I am enthusiastically preparing some great information about the Mass Save Home Energy Services Program, a terrific conservation program that is helping to eliminate the need for new power plants while saving consumers substantial amounts of money. You’ll be seeing that information from Better Not Bigger in just a few days.

In the meantime, I’d like to address the fact that many of you just received a voter reminder postcard. The Post Office delivered the “vote yes on the recall” piece nine days after it was mailed. That piece was mailed on Thursday, July 28, five days prior to the election, and was delivered four days after the election, on Saturday. As one resident put it, “Considering how light the summer mail volume has been, I fail to see why the postal service could not get it delivered on time.”

We're in touch with the post office as to why this was held up, but there is no explanation forthcoming yet.

I will point out that even without the delivery of this final information piece, we carried the majority of voters who are not “connected” to the incumbents as relatives, close friends, business associates, and fellow officials. We had the entire political establishment – the Eliopoulos political machine, the influence of Dennis Ready and other government officials close to the Eliopouloses, Town Manager Paul Cohen, all five selectmen (including Jim Lane, who was not under recall), and most former selectmen – all lobbying for “No” votes among their political, personal, and business contacts, and they still won by just over 1,000 votes.

Dennis Ready had the audacity to threaten any further challenges to the oligarchy by stating that the Friends of Eliopoulos group “Choose Chelmsford” stands ready to “whack” any future challengers to their authority. This is precisely what is wrong in Chelmsford’s Town Hall – the thousands of good people who disagree with the “look the other way” approach to graft that Ready has condoned are ignored, even ridiculed and threatened. This has to change, and with our continued participation in the electoral process it will change.

Even if the U.S. Post Office can’t get it right when it counts the most.

Yours with best wishes and hope for the future of our town,

Roland Van Liew