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A
Preview of the Lowell City Council Race
The Most Interesting Council Race
in Years
Richard P. Howe
(06/05/07)
Despite all the attention being
paid to the special election in the Fifth Congressional
District, an unmistakable buzz is developing in Lowell
political circles over this falls City Council
election. Looming over this council race is the fallout
from last years regime change at Lowell City Hall.
It was in April 2006 that six of the nine councilors
publicly announced that they had lost confidence in then
City Manager John Cox who soon resigned. That these six -
Kevin Broderick, Eileen Donoghue, Rodney Elliott, Jim
Milinazzo, George Ramirez and Mayor Bill Martin - had
been largely supportive of Cox through his five-year
tenure with only an occasional solo foray of criticism
made this a startling development.
While there were ample reasons for them to replace Cox,
there was never a public airing of their grievances, so
the precipitating cause of the council action is still a
bit of a mystery.
What was never a mystery was the vigorous counterattack
launched by Coxs many supporters against the six
councilors. From a boisterous downtown rally that
included leaflets, depicting the six councilors as rats,
that rained down on the crowd from an upper floor window
to the emergence of at least one council challenger who
had openly vowed to extract revenge on the offending
councilors, the pro-Cox forces have not let this issue
fade.
And Lowell, of course, has nine city councilors, all
elected at-large in the same two-year cycle.
The remaining three Bud Caulfield, Armand Mercier
and Rita Mercier - were and remain unabashed Cox
supporters. It has been no coincidence that the bulk of
council votes during the past year have featured a six to
three split with almost no variation on who falls on what
side. It is only after acknowledging the lingering
toxicity of this political feud that any analysis of the
council election may proceed.
And the starting point for examining this council race
has to be the premise that incumbents almost always
win. In the past three council elections, every
incumbent who sought re-election won a seat.
The last time an incumbent lost was 1999 when Grady
Mulligan and Larry Martin were both defeated. Martin had
also lost as an incumbent in the 1997 election (he
finished tenth and rejoined the council when a vacancy
occurred mid-term). You must travel back to 1993, when
five incumbents were defeated and one more didnt
run, to find an election that radically changed the
makeup of the council.
In the past decade, changes in the Lowell City Council
have primarily occurred when one or more incumbents
decided not to seek re-election. In 1995, Laurie Machado,
Tarsy Poulios and Michael Geary chose not to run and were
replaced by Eileen Donoghue, Rita Mercier and Peter
Richards.
In 1997, Steve Gendron and Matt Donahue did not seek
re-election (and Larry Martin lost). Replacing them
were Rodney Elliott, Armand Mercier and Dan Leahy.
In 1999, Peter Richards did not run (and Martin and Grady
Mulligan lost). The three new councilors were Dan
Tenczar, Rithy Uong and current Mayor Bill Martin. In
2001, all incumbents ran and won. In 2003, Tenczar didnt
run and Jim Milinazzo filled the ninth seat. In 2005,
Richard Howe Sr. did not seek re-election after 40 years
on the council. He was replaced by George Ramirez.
Kevin Broderick, who had finished tenth in the prior
election but had assumed a council seat when Rithy Uong
resigned in the summer of 2005, was elected in his own
right.
This year, incumbent George Ramirez recently announced
that he would not run again and it is unlikely that
Eileen Donoghue, who is now running for Congress, will
also run for the council.
That would leave seven incumbents seeking
re-election. In order of seniority, they are Bud
Caulfield who was first elected in 1987 and who has
finished no worse than fourth in the last six elections;
Rita Mercier who was first elected in 1995 and who has
topped the ticket in each election since then; Armand
Mercier and Rodney Elliott who were both elected in 1997
and who tied for fourth place in the 2005 election; Mayor
Bill Martin who was elected in 1999 and who has finished
in either seventh or eighth place in each subsequent
election; and Jim Milinazzo, who was elected in 2003 with
an impressive third place finish but who slipped to
seventh in the last election.
Although the filing deadline for the council election is
still months away, a number of credible challengers have
already emerged.
They include Mehmed Ali, the director of the National
Parks Mogan Cultural Center who is active in many
of Lowells cultural organizations; Alan Kazanjian,
the owner of numerous Lowell-based businesses who also
serves as chair of the citys Zoning Board of
Appeals; Jo-Ann Keegan, a Registered Nurse who is chair
of the citys Board of Health (and the daughter of
former Lowell City Manager Joe Tully); Curtis LeMay, who
served on the council during the late 1980s and
early 1990s; Robert McMahon, a former commissioner
of the Lowell Housing Authority (and the challenger who
was most vociferous in his criticism of the councilors
who ousted Cox last year); Joe Mendonca, a former member
of the school committee who tried to make the jump to the
council in the last election only to finish tenth, and
Kristin Ross-Sitcawich, a co-author of the local
political blog, www.leftinlowell.com,
who ran unsuccessfully for council in the last election.
With the possibility of two open seats, a number of
challengers who have already proven they will run
aggressively, and the residual passion of the Cox ouster,
this undoubtedly will the most interesting council race
in years.
Richard P. Howe Jr. is the creator of www.richardhowe.com,
a blog that provides commentary on politics in
Lowell. He also serves as Register of Deeds of the
Northern District of Middlesex County.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The June 2007 Edition of
the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
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All Contents (C) 2007, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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