Ward Representation Circus Gets Goofier

SPRINGFIELD - A former black city councilor and a veteran campaign worker for black political candidates today told a federal judge they received chilly receptions from white voters during election years.

Carol Lewis-Caulton, who served on the council from 2001 to 2003, and Democratic City Committee Chairman E. Henry Twiggs, were among witnesses testifying in an ongoing voting rights trial in U.S. District Court.

"The feeling was pretty much .¤.¤. people did not make eye contact with you. They did not come over and chat with you," Lewis-Caulton said, referring to her experience at mostly white campaign events.

Twiggs testified he and longtime state Rep. Benjamin Swan, D-Springfield, were occasionally ordered off white voters' property when the two went door-to-door.

The court battle over ward representation, which appears on its face to be about simple numbers, has effectively called into question two decades of race relations in Springfield. According to plaintiffs suing the city to swap at-large City Council and School Committee seats for a district-based system, political opportunities for blacks and Latinos are sorely lacking.

But lawyers for the city have argued local politics are open to hard-working candidates of all races and ethnic backgrounds, holding up a handful of crossover candidates as success stories.

A jury-waived trial began Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor. Testimony will continue Monday.

Credit: Masslive.com

This 'trial' or whatever they want to call it has gone from absurd to plain ridiculous. Is this the undisputable evidence these people are talking about?

Carol Louis-Caulton was voted off the city council because she was a crappy city councilor. The question that isn't answered however, is that if her skin color was an issue during her re-election bid, then how come it wasn't when she WON election? Does she have polling data to back that up?


Then our good old friend E. Henry Twiggs, chairman of the Springfield city Democrats, said he and State Representative Ben Swan were chased off of white people's property. If Ben Swan came on my property, i'd chase him off too. The reason being that he's a crook and there are a ton of folks who know it. I'd chase Billy Bulger off my front lawn and about three quarters of the Massachusetts State Legislature. The difference between Swan and everyone else though, is that half his family is in jail, all as a result of being a little too free-wheeling with taxpayer money.

So as far as i'm concerned, there's really no case here. Nothing is documented, nothing is supported by data, evidence or anything. All it is is unadulterated whining over the fact that these candidates of this particular political bent can't get the job done and that they want the government to step in and set quotas to make sure they have a seat at the table no matter what.