Friend and foe: Differing views of Scanlon persist

This is the first of two profiles of the Beverly mayoral candidates. Challenger John Burke will be profiled in tomorrow's edition.

BEVERLY — It's been more than a decade, but Gerry Marsella still remembers when he first faced the wrath of Bill Scanlon.

Marsella, then an assistant city engineer, had made a comment in the newspaper regarding a controversy over city water fees, and Scanlon didn't like it.

On a cold day in January, Marsella sat in the mayor's office on the third floor of City Hall, where he had been summoned. Scanlon, he said, burst through the door and, before he could take off his winter coat, began berating Marsella.

"He was trying to put on his cardigan sweater, but he was so mad hollering at me he buttoned the cardigan in the wrong holes, and that got him even madder," Marsella recalled. "He used a few words you don't use in public."

Marsella, who is now retired, said Scanlon has mellowed since then. He said Scanlon came to his office and wrapped his arm around him on the day Marsella retired, and last month the two sat next to each other at Beverly High's first night-time football game.

But as the longest-serving mayor in the city's history seeks an eighth two-year term on Nov. 3, questions about Scanlon's temperament still persist.

Scanlon has been accused of calling a school employee "honey." He was caught on tape saying Superintendent James Hayes was "lying through his teeth." During one City Council meeting, Councilor-at-large Patricia Grimes said Scanlon was "trying to bully" her.

Scanlon's challenger, City Councilor John Burke, has seized on the mayor's temperament as a campaign issue, criticizing Scanlon for his "name calling and arrogance."

"Only by changing leadership styles will our citizens be treated with the decency and respect they deserve," Burke says on his campaign Web site.

Scanlon dismisses the criticism. When people can't find fault with him on the issues, he says, they'll attack his personality.

"I hate to tell you, but I've got a lot of friends," he said. "I seem to get along with people of all ages and parts of the stratum. I'm sure that everybody's had a bad day, including me. But I think I get along pretty well with a whole lot of people."

'Like a fireplug'

Amherst Road resident John Frates, a former chairman of the city's Harbor Management Authority, said those who know Scanlon well realize his true character.

Frates recalled how he saw Scanlon one Sunday morning at Mass at St. John the Evangelist Church and told him about his wife's eye appointment the next day in Boston. Frates had just had a hernia operation but still planned to drive his wife to the appointment.

"Bill said, 'You're in no shape to go in. I know where it is. Louise (Scanlon's wife) has been there 100 times.' I kept saying, 'No, Bill, we'll take the train.' By God, he came up the next morning and he drove us in. He parked in the garage, which was fairly expensive, and he paid the parking fee. I'll never forget that."

Scanlon's campaign manager, Joyce McMahon, said she learned early on that Scanlon's manner can be misinterpreted. She recalled approaching him in the hallway of City Hall when she was a city councilor to discuss one of her ideas.

"He looked at me like I was kind of goofy and walked away," McMahon said. "Two days later, he called me and said, 'I thought about your idea and it's a good one.' It's not a matter of his being angry or grumpy, it's just that he's got so much on his mind. People run into him on the street or at a meeting and they witness that kind of reaction, but that's not really him. If you make an appointment and sit down with him, he will listen very much."

While his supporters say Scanlon has gotten a bad rap when it comes to his personality, they acknowledge that he can be a tough opponent during a campaign or when he's fighting for an issue.

Some trace that combative nature to his days as a hockey player growing up in a blue-collar family in Dorchester. Scanlon went on to play college hockey at MIT, where he earned a degree in civil engineering. He also has a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.

"He was kind of like a fireplug," said Bill Vachon, a Manchester-by-the-Sea resident who was a teammate of Scanlon's at MIT. "He was tough in the corners digging the puck out. I don't recall that they knocked him down very easily."

As for Scanlon's personality back in those days, Vachon described him as "a lot of fun in the locker room. He was always kidding around, lightening up the air in the locker room."

Burke a 'hypocrite'

Scanlon has been serious about this campaign and the challenge from Burke, however. After suffering a stunning loss to Tom Crean in 2001, before regaining the mayor's office two years later, the Scanlon campaign is not taking Burke lightly.

In an interview, Scanlon acknowledged the large number of Burke signs around town. He said his opponent has been knocking on doors "prodigiously" and is "capable of making a good first impression."

"He has gained some traction doing that because they think he's a nice young man," Scanlon said.

In truth, Scanlon said, Burke is a "hypocrite" and "sneaky" and has no experience with a budget "other than his monthly rent." He fears that people will forget the controversy of two years ago, when Burke's fellow city councilors voted to censure him for writing an anonymous letter accusing the Police Department of covering up alleged drunken-driving incidents by the wives of the police chief and city solicitor.

"Is that the kind of person we want running the city?" Scanlon asked.

Burke said the strong words from Scanlon are an indication he is worried about Burke's campaign.

"I think it's a sign of desperation on his part to make such a low-blow attack on his opponent," Burke said. "It's consistent with what we've seen from him over the years, where anybody who dares disagree with him is attacked venomously."

Scanlon said he is seeking an eighth term because he does not want to leave office in the midst of the $80 million high school construction, which he called "the biggest project in the city's entire history."

He also said he wants to see through other projects in the planning stages, such as an MBTA parking garage with condos and shops on Rantoul Street and a Black Cow restaurant on city-owned waterfront land.

Debate over debt

Scanlon touts a list of accomplishments over his 14 years as mayor that includes encouraging the development of the Cummings Center, renovating five elementary schools, improving parks and playgrounds, and fixing flooding problems. He said the city was close to receivership when he first took office in 1994 but is now in good financial shape despite receiving $2 million less in state aid than it did in 2001.

Scanlon said the city's bond rating, which affects the cost of borrowing, has improved seven times in his tenure, saving the city thousands of dollars.

Scanlon admits it was a mistake to build McKeown School in 1998, only to close it as an elementary school two years ago due to budget problems. He has also been dogged by a 2000 ruling by a judge that Scanlon illegally bypassed the low bidder for the contract to run the city-owned Beverly Golf & Tennis Club, costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars and, some speculate, leading to Scanlon's defeat by Crean a year later.

Burke said all of Scanlon's projects have come at a price. He said the city is saddled with so much debt that it cannot afford enough firefighters or teachers, or fix roads and sidewalks.

Scanlon countered that the city's debt is lower than the state average, and 40 percent of it will be reimbursed by the state.

At age 69, Scanlon said he's not looking to be mayor "forever," but there is still much to accomplish. Future plans include turning the former Memorial School into an expanded middle school, replacing the current middle school in the aging Briscoe building; building a new state interchange off Brimbal Avenue that would open land off Dunham Road for development; and constructing a new public safety facility for the police and fire departments.

Scanlon said he has proven he can get such projects done through sound financial management, and that Burke lacks the qualifications to oversee a $100 million budget.

The city's future is bright, he said. But if Burke is elected, "That can all go away in a flash."

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or by e-mail at pleighton@salemnews.com.

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