We’re sending MAGA to grift tracker! Committee meeting on Thursday; Kassner at Drinks with Dems; Great turnout at Apple Festival! Ballot questions answered; Boxford No Kings on Oct. 17
Redirecting Boxford’s Republicans
Grift tracker wins out
First things first! If you recall, last week we purchased the unclaimed domains for the Boxford Republican Town Committees (boxfordrepublicans.org and boxfordrtc.org). It’d be a shame if they went to waste, so we asked for suggestions as to where we should send curious MAGA minds looking for their local outpost.
The verdict was swift and merciless. Our subscribers want to send Republicans to (drumroll please…) the Trump Family Digital Grift Wealth Tracker run by the Congressional Oversight Committee’s Democratic members. That option won by 44%. The only option that received no votes was The New Yorker.
We had some other interesting subscriber suggestions.
Astley: Julie dug deep into the where-are-they-now music archives suggesting Rick Astley haunting 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Nice touch!
We’re no strangers to love. They knew the rules and so did we…. We’re never giving up on the dream of possibly winning them over one day, but let’s leave them in self-imposed rick-rolled quarantine for the next two-and-a-half years to see where their heads are at in 2028.
FactCheck: John would redirect people to The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org. Another great suggestion.
Talarico: An anonymous subscriber suggested Texas state representative and Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico’s speech on crony capitalism. Well worth a listen!
Alternate targets: But Carolyn had a brilliant suggestion that we should set the domains to alternate among the sites. One week, grift tracker. The next Rick Astley. After that Clowns without Borders.
We’ll start doing that in a week or so after our Committee meeting on Thursday. So—and we never thought we’d never say this—check in with the local Republican websites in the near future.
Committee meeting on Thursday
We’ll have our monthly BoxfordDems committee meeting on Thursday at 7 p.m. at 10 Elm Street. Please come by.
Our three most important items on the agenda are.
Eunice Zeigler, our candidate for the Governors Council, will be stopping by to talk to us about her many accomplishments as our representative.
We’ll be discussing planning for our upcoming NO KINGS rally on Oct. 17 from noon to 1 p.m. (with a heavy focus on the importance of voting) in West Boxford).
Preparations for what we’ve all be waiting. for: THE GENERAL ELECTION on Nov. 3.
The BoxfordDems Ballot 2026 Series is our attempt at providing brief overviews of the various certified Massachusetts ballot initiatives as they pertain to our immediate region.
Overview of Ballot-Initiative Process (Christina Eckert)
Question 1 Expand Public Records Requirements for the Legislature and Governor’s Office? (Ellen Mandel)
Question 2 Permit Collective Bargaining for PCS Employees? (Christina Eckert)
Question 3 Adopt Top-Two State Primary Elections? (Terri Teleen)
Question 4 Permit Same-Day Voter Registration? (Eleanor Grigg Schoenberg)
Question 5 Change State Tax Revenue Limit Initiative? (Christina Eckert)
Question 6 Establish Nature-for-All Fund? (Jessica Grigg)
Question 7 Set Minimum Limit on Required Lot Size for Single-Family Homes? (Terri Teleen)
Question 8 Recriminalize Adult Recreational Use Marijuana? (Adam Steiner) (link)
Question 9 Uphold 2024 Act Modernizing Firearms Laws? (Julian Troake)
The graphic above represents our subscribers’ vote recommendations. The recommendations are also available as a PDF document, which is available for download here.
Opinions expressed in the series do not necessarily represent those of the Boxford Democratic Town Committee and should not be considered to be Committee endorsements of a particular policy or initiative. They are provided to promote healthy discussion and help voters make informed decisions at the ballot box
Kristin at Drinks with Dems
Thursday’s Drinks with Dems at Alfalfa Farm Cellars was our fourth. Again, a very fun, very friendly, and not all politics event with quite a number of new faces. This time we had our first Topsfield Dems attending, a crew from Middleton (Deo, we see you!), North Andover, Georgetown, and again quite a lot of BoxfordDems.
Kristin Kassner, who’s running for re-election for 2nd Essex District representing Ipswich, Hamilton, Rowley, Newbury, Georgetown, and Topsfield dropped by.
If you’re not familiar with her work at the State House, she’s racked up a lot of accomplishments in her very short time in office strengthening our local economy, protecting the Great Marsh and our drinking water, and helping families and seniors manage the rising cost of everyday life. She always shows up, listens, and fights for what is right, just, and fair. (If you can, please support her campaign financially or help her canvass.) If you want to help her campaign, her team will be canvassing every weekend until the election on Nov. 3.
Again, the Sultan of Swag brought some more campaign buttons and some of our new branded bottle openers (thanks Bruce and Adam/Ellen!).
Our next Drinks with Dems will take place on October 15. No need to sign up - show up as you are - no obligation!
Check out our Calendar page in the very unlikely case of last-minute updates. (Where is Alfalfa Farm Cellars?)
We’re gonna need a bigger tent: Boxford Apple Festival
For a big-tent party, our tent this year felt physically small. Holy lobstah! Did we have a lot of swag, apples, donuts, and visitors at our booth! Keyrings changed hands and minds were swayed.
Our crowning achievement was managing to foist some cufflinks on Micah Quo-Vadis Jones, Dan Koh’s Republican opponent. For some reason, he felt compelled to butter up our determined booth-hawkers with assurances that he used to be a Democrat.
That’s sweet. But the optics of running on a MAGA ticket, being followed around by dour-looking, eternal school-board candidate, Russ Fiori, and the prospect of having an unreliable representative vote for our district after two hellish years of run-away inflation and grifting are not appealing.
Enjoy your cufflinks, buddy. You’ll need them when you roll down your sleeves again for the long winter.
On a more compelling note, effervescent Dan Koh and his beautiful family stopped by for an extended meet-and-greet with constituents. There’s no sign that guy will ever roll down his sleeves again. An encouraging sign was all the young people asking when they might have a chance to talk to Dan. Unfortunately, he missed by 30 minutes a big delegation of Masco cross-country running youths who were looking for him and who just registered to vote for the first time.
We also had Topsfield’s Jamie Belsito, Middleton’s Bethany Andres-Beck, and our candidate for Essex 18th, Connor Murray, drop by throughout the day.
To BoxfordDems’ own Ken, John, and Eleanor—thanks so much for your hard work of making this year’s Democratic booth such a success. We signed up a lot of people and met a lot of old and new friends, including several who had just moved to town!
Zoë’s sharing
Zoe Finch-Totten suggested a very useful midterm tool thi sweek, “5-Minute Midterms,” which we highly recommend! A simple plan to ensure your vote is counted
From their website:
With recent unprecedented attempts to block eligible Americans from voting, the most important thing you can do leading up to November 3rd is take 5 minutes a week to protect your vote. That means making sure your ballot won’t get rejected due to small preventable errors or larger systemic attempts at election sabotage.
Every week, we’ll share a new 5-minute action that will protect you and your ballot. Once you’ve completed your weekly task, you’ll unlock sharable achievement graphics with state-specific voting information that can be shared on social media to inspire and encourage your friends to protect their votes, too.
Save the date: Oct 17 - Boxford No Kings Rally
We’ll be having our next NO KINGS rally in West Boxford on October 17 from noon to 1 p.m.
We decide who represents us. We decide what comes next.
For more than a year, millions of people have come together to reject the idea that power belongs to kings, billionaires, or politicians who believe they are above the people and the law.
Now, we are taking the next step, turning people power into voter power. Unlike previous No Kings actions, No Kings: Vote Early, is not purely a protest. Instead, on October 17, it's a day of nonpartisan voter participation: we are bringing our community together to make a plan to vote early and ensuring every eligible voter understands their options for how to vote and has the opportunity to make their voice heard.
Because no one person gets to decide our leaders before voters do.
On October 17 from noon to 1:00 p.m., join us in Boxford as we get out the early vote and say it loud: no thrones, no crowns, no kings.
More details to come.
Have a great week and see you on Thursday for our Committee meeting.
Christian Schoenberg, Chair
Boxford Democratic Town Committee
chair@boxforddems.org
P.S.: As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at christian@boxforddems.org or Terri at terri@boxforddems.org.
It’s… like… the worst newsletter ever, like whatever!
Send this link to your neighbors to register for our newsletter! Why should they suffer through it…? http://eepurl.com/iO4VC6
Democrats and democracy-leaning organizations sharing regional calendar
We’ve invited all the various Essex County Democratic city and town committees, local Democratic campaign teams, as well as local organizers (such as the Indivisible groups) to post events directly to our calendar. Learn how to use and embed our North Shore Calendar on your site…
Hitch a ride to the polls with the BoxfordDems’ Blue Rides
The BoxfordDems are offering rides to the polls to registered Democrats in Boxford. If you’re somehow prevented from getting to the polls at Boxford Town Hall, we’ll be happy to give you a ride. Let us know!
Join us for “Drinks with Dems” at Alfalfa Farm Cellars on October 15
Every third week of each month we meet with area Democrats at Alfalfa Farm Cellars for beers at 4:30-6:00pm. No speakers. No agenda. Just having fun!
Our Doorhanger Initiative is still going strong - distribute 47 doorhangers to your neighbors and get a BoxfordDems swag bag!
We’re always looking for neighbors willing to distribute door hangers in Boxford! We have no public sidewalks; residents don’t expect canvassers; Boxford has 2-acre zoning; houses can be hard to find—in other words, Boxford is notoriously difficult to canvass.
Other great opportunities to get involved - nationwide
Zoe Finch Totten and others have provided us with some useful links to some organizers whom you should consider joining. Click the images to go their websites and check them out!
This week’s issue
General
Ballot-measure series
Overview of Ballot-Initiative Process (Christina Eckert)
Question 1 Expand Public Records Requirements for the Legislature and Governor’s Office? (Ellen Mandel)
Question 2 Permit Collective Bargaining for PCS Employees? (Christina Eckert)
Question 3 Adopt Top-Two State Primary Elections? (Terri Teleen)
Question 4 Permit Same-Day Voter Registration? (Eleanor Grigg Schoenberg)
Question 5 Change State Tax Revenue Limit Initiative? (Christina Eckert)
Question 6 Establish Nature-for-All Fund? (Jessica Grigg)
Question 7 Set Minimum Limit on Required Lot Size for Single-Family Homes? (Terri Teleen)
Question 8 Recriminalize Adult Recreational Use Marijuana? (Adam Steiner)
Question 9 Uphold 2024 Act Modernizing Firearms Laws? (Julian Troake)
Get involved
Drinks with Dems: Meet fellow Tri-Town Dems at Alfalfa Farm Cellars
Distribute 47 doorhangers and get a BoxfordDems swag bag
We’re getting out the Boxford vote with Blue Rides
Democrats and democracy-leaning organizations sharing regional calendar
Other great opportunities to get involved - nationwide
Campaigns
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