Dear Janine,
When you reached out last year and asked me to be the manager/consultant for your Wakefield School Committee re-election campaign I pledged my support to help you succeed — both by staying on the ethical/legal high road and by resisting the temptation of going negative on our opponents.
I was a tough taskmaster and I pushed you hard but you did everything I asked. I’ve never seen a client candidate work harder for the kids she championed every day.
We bonded early on, I suspect, because we’re both cancer survivors. When we met the first time three years ago I couldn’t believe you were campaigning after recently recovering from brain cancer. How could I refuse such a courageous fighter ?
You see, my late Dad was a Golden Gloves boxing champion and he taught me how to fight. And my late Mom was a proud union public elementary school teacher. They taught me the Golden Rule at an early age and the truth is I did this to honor their memory as much as I did it for you.
My only regret is I couldn’t protect you against the eleventh hour sucker punch your opponents swung at you. I want to take Mr. Leeman at his word that he didn’t authorize the illegal use of his endorsement as Finance Committee Chairman in the mailer Rob Tiro sent out that was paid for by the Massachusetts Republican State Committee. And though Mr. Tiro has not yet offered an explanation, or an apology for how this cheating happened — to distort and corrupt the integrity of the electoral outcome — I want to believe it was an honest mistake but I suspect more than a few voters may be wishing they could take their vote back now. Call it voters remorse for lack of a better term.
I must confess, this brand of politics stinks and it’s not right; whether it was done intentionally or not.
Still, I should have seen this sneak attack coming and I alone take full responsibility for this loss. I want to publicly apologize to you, your family and your legions of friends, neighbors and supporters.
You deserved better.
Fred Rich LaRiccia
Cook Campaign Manager
…and have nothing to apologize for. Apologies should come from those who engage in such tactics, not those who are unsuccessful defending against them. Do you even have any way of knowing if they made any difference in this race?
…he might find out that nobody even noticed the unimaginably prestigious appellation of Finance Committee on the mailer. They just didn’t like his candidate.
Better far that he just claims it was illegal cheating against a victim.
But to come right out and say it would require hard evidence which he admits he doesn’t have. So he does what all golden glove boxing champs do … complain after the bell.
With 2966 votes cast out of 17205 registered to vote, you saw a typically low municipal turnout of about 15%. Your candidate got 842 votes, losing by 140 votes for the second of two seats.
Like any election, it’s all about turnout. And you had plenty of room to increase the turnout, yet that did not happen and you lost.