AMHERST — Amherst Forward, an outgrowth of the pro-charter Amherst for All group, will be supporting some Town Council candidates as an organized political action committee prior to the Nov. 6 election.
But even though organizers decided to formally create a PAC, after previously endorsing 16 of the then 33 people running in the Sept. 4 preliminary Town Council election, Amherst Forward will not be providing any money or doing any fundraising on behalf of the remaining candidates, or providing access to advanced voter databases that were instrumental in the success of adopting a new town charter in March.
“Our intention is to look at how to make it easier for voters to engage with town government,” said Amherst Forward co-chairwoman Ginny Hamilton, observing that its work will go beyond the first election for Town Council. “How can we give people an easier opportunity to weigh in with what’s going on?”
Hamilton said the paperwork will be filed within the next two weeks.
“By officially filing a PAC, we’re being fully transparent and being completely up front with the money that is involved,” Hamilton said.
But for Meg Gage, a member of the Charter Commission who opposed the new charter, such a PAC poses risk to political civility and rendering complex issues into black and white, which she said was evidenced by the “fatuous questionnaire” that Amherst Forward disseminated to all candidates. Some candidates, she said, chose not to participate and instead opted to run what are being called independent campaigns, rather than seeking an endorsement from the group.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Gage said of Amherst Forward’s decision to become a PAC. “It’s a very sad day that we have this one political party that was formed four years ago to create a Charter Commission and pass a charter, and having done that they can’t let go.”
For Town Council, 26 candidates remain in contention for the 13 slots, with six seeking the three councilor-at-large positions, and four for two positions in each of the five districts.
Amherst Forward has stated it will support candidates whose values include thoughtful, environmentally responsible development, a broader tax base, the best possible schools and town services and protected open spaces.
Amherst Forward co-chairwoman Katherine Appy said she understands that some residents will be concerned about the activity, but there is a need to periodically promote issues by sending out mailers or boost a Facebook post.
Gage said she wonders if the group’s activities so far were already putting candidates in jeopardy of violating campaign finance laws, and suspected the move to become a PAC is an effort to come into compliance.
But Appy said the decision by Amherst Forward came after a large number of blank ballots were cast in the preliminary election and there was evidence of a need to keep voters informed and engaged, not out of concern about how its endorsed candidates fared. Of the 16 endorsed, 14 remain in contention, with just Dillon Maxfield, who was running for councilor-at-large, and Aaron Hayden, in district 5, not advancing.
“There was a real high number of blanks in the voting, and I think those blanks show voters didn’t know candidates well enough to vote for them,” Appy said. “This will help get information to voters in this election to learn where candidates stand in terms of the issues.”
Hamilton said Amherst Forward’s work began in the spring after the successful charter change vote by making an effort to recruit people to run, particularly women and younger residents. The idea all along was to have candidates interested in collaboration and running alongside each other, rather than in opposition.
Janet McGowan, a former Town Meeting member, said she is concerned about this aspect of Amherst Forward not respecting differing viewpoints, claiming she was banned from commenting on Amherst For All’s Facebook page and being shut down from posting on the blog A Better Amherst, and sees the PAC as a “big negative for our community, political debate and government.”
“Amherst For All/Forward doesn’t want to listen to different voices or opinions — or even facts — it wants to win,” McGowan said. “That’s their vision for Amherst.”
Similarly, Toni Cunningham, who also served in Town Meeting, said it is a disturbing direction to have a PAC that will only support candidates who vote a certain way on issues.
“I hope Amherst voters will choose candidates who aim to unite us rather than divide, and can build consensus on key issues rather than pushing through one group’s views,” Cunningham said.
Gage said believes long term the PAC will be destructive to the community and she appreciates that those who opposed the charter haven’t responded, noting her appreciation for robust debate rather than pat answers to a questionnaire. “We’re always trying to move forward in a positive way,” Gage said.
Hamilton said while the idea of a PAC may be foreign in Amherst, she said efforts to influence the direction of policy in the community is longstanding, pointing to the success Mothers Out Front in recent years, such as its push for a bylaw to require net zero energy municipal buildings.
“Our efforts are similar, except around a different set of issues,” Hamilton said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
