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Peter Collins, incumbent
Democrat, Milton |
Thomas Gorman
Republican, Dedham |
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AGE: 45
ADDRESS: 5 Harborview Park, Milton
OCCUPATION: Attorney
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in English, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, juris doctorate, Suffolk Law School
GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: Norfolk County Commission, 1994-present; president, Massachusetts Association of County Commissions
CIVIC ACTIVITIES: Norfolk County Agricultural High School trustee
FAMILY: Wife, Brigitte; two sons, James, 2, Mark, 2 weeks
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AGE: 51
ADDRESS: 93 Pine Hill Road, Dedham
OCCUPATION: Real estate broker; golf writer
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, Massasoit Community College, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
MUNICIPAL EXPERIENCE: Dedham town meeting member, 24 years
CIVIC ACTIVITIES: Dedham Knights of Columbus; Dedham Citizens Action Group; Norfolk County Republican Club
FAMILY: Wife, Janet; two children, Erin, 22, Ryan 20 |
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Collins easily defeats GOP’s Gorman
By LANE LAMBERT
The Patriot Ledger / Nov. 8, 2006
Thomas Gorman of Dedham ran for a seat on the Norfolk County Commission promising he would try to have the county government abolished. He said most people wouldn’t notice if it was gone.
That’s not the message the Republican challenger got from voters. Democratic incumbent commissioner Peter Collins of Milton trounced Gorman 66 to 34 percent to win a fourth term.
Collins couldn’t be reached for comment last night. During the campaign, he dismissed Gorman’s charges that the county is a mismanaged, unnecessary level of government that could be taken over by the state.
He said the county provides important services that towns can’t handle on their own, such as traffic engineering and cheaper, pooled purchases of gas, heating oil and other supplies.
He and other county officials were angered by some of Gorman’s claims, notably that Presidents Golf Course in Quincy is poorly managed.
Golf course manager James Fitzroy said he’s considering suing Gorman for slander over some of his accusations.
Last night, though, Gorman sounded unfazed by his defeat.
“This campaign is over, but my plan for abolishing the (county) branch of state government will continue,” he said. “I’m as energized tonight as I was 10 months ago.”
The real estate broker and golf writer hopes to discuss his proposal to abolish the county systems in Norfolk, Plymouth, Barnstable and Dukes counties with leaders in the Legislature.
If that fails, he says he’ll begin working on a ballot question for the 2008 election.
Lane Lambert may be reached at llambert@ledger.com.
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Incumbent and challenger
spar over golf course
By LANE LAMBERT
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 31, 2006
Win or lose, Thomas Gorman has succeeded at one thing in his bid for a seat on the Norfolk County Commission: He has teed off the incumbent. Literally.
Gorman, a Dedham Republican, has for weeks alleged that three-term Democrat Peter Collins of Milton and his fellow commissioners are giving “sloppy” oversight to the county’s budget and operations, especially the Presidents Golf Course in Quincy.
In campaign statements and at a recent commission meeting, he has called the county’s fiscal supervision of the golf course “unprofessional, lackadaisical” - a charge that Collins and county administrator Dan Matthews say is the political equivalent of a double bogey.
“Mr. Gorman doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Collins said. “We’re mandated by the state to have an audit every year.”
The exchange comes as the two candidates prepare for their only debate before the Nov. 7 election. The debate will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at Norwood Town Hall, and is sponsored by the Norwood League of Women Voters.
Collins, an attorney, said the golf course is audited along with other county departments and services.
The last published audit, for the 2003-2004 fiscal year, showed that the nonprofit course collected $937,867 and spent $794,027, for a net revenue of $145,840.
Expenses include course manager James Fitzroy’s $75,300 salary and about $30,000 in private contractor fees to golf pro Don Small. Small also earns commissions from pro shop sales.
Net revenues go to the county’s general fund. Matthews and Fitzroy said most of that money has been spent on improvements to the greens and facilities in recent years.
Gorman - a real estate broker and golf writer - says the Presidents course should be audited in part because he says Fitzroy and Small have been left free to handle the facility’s cash and point-of-sale transactions.
“Who’s counting all the cash?” Gorman asked.
Those comments angered Collins - and have left Fitzroy considering a libel lawsuit against Gorman.
“I don’t handle cash,” Fitzroy said. “Our cash procedures are guided by the rules of the state and the county treasurer.”
He said all sales receipts are submitted to the county’s auditors. “We run a good operation,” he said.
Gorman is running for the commission seat even though he says his first action if elected would be to ask the Legislature to abolish Norfolk County government. He says he won’t cash any county paychecks if he’s elected.
Selling the course is the first point in Gorman’s 25-point proposal to reduce and end the county system. (Among his other proposals: Merge Norfolk County Agricultural School with Blue Hills Regional Technical School, and transfer the county registry of deeds to the state.)
But Collins says Gorman has driven the ball into the rough on that idea, too.
Collins says the county would have to pay a prohibitive price to sell the course, because it was developed in 1976 with 90 percent federal financing.
“It was meant to be preserved as open space,” Collins said. “We would have to pay back that 90 percent plus interest and a penalty.”
Lane Lambert may be reached at llambert@ledger.com.
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County race pits Collins vs. Gorman
Challenger would
try to abolish
Norfolk agencies
By LANE LAMBERT
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 17, 2006
The Norfolk County Commission race is a battle of opposites in more ways than one: Three-term incumbent Peter H. Collins of Milton is being challenged by a Republican who doesn’t think the office should even exist.
If Thomas E. Gorman of Dedham wins, the first thing he’ll do is ask state Sen. Robert Hedlund to introduce a bill to abolish Norfolk County government.
“They (county governments) are all a waste,” the real estate broker and golf writer said. “They should all be abolished.”
Not so, says Collins, a lawyer and part-time chairman of the three-man commission.
He says the county provides critical services that many towns can’t handle on their own, such as traffic engineering and cheaper, pooled purchases of fuel oil and other municipal supplies.
“We take care of the gap in the middle,” he said. “We’re more involved than people know.”
With the jail and courts already effectively functioning as state agencies, Gorman says the Registry of Deeds and other county services could easily be transferred to state control, while Norfolk Agricultural High School could be merged with Blue Hills Regional Technical School.
Gorman says that would save towns a total of $4 million a year. That money comes from a county tax that every community pays, based on property assessments. Most of the rest of the county’s $30 million budget comes from Registry fees.
Collins - whose father, James Joseph Collins, was a longtime commissioner - says the county system has a good track record for efficiency and “the best Registry in the state,” partly because the operations are closer to their communities.
Middlesex and seven other counties in the north and west were taken over by the state in 1997, but the move to completely abolish the county systems has faded since then.
While Collins has $75,000 in his campaign account - most of it a $60,000 loan to himself - Gorman is running a decidedly low-budget race. He’s gotten $875 in contributions and had a $683 balance as of Oct. 4.
Gorman faces a big legal question if he wins: While there’s no residency requirement for candidates, state law prohibits more than one commissioner from the same town - and commissioner Francis O’Brien also lives in Dedham.
This summer, Collins sought to have Gorman removed from the primary ballot, but the court ruled in Gorman’s favor, since he hasn’t yet won the seat. Gorman declined to comment on Collins’ action.
If Gorman loses, he says he’ll run for the Plymouth or Barnstable county commission in 2008 and campaign to have the system abolished from there.
Lane Lambert may be reached at llambert@ledger.com.
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Collins leads
Gorman in
money race
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 17, 2006
Dedham Republican Thomas E. Gorman had to fight his way onto the ballot this year to take on Norfolk County commissioner Peter H. Collins of Milton. But since the state Ballot Law Commission ruled in June that he could be on the September primary ballot, Gorman has lost the campaign fundraising race with the 12-year incumbent.
Collins, a lawyer, lent his campaign a hefty $60,000. Gorman lent his campaign more than $200 but had just $657 to spend as of Sept. 15.
Collins had more than $15,500 left over from previous campaigns, giving him more than $75,000 to spend as of Sept. 15.
Contributions of $100 or more to Thomas E. Gorman between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31:
$250 - Cohasset Republican Town Committee.
$100 - Rose Foley, Plymouth.
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Candidate for county board raps finances
Gorman says money mishandled;
Collins, his foe, says that’s not true
By DENNIS TATZ
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 12, 2006
DEDHAM - Norfolk County Commission candidate Thomas Gorman of Dedham is accusing the three-member board of commissioners of “mismanaging county finances.”
“The commissioners are doing a poor job of running county government,” Gorman said. “How can they run up a $1 million deficit in the first three months of the fiscal year? It's because the county is run like a country club and there are no checks and balances in place.”
But commission Chairman Peter Collins of Milton, who is running for re-election next month against Gorman, said Gorman couldn’t be more wrong.
“I find Mr. Gorman’s allegations irresponsible,” Collins said. “We haven’t run up a deficit of $1 million in three months. We have the best-run county in the state. We have a good financial picture.”
Collins, a Democrat, said commissioners have been working closely with the 28-member county advisory board and its finance committee in responding to the county’s budget woes.
County revenues are down mostly because money generated by the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds is influenced by the housing market, which has been sluggish lately, Collins said.
He said that the county had built up a surplus of more than $3 million during the housing boom years.
In addition to dipping into the surplus, the commission is planning cuts to balance the budget.
“We are being fiscally responsible in reducing the overall county budget,” Collins said. “We acknowledge we have a problem with our budget and we’ll fix it. For the past 12 years I have been in office, Norfolk County has presented a balanced budget and we will present a balanced budget again.”
Collins said commissioners voted to lay off six maintenance workers and make cuts totaling $400,000.
More cuts and layoffs are expected in the coming weeks in other departments, although commissioners have not determined how many employees will be affected.
“We want a positive cash flow and to contribute to our savings again,” Collins said. “It all depends on the housing market.”
Gorman, a Republican trying to unseat Collins, filed a bill this year to abolish county government and transfer essential services to state agencies.
“County government is a bureaucracy that is antiquated and duplicitous in the services offered by local town halls and the state,” Gorman said. “There is no redeemable purpose for Norfolk County government to exist and it should be abolished. Seven county governments have been abolished due to mismanagement, corruption and patronage and it's time for Norfolk County to dissolve without any loss of services to its customer base.”
Gorman said he is on the agenda for the commission meeting Wednesday, when he plans to give details on how county government should be downsized and spending habits and salaries controlled.
Collins said commissioners will listen to Gorman’s recommendations.
Dennis Tatz may be reached at dtatz@ledger.com.
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