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Tsongas Wins Democrat Primary
Richard
Howe
(09/05/07)
 Niki Tsongas rolled to a closer
than expected victory in the Democratic primary portion
of the special election to fill the Fifth District
Congressional seat vacated by Marty Meehan this
summer.
While Tsongas certainly campaigned as hard as anyone
else, the outcome of this race was decided last March
when Meehan announced his plans to leave Congress.
That set in motion a statutory scheme that left little
flexibility in the scheduling of the special
election. With the primary falling on the day after
the long Labor Day Weekend, the schedule seemed designed
to suppress both voter interest and turnout. In
such an environment, Tsongas’s name recognition and
the residual good will voters of this district still felt
for her late husband Paul gave her a big head start in
the race. The limited time available before the
election and the limited interest by voters ensured that
none of the other candidates could catch up.
While the Democratic primary still retained some drama
right up until the end due to the vigorous campaigns
waged by Eileen Donoghue, Jamie Eldridge, Barry Finegold
and Jim Miceli, the outcome of the Republican primary
that pitted Jim Ogonowski of Dracut against Tom Tierney
of Framingham never seemed in doubt. Ogonowski’s
big victory sets the stage for an intense six weeks of
campaigning between he and Tsongas and a handful of
lesser known third party candidates.
But the primary race to watch was the Democratic
one. Tsongas never relinquished her head start. She
put together a crack staff, raised a ton of money, and
gave anyone who watched plenty of reasons to vote for her
with solid performances in all debates.
Niki didn’t win by default because her four
opponents all ran aggressively. The big University
of Massachusetts Lowell debate on August 27 in some ways
symbolized the entire race.
Barry Finegold was in the middle of the stage, Jim Miceli
was to his right and Jamie Eldridge was to his
left. Eileen Donoghue and Niki Tsongas were at
either end. Despite their determined efforts to
break out of the pack with their respective positions,
the three state representatives were engulfed by the
smoke from the confrontation between the two women.
Donoghue was the clear aggressor, ratcheting up the
rhetoric against Tsongas, saying that her campaign was
funded by special interests from outside the district
seeking to hijack the Congressional seat from the voters
of the Merrimack Valley. Tsongas held her own and
fought back, challenging Donoghue to pull a recent TV ad
that Tsongas said misrepresented her position on
Iraq.
It wasn’t just Congressional race that shattered the
usual calm of August. The Lowell City Council
entertained two controversial issues: the elimination of
the city council primary election and the possible
extension of City Manager Bernie Lynch’s contract.
Some Lowell residents were disappointed when the City
Council unanimously voted to eliminate a primary in this
year’s municipal election. Eighteen candidates
may appear on the ballot in the November election, so if
more than that number turn in sufficient signatures on
nomination papers, a primary election is necessary.
In recent years, only eighteen or fewer candidates have
made it to the ballot, so no primary has been
needed. This year, there are twenty-one
candidates. The council, however, unanimously voted
to request the state legislature to grant a home rule
petition eliminating the need for a primary this
year. The council’s reasoning was that the
city’s election budget for the fiscal year is
already in the red with the special elections (primary
and general) for Congress plus the presidential primary
in March, so it would be a pointless expenditure of much
needed funds to hold a primary that would only eliminate
three candidates.
The council waded into another controversy when it took
up a motion by Kevin Broderick requesting the council to
consider extending the contract of City Manager Bernie
Lynch for an additional two years. At its August 28
meeting, the council, by a vote of 6 to 3, referred the
matter to its Personnel Subcommittee for a report and
recommendation. This motion reignited the fifteen
month-old controversy that began with the resignation of
John Cox from the office of city manager in April
2006. The vote to support the Lynch contract
extension mirrored the expected results of the vote of no
confidence in Cox that was never actually taken but would
have, but for his resignation. Back then,
councilors Broderick, Eileen Donoghue, Rodney Elliott,
Mayor Bill Martin, Jim Milinazzo and George Ramirez
stated publicly that they had lost confidence in
Cox. (Ramirez has since resigned, but he was
replaced by Joe Mendonca, a former school committee
member who seems to be pleased with Lynch’s
performance and who voted for the contract extension
process).
With the Congressional special election in mid-October
and the general election in Lowell in early November both
looming, the intensive political activity we saw during
August was just a warmup for the next two months.
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. You can
email him at lowelldeeds@comcast.net
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The September 2007
Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2007, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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