The next candidate on the ballot is Yvonne Spicer. Spicer’s website contains a wealth of information, so I encourage you to dig deep there if you find my first impressions interesting. In the interest of keeping this post consistent with the others, I limited myself to watching her interview on Framingham Now (below) and looking at the “at a glance” positions on her website. She has a detailed 36-page platform document that I will look over more carefully on my own.

Spicer has a broad background, with the most experience in the area of education. She came to Framingham to be a teacher in the 80’s, and worked her way up the education system. She is currently Vice President for Advocacy and Educational Partnerships at the Science Museum in Boston. She has also had some local government experience in Framingham, serving as a town meeting member from the 6th Precinct and as a member on the Ways and Means Committee. She has a very personable affect, coming off as competent, friendly, confident. In that sense she is similar to Mark Tilden, in the sense that she seems like she has a bit of a natural talent for political speech without sounding like a politician who was put together in a lab.

Spicer describes her priorities as 1) economic development, 2) management of open spaces, 3) education, 4) public safety, and 5) transparency and communication. In the video above there are only a few brief comments about each area, and nothing that is really concrete enough to pin down and judge. It seems like a reasonable set of priorities, although I may have liked to see immigrant safety a bit higher in our current climate. Her platform at a glance lists “resolving traffic congestion” as the first item under the economic development, which is maybe somewhat unusual, and is not totally clear what it means. You can resolve congestion by eliminating roads but I don’t think that’s what she has in mind. You can encourage other modes of transportation, which I would be in favor of. Or you can try to build more roads — this is what people superficially think the solution is, but since the Boston area is basically an infinite source of traffic it would just lead to more congestion in Framingham.

In response to the question about immigration, Spicer’s answer is encouraging but maybe a bit tinged with political hedging for my tastes. She seems to have the right instincts but didn’t represent support for immigrants strongly enough for my tastes.

To conclude, Spicer is an interesting candidate. She doesn’t have a ton of direct political experience but has worked in Framingham government. I would want to know that she has an experienced team, and gathering support from existing locals with experience would be valuable. I also get a tiny bit of a shifty politician vibe, I think she is at her best when she is genuine and making herself plainly known, and not trying to split the difference or hedge. In a crowded primary election there may be some advantage to not sounding to strident on any position to avoid ruffling feathers, but I need to know what my candidate will stand for. I commend Spicer for having nice campaign materials on her website and I look forward to learning more about her candidacy in the future.