I went to a 2-hour, very well-attended debate between Mayor of Medford candidates Stephanie Muccini Burke and Robert Penta tonight at Medford’s Chevalier Theatre. First off, let me say that both candidates did well. They were both very well prepared, knowledgeable, and passionate about the myriad issues facing Medford. I (and others) did some live-tweeting, which you can review at this link. Controversies over Penta’s perhaps insensitive comments in the past did not make an appearance tonight.
There were some substantive differences between the candidates. The ones that stood out to me were, first, the Green Line extension. Muccini Burke is very supportive, and wants the extension to come all the way to Route 16 rather than terminating at College Avenue. Penta, however, thinks that an extensive impact study on homes and businesses is needed, and overall sounded much more skeptical of the project than Muccini Burke. Second, one of the most contentious topics (and the one that elicited the loudest audience responses) was the installation of parking kiosks in Medford Square and elsewhere around the city. Penta wants to tear up the agreement with the outside vendor who runs them; Muccini Burke thinks getting out of the contract would be too expensive (apparently there would be an early termination penalty), and wants to tweak the agreement instead. And, third, a question on bicycle use in Medford elicited quite different responses – Penta’s principal concern was requiring bicyclers to obey traffic laws; Muccini Burke’s was on making streets safer for everyone.
But the biggest difference between the candidates, to me at least, was the sense of why they’re in the race at all. Penta, who has served for decades on the City Council, clearly has an enormous chip on his shoulder about the way the incumbent Mayor has treated the Council. He alluded to that relationship numerous times, and he also criticized the current administration for what he sees as its lack of transparency – something that he promised to change. Penta’s purpose for running feels personal – as though he wants to right an enormous wrong that has been perpetrated on him and the other members of the City Council, and by extension, the city as a whole.
Muccini Burke, in contrast, comes across as a technocrat (in a good way). She’s a budget wonk – she’s a CPA (as her campaign signs somewhat awkwardly inform you), and after serving on the City Council, she was the city’s budget director for several years. She talked about bringing a business sensibility to the operation of the city, referring to the election as being about who will be the city’s next Chief Executive Officer. (She amusingly noted in her closing that the election was not for Parking Czar.) And she also mentioned diversity and inclusiveness several times. So, my sense of her reason for running is budget wonkishness blended with a desire to make City Hall a more inclusive place.
Again, both candidates did well, and both probably convinced the folks who were already backing them that they made the right choice. I like the idea of a technocrat running a city like Medford, and I like her stance on the Green Line and her focus on inclusiveness. So for me, the nod goes to Muccini Burke. But Penta, who has sometimes come across as, well, weird in the past, did a good job tonight too.
Penta is the most hostile person I have ever met in political life, an angry man who only cares about his tribe. Muccini Burke was once a nice provincial person who has grown with experience and sees outsiders as a welcome presence in Medford.
Medford has a great mix of old black families in the West, a large lesbian population moving into the same neighborhood, Tufts community members, an old line Yankee population (that is my family), Itals and Irish who too often forget they were once immigrants (again, that is the other half of my family), liberals who don’t vote often enough and a growing Haitian community. It also has a core of people who hate outsiders, Penta’s base voters. I have never been subjected to more vitriol from a pol than Penta gave me when we started the discussion about the Green Line Extension or the preservation of the Brooks Estate.
Penta is not a good person and takes most conversations to 100mph when cruising speed is deserved. There is a reason the Medford police have been in the news so often for malfeasance and it is the political enablers like Penta. Sure, McGlynn looks like a decent guy but he rarely had the stones to stand up to Penta, probably thinking about the old adage of wrestling with pigs (don’t do it cuz you will just get dirty and the pig likes it).
Big kudos to Muccini Burke for her dignified career. If there is any justice in our local elections, she will get a large majority and a mandate to clean house.