>>Valley Patriot>>

Two incumbents defeated
in At-Large Race

Tom Duggan

The Lawrence City Council is made up of three at-large (elected city-wide) councilors and six district councilors.

Lawrence voters rejected two (out of three) incumbent Lawrence City Councilors with two very different styles and philosophies, electing newcomers Frank Moran and Roger Twomey in their place.

City Councilor Joe Parolisi, one of the more reserved members of the council placed fourth out of six candidates, only 45 votes behind third place finisher Roger Twomey. Parolisi has long been considered an ally of Mayor Michael Sullivan and supported Sullivan’s 2008 budget, which called for an increase in property taxes.

By contrast, Councilor Nunzio DiMarca was one of the most vocal antagonists of the Mayor and his administration and placed fifth out of six candidates making him a one-term city councilor for the second time in four years.

Voter discontent with the current crop of city council candidates had no effect on the campaign of incumbent Nilka Alvarez-Rodriguez who topped the ticket with 2,958 votes but placed only 35 votes ahead of first time candidate Frank Moran.

Moran stunned political observers when he came out of nowhere in the September primary to place second out of eight candidates and then again in the final election when he placed second out of the remaining six.

For his part, former Licensing commissioner Roger Twomey won a seat on the council placing third on Election Day. Twomey edged out incumbent Joe Parolisi by only 45 votes.

Twomey was the only candidate in this election to raise a specific issue that fell
outside of the usual mantra of “police, education, and quality of life issues.”

Twomey said one of his top priorities is to pass an ordinance requiring all city boards to video tape their meetings and show them on local cable access as a service to the public, adding that many Lawrence residents are unable to go to city hall every night to personally observe the work done on their behalf by the various boards in the city.

With Parolisi gone, Mayor Sullivan has lost one ally on the council, but with DiMarca not returning to the council in January he has lost one of the most obstructive councilors who seemingly opposed him at every turn.

“I plan to work with Mayor Sullivan,” Twomey said. “I think we will work well together and I will be neither a proponent nor an opponent of the Mayor’s proposals. When we agree on issues, I will support his proposals and when we disagree I will sit down with him to try and find some common ground. Hopefully we will be able to come up with a compromise that’s best for the city, that’s what being a leader is all about, working together.”

Frank Moran echoed Twomey’s sentiment, saying he believes it is wrong for many elected officials to support or oppose something based on who is making the proposal or who will get the credit.

“I’m not really in this for credit,” Moran said. “I am here to serve the voters and if I am voting for or against something it will be based on how it will effect the city not based on who proposed it or how it is going to make anybody look.”

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The November 2007 Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly Publication.
All Contents (C) 2007, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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