Pat Ononibaku Will Chair Progressive Coalition Of Amherst

Source: Progressive Coalition of Amherst

Progressive Coalition of Amherst (PCA) announced on Tuesday (9/14) that Pat Ononibaku will be the new chair of the organization. Jennifer Page of Potwine Lane resigned her post as chair  of the newly formed PAC so that she could run for School Committee in Amherst.  Page explained, “On the day before papers were required to be filed to run for elected office in Town, it appeared that there would not be enough candidates to fill the five school committee positions. I decided that serving in that capacity had to take precedence over my role in PCA.”

Ononibaku is a long-time activist in community affairs.  She currently serves on the town’s Community Safety Working Group.  She expressed gratitude for Page’s “efforts to diversify those elected to office in Town”. “As the new Chair, I am calling on Amherst residents to help our candidates win elections. Together, I strongly believe anything is possible and our community could be transformed for the better. We are also excited to welcome Amilcar Shabazz who recently joined the majority BIPOC executive board of PCA.”.

In order to run for a town-wide seat, such as the School Committee, candidates must collect and submit 50 signatures of Amherst registered voters that the Town Clerk must then certify. Page collected and turned in 177 signatures in just over 24 hours. She had previously run for School Committee in 2017, garnering over 2100 votes but falling short by 66.

Three incumbents had turned in papers by Monday (Heather Lord, Allison MacDonald, and Peter Demling) and one had indicated that they would not be running (Kerry Spitzer). The fifth incumbent, Benjamin Herrington, had not gathered or handed in any signatures as of Monday and had, in fact, said that he would not run for re-election. However, on Monday he changed his mind and ended up turning in 83 certified signatures before the deadline on Tuesday, September 14.

Page, parent of an ARMS student, is joined by Phoebe Merriam, parent of three ARPS students, and retiree Irvin Rhodes as challengers for the five seats.