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One week into the sprint to New Bedford’s general election, candidates are doing their best to inject interest back into the election season — especially after the paltry turnout in the preliminary.
Council President Shane Burgo said, “We have to get rid of the person in the corner office,” calling out Mayor Jon Mitchell on housing issues during a Wednesday night candidates forum. And all the at-large candidates differed on whether they’d allow local collaboration with ICE.
While the candidates laid out their platforms, the panel featured one empty chair: Scott Lima, a former Ward 5 councilor, has officially dropped out. Lima could not be reached for comment this week, but the chair of New Bedford’s Election Commission, Manuel DeBrito, confirmed that Lima withdrew his candidacy.
With Lima’s departure, the 11th-place finisher, Ian Saunders, will advance to the Nov. 4 general election. Saunders confirmed to The Light on Thursday that he will pursue his candidacy through the general election. It will be an uphill climb for Saunders, who received 677 votes in the preliminary.
At the candidates forum, eight at-large candidates gathered to answer questions about their vision for New Bedford (Shaun Mulvey was also absent). Some staked out new policy positions or pitched new (and some old) ideas. The boldest statement of the night, however, belonged to current council president Shane Burgo, who directly called for the ouster of Mayor Mitchell.
Responding to a question about the city’s housing shortage, Burgo said there could be no significant progress without change “in the corner office.” Burgo said that “we know for a fact” that Mitchell “does not want affordable housing here in New Bedford,” telling the gathered voters that they should look for new leadership if they care about creating more income-restricted affordable housing.
Mitchell is not on the ballot this November. Burgo’s comment pokes at the acrimonious relationship between the city’s chief executive and its council president, and moreover will stoke the persistent rumor that Burgo is angling for the top job.
Mitchell did not respond to a request for comment. His public information officer, Jonathan Darling, said in a written response that “New Bedford has the most affordable housing in the state,” referencing a study from Mass INC that found the Whaling City had the lowest percentage of “not affordable” rentals among Gateway Cities. Darling also said, “The Mayor has expressed support for funding applications and has committed city financing for additional income-restricted units in the pipeline at several developments.”
Reached for comment on Thursday, Burgo said, “I was just responding to a question regarding barriers to housing.” Asked if he is interested in running for mayor, Burgo said, “Right now I am focused on my election for councilor at-large.”
Other at-large candidates made their voices heard on a range of issues at the event organized jointly by local organizations: the Greater Southeastern MA Labor Council, League of Women Voters SouthCoast, NAACP New Bedford Branch, New Bedford Human Rights Commission, United Interfaith Action, Women’s Fund Southcoast, Women’s Alliance of Southeastern MA, and the YWCA of Southeastern MA.
A noteworthy division ran through the candidates on the question of whether local law enforcement ought to collaborate with ICE or other federal agencies on immigration detentions. Most of the incumbents — Ian Abreu, Naomi Carney, and Brian Gomes — plus current police officer and School Committee member Christopher Cotter left the door open to collaboration. They collectively noted that there has been no request to deputize local law enforcement through a 287(g) agreement so far.
Burgo was the only incumbent to disagree, emphatically saying no to collaboration with ICE and adding that local law enforcement are already overburdened and understaffed. Challengers Jennifer Arruda, Devin Byrnes, and James Roy also said they would not support this type of collaboration.
Public safety disagreements appeared again when candidates differed about whether to require U.S. citizenship for local police officers. The issue surged to attention this summer after The Light profiled Edwin Yat Toj, the 25-year-old legal permanent resident who became the first person of Mayan descent to swear in as a New Bedford officer. Shortly after, councilors unanimously passed a motion instructing their attorney to draft an ordinance that could require every officer hired to be a U.S. citizen.
Again, all the incumbents besides Burgo said they supported full U.S. citizenship for New Bedford police officers. Byrnes and Cotter also agreed. Most of these candidates said they would not fire Toj or the two other New Bedford officers they said were in his situation — but they said they would support a requirement for citizenship for all future hires.
On the other side of the issue were Arruda, Burgo, and Roy — with Arruda and Burgo as the most vocal defenders of legal permanent residents. Each pointed out that New Bedford needs more officers and that these officers are subject to the same training and qualifications.
Another sharp disagreement — which again fell along similar lines — occurred on a question about changing the date of New Bedford’s preliminary election. Earlier this year, the City Council disregarded the advice of election experts, the local election commission, and the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office, becoming the only city in Massachusetts to host an October preliminary.
On Wednesday, all incumbents except Burgo said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” repeating the adage in their answers. Cotter again joined the incumbents (and also repeated the line), and this time Arruda concurred, too. Burgo, Byrnes, and Roy each said they would support an earlier preliminary date.
Other interesting bits arose in the candidates’ closing statements.
Cotter announced that he would not draw any salary if elected, saying he would work as a volunteer. As a New Bedford police officer, Cotter may not be allowed to draw a second New Bedford salary — even a councilor’s part-time earnings — according to state ethics laws.
Gomes dug up a long-dormant idea, advocating that New Bedford ought to build a stadium or convention center. In 1997, the same year Gomes won his third reelection, city voters responded favorably to a non-binding ballot question about building a “minor league sports stadium.” The idea died without ever securing funding or selecting a location, though one baseball team, the former Bangor Blue Oxes, did express interest in the project.
November ballot is finalized
Besides Lima’s withdrawal, no other candidates pulled out or filed recounts before the deadline, last Friday.
Perceptive voters, however, may notice one other change on their November ballot: in the at-large race, voters will be prompted to vote for “No more than five” candidates, rather than to “Vote for five.” The new language was not previously an option with the vendor who designs New Bedford’s ballots, but DeBrito requested the change after consulting with the city solicitor and the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office.
And while DeBrito’s office is kicking into gear (they received the finalized ballots on Thursday morning, he said, and are working to send out mail-in ballots as soon as possible), so too are many of New Bedford’s candidates.
Less than three weeks remain before the Nov. 4 general election. Voters can register until Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. online or by visiting the Election Commission (on the first floor of City Hall, Rm. 114).
Those interested in voting by mail or absentee have until Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. to mail in a request for their ballot, or they can visit the Election Commission until Nov. 3 to request an in-person absentee ballot. All mail-in ballots must be received by the Election Commission before polls close — 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 4.
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
This article is a great service to our community. I will limit my comments to the issue of having a September primary for municipal elections:
Burgo, Byrnes, and Roy each said they would support an earlier preliminary date in September.
Every other community in Massachusetts has September primaries for their municipal elections for very good reasons: It promotes greater turnout by allowing more opportunity to vote. Our residents who are elderly, have disabilities, or work several jobs and have many family responsibilities can take advantage of mail-in-ballots to vote. (and, NO, mail-in-ballots do NOT lead to corruption. )
All incumbents except Burgo said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Cotter and Arruda joined them.
All the other communities in Massachusetts didn’t think this was a good reason because they all voted to have September municipal primaries. We are the exception. What does that say about us?
Next year, when our City Council convenes, I hope that councilors Burgo, Byrnes and Roy can persuade their colleagues to have New Bedford join all the other communities in Massachusetts in having September municipal elections.
Don’t limit your comments, don’t let other commentors bully you.
Just what we need. More insults and dehumanizing politics.
I agree with Burgo that housing is a major issue but I suspect he targets the mayor because the council has not done a single thing this year (while he was president) to improve the housing situation. In fact, they reverted half the city back to single family zoning – undoing the mayor’s proposed zoning update! Where was his voice on that?
Decent article but the most important issue in this election is to wake these candidates up and bring some common sense leadership back to the City Council.
This city council has to get it’s house in order and we need a council that will do it’s job and stop the mayor from spending money we don’t have, stop the expansion of city government, stop the escalation of the city budget, and stop raising taxes.
After taxes went up last year, the mayor came back and asked for an increase of $35 Million Dollars and the council could barely cut $10 Million Dollars and now taxes are going up again after the election. Go back and watch the tape of cut night, not many councilors did not say much and most did very little in the way of cuts.
This city is in deep financial trouble, the economic development plan has been a complete failure, and this city has to rely on state aid and raising taxes to pay it’s bills. Again there should be no thoughts of spending money this city does not have.
What should be cut?
As always your not worth a response.
OMG, I have felt the same way for a long time, it’s always the same thing, What should be cut! Broken record! Problem is I respond and the comments don’t get posted!
The first expense that should be cut is the children of illegal immigrants, why should the New Bedford property owners, and business owners be forced to pay for them, it’s ridiculous.!!
Affordable housing shouldn’t even be discussed, low income housing brings low income residents, and that brings tenants with no money which is the last thing this city needs, more poverty,cand that’s why the city has become the the dump it is. Mixed income apartment buildings are just as bad, or worse. Nobody wants to live in a building where some residents pay $3,000 per month while passing the & 800 per month tenants. Put the low income people in the lowest quality housing, and the high income tenants in the nice building with the best bodh conditions, and best views.