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Pension

Incumbent city councilors run strong, except in at-large races

Mark E. Vogler and Jessica Benson
Published: September 26, 2007

LAWRENCE | Two of the City Council's biggest advocates for cutting taxes during the summerlong budget stalemate emerged as the biggest winners in yesterday's preliminary election.

Veteran City Councilor Nilka Alvarez-Rodriguez topped an eight-candidate field, besting her nearest opponent by 266 votes in the race for the three at-large council seats.

District B Councilor Grisel Silva took more than 70 percent of the vote in a contest against two sticker candidates.

Alvarez-Rodriguez and Silva, who both vehemently opposed the mayor's tax hike and favored cutting his budget by more than $3 million, established themselves as heavy favorites going into the Nov. 6 final election.

Mayor Michael Sullivan prevailed in getting his budget adopted on a technicality and without a council vote despite a majority of the council supporting cuts that he said would force him to lay off police and firefighters. Sullivan had predicted that councilors who opposed his fiscal policies might encounter trouble getting re-elected.

But that possibility didn't materialize in yesterday's race | unless voters were making a statement against the mayor. Four of the five councilors who supported huge cuts in the mayor's budget easily led in their respective races.

The mayor's staunchest budget ally | Councilor Joseph Parolisi, chairman of the council's Budget and Finance Committee | finished fourth in the at-large race. He was the only councilor to embrace the mayor's initial budget proposal, which called for taxing up to the levy limit.

At-large Councilor Nunzio DiMarca was the only critic of the mayor's budget who didn't do well. He grabbed the sixth and final spot on the November ballot, finishing 46 votes behind Parolisi.

The fact that the city went into yesterday's election with Hispanics as the majority of registered voters for the first time in the city's history did little to spur heavy participation in an election that featured 14 Latino candidates and a chance to make significant strides toward claiming a first-ever majority control of the nine-member council. Voter turnout was only about 12 percent, according to the city's bilingual election coordinator, Rafael Tejeda.

But in the council at-large race, two of the three top vote-getters were Hispanic. Newcomer Frank Moran grabbed the third spot, joining Alvarez-Rodriguez as two of four Latino front-runners going into the Nov. 6 election. If they win two of the three at-large seats, Latinos are guaranteed at least four seats on the next council.

Councilor Silva and District C Councilor Jorge Gonzalez both enjoy large leads over their opponents going into the final election. Their opponents are both Hispanic.

A fifth seat is still possible. But incumbent District D City Councilor Nicholas Kolofoles drew nearly 61 percent of the vote yesterday in his Tower Hill rematch against Franklin Fernandez in a district that is predominantly Hispanic.

Highlights of yesterday's preliminary election

r Two political newcomers did well in the only citywide contests for councilor at-large. Former Licensing Board chairman Roger Twomey finished second behind Alvarez-Rodriguez. Frank Moran finished third in his first contest. Both candidates finished ahead of incumbents Parolisi and DiMarca.

r Planning Board Chairman David Abdoo had the best night of all newcomers, claiming 70 percent of the vote in a three-way contest to replace Gilbert Frechette for the District E Mount Vernon area.

r Ten-year veteran Councilor Marie Gosselin got the most votes of the three candidates in her bid for a sixth term representing District F South Lawrence East area. But she drew only 48 percent of the vote. Former Councilor Michael Fielding, who beat Gosselin four years ago in a close race, still has a chance to make up votes if he pulls most of Raquel Kelley's supporters.

r City Council President Patrick Blanchette drew only 57 percent of the vote in his match with his former fiance April Lyskowsky in the race for the District A Prospect Hill seat. She still gets to face Blanchette in November.

r Councilor Jorge Gonzalez demonstrated his popularity in a quest of a second term representing voters of the District C Arlington neighborhood. He drew nearly 65 percent of the vote in his rematch with former City Councilor Barbara Beals-Gonzalez.

r District D City Councilor Nicholas Kolofoles seems to be getting more popular in his Tower Hill neighborhood even though it's becoming more Hispanic. He beat challenger Franklin Fernandez by 145 votes in their latest face-off, capturing nearly 61 percent of the vote.

r District B City Councilor Grisel Silva remains popular in her District B North Common Neighborhood despite a year of controversy.

Half an hour after the polls closed, Silva arrived with half a dozen supporters carrying large signs, declaring her campaign slogan: "It takes a proven leader to bring good governance."

Silva had been challenged by two sticker campaigns, one from Ruth Rojas and the other from Gary Mannion Jr.

Rojas vows to give Silva a tougher race in November because she will be on the ballot instead of mounting a sticker campaign.

"No, I'm not surprised about the finish because it's tough to run when you're not on the ballot," Rojas said.

"There were a lot of blanks that we're going to pick up," she said, adding that she expected to get support from Mannion in the November rematch.

"I think we did a wonderful job to make the ballot, but we have a lot of hard work ahead," she said.

The post-election celebrations at City Hall were brief last night compared to other years. Election officials didn't read off the results as each precinct was counted.

The crowd didn't begin gathering until about 7:30 p.m.

Elections officials didn't make precinct totals available last night.

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