Is there going to be a debate before the primary? I am honestly not interested in Manning. She continues to do what she has always done on her FB and make nasty comments about people and hope that they stick. She has the same people that ran Fitzgeralds campaign. She is going to end up exactly where Sean did, losing by a large margin. I have not idea what she truly wants to accomplish for our district. I have had Slattery and Lovely come to our neighborhood but of course not Mannings...I guess that will be the same representation if she was elected...If anyone watched "You make the Call" last night you could listen to the anger in Mannings supporters and their inability to listen and accept feedback.

I guess the best way to look at all of this is that she will lose this race and will not be on the Governors Council...That is a great day!

Ethics and the economy. I want to see someone sponsor a bill for mandatory sentencing for corrupt politicians. I also want to see pay and benefits cut and eliminated respectively for our part time legislature.

My biggest issue is with the candidates: all are "more of the same," and it's this kind of "sameness" that has gotten us into this mess. I think it's time to start looking for non-attorneys to step up and start fixing what has become our Statehouse: Disneyland for law practices.

Besides that, as much as our pols like to say how safe our area is, it is anything close to that. The "sugary drinks" ban our government has foisted on us is all about its inability or unwillingness to get tough on crime: our kids can't ride their bikes in the street because of the plethora of people either unlicensed or should not have their license on the streets, and gangs and/or drug dealing taking over the play grounds.

On the subject of getting tough on crime, it's time that they took action against drugs. The same morons who brought us the "sugary drinks" drivel have also dubbed drug-related crimes as "non-violent." Really? Anybody read the news lately? Oh yeah, we are supposed to believe that Mexican violence is an artifact of the NRA's policies, not the fact that Americans can't seem to get enough of their drugs, and there's nobody in society except the police willing to try to stop that.

And about the police. They are trying to do their jobs, and yet we have a court and parole system that is a total joke. Reform of the parole system was window dressing. We need more than Melissa's Bill -- we need truth in sentencing.

So I'm disappointed in the candidates, but let's hope.

I want all the free loading to stop. I am sick of paying for people who get rewarded for not working, or not getting a job because they want to wait until all their benefits have been exhausted. I was at BJ's and the guy in front had sushi and steaks in his cart, paid with an EBT card and when I met him outside, I asked him how he could live with himself. He said, "I'm milking the system", and "how do you like my new Audi"? Just an example.

I want fiscal sanity and austerity, NO new taxes, a tough stance on violent crime, support for business growth, a turnaround in the growth of government dependency, (EBT Madness and expansion), and INTEGRITY. I will vote for Manning.

We are going in the wrong direction by rewarding non-productivity. We are rewarding laziness under the guise of people being "less fortunate". Soon, we will have more people collecting than contributing. I want to see a work component built into the welfare state.....almost everyone can do something. No one begrudges those who are physically unable to work. Everyone else, get off your fat behinds and stop making working people support you. I am an independent voter, leaning Manning. (Slattery is definitely out).

I support green energy and am opposed to people making bad choices. Sugary drinks and meat contribute to our obesity epidemic and should be restricted, (maybe by a tax, if not an outright ban). I do not want to see poor people humiliated by having their benefits reduced, and as long as working people can buy cigarettes they should too. I am not happy about the economy..I cannot find a job and I have a college degree in psych. I think greedy business people should be taxed more. If you make 125 k or more, you should give at least 60% back to the rest of us who built the infrastructure you leach off of. I will vote for someone who will help fix this system and restore the economy. Joan Lovely got rid of the filthy power plant and she has supported Salem business with growth in the Wiccan and psychic genres.

One issue that deeply disturbs me is the explosion of child sexual abuse and child pornography that has been magnified by the internet. I want to see tougher sentencing for these monsters. I do not believe they can be cured or rehabbed. This rules out Slattery. of course, given his record. I will look at the other candidates before making a decision, but this is my main issue.

An issue that I am appalled at is the cost of higher education. Especially in a lack-luster teetering economy - this is a cost that just goes up and up. There is no longer much of a choice for this generation - in order to get a a decent job - most employers are requiring a college degree. If the choice for our kids is a college education or a non-living wage do they really have a choice at all about whether to go to college in order to become self-sustaining independent adults or skip college and become a "subsidized" generation. If we can't come up with a way to make college education affordable (and by affordable I don't mean offer loans which will put people into debt for decades) then it is time to bring back appentice programs and learn on the job pathways in lieu of a college education.

We are at the point where, unless you are pursuing engineering or science, a college education is no longer worth the money. You are better off financially with a two year degree in medical techhnology, i.e. radiology, PT asst, etc....or the trades. You start off 150k in the hole with no career path if you major in Liberal arts!

I would like to point out that Manning is only one who addressed any of the issues mentioned above. She has a history of looking out for you, the tax payer on the Governor's Council. She is the one that you can depend on.
www.maryellenforsenate.com

John Slattery's maiden speech was for a raise for Health care workers.the lowest paid state workers.He represented Peabody well in his terms at the statehouse.His constituent services were excellent , He always got back to you and he worked well with the other legislators from the North Shore. As an Atty.he realizes that you can not even have a trial unless the accused is represented even if everyone KNOWS the accused is guilty. Manning should be disbarred for her comments in the Salem News and her opinions on the law.The people on these patch blogs that are representing her are really amazing. The more they spout for their candidates ,the more votes they lose. Joan Lovely is also a good person and works well with others. I am voting for Slattery and you Tea Party people with the cute pictures can vote for whoever in Kansas you are able to vote for. Same goes for the Governors Council. Best of luck! Oh, I am not a Union member or on welfare or in a gay marriage.I do support all of the above though and I vote!!!

John Slattery is an proven impediment to the current forces in the state, and to the general US, that empowers very large banks, lenders and corporate entities from generating such unbridled laissez faire policies that they once again tank the economy and put a large portion of the US population out of work. Now that it has happened under a Republican dominated 2000's, and while we all sit quagmired in a limping economy, the iron is hot to prosecute those banks who invented the dishonest mathematics that hollowed out a stable middle class. This same economic destruction by unimpeded banks has created a population that is driven by a fear and anxiety of the moment. Even in our district there is a population that wants to strip those suffering economic hardship of help, make it harder to convince large lenders to re-negotiate home mortgages, keep those of non-European decent out of our country, and inject austerity and God into our politics. No thanks. The history books are too full of lessons to vote for anyone other than Slattery. I am concerned about keeping my hometown and home state a model of real everlasting democracy. I am concerned about the inevitable de-stablization of a nation that continues a lewd discrepancy of wealth across its
population. It's bad bad news.

Wake up. Labor, gays, Dominicans, liberals and newspapers did not package up rotten mortgages into securities and sell them to the public with triple-A ratings.

Jaclyn C. really needs to identify herself as someone that is working on Ann Manning's campaign. She pulled this with Fitzgerald's as well. I am all for public opinion but lets have full disclosure if you are going to continuously comment on everyone's comments...I am looking forward to the debate instead of the phony press releases that seem to be the MO for the people that are running Ann's campaign and also ran Sean's...Same people with the same tactics...Hmm we wonder how that will work out...

Sam Adams,a great American Beer,maybe a Guinness,or Smithwicks. Not driving tonight,I am at a church vigil praying for the Tea Party. I am out looking for a picture to put up next to my name. Maybe I will use Janet Wu's picture! Maybe Ed Harding?Pat let's have a beer! You buy!