Victory

In the March 27 townwide elections, Alisa trounced the competition, receiving twice as many votes as her opponent. She will serve a three-year term on the select board starting immediately. We're both very gratified by the support of the many volunteers and voters who turned out to make her candidacy possible.

The election got ugly as the other side became increasingly desperate. I was pleased that Alisa ran a very clean campaign. She did everything right: got out an early letter to solicit donations, made an early reservation for a good spot for a signature ad in the paper, got the lawn signs out first, and got two mailings out: a brochure early, and a reminder postcard just before the election.

People have been offering me their condolences - since I will now be a "select board widow", but I don't think it can be any worse than when Alisa was on the school committee and chair of comprehensive planning. And, hopefully, she can slow down for a few weeks before things will need to ramp up again for the override. On May 1st, the town will vote on whether to have a 2 1/2 percent tax override to offset the structural deficit in the Amherst town budget.