Our very own WorcesterDem broke the news first, and now it’s official: Worcester County District Attorney John Conte will not run for reelection.
The 75-year-old Conte has been Worcester’s DA for 30 years. He’s probably not thrilled that the biggest thing to happen at the end of those 30 years was his receipt of an ill-fated phone call from Tom Reilly and his related non-prosecution of a 20-year-old who may or may not have violated the state’s social host law, but them’s the breaks. Joe Early Jr., the former congressman’s son, has already said he would run for the seat (not much of a website at this point, though). Now that Conte’s out, we may see a flurry of additional candidates jumping into the race.
Please share widely!
I have heard that Rep. James Leary of Worcester is in. In alot of ways this race just got a whole lot tougher for candidate Early if this is the field.
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Don’t be surprised to hear Registar of Deeds Anthony Vigliotti or Rep. Harold Naughton of Clinton names, as well.
Rumor around my area is that State Rep Lew Evangelidis was interested in pursuing the DA job but wouldn’t go up against Conte. This could make things very interesting….
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Boy, wouldn’t we absolutely love to get rid of big Lew….geezus. There are a couple of dems lined up to go after his seat already, so this might make things much better for everyone involved.
Add Lunenburg selectman Dan Cronin to the list of possible contenders.
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Also, we have it on good authority that Conte and one of his long-serving assistant DAs (James Lemire) were scouting West Boylston Street just last week looking for a campaign headqarters. Lemire was reportedly stunned by the announcemtent. Also, Conte was raking in the cash right up to the end of the year. He logged more thand $10,000 on December 29 and the next day on December 30 he took in another $250 from one Anita Conte. So what gives with this Christmas Day decision story?
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There’s more to this than meets the eye. Follow future developments on Retire Conte in 2006. By the way, we’re in the market for a new name for that blog. Any ideas?
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And also, Reilly must be ripped that on the day he made his run for gov. official Conte stepped on his headlines, thereby reminding everyone all over again about their connection. What was Conte’s hurry? Don’t these guys talk to each other? Oops, silly question.