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Tuesday’s election results sent a shock waves throughout the political community when it
was realized that every candidate opposing the largest override proposal won seats on the
Board of Selectman and School Committee. The stunning upset of 18 year incumbent School
Committeewoman Diane Huster to newcomer Darlene Torosian made it clear that the tax
payers are fed up with being asked to pay more than their fair share of local aid for schools.
This election just goes to show you that the people will only put up with so much.

Candidate Wendy Wakeman and incumbent Jim Xenakis also favored placing the lowest
override figure of 3.2 million dollars on the ballot so the voters can decide if the town
should maintain the current level of services or start making cuts.

The failed candidacy of Huster was largely attributed to the fact that she was the chief
proponent of the 10 million override amount. Huster claimed that the schools needed extra
money or the children would suffer by being denied quality teachers, books and computer
equipment. She also continued to argue that North Andover paid over $1,000 less per pupil
on education.

But a careful look at the Annual Town Meeting Warrant and the School Committees FY 2001
budget shows that the town pays more than its fair share in local per pupil expenditures.
The Town of North Andover spends 124% more in local contributions (per pupil) than the
state average, while the state only contributes 28.5% of what it gives to other cities and
towns. This puts a much heavier burden on the North Andover tax payers. Especially
considering that the school budget accounts for more than 50% of the entire Town budget.

Huster mislead the voters to believe that North Andover wasn’t kicking in their fare share in
education. But the voters saw through her claims with the help of Ralph Wilber who published
a lengthy but comprehensive evaluation of the towns’ finances. Wilber published the booklet at
his own expense and circulated them throughout the town, even paying for an insert in the daily
paper to get the message out.

"What I am seeing is bad decisions being made and most of the time those bad decisions are
irreversible," he said. Wilber did his own independent research and came to the conclusion that
the tax payers needed someone to spread the truth about the towns' finances. "I think that the
dissemination of information is very important for people to make intelligent decisions. I just
thought this information should be shared with the voters so that people could see what was
really going on."

A number of voters who supported the candidacy of Torosian, Wakeman and Xenakis said that
the state is just not contributing enough to the town. All three candidates ran on a platform of
fighting for more state aid to North Andover. And they are right, the state officials are not doing
enough to contribute to the town. Why should the tax payers have to continually shoulder the
responsibility of such expenses while other cities and towns are getting help from state aid?
With the state election coming in November, the outcry for more financial help from the state
might just carry over to the Gubernatorial, Senate and State Rep. Races in the fall.

Vincent A.J. Errichetti, deputy political director for the Republican State party said, "Time and
time again support from elected officials at the local level is the key factor in state legislative
victories. This is a good sign for any Republic running for a legislative seat in the area. North
Andover voters are looking very closely at fiscal issues this year and that is always good for
Republicans."

The election of Xenakis and Wakeman is not only good news for fiscal conservatives but also
for boaters fighting to maintain the right of using Lake Cochichewick. They were the only
candidates in the race who supported boating on the lake. Chairman Rosemary Smedile
(who is also a Republican) has been an outspoken supporter of boating on the lake, meaning
that a three vote majority is now present to resolve the issue before spring.

Overall, the town election was a success for the tax payers. The election results showed what
can happen when grassroots activists work hard to get the complicated facts about government
to voters in a way that is less confusing than the usual "he said she said" campaigning that
comes from the candidates themselves. One thing for sure, with May town meeting coming up
the new board can't waste any time trying to solving the towns’ problems. I guess it’s time to
roll up our sleeves, get to work and maybe even do a little fishing.