Responses to a candidate questionnaire answered by Somerville mayor Katjana Ballantyne were “nearly identical” to that of a city councilor, said the group Somerville Yimby.
“Mayor Ballantyne answered the City Council version of our survey rather than the mayoral one,” said the housing advocacy group – its name stands for “Yes in My Backyard” – in its endorsement announcement posted last week but bearing Monday’s date.
The group provided a questionnaire to all 26 mayoral and council candidates that had several common questions, but also three questions specific to the mayor’s race and three specific to the council.
The mayor also “submitted some nearly identical answers” to those of Ward 5 councilor Naima Sait,” Somerville Yimby said. “We contacted mayor Ballantyne to clarify this issue and she said that while the answers do contain matching content, she stands behind them.”
Many of the responses shared by Ballantyne refer to similar policies or ideas outlined by Sait. When asked how they would pay for affordable-housing projects, for instance, both candidates said that they would raise linkage fees paid by large developments, seek increased “payment in lieu of taxes” from Tufts and push for Tufts endowment funds or the interest they generate to be invested in Somerville’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Some paragraphs are identical. When asked whether the candidates would support updated zoning allowing construction of buildings up to six stories, Ballantyne shared several paragraphs that are the same as Sait’s.
https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/26056658-250819-somerville-yimby-sait/?embed=1
https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/26056657-250819-somerville-yimby-ballantyne/?embed=1
Jeff Byrnes, the Ward 5 representative on Somerville Yimby’s steering committee, confirmed that the Ballantyne campaign shared its responses 11 days after Sait.
Sait said she heard about the duplication through Somerville Yimby and has since learned that one of her advisers also advised the Ballantyne campaign on the issue. Sait did not share the name of the adviser.
“After I submitted my Yimby survey, unknown to me, one of my advisers provided guidance to the mayor’s campaign with similar language,” Sait said.
The Ballantyne campaign did not respond when asked to comment on Sait’s statement. Daniel Kimmel, a political writer for the Ballantyne campaign, said he was involved in the initial drafting of the responses and had not seen Sait’s responses before submission.
Somerville Yimby has since issued eight endorsements, including one for Sait. For mayor, the group has endorsed current councilor at-large Willie Burnley Jr.
The group also endorsed Scott Istvan, Ben Wheeler, Jon Link and incumbent Will Mbah for councilor at large; incumbent councilor Ben Ewen-Campen in Ward 3; and University of Massachusetts lecturer and political newcomer Emily Hardt in Ward 7.
The group also expressed support for incumbent councilors Matt McLaughlin, JT Scott, Jesse Clingan and Lance Davis, though the four are unopposed.
The responses shared by all candidates were linked in Somerville Yimby’s announcement.
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Is this really news? It reads like a NIMBY hit job. I guess they took a lesson from the Right. When you’ve got nothing else, accuse your opponent of plagiarism. I don’t care about exact wording. I only care that she stands by her answers.