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City Council election preview
In a practice that ended a decade ago, Hynes’s Tavern on upper Gorham Street each year would sponsor a 5-mile road race for St Patrick’s Day. The 1999 race stands out in my mind because so many of the runners and spectators wore “Tenczar for City Council” t-shirts. When first-time candidate Dan finished third in that year’s city council race, behind Rita Mercier and Eileen Donoghue and ahead of Bud Caulfield, I formulated the “Dan Tenczar Rule.” Simply put, the rule says that to be a serious candidate for city council, you should have a bunch of visible and active supporters by St Patrick’s Day. It’s no guarantee, and some have started later and still been elected, but I still think it’s a good yardstick to gauge the seriousness of a challenger’s council campaign.
This year, all the election chatter seems to be devoted to the school committee which is probably just fine with the council incumbents. As for challengers, the newspaper has previously mentioned current school committee member Dave Conway as a possible council candidate but that talk seems to have quieted with the controversy that’s arisen over the superintendent of schools issue. I’ve seen Paul Belley out campaigning already, but can’t recall seeing or hearing of anyone else (which might be more of a comment on my winter reclusiveness than on the vigor of some unmentioned challenger’s campaign). But with St Patrick’s Day less than three weeks away, I thought it appropriate to have the council race pop up onto our community radar. As far as I know, all nine incumbents are running. If one or more chooses not to, that could certainly change the calculus of potential candidates.
To put this year’s council election in some historical perspective, here’s the results of the last election, with mini political biographies of each of the winners (more info of this type is available on our Elections page):
Rita Mercier finished 1st receiving 6882 votes. She also was:
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007
* Elected Mayor of Lowell: 2001
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for State Representative (18 Mid): 1998 (Democratic Primary)
Edward “Bud” Caulfield finished 2nd with 6334 votes. He also was:
* Elected Mayor of Lowell: 1995, 2007
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007
Franky Descoteaux finished 3rd with 6186 votes in her first campaign for elective office
Kevin Broderick finished 4th with 5722 votes. He also was:
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 2005, 2007
* Filled vacancy on Council in August 2005 after resignation of Rithy Uong
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Lowell City Council: 2003
Jim Milinazzo finished 5th with 5711 votes. He also was:
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 2003, 2005, 2007
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Lowell City Council: 2001
Bill Martin finished 6th with 5642 votes. He also was:
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007
* Elected Mayor of Lowell: 2005
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for State Representative (18 Mid): 1998 (Democratic Primary)
Joe Mendonca finished 7th with 5420 votes. He also was:
* Elected to Lowell School Committee: 1999, 2001, 2003
* Filled vacancy on School Committee in 1998 when Kathryn Stoklosa passed away
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Lowell School Committee: 1995, 1997
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Lowell City Council: 2005, 2007
* Filled vacancy on Lowell City Council in 2007 when George Ramirez resigned
Patrick Murphy finished 8th with 4860 votes in his first run for the city council. He also
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Congress in the 2007 special election as an unenrolled candidate
Rodney Elliott finished 9th with 4805 votes. He also was
* Elected to Lowell City Council: 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007
* Ran (unsuccessfully) for Lowell City Council: 1995
The remaining candidates in the 2009 city council race were:
10. Armand Mercier (incumbent) – 4588
11. Alan Kazanjian (incumbent) – 3554
12. Paul Belley – 3209
13. Ben Opara – 3144
14. Ryan Berard – 2995
15. Fred Doyle – 2596
16. James Wojas – 2435
17. Jose Gabriel – 2326
18. Ray Weicker – 2320
19. David Koch – 2256
20. Syed Hussein – 1712
21. Curtis Freeman – 1166
Why do I feel like somebody just yelled, “Play ball !”
For me, Ben Opara was one of the big surprises of 2009. Will he run again? His strong showing and Franky’s third place finish stood out. Paul Belley wasn’t too far out of the money. I thought Paul had a good chance to go in the first time out, so it wasn’t as big a surprise to me as Ben’s showing, even though both missed.
I understand that it’s noble for someone to put their name on the ballot, patriotic, time to give back, yadda yadda. That said, I feel that anyone who decides to run in this kind of toxic atmosphere needs to have their head examined. Budget cuts, special interests, dodging knives at every meeting, etc. Where’s the fun? What’s the incentive this year? Anyone can “make a difference” when there’s a ton of money. I’m not so sure there’ll be much interest this year. I feel that our mayor hasn’t done his job in pulling the spinters together. We all know that the manager’s approaching his expiration date. The school committee is probably more unified than the council. What’s that saying? This election is going to be ugly. Campaigns are fun, governing is brutal.
Belley has real promise. I figure that his 12th place finish,
10. Armand Mercier (incumbent) – 4588
11. Alan Kazanjian (incumbent) – 3554
12. Paul Belley – 3209
and now with A. Mercier & Kaz out, some of those votes will drift to Paul. Factor in the growing rumor that Bud will not run. I think Belley is a magnet for their supporters.
Belley and Opara are the two challengers who stood out last time and should see a nice bump in votes. Keep an eye on Cory Belanger who ran a nice statewide race.