With open seat, 2009 Lawrence mayoral race lures crowded field

By Jeremy P. Jacobs, PolitickerMA.com Reporter

With a year to go before Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan finishes his second and final term in office, at least nine people are considering running for the soon-to-be open seat.

"This time," Marcos Devers, a former city councilor who is running, told PolitickerMA.com, "everything is up for grabs."

Along with Devers, former City Councilor Israel Reyes, Lawrence City Council President Patrick Blanchette and state Rep. William "Willy" Lantigua are all in the race. City Councilor Nilka Alvarez-Rodriquez is also leaning towards running, she told PolitickerMA.com. Lawrence Police Chief John Romero, former city councilor and former mayoral candidate Carlos Matos, current City Councilor David Abdoo and high school teacher Pedro Payano, among others, are also rumored to be considering runs of their own.

In addition to the large field, political observers expect the race to be particularly exciting because of combative history between some of the candidates. Devers ran against Lantigua last year in the Democratic primary for the Essex's 16th District seat and lost by just less than 400 votes.

Devers, who has been on the ballot in nearly every Lawrence election since 1991, said he has a solid voter base that he believes he can build on for another run.

"I was very close [to] knocking [Lantigua] out in the primary," he said. "We're going to fight to get more votes and to get a win this time."

Lantigua did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story.

Reyes said that this election is about offering a vision for the future of Lawrence and that the other candidates are overly focused on criticizing Sullivan's leadership.

"All I've heard is ‘I want to be mayor,'" Reyes said of the other contenders. "All of the other candidates are beating up on the mayor and I think that's totally the wrong approach."

Instead, Reyes said he will focus his campaign on three issues: reducing crime, bringing jobs to Lawrence and improving the school system.

"I spent the entire year canvassing the community," he said, "over and over those are the three issues that continuously come up as the issues that are important."

Reyes also downplayed the discussion in the press that the 2009 race could yield the state's first Latino mayor as the majority of Lawrence's approximately 32,000 registered voters are Latino.

"The only people that care about that is the reporters," Reyes said.

Blanchette, the City Council president, also stressed economic issues in an email to PolitickerMA.com. "I will have a team to strategize and plan for our future without hitting taxpayers," he said. "We need to tighten up our belts and focus on best practices and do more with less."

Blanchette also stressed bringing the diverse Lawrence community together.

"We must all recognize that even though we may speak different languages, practice different religions, celebrate different traditions, we all have a common bond and that is that we all call Lawrence our home," he said.

Alvarez-Rodriquez said that she is facing some personal issues in the next two weeks but, after that, she is leaning toward entering the race.

"If that goes off successfully," she said, "I think we'll go forward."

Romero, Payano, Abdoo and Matos did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

Jeremy P. Jacobs is a PolitickerMA.com Reporter and can be reached via email at noreply@politicker.com.

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