I’ve been trying to get inside the head of Mayor John Moak here. I just can’t understand why he would even think of the possibility of having a Chapter 40B housing project on the Woodman property on Storey Avenue, or getting rid of someone as talented as Newburyport’s Planning Director, Nick Cracknell.

And then I had an epiphany if you will, an understanding, the big light bulb went off–fiscal conservative.

So I went to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia on the Web and looked up, “fiscal conservative.” ( Believe me, I am learning more stuff than I ever dreamed of doing the Newburyport Political Blog. If you had told me three months ago I would be looking up “fiscal conservative,” I would have told you, you were definitely nuts.)

So to quote Wikipedia:
“fiscal conservatism is simply is the stance that the government must “live within its means”. Above all, fiscal conservatives oppose excessive government debt; this belief in balanced budgets tends to be coupled with a belief that government welfare programs should be narrowly tailored and that tax rates should be low, which implies relatively small government institutions…

…In other words, a government doesn’t have the right to run up large debts and then throw the burden on the taxpayer; the taxpayers’ right not to be taxed oppressively takes precedence…

conservatives support a smaller role for the government in the economy…”

Well now things are beginning to make a little bit of sense to me.

( One of the things I like about Newburyport is that in local politics there are no Republicans or Democrats. There are however, “progressives” and “good old boys,” two labels I’m beginning to really dislike. I’m working on new phrases to capture the different political viewpoints in Newburyport, Massachusetts. If anyone has any thoughtful ideas please “chime in.”)

So, if I now look at Mayor John Moak as a “fiscal conservative” I can understand why keeping taxes low is to him more important than having a Chapter 40B project on the Woodman property. Paying for open space or a senior center, a youth center–a whole myriad of possible and needed projects, would burden the taxpayer, hence, for our mayor, things like these would not be commendable ideas.

Obviously I come from a completely different point of view. I think things like preserving open space helps the taxpayer. It helps keep Newburyport a unique and desirable place to live, instead of just another place to live in New England.

So I think I’m beginning to understand where Mayor John Moak is coming from a little better, which believe it or not is a huge relief, because up until now, for me it’s been a complete mystery.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport