Lie Down with Dogs - Wake Up with Fleas

I've given more thought to the endorsement of Katjana Ballantyne by the Progressive Democrats of Somerville (PDS) and exchanged e-mails with Marty Martinez, chair of PDS, and with Barry Rafkind of Joan Puglia's campaign.

I asked Rafkind why Puglia had not sent responses to the PDS's questionnaire. Rafkind responded that Puglia had sent responses but had then informed PDS that Puglia would not be seeking their endorsement due to the appearance of bias towards Ballantyne by PDS. The bias that Rafkind refers to is that PDS had included, on their website, Ballantyne's campaign announcement (and no such announcements by other candidates):

Martinez confirms that responses were submitted by Puglia and that, through an unnamed PDS member, Puglia informed PDS that she was not seeking their endorsement.

By my system, these events result in a score of -2 for PDS (-1 each for displaying Ballantyne's announcement exclusively and for failing to display Puglia's responses) and a score of +1 for Puglia for refusing to associate herself with, by seeking the endorsement of, PDS.

Given the shameful behavior of PDS, I call on At-Large candidates Bill White and Dennis Sullivan, Ward 4 candidate Christine Barber, and Ward 7 candidate Katjana Ballantyne to renounce the endorsement of PDS lest they be considered tainted by the 'fleas' of the biased PDS 'dogs.'

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When I wrote the above, I had not realized that Puglia had posted her PDS responses and her own telling of the bias-story.

As I did with Ballantyne's responses, I will be taking a closer look and posting about Puglia's.