What it was like to collect signatures on the salary repeal petitions
AJQ's blog is a place for members to express opinions and ideas and should not be considered official statements from the group. This post contains letters published in The Quincy Sun by two residents who collected signatures on the raise repeal petitions, Jim Kogler and Jocelyn Sedney.
How can the Mayor unite a city as diverse as Quincy? By giving himself a taxpayer-funded 79% raise.
I have never been a political activist, and I certainly never thought I would be going door to door to collect signatures in Quincy Point to repeal City Council resolutions. Despite being a long-time supporter of Mayor Koch, I was outraged when I learned about the recent raises given to the City Council and Mayor. As soon as I heard about the work of A Just Quincy to repeal these raises by obtaining 8000 signatures of Quincy residents, I became involved. I resolved to collect 200 signatures in support of the effort. I had to act quickly because, due to a previously scheduled vacation, I had only one week to collect them.Each night, I walked between one and two hours through Quincy Point, knocking on doors, talking to my neighbors, and leaving flyers. The process was enlightening. I didn’t keep count of the actual doors I knocked on, but it was over one thousand. I did manage to collect my two hundred signatures. During this process I got to learn a lot about the mood of this city, it’s angry.
Someone answered the door approximately fifteen percent of the time. Almost everyone I interacted with signed.I spoke to exactly one person who didn’t sign, saying, “The Mayor deserves it!” I spoke to two people who said something along the lines of, “I am personal friends with the Mayor, and I cannot sign it, but I support your efforts. He messed up here.” I had two additional people say they wouldn’t sign it without giving a reason. I had one couple tell me they wouldn’t sign because the FBI would be sent to arrest them (I believe they were serious). About fifteen people told me they were not citizens of Quincy and therefore were not eligible to sign. I had two people tell me they weren’t registered to vote. I had one child tell me their “father only votes for the president of Brazil” as he ran away. Finally, I had two people with whom I couldn’t communicate due to language barriers. One of them spoke to me in Italian, telling me, what I could only imagine, was the story of his life for ten minutes. I understood some words and tried my best to communicate back; it was a wonderful conversation.Everyone else signed. The anger at the mayor is visceral. I had a couple tell me that they were extremely grateful I interrupted their dinner. I had multiple people offer me food and beverages. I met with firefighters, police, teachers, and other city employees who were outraged at the pay change; the mayor ensured they received significantly less. I met with people who, like me, explained they were long-time supporters of Mayor Koch but had been disillusioned by this cash-grab. I also ran into many people who had clearly disliked the mayor for a long time and were happy to sign. I ran into young people, grandparents, xenophobes, self-described activists, people of every age, color, and walk of life. A few chased me down the street, one with a bicycle, to sign. Most had a story to tell. I ran into someone who had grown up in the house I currently own.The anger at the City Council for agreeing to the raises was fierce.In the last Mayor’s election, the electorate was split. Anne Mahoney had a very good showing, and Mayor Koch got by with a sizable lead but not a blowout. As I walked and talked, I saw there was no split. Quincy is outraged, across the board. A Just Quincy didn’t achieve the eight thousand signatures to repeal the raises due to the tight time limit imposed by the state, but they would have far surpassed it if another week had been allowed.I have been a long-time supporter of Mayor Koch, and I had the chance to speak to him at a parade some time before the raises were given. I told him he has done a good job running Quincy. He told me, “It’s not me, it’s the great people of Quincy.” As I trod the streets of Quincy Point, I saw just how true that is, but I also saw how universally angry people are at both the Mayor and the City Council for the way these raises were given.
—Jim Kogler
Stewart St
Grateful for raise repeal signers and volunteers
THANK YOU to the 6,000-plus Quincy voters who signed the petitions to roll back the raises! I volunteered to spread the word about the petitions to repeal the 79% mayor’s raise and the 50% council raise and want to share some of my experiences.
As I went door to door, I was so impressed with how engaged people were – most had heard about the raises and were so angered they practically grabbed the clipboard from my hands. Others shared the fruits of their own analysis of the basis given for the raises. Others wanted to share their outrage when so much needed to be taken care of in their neighborhood. Others told me that they were solid Koch supporters, but this was just too much. Many said that they were in favor of raises but the greediness here was wrong. Some said that they were concerned about negative impacts on themselves, family members or businesses – but they signed. Almost to a person, they thanked me.
I volunteered my porch as a signing location. In looking at the addresses on the petitions, I was struck by the distance that people traveled. I was surprised at signatures by elderly people who left their homes to walk to the house. I was impressed by the diversity of signers.
What started out as a small group of people disturbed by the size of the mayor’s raise grew to a grassroots movement with many volunteers across the city. I would not be surprised if this was the first time in the history of Quincy that such an effort was undertaken. And, while not ultimately successful in repealing the related ordinances, the group did collect signatures from just shy of 10% of all registered voters in Quincy – in only 20 days, including a four-day holiday when many were away. My hat off to all!
—Jocelyn Sedney
