Nelson Benton
Bay State Republicans received a huge lift Tuesday with the victory of City Councilor Judith Flanagan Kennedy, who upset incumbent Lynn Mayor Edward "Chip" Clancy by 27 votes.
If the results stand, she will instantly join Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins of Newburyport, House Minority Leader Bradley Jones of North Reading, and veteran state Sen. Bruce Tarr of Gloucester in the ranks of this region's GOP glitterati.
Municipal elections are supposed to be nonpartisan affairs, but among those pushing hardest to keep Clancy in office were members of the Lynn Democratic City Committee. The results in this heavily Democratic city could inspire other Republicans contemplating a run for office next year.
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A quiet presence at Beverly Mayor William Scanlon's victory party Tuesday night was Patrice Tierney, wife of Congressman John Tierney, D-Salem, who came over the bridge to watch the results come in at the Vittori-Rocci Post.
Certainly the excitement level was higher than at the Hawthorne Hotel where Kim Driscoll's election to a second term was a foregone conclusion. Scanlon and company were decidedly nervous while waiting for the numbers to arrive, but didn't have to wait long as the figures were posted showing the incumbent winning in the wards Ward 3 Councilor John Burke absolutely had to have in order to stage the upset.
The celebration was underway by 8:25 when the tally for Ward 6 — Centerville and Beverly Farms — was posted showing a big Scanlon win there.
"God bless America," shouted one Scanlon supporter.
"Now we won't have to sell our house," another added.
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Among those happiest with Tuesday's results had to be Beverly police Chief Mark Ray, whose wife, Corinne, was among the victims of the anonymous attack letter sent out by Burke two years ago; and Peabody High School athletic director Phil Sheridan who has been the target of frequent needling by School Committeeman Ed Nizwantowski over the past four years. Nizwantowski, who lost his baseball and football coaching positions during Sheridan's tenure, finished fourth in the race for three seats on the Tanner City school board.
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Peabody Mayor Michael Bonfanti's win wasn't as easy as the final tally (7,468 votes to challenger Russ Donovan's 2,712) indicated. He was bitten by a dog while campaigning in the Presidential Heights neighborhood the weekend before the election.
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A staunchly blue Democrat, North Shore Community College president Wayne Burton was sporting a red tie Wednesday morning indicative of the strong GOP showing Tuesday. He declared the previous night's election results good for diversity, but not so great for incumbents.
Speaking before the North Shore Chamber of Commerce in Peabody, a group he chairs, Burton cited the election of a Latino mayor, state Rep. William Lantigua, in Lawrence, and an African American mayor, former John Kerry aide Setti Warren, in Newton, as examples of the former.
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Former lieutenant governor Kerry Healey of Beverly has endorsed state Sen. Scott Brown's candidacy for the U.S. Senate. The Republican lawmaker from Wrentham should have a relatively easy time of it in the Dec. 8 primary where he faces the peripatetic Jack E. Robinson, but will be the underdog in the January final to fill the vacancy created by the death of Ted Kennedy.
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Yet another sign of taxpayer unrest: Voters in Manchester, N.H., Tuesday decided in favor of imposing a spending cap on local government. Such caps are already in effect in Nashua, Derry and several other Granite State communities.
Nelson Benton's column on North Shore politics appears every Friday in this space. Read him daily at blogs.salemnews.com/fullnelson.
