Vineyard voters will go to the polls to cast ballots in unusually close elections at the federal, state and local levels on Tuesday.
The closest of them, and one of the hottest contests in the nation, is the race for the 10th congressional district which includes the Cape and Islands. The most recent polling puts the seat, vacant due to the retirement of Democratic Cong. William Delahunt, as too close to call.
With the agreement entered into a decade ago between Martha’s Vineyard towns and Comcast coming up for renewal, Island residents now have their chance to pass judgment on the performance of the cable company.
“What this is,” according to MVTV’s executive director Julienne Turner, “is a review of how the company has performed in the past and what we might need moving forward so that we can be smart about negotiating that agreement for the next 10 years.”
When Warren Gosson makes his pitch for the job of Dukes County Sheriff, he talks largely about one issue: addiction.
“This Island is loaded with heroin and prescription pills,” he said this week.
And no one, it seems to him, takes the problem seriously enough.
Not the media, which are more interested in presenting a picture of the Island as a happy destination.
Not the law enforcement agencies, which are under-resourced — they have no dog unit and the drug task force has just one full-time staff member.
There is a world of difference, says Mike McCormack, between the role of a police officer and that of a sheriff. And between himself and his challenger.
“He’s about putting them behind bars. The sheriff’s job is about preparing them to go back into the community. They are totally different jobs,” said Mr. McCormack.
His point, if not already obvious, is that experience in one job does not equate to qualification for the other. And Mr. McCormack is running on experience
Neal Maciel’s policy manifesto relates almost exclusively to the running of the jail. It begins with a promise to prohibit transfers of prisoners from off-Island, something he claims the current sheriff allows too often and as a favor to his counterparts in other counties.
It’s a practice, he says, which has contributed to the Vineyard jail’s reputation as a place where fortunate prisoners can do soft time.
It says something about the political mood of the moment that during a half-hour interview with the Gazette over coffee last Saturday afternoon, William Keating, candidate for the 10th Congressional district, did not mention once the name of his party.
But while the word Democrat never passed his lips, the word independent popped out frequently.
