Updated through March 2009
Click above on the Precincts to see your TM member's scorecard.
Or you can just enter their name in the search box above.
It's tough to know if your elected Town Meeting representatives are focused on solving the fiscal crisis that is threatening our schools, town services, open space, and diversity. They are the folks that are responsible for making Amherst fiscally sustainable. How are they doing?
Did your TM representative vote against the allowing office visits in Professional Research Parks? Against economic development at the corner of Rt.9 and Southeast Street? Against allowing downtown hotels? Did they vote for the various proposals to rezone much of our town as agricultural land or flood-prone land to prevent any development? Did they vote against creating a master plan for our town? Did they vote for a sweeping regulation to regulate nightime lights in town?
We've used a mathematical formula to rate all 240 Town Meeting members based on 34 key votes that Town Meeting has taken over the past 5 years that have had an impact on our town's fiscal sustainability. A rating is calculated for each TM member based on how they voted in these votes (click here for details on how we calculated the ratings including the list of votes).
An above-zero rating means that a member voted with our view of fiscal sustainability a more than half the time. Below zero means they voted for fiscal sustainability less than half the time. A +34 is the highest score and -34 is the lowest score. If a candidates had less than 3 votes, we did not apply a rating (n/a).
Some people don't like the idea of providing voters with an analysis of how the candidates have voted on key issues. We don't agree. We think it's important to give the voters good information about how they are being represented in Town Meeting. This enables you to make an informed decision at the ballot box.
It's not about right and wrong. It's about giving the voters the information they need to make informed votes. It's all about priorities. TM members with a +34 score are happy to be known as putting the town's fiscal crisis as their top priority. Folks with a score of -34 are equally as proud that they are putting other piorities first.