Ray Mariano: Lackluster campaign season bad for Worcester
Perhaps it’s a reflection of the do as little as you can approach of the incumbent members of the City Council and School Committee. Maybe it’s because candidates are hesitant to expose themselves to the vitriol and personal attacks that come to anyone who stakes out a bold new position. Maybe it’s because local media doesn’t cover these races as aggressively as they have in the past.
Whatever the reason, this year’s campaigns for City Council and School Committee are both major snooze fests. And that’s bad news for Worcester.
First, there just aren’t that many candidates on the ballot this year. Second, while there are plenty of local issues that people care passionately about, most of the candidates talk in generalities — “we need more affordable housing” or “I’m in favor of transparency” — but have done little to challenge the status quo.
More What you need to know: Worcester preliminary election on Sept. 5
Why campaigning is important
Campaigning for local office has changed dramatically over the years. The most profound changes are all negative. Today, there are fewer candidates running, less energy invested, fewer citizens engaged and the campaign season, for most candidates, has been shortened from eight or nine months to eight or nine weeks. None of these changes are good for the community.
Lengthy, vigorous campaigns engage local citizens and help establish an agenda of issues for those elected to focus on. Vigorous debates help candidates sharpen their ideas and challengers can push incumbents to do more.
But when you have so few people running and few of the challengers willing to take incumbents to task, it’s the larger community that’s the loser.
Campaign for mayor
I read that we have a serious campaign for mayor. Well, perhaps "serious" isn’t the right word. While the final field won’t be set until September, we have an incumbent mayor being challenged by an incumbent at-large city councilor. Someone wake me up when either of them decides to start to act like they have a passion for the job. It’s almost Labor Day and yet neither has staked out ground that makes the case for their candidacy.
Incumbent mayor Joe Petty has a track record to run on. In his announcement, he focused primarily on what he’s accomplished. That’s a start. But it would be nice if he outlined his plans for the next two years and then carried that message to the people of the city.
Challenger Khrystian King is a veteran member of the City Council. Unfortunately, he’s done little to nothing to make the case for why he should be selected over Petty. Some people will say that it’s early, but it’s really not. It takes time to bring your message to all corners of the city. And that message has to be clearly defined. Waiting until after the preliminary election to get your campaign in high gear is a disservice to the candidate and the community.
I called King and asked him what he was doing with his campaign. He seemed surprised and a bit annoyed by the question. “What are we doing? We’re doing what we always do. We’re organizing and getting ready to go.” In my opinion, that’s exactly the opposite of what you want. Where’s the energy, the passion, the issues?
Former Human Rights Commissioner Guillermo Creamer, also a candidate, has put together a clear list of his priorities but hasn’t gained much traction so far.
District 5 City Council race
District 5 is one of the few council races where there seems to be a bit of passion and effort to bring issues to voters. In one corner you have incumbent Etel Haxhiaj. Haxhiaj is well known as a tireless advocate for the homeless.
In the other corner is former boxing champ Jose Rivera. Rivera has been active proposing ideas and nipping at the incumbent's heels. Their recent focus on the process followed to resurface Mill Street and the need to do something with the long-neglected former Big D supermarket are examples of the attention campaigns can bring to important issues.
Supporters for both Haxhiaj and Rivera have been engaged on social media talking about the issues of the district and why their candidate is better suited to serve as district councilor. This kind of exchange benefits every citizen in the district.
Recently, the race was joined by newcomer Edson Montero, who is just starting to get his campaign organized.
School Committee race
I know how difficult it is to capture the attention of voters when you are a candidate for the School Committee. It’s a bit like chasing a butterfly. Most voters have zero interest in being caught.
But with six new district seats, this was the perfect time for new candidates to step forward. Unfortunately, they didn’t. There are only nine candidates for those six new seats. Three of those seats have only a single candidate seeking the position.
For a School Committee candidate, picking issues to talk about is like picking apples at Tougas Farms — there are so many that dozens are just lying on the ground. It would be nice to hear candidates raise issues and challenge the school administration to do better.
In preparing for this column, I didn’t take the time to talk to every candidate. So, I apologize if you have been out there making a forceful case for your candidacy and I missed it. But in general, the lackluster nature of the local campaigns so far is not an encouraging sign for Worcester.
Step it up, candidates. Dare to be bold. Give people a reason to get excited about your candidacy.
Email Raymond V. Mariano at rmariano.telegram@gmail.com. He served four terms as mayor of Worcester and previously served on the City Council and School Committee. He grew up in Great Brook Valley and holds degrees from Worcester State College and Clark University. He was most recently executive director of the Worcester Housing Authority. His column appears weekly in the Sunday Telegram.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Ray Mariano on dull City Council School Committee race in worcester
