Editorial: Keep Franklin Elections for Franklin Voters

The last two or three local election cycles in Franklin featured the heavy hand of Beacon Hill, weighing in with endorsements and cash to ensure candidates favored in Boston got elected in Franklin.

The same thing could happen again this year, very likely with the additional compromising force of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which has vowed to spend a million dollars in 2025 to influence local elections in order to benefit its union membership.

This would be a terrible fate for yet another local election, which is supposed to be about local, grassroots solutions to local problems and ought to be a place where public service is the goal. It should be where worthy candidates bubble up from amongst the citizenry and are then examined by the voters on their merits, not on the number of social media ads and robocalls they can command.

This year,  let's draw a line.

It is time that candidates in this Franklin election either admit they are willing to be bought and sold by outsiders or that they are actually going to take a stand and will refuse endorsements, contributions, or support from Political Action Committees, politicians, and  unions that aren’t from Franklin.

This would ensure an election that is a true reflection of the town, not an installation of people with the right friend group.

We invite all candidates to Take the Pledge: "I will accept no outside funding and no promotion by external sources or political machines.”

Political results matter, so do the way they are achieved.