Happy Tuesday. Currently in the passenger seat of a car careening toward Austin, Texas, where Katie’s doing a convention and I’ll be Roaming Around. Never been! Very excited. Drop some recommendations in the comments if you have any. I’ve got an overfull list of honky tonks but a music store where I can find a reasonably priced pedal steel guitar? That’s what I’m looking for.
For now, I got the hotspot engaged and “getting this out” in workman-like fashion. So I’ll keep the plug short...
There’s an election today with significant ramifications for Worcester politics. Our state delegation either stays “pretty good” or becomes “depressingly dreadful” in the same way our city council went last November. The same people that were behind the concerted, and ultimately successful, effort to replace our best city councilor with a real-lfie Geodude have taken a big whiff of their own oats, as they say, and are now trying to do the same thing to Mary Keefe and Jim O’Day, both longtime members of a relatively progressive state delegation, in the McGovern tradition—unlike our city council, which always tends to lean more reactionary... seeing itself as some hunger games arena for three or four shadow homeowner’s associations, the police union presiding over the games, zapping anyone who tries to actually legislate with the city’s ostensible legislative body, an electric fence they monitor with their collective hand on a big cartoon switchbox.
This primary contests in the 14th and 15th Worcester Districts are a concerted attempt to expand the boundaries of this metaphorical electric fence. And it is going to be a very low turnout election, odds that tend to favor the fencers more than the fencees if you know what I mean.
If you can vote in either the 14th or the 15th Worcester District State Rep Democratic Party primaries, you really, really should.
You have to live in either of the districts. The 14th Worcester, O’Day’s district, is generally the Burncoat / Greendale area up into southern West Boylston.
The 15th District, where Keefe serves and, to her great credit, lives right in the core of, stretches from the downtown area across the highway over the east side, right up to the lake.
...and when you get to your polling station, you have to request a Democratic ballot, rather than a Republican one. Whatever’s going on on the Republican ballot: not my business. Best of luck or what have you.
If you’re unsure, you can look up your voter information, including polling place and state rep. district, via this tool. You have until 8 p.m. to get down to your polling location and I can all but guarantee there will not be a line.
Audio version of this voter guide plus some serious tangents as we do can be found on the Outdoor Cats podcast feed: Episode 73: Kate Gooney
On the Dem ballot, there’s also the Markey / Moulton contest for U.S. Senate. That one is easy. Do the opposite of what an unenrolled member of the Bush Family tells you and vote for the candidate who wasn’t among the most over-eager in the country to throw trans kids under the bus after Trump won in 2024.
Vote for Markey. Moulton stinks.
It’s going to be a wash anyway, it looks like.
So let’s get to the local races. In the two local races, vote Keefe for District 15 and O’Day for District 14.
Here’s why....
The Freaky Little Primary
Sickos, cranks and other careful observers of Worcester’s local political landscape may have noticed a Facebook post the other day by one Guy Glodis, in which the former sheriff uses AI to soft launch his new guy for District 2 City Council. John Piccolo, the restaurantuer and political insider who committed the most baffling and notable act of political violence in the city’s recent history (the Spraypaint Incident). The AI render depicts Piccolo via an “urban grafitti” sort of stock filter featuring meaningless bits of text like “REAL WORK.”
The comments, mostly relishing in the act of political violence Piccolo was convicted of committing, feature a line from one Anthony Petrone, landlord, police union guy, state Democratic Party insider guy, local kingmaker, which reads:
“Can’t wait to help Pic represent the Eastside. First Ron Waddell then Pic !”
Petrone’s helping Ron Waddell’s campaign against Mary Keefe, then, after that, he plans to help Piccolo ummm paint District 2 red.
Petrone is also an advisor, albeit of an informal variety, for another campaign: West Boylston Selectman Barur Rajeshkumar, whom we’ll refer to as Raj for the rest of this post so I don’t have to keep checking my spelling. He’s likely the driving force behind a recent change of tone in the Raj campaign’s mailers: Like Glodis, the Raj campaign has made garish use of AI. More on that later.
Between Raj and Ron’s campaigns, there are 246 unique donations, per OCPF, but only four names found on both of the candidate’s donor lists: Crank-about-town Steve Quist, local not-a-developer and husband-of-Candy Joe Carlson, city councilor Satya Mitra, and, ding ding ding Anthony Petrone.
The lists are otherwise a rogue’s gallery, and you can look at them combined via this spreadsheet I made.
But the point I’m making is that the people who’ve donated to both of these candidates are the most likely to understand a certain larger project, and as it turns out, the names—especially Carlson and Petrone—confirm that analyisis. These are the people, along with cheapskate Tim Murray, who only donated to Ron, that are best understood as the real powerbrokers behind this anti-progressive backlash.
Today’s primary becomes, then, a test of whether they have the juice to remold the entire political landscape in their quasi-Trumpian though still ostensibly Democratic image, or if their Jose Riverafication of District 5 City Council last year was a one-off.
That is a very important dynamic to keep an eye on, and one no one involved is going to say out loud
Keefe v Waddell
Keefe is a member of two significant caucuses: the progressive caucus and the criminal justice reform caucus.
Waddel on the other hand works closely with the county sheriff, via his Legendary Legacies, most notably securing a $1.3 million state grant in 2021 for a re-entry program in partnership with the sheriff and the Worcester House of Corrections called Legendary Links. The sum was a large amount for the state to dole out, as noted in a Worcester Business Journal article at the time, for a relatively new organization, founded just a few years earlier, in 2018.
At a recent candidate forum, Waddel bragged about the growth.
“It is not common for a nonprofit without any, you know, ties to money like that to build an organization that is now just short of two million dollars in less than eight years.”
Per available tax information, 2021, the year they received the $1.3 million grant for their partnership with the county sheriff, was the organization’s biggest fundraising year by a wide margin.
To consider Waddel’s success as tied at least partially to his proximity to the sheriff, and to see among his backers police union leadership like Anthony Petrone, and then on top of that to also to consider the fact he sits on an advisory committee to the Executive Office of Public Safety, puts Keefe’s role on the criminal justice reform caucus in the crosshairs. Might that be a reason why Tim Murray and Anthony Petrone put this challenge together?
Waddel’s answer to a question about the civilian review board is illuminating. He began by saying the decision is a municipal one.
“There is not much I could offer in changing that,” he said. Then he goes on a long, circuitious non-answer, which I’m including in full bellow:
However I am on record saying that the research that the city has gone through in the process that they’re up to. I support where they are. But what I can say is this. One of the things that just came out in July 2026 was a report from the Violence Funding Services Joint Commission...
(He means Special Commission on Violence Prevention Services Funding, pretty sure. If not, funny committee name)
...and this talks about how we can improve the community trust between public safety and law enforcement. I think this is not so much about accountability but it’s more about community trust. And this is the work that I’m in. The work that we’re doing is being able to build those partnerships so that you can intervene before those challenges even happen where you have to worry about accountability. When you think of public safety there’s three pillars. There’s suppression which we’re most familiar with. There’s prevention, stopping it before it happens. And what I’m talking about is funding intervention. Intervention are community based experts that are able to intervene before an event happens so that we don’t even need law enforcement to have to. These are the partnerships that we developed in that report talks about that extensively. And there’s a lot in it that we can act on to improve that. And as a state rep., those are the levers that I have to pull and those are the things that I would focus on.”
So, to translate: ‘Can’t support a civilian review board and won’t say why. Hey, look over here though.’ [Waves shiny object.]
Why he can’t support civilian review is obvious: his bosses in this race are Tim Murray and Anthony Petrone, two of the most outspoken opponents of the manager’s now-reneged CRB proposal.
For comparison, here’s the meat of Keefe’s answer to the same question. Notice how she says what she means on the matter at hand, rather than changing the subject, and says what she means clearly. She started with the WRRB report on the matter, called it well vetted and well researched, then connected the current moment to a long history of struggling for more police accountability in this city.
This is 50 years of work. It goes back to the establishment of the Human Rights Commission under City Manager McGraw and it’s been fought over for that long. So please just look at the report. I stand with the people and what they really feel would make our city better and that is to have a civilian review board.
Not a hard question to answer when you’re allowed to say what you mean!
This small exchange shows basically everything you need to know about Keefe v. Waddel. Vote Keefe.
O’Day v Raj
Raj’s challenge to O’Day has been marked by his absurdist and, ultimately, evil, use of AI imagery, text and relentless SMS spam.
His most evil mailer, seen below, was the subject of most of a recent Outdoor Cats episode, so I won’t retread that ground much, except to say “man, what an asshole.”
Prior to that, Raj’s messaging was less evil and more endearingly weird. I live in this district, so I get all the mail, and there was one the other week I want to focus on—one that ended, in what was then his signature phrase, OVERLOOKED NO MORE.
The Petronification of this campaign took OVERLOOKED NO MORE away from us and replaced it with the overdone copaganda bullshit above. What a shame.
It’s the little things that distinguish a true artist. In a section headlined “follow the money,” there’s a subhead / command: “YOU DECIDE” with four check boxes.
The journeyman would let the viewer decide, so shortly after requesting they do so. Not the master, though. He checks the box for you. YOU DECIDE Borat voice: Nahhhhht.
Remember: Anthony Petrone is personally advising Raj’s campaign. Petrone, as I’ve covered a few times, is a local kingmaker, an insider’s insider, who cultivated his influence by way of a police union leadership role and personal connections to other power brokers like State Sen. Michael Moore and “Character from ‘The Wire’” Joe Carlson.
But Petrone, of course, doesn’t make the literature. Instead, Raj writes:
“Whose interests matter more on Beacon Hill, the residents of Worcester and West Boylston, or the lobbyists, special interests and political insiders funding Jim O’Day’s campaign?”
Petrone is among the most significant local lobbyists, representing the special interests of cops and/or landlords (not that there’s much of a distinction), and has perhaps the most “political insider” pull of anyone in the game.
And the third page of the mailer looks like this…
So take Raj’s advice and vote for Jim O’Day.
Odds and Ends
Thank you for reading, please go vote today! We’ll have results up at least on the website tonight as well.
Katie and I were at Shaw’s yesterday getting our powdered donuts and pringles for the trip an Katie’s grabbing her Gogurts when a woman looks at me and goes “love your writing. Subscriber for life.” Maybe the best complement of my life. Didn’t catch your name but if you’re reading this, thank you again. And to the rest of you: be a Subscriber For Life.
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What also helps is evangelizing this fine outlet in your personal networks. Know someone in your life who should be reading this? Or Aislinn’s WPS In Brief, or Shaun’s Bad Advice, or any of the other recurring features? Bug them about it!
And that’s all today I gotta take over driving. Don’t forget to drop those recs for stuff to do in or around or on the way to Austin!
Did you know, for instance, Austin was at one time as significant a psych rock city as San Francisco?
Someone has to take this stuff seriously. Thanks, Bill. I'd like to get my hands on the Central MA Project 2026 Manifesto. Likely very light on policy and nearly entirely about control and power. Worcester is a political shit hole.
Austin, TX did have a vibrant garage rock scene in the late 60s. In addition to Roky Erickson and the 13Th Floor Elevators there was Mouse and The Traps with this great tune and spectacular video:
https://youtu.be/pXG3oyfK4Bo?si=3yf2KIGu63-Qn1F1
60 years ago, my dude!