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Tom
Duggan's Notebook
2007 Municipal Elections
Looking forward to the 2007 elections, local politicians
and prospective candidates are already positioning
themselves. In North Andover, the town is in desperate
need of a conservative School Committee member for the
March town elections. As The Valley Patriot reported
several months ago, Mr. Override - Al Perry - is not
seeking reelection. A conservative replacement could
change the entire makeup of the board from a majority of
tax and spend empire builders to a board concerned with
accountability and quality education. In Haverhill, Mayor
Jim Fiorentini looks like he will be challenged by former
Mayor Jim Rurak (both Valley Patriot contributors). In
Lawrence, the mid-term council elections look like they
are already attracting a crowded field and the Methuen
mayoral rematch between Manzi and Bahan is already
starting to heat up. Here’s more:
Matos to Run At-Large
Former Lawrence district Councilor Carlos Matos has
announced his candidacy for City Council at-large in next
fall’s mid-term elections. Matos, who lost  the primary for mayor two years ago
(placing third out of four candidates), has made a name
for himself by suing the city and saddling up with state
Rep. Willie Lantigua. Look for Matos to be a formidable
candidate in the at-large race no matter how many people
run. There are three at-large (elected citywide)
councilors and at least two of the current councilors are
nearly guaranteed to lose reelection (if they are naive
enough to run again). Matos’ mayoral ambitions are
widely known and a win citywide next November will propel
him into the “formidable candidate” category
for mayor in 2009 (though you know he will blow it in the
end). Already on the list of formidable candidates for
the ‘09 mayor’s race (Sullivan cannot run
again) are Council President Patrick Blanchette, who may
be our default candidate for lack of anyone better, and
Isabel Melendez.
On the Horizon
At least one of the current at-large city councilors,
Nilka Alvarez Rodriguez, will have a very hard time
getting reelected if there are enough viable candidates
to challenge her. Alvarez, the consummate victim-playing
victim’s advocate, spends so much time pretending to
praise others (while really  praising herself and making
campaign speeches) at the council table that it has made
her an outcast among most of her colleagues. She also
made a major mistake earlier in the year when, in her
zeal to pick a fight with a colleague, ended up insulting
and attacking the family members of a disabled child
saying they had made a secret deal to buy a vacant lot to
build a wheelchair accessible home for their son,
Rodrigo. Alvarez thinks she has repaired the damage in
the community after trying to rewrite history and denying
her despicable actions. If attacking the Berroa family
(and then lying about it, despite the fact that the
minutes of the meeting prove otherwise) wasn’t bad
enough, Alvarez fought against the $20 million Northern
Essex Health and Technology center because one of the
other bidders was “Latino” (which may not sit
well with her South Lawrence voters). She actually tried
to stop the entire project with a maneuver called a
“charter objection” and lobbied heavily behind
the scenes to stop Northern Essex Community col-lege from
purchasing the In-town Mall. And speaking of those South
Law-rence voters, many in the Mount Vernon area are still
angry with Al-varez for the stunt she pulled last year
when she circulated a picture of herself and district
Councilor Gil Frechette the weekend before the election
(while he was in Florida), pretending he en-dorsed her
for the at-large seat. It was that stunt which put her
over the top last time, but don’t expect it to
happen again, unless there are no viable candidates to
replace her.
Manzi Taking No Chances (try not to
laugh)
Methuen Mayor Billy Manzi held a fundraiser last month
(and raised a bundle!), filling up the function room of
the Tara Mara on Pelham St. because, he said, Ellen Bahan
had announced her intention to run against him next year.
Manzi crushed Bahan last year so badly that it was hard
to take his concern seriously. But, Manzi says he is
taking Bahan “very seriously” (though the
expression on his face and the chuckle he was holding
back said something quite different). Manzi continued,
“I can’t take anything for granted! I am
the mayor and we only get a two-year term here in
Methuen, so I take every potential challenge as a call to
arms and we are not letting our guard down. Anything can
happen in an election and we are not going to allow the
likes of Bahan to sit in the mayor’s office.”
Yeah, OK Billy, it doesn’t take thousands of dollars
to beat Ellen Bahan. Come clean, what’s all the
fundraising for?
David Torissi the Flim Flam Man
A concerned North Andover taxpayer called one of our
staff recently about the antics of Rep. Torissi in the
Senior Center. He reports that Torissi has  been telling the seniors that the
cutback in services they have endured this year is a
result of the town’s dysfunctional Board of
Selectmen. He goes on to say that if they sign his
petition to open up the charter and change the form of
government, the services will magically be restored! Let’s
hope the seniors don’t also fall for it when Torissi
tells them that he has a bridge in Brooklyn for sale at a
really, really good price… This concerned taxpayer
also reports that the soccer moms and dads in town have
been collecting signatures for the petition at their kid’s
soccer games. Gee … you don’t think that this
is just a ploy to get more money for the schools, do you?
Just call me a cynic when the “we need more!”
school crowd says it wants “to improve our
government.”
Onramp Needed on Merrimack/Sutton
St.
Let’s face it, with Sal’s Riverwalk on
Merrimack St. in Lawrence attracting thousands of people
to its facility every single week, and Monarch on the
Merrimack (also on Merrimack St.) attracting thousands
more, it is obvious that an onramp is needed to access
Rt. 495 south and an off-ramp is needed from 495 north to
exit onto Sutton St/Merrimack St. With North Andover
being represented in the state Senate by Steve Baddour
(who is chairman of the Transportation Committee), you
would think something so vital to the area would already
be in the works. Since Baddour gives more public speeches
than Bill Clinton these days, maybe the next time he
steps to the microphone he can address the serious need
for access to Rt. 495 from Sutton St., North Andover and
Merrimack St. in Lawrence, and why nothing is being done
about it while Sal Lupoli and Bob Ansin attract thousands
more people to their facilities every week.
 Sullivan
to Make Wholesale Changes?
Word out of City Hall in Lawrence is that Mayor Michael
Sullivan is planning to make some major changes in his
adminis-tration by the first of the year. Sul-livan will
be starting his sixth year as mayor of Lawrence and has
made very few personnel changes in that time, but sources
whining in the mayor’s office say he has had enough
of the inner turmoil between certain members of his
adminis-tration. Look for Sullivan to make “major
changes,” which we expect he will an-nounce during
his State of the City address in January. One of the
members of the Sul-livan administration who is said to be
leaving is Inspectional Services Director Caroline
Ganley. I’m going to miss Caroline. She cer-tainly
shook things up in the short time she was here and, given
the caliber of the people who tried to undermind her, I
would say it is an indication that she did a great job
during her tenure. But remember the old Chinese proverb
... be careful what you ask for! Word is, Ganley may be
replaced by someone just like her ... maybe worse (or
better), depending on how you look at things.
Valley Patriot Wins NEPA Award!
As The Valley Patriot approaches its three year
anniversary, we were notified by the New England Press
Association (NEPA) that one of our news stories was
selected by fellow journalists for a coveted “NEPA
Award.” We will not know which story was chosen or
whether our story won first, second or third place until
February 10th, but just placing in the top three is quite
an honor and we couldn’t have done it without YOU,
our readers, advertisers, and contributors. THANK YOU!
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The December, 2006
Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 10,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
North Andover,
Methuen, Haverhill, Chelmsford, Georgetown, Groveland,
Boxford,
Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury, Hampton & Salisbury
Beach, and Lowell.
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