Harvarded

For John, BLUF:  At this moment in time, when we should be focused on School Reopenings, we are dealing with someone saying something stupid, out loud and then on that person's replacement.  What should have been easy was complicated by someone bringing up what appears to be a personal issue.  "Harvarded"?♠.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Hearing to Determine Residence
of
Mr Dominik Hok Y Lay

From Lowell Comcast Channel 99, at 1700.  A Zoom call

The situation is that Mr Robert Hoey resigned from the Lowell School Committee over a racist remark uttered while on the City Life Show.  It was an anti-Semitic slur.♥

Who will replace Mr Hoey?  Next in line is Candidate Dominik Lay.  However, someone, anonymously,♦ opined to the City Government that Mr Lay does not live in Lowell, but lives down in Boston. If Mr Lay is dismissed as a Canidate (as of Election Day in November 2019), then the Seat on the School Committee falls to the next person in line, in this case, Mr Ben Opara.  If he declines or is disqualified, then it would go to the next in line, as per the table below.

CANDIDATE NAME	VOTES	PERCENT
Michael Dillon, Jr	4296	11.12%
Jacqueline Doherty	4105	10.63%
Andre P Descoteaux	4095	10.60%
Robert J Hoey, Jr	4057	10.51%
Connie A Martin	3768	9.76%
Hilary Mae Clark	3747	9.70%
Dominik Hok Y Lay	3645	9.44%
Benjamin T Opara	3388	8.77%
James A Peters	2779	7.20%
Gerry Nutter	2451	6.35%
S O’Connor Barboza	2236	5.70%

This imbrogio started slowly, but picked up speed this week.  Thus there was a lot of material to review.  After almost an hour of the hearing it was adjourned until 5:00 PM on Thursday, giving time for the submission of more information.

I think it is still an open issue as to how the Election Commission will decide.♣

UPDATE:  Updated the spelling of Mr Lay's Attorney's last name.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  My Wife's assessment, based on Harvard University's apparent prejudice against Asian-Americans.  Perhaps the Supreme Court will sort it out.
♥  As my Wife suggested to me, it is likely Mr Hoey was searching for a name, couldn't find it, and blurted out a term from his youth used to describe a Jewish person.  Not done as an effort to denigrate someone, but by accident, to identify them.  Still, an incident that deserves notice and some action.
♦  Mr Lay's Lawyer, Mr Milliard, brought up the issue of an annymous accusation, but the City's Lawyer, Ms Christine O'Conner dismissed it out of hand.
♣  From the webpage it looks like the web page needs to be updated or the Commissions for the Commissioners need to be renewed.