For those who follow city politics in Boston, there was a special election in Charlestown, East Boston,the North End, and Beacon Hill to fill Paul Scapicchio’s seat on Tuesday. As many of you know, Scapicchio left the council to take a lucrative position at ML Strategies. What many thought would be a blow-out after a preliminary in which Sal Lamattina (Director of Operations for Boston’s Transportation Department and East Boston resident) took over 60%, turned into a neck and neck race. Dan Ryan (an aide to Congressman Capuano and Townie) fell 160 votes short in what was a great race highlighted by an incredible turnout in Charlestown for Ryan.
Also of note, the various candidates for Clerk of Courts were out and about greeting poll workers and voters in preparation for their respective elections in September (Maura Hennigan, Maura Doyle, and Peter Walsh).
One interesting presence was that of John Connolly, who narrowly missed an at-large seat in 2005 had the polls covered by supporters handing out rubber jar openers (talk about old-school) and touting his bid in 2007. Now that’s an early start!
Any thoughts on this race, Clerk of Courts, and at-large starting up a year and a half out?
La Matina was Menino’s guy. How many people told Lamatina they would vote for him or had a bumber stcker or house sign and voted for Ryan? Especially when one sees the larger number of voters in east Boston than Charlestown.
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No one likes being told what to do. Especially by a good mayor who is getting politically weaker everryday.
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Ryan comes back at him next year.
I remember seeing the blurb in the Globe about the primary and that LaMattina had Menino, Trav and Sal backing him and thinking that it would be a blowout. Ryan must have worked his tail off – a good sign of new blood in Boston politics.
and Lamatinna is not a bad pol because he had sal, Trav and the Mayor behind him. I imagine Sal and Trav didn’t really give a shit. With Meneino it was personal. Everything is personal with Menino.
Does anyone know of any debates?
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Danny
Funny, but Hubpolitics didn’t have the results of a Hub City Council race. Couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that their editors don’t live in the Hub, could it??
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But they’re covering the big issues. Like how “You couldn’t have paid [editor Matt Margolis] to go into Boston this past Saturday.” Poor guy couldn’t deal with Gay Pride. Sounds like a real city dweller to me!
The John Connolly outing was very interesting this far out. His jar openers were nice too.
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The Clerk of Court race looks like a good one. All three Suffolk County Clerkships are up for election this fall. Maura Doyle is running for SJC Clerk and Mike Donovan for Civil Business. The open seat is the clerkship for criminal business being vacated by John Nucci. Maura Hennigan and Robert Dello Russo are running to succeed Nucci in that spot. Hennigan is a long time city councilor and Bob Dello Russo is a current assistant clerk in Suffolk County criminal. On the local level this should be a very interesting race.
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Lets face it Maura was a decent city councilor who always showed up at an event but she has no court experience whatsoever. Dello Russo has experience in the Courts as well as in the Legislature where he worked for Sal DiMasi when he was chairman of the House Judiciary committee. Looks like Dello Russo actually had a hand in drafting some of the laws that he deals with on a daily basis as a clerk of courts.
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At a first glance this is a no brainer for Dello Russo.
On the other hand, Dello Russo has a hack resume. No campaign expereince. Maura will have a sympathy vote and huge name recognition and campaign experience.
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Who said being a “Sal Guy” is a good thing these days?
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Booby Del might win. But the ‘no brainer thing’, hmmmm.