New Registrar Looking to Bring Bi-Partisanship to Town

Arlington, and Massachusetts at large, has traditionally been a politically Democratic state. But members of the and its newly elected Registrar of Voters, Joesph J. Boike, hope to bring some more bipartisanship to town.

The Republican Registrar of Voters is responsible for overseeing town elections from a Republican point of view. Boike will be responsible for making sure registered Republicans vote, along with counting overall town election votes alongside the Democratic Registrar and the Town Voting Committee.

The race was between two nominees, former Town Moderator John Warden and Boike. At Monday night's selectmen's meeting, Boike was officially given the nod over Warden.

The seat was left vacant last year after the passing of long-time registrar, Fred Sennott.

“Joe is very committed to bi-partisanship and the selectmen liked that,” said Arlington Republican Committee Chair Jim Dolan.

Boike has strongs ties to Arlington both politically and socially. He is a lifelong Arlington resident with a military background who has always been on the outside of Arlington politics until now. Boike's father also serves on the Arlington police force.

“I'm glad I was appointed to help out the town as much as I can,” stated Boike.

Boike and the Republican Town Committee members have expressed some dire concerns over the growing deficit in town, and fear an override "assaulting" Arlington's school budget.

“Under no circumstances should we support an override during these (economic) conditions. With many of our citizens unemployed this would simply move the residents who built this town to leave. Instead, we need prudence and fiscal responsibility, we need to make the hard cuts that the School Committee has shirked for too long,” said Dolan.

Boike concurred with Dolan's sentiments saying, “Most importantly, I hope to make everything fair and balanced. I'd like to see our town changed a little bit more to a Republican slant rather than Liberal. I'm not an extreme Republican. I do favor such ideas as Scott Brown's and am more moderate.”

“It's going to be a hard climb out of this recession, but this is the only way to see the sunrise on a bright future,”  Dolan said, talking about cuts to the overall town budget.

Boike added, “What is best for the town, I want to see it done, Democrat or Republican."

For more information of Boike's seat as Republican Registrar of Voters, and more on the Republican Town Committee, visit its website.