I am writing to ask you to vote for Shahidul Mannan and Mary Jo LaFreniere for Select Board on Monday May 16th; they are uniquely suited to serve on the Select Board with their municipal finance experience. Mary Jo has served on the Hopkinton Board of Assessors for nearly a decade, and she was the professional principal assessor for Plainville for 10 years until retiring just a few years ago. Shahidul is a successful business strategist and has served on the Appropriation Committee for Hopkinton for seven years. Both Mary Jo and Shahidul bring municipal finance experience far greater than any other candidate does or has in the last 20 years that I have been active in town government. We will be truly lucky to have their shared municipal finance experience on the Select Board.

Additionally, they bring an established and shared collegiality to work respectfully in concert with their colleagues on the board, with other board and committee members, and with town professional staff. They work to elevate the common good and purpose of their neighbors and the goals of the town, recognizing fully that their contribution is necessary and important but never more so than anyone else’s contributions.

Further, they engage respectfully on issues of importance that may be difficult for many to get involved with, issues I believe we all need to invest in for the greater good. These issues may indeed require hard conversations, and we need respectful, open dialogue to have those conversations and elevate needed advances for human rights — these are issues of equity, including health equity and reproductive health equity; education and employment equity; racial justice and needed reforms; environmental action to protect our shared future; and advancing mental health as a shared community priority.

I hope to see you at the polls on May 16th — your vote matters! And I sincerely hope you vote for both Shahidul and Mary Jo for Select Board.

— Muriel Kramer, Hopkinton (Select Board member)

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