The Curious Case of Ron Dionne

Had a sit-down yesterday with mayoral candidate Ronald Dionne. You can read more about him in this Friday's Fitchburg Pride, but a few thoughts:

Interestingly, Dionne said the city's financial problems aren't in revenues, it's in overspending. Rupert K. is nodding right now. Dionne says one area for savings is holding off on union raises for a few years. A lot of people are nodding right now. Where else to find savings? Well, Dionne's not sure. He claims he doesn't have the information. He also admits to not having looked at the new city budget. He doesn't have a computer, and hasn't gone to the clerk to buy a copy. Kind of takes the starch of the "overspending" argument when you haven't looked at the budget, no?

You can read more about what Dionne thinks -- including an interesting theory on downtown traffic -- in Friday's paper, but the above little tale should say a lot. Dionne said he watches all the government meetings on TV, which is great, but if you're going to claim the city is overspending, you should have an idea of where the money is currently being spent.

Most people don't Dionne much of a shot of gathering more than a few hundred votes (and that might be generous). He said the first he'd do as mayor would be to review spending department-by-department, going back years. That sounds great, but consider: In theory he's just barely three months away from being elected mayor, and he hasn't looked at the current city budget. Huh.