Meanwhile in MarshVegas
It's easy to laugh at the name calling, screaming, and temper tantrums at the Marshfield Select Board until you realize they have an elected official who sticks to his guns. We don't.
I just wanted to address some of the behavior we saw during the first night of town meeting as well as some behavior that I’ve seen going on in our town for a long time.
So began a December 30, 2024 speech by the ~32-year-old Stephen R. Darcy, vice chair of the Marshfield Select Board.
A 2014 UMass Amherst graduate who styles himself as a “relationship management expert”, Darcy wanted his fellow board members to know how upset he was at the behavior of residents who voted at a December Special Town Meeting to reject proposed MBTA Community zoning changes.
Sounding like a cartoon character—a pompous vice principal with a nasally voice—Darcy spent eight minutes and 50 seconds on his tirade.
Particularly unacceptable to Darcy was the crowd’s cheering at the Special Town Meeting, which he said set a bad example for boy scouts, who attended to learn about civics. He ended by comparing his local political opponents to Joseph McCarthy. In between, he urged residents to be more civil while also castigating them for being everything from keyboard cowboys to two-year-olds to obnoxious to trolls to carnival barkers and clowns.
Please watch.
Rules For Thee But Not For Me
About 45 minutes after Darcy finished his screed, he stood by for nearly five minutes as a meeting presenter yelled, gesticulated, and pointed angrily at one of his fellow board members, Eric Kelley.
For those unfamiliar with Marshfield town politics, Kelley was elected last year as a reform candidate by a group of Marshfield residents upset with the way the town is run. Darcy and Chair Lynne E. Fidler represent more of the establishment and often try to suppress Kelley’s participation in meetings, especially when he asks pointed but unwanted questions.
Last Monday, Kelley raised their ire by daring to ask whether a proposed new building for South Shore Regional Vocational Technical School in Hanover might be too expensive.
So we’re going to spend almost $300 million, with state aid included, for 215 extra seats?
Marshfield is one of nine towns in the South Shore Tech school district and will be voting on January 25, 2025 on whether to approve the $300 million for an entirely new building. The 215 seats gained would have to be shared across the entire district, meaning each town would be able to send an average of six extra students per each high school grade.
After a building proponent explained the cost rationale, Kelley remained unconvinced and wanted to ask more questions.
Instead of letting him ask questions, Chair Lynne E. Fidler called for a recess.
Here are the videos of what happened while the board took a five minute break. Unfortunately, the sound is turned off.
Darcy is the one with his arms crossed, back to the camera.
Kelley is sitting behind the Select Board desk, sometimes stretching back and putting his hands behind his head.
Joseph Zambello, a Marshfield resident since 2017 and supporter of the project, is the one yelling at Kelley, waving his arms around, and pacing back and forth. At one point, he even pounds the desk with his right arm.
After the intermission was over, Fidler moved the meeting on to the next item on the agenda: the appointment of a new animal control officer.
The Recall Petition Option
For residents of Marshfield, the question is whether they want to continue to be represented by someone who lectures about civility while calling them names and then stands by when one of his colleagues is bullied.
Fidler’s term expires in 2025, but Darcy’s continues until 2026.
If Marshfield residents want to recall Darcy, the Town Charter does allow for a Recall Petition. Those interested would first have to collect 100 signatures to start things off, then they would need to obtain the signatures of 15% of the registered voters in every precinct in town.
Lessons for Duxbury
It’s easy to laugh at this incident, especially Darcy, but even some Marshfield residents are thinking of attending the Select Board meeting for purely entertainment purposes.
As amusing and infuriating as all this unpleasantness can be, all this strife occurred because residents stood up for themselves and elected someone who would defend their interests.
We here in Duxbury might want to think about whether we want to do the same.
Up for election this year are the following seats on local boards:
The Selectboard (one)
The School Committee (two)
Planning Board (at least two) — one term ends, one vacated
Board of Assessors (one)
Library Trustee (two)
Moderator John Tuffy may also be up for re-election but the information on the town website is not up-to-date. He’s great at Town Meeting but could shake up some of the committees he appoints, especially the Finance Committee.
Unfortunately, the seat currently up for election on the Selectboard is Vice Chair Amy MacNab, the most popular board member and the only one to have won a contested race. Still, competitive elections are good because they force everyone involved to defend their record and articulate their vision for the town. In MacNab’s case, a challenger might inspire her to stick to her guns during Selectboard meetings where she often articulates concerns shared by most Duxbury residents but then folds when the town manager or other board members push back, often with feeble reasoning or social pressure — “Don’t you trust so-and-so?” As a result, over and over, she, like everyone else on the board, ends up voting for proposals and projects she clearly doesn’t support.
Duxbury could really use some elected officials like Eric Kelley, someone who calmly and coolly stands up for himself and town residents, even when people are yelling at him and he does not appear to have any allies… except for the many people who voted him into office.
What happened to objective news reporting? You’re acting like an advocate of a point of view, not an objective reporter.