did anyone else see the council meeting last night? what nerve if it is true. she obviously doesn’t care about us, only herself.

After 20 years of service for South Portland, Linda Boudreau still hasn’t learned that she can’t control everything. She has gotten used to controlling the media, the mayor and the council, and the city managers. It sounds like she is just figuring out that she can’t control the public...that we have a mind for ourselves.

Linda Boudreau has no right yelling at the public. Im tired of it! She did it over the dog issue, telling the people that came to the meeting that they were intimidating simply for showing up and participating in the public process. She did it again because the public is very unhappy with this council right now and she doesn’t like hearing the truth.

I watched the city council meeting and yes she complained bitterly about citizens commenting.  She was angry and disgusted at the tone of the comments and told the media that she thought they should do a better job censuring out any comment that seemed nasty.  Of course that generally means a citizen who expresses some genuine disgust and follows through with some pointed and keenly directed criticism.  This kind of situation is a direct result of public figures like Linda who selectively return email and phone calls and who ignore citizens opinions about policy decisions.  I have never witnessed the current or even past councils swayed by public input. Now Linda wants us to behave when using the second to last resort, media comment threads.  The last resort of course is the voting booth.

Was this latest temper tantrum in response to the southportlander.com?

FYI, this is a blog, not the “the media”.  Granted, Ms. Hersey is a reporter, but on this site, it is simply her blog… not The Current’s website.  So what “media” outlet is Ms. Boudreau addressing?  I’m surprised that she is calling for censorship from the public she is representing… it seems like if you don’t agree with her, she scolds, but I will be honest that I may have some bias, I was one of the dog owners who was scolded for being intimidating and I never even spoke at the meeting, was not wearing a leash over my shoulder and was accused of targeting a valuable volunteer to the city of South Portland whom I wouldn’t know if I walked in to him...perhaps this will bring some self-awareness of how some people feel when she addresses them in a group with blanket statements that are unfavorable.
I say support your right to express your opinion… it allows for useful discourse that could lead to constructive talk.

I do not know if this site is associated with the Current any more.  It also seems to have moved beyond the “blog” definition and looks to be offering independent news on its own.  Blogging usually expresses an opinion and the SouthPortlander looks more like straight reporting.  I may be wrong about that and who knows who Linda Boudreau was targeting in her round robin rant.  Although this site is the one that collects most of the comments concerning South Portland politics so I suppose councilor Boudreau would like Linda Hersey to work harder to keep a lid on the criticism.

I am tired of Mama Boudreau telling everyone how to act, think, talk, and if you disagree with her, she scolds you and ignores you. She has been in power so long she has forgotten that we are her boss not the other way around. This council has got to be the most condescending and arrogant in years. The only one who seems to listen and remember who elected him is Tom Blake. The others including Mayor Soule almost act like they have contempt for anyone who asks questions or wants a return call or email. It is shameful!

We were at two events this past week where we ran into Tom Coward, who is running for city council. No where to be found was Claude Morgan. Even after three years serving Distict 1, including one year as Mayor, most people in our neighborhood have no idea who Claude is. We thanked Tom for participating in community events and also let him know we appreciated his many years of service on the Board of Appeals. Tom Coward is a very thoughtful, articulate leader that will bring much needed common sense to the council.

Here’s some info about councilors pay and health Insurance.
A councilor gets $3,000 a year and is permitted to BUY health insurance at the city’s group rate. I (Jim Hughes) have PURCHASED city group health insurance with my wife as a dependent, this costs $2,580.72 per year. 
This is public record.

I was told about the responses saying that I and other councilors got free health care I dealt with that mis-information in an earlier response. However after that I read the rest of the responses in this blog and see that some folks are concerned about how often I return calls or emails. I’m a computer consultant in my non-political life and I deal with my clients, many of whom are out-of-state, via email and phone calls. So to help me be responsive my computer system reminds me to return emails and calls. I think I’m pretty good at getting back to folks. However, I do not respond if there is no need or if there is not a direct question. In other words you won’t get an automated “thank you for your input” return message. Am I wrong, should I be adknowledging every message?

I don’t think there is a need to return every phone call, particularly if the caller has no point or does not require further information from you.
That said, I don’t know you from Adam, Mr. Hughes so I have no stake in this discussion. What I will say is that there are some folks on here that need to be a bit more discriminating with the information that they disseminate. Or perhaps, the readers need to be certain to research the claims made here. It is very easy to come on a site like this and say, “Jim Hughes doesn’t return phone calls.” I can point out approximately 20 instances here where claims are made by anonymous participants who fail to back up those claims with any specific information or the circumstances surrounding their assertions.
I will say that it goes some distance for me that you are responding.
What say anonymous? Would you like to explain to us when you made the phone calls that Mr. Hughes never returned? We have him here, and we can hold him to task!

I wish I could “BUY” health insurance for the bargain price of UNDER $3,000 a year! And the kind of coverage a City Councilor gets? WOW! I work full time and pay four times that amount annually for my wife and myself to have the privilige of health insurance. So BOO HOO to Jim Hughes and the others who use the insurance benefit they aren’t even entitled to. I would never vote for Councilors to have city benefits, they aren’t city employees! They are elected officials who do what the citizens need (sometimes), for a small stipend of $3,000.00 a year, as said in the city charter. Let’s get real, health insurance for 2 people for a full year that costs under $3,000. is nothing to cry about, that is better than 45 million Americans have who work 2 jobs! I hope working as a computer programmer makes good enough money for Mr. Hughes to get his insurance for him and his wife on his own next year, because my vote isn’t going to someone who doesn’t need it. I walk a dog and he has told me he doesn’t need my vote (or is that only when he is running unopposed? - oops, now he has 2 opponents!). I hope we get some people in office who have a pulse! For god’s sake stay awake during the meetings!

Yes, Jim. You should be acknowledging every contact a taxpayer has with you. Even if it a simple “thank you for taking the time to contact me.” You are following in the footsteps of Linda Boudreau, who only writes to those she agrees with. If you write her to disagree, you’ll never hear from her again. If you paid better attention to the residents during your term, you wouldn’t have to worry about hearing from them on election day, when I predict they will tell you loud and clear that you haven’t satisfied them.

Here are the facts. Each city councilor, as a city employee, gets SINGLE coverage of health insurance PAID by the city AT NO COST to the councilor. RE: PURCHASE--you can purchase MORE insurance for dependents but the individual insurance is covered COMPLETELY. Let’s be sure the facts are facts. Jim, I would ask you to check your information; it is not completely accurate. The portion you pay for your wife is STILL at a significantly reduced cost, since the city pays about a very high 
g;e of the dependent coverage as well.