2 other residents, Jeffery Donnelly and Michael Jones, have also taken out nomination papers for mayor.
Left to right, Mayor Domenic Sarno, City Council President Jose Tosado and School Committee member Antonette Pepe.SPRINGFIELD – For the first time in over a decade, there could be a preliminary election slugfest for mayor in Springfield, with three political veterans already saying they will be in the fray.
It sets the stage for a preliminary contest in September to reduce the field to two candidates for the Nov. 8 municipal election ballot.
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno is seeking re-election to a third term, City Council President Jose F. Tosado is already waging an active campaign for the top job and a second challenger is ready to announce next week.
School Committee member Antonette E. Pepe is due to announce her candidacy for mayor on April 26 in an event at the John Boyle O’Reilly Club.
The last time there were more than two candidates for Springfield mayor was in 2001, when then-incumbent Mayor Michael A. Albano beat challengers Paul Caron, a former state representative, and Ni Cole Jones. Jones, however, was a first-time candidate and finished a distant third.
Prior to that, there was a preliminary in 1995, when incumbent Robert Markel had four opponents – Albano, Frederick Hurst, Chelan (Jenkins) Brown and the once and future mayor, Charles V. Ryan. Markel lost in the preliminary, and Albano won the general election over Ryan. Brown is now working as an advisor to Tosado in his bid for mayor.
Election commissioner Gladys Oyola says this year’s mayoral race could draw a lot of interest from voters.
Gladys Oyola“Pepe, Tosado and Sarno are very high-profile candidates, and each has a strong base of support from very different constituencies,” Oyola said. “I believe that a mayoral primary featuring these individuals will spark interest in the primary election and draw out more voters.”
Timothy Vercellotti, an associate professor of political science at Western New England College, agrees. A potential field of at least three known candidates adds to voter interest and makes the outcome more difficult to predict, said Vercellotti, who oversees the college’s polling institute.
“In this field, now we have some suspense,” Vercellotti said.
Sarno, though, says he is focused on doing the job of mayor, particularly on the city’s budget challenges, rather than the business of a campaign.
If money talks, however, Sarno has the lead, having $39,545 in his campaign coffers as of March 31, followed by Tosado with $25,385.
Pepe’s most recent campaign report from January shows $5,487 in campaign funds, but she said it was her choice not to seek contributions in between campaigns for School Committee, prior to her decision to run for mayor.
Tosado announced his candidacy on Jan. 27, at Champions Sports Bar at Tower Square. He is casting himself as the candidate who can deal best with the city’s economic woes, its landscape violence and a “broken” school system; he’s hired well-known regional marketing consultant Darby O’Brien to assist in the development of his campaign.
The first Hispanic elected to the City Council in 2003, Tosado has praised the diversity of his supporters and his campaign committee. Along with Brown who is his field director, some of Tosado’s key advisors include Ernesto Cruz, campaign manager, Edgar Alejandro, who is campaign chairman, Marshall Moriary, fund-raising chairman, and Aron Goldman, chief strategist.
Tosado followed up the announcement of his candidacy with an ongoing series of “urban study tours.” The tour has included meetings with officials in Worcester, Newark, N.J., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. He also plans trips to strategize with leaders in Lowell, Boston and Providence, R.I.
The intent of the tour is to gather “best practices and innovative approaches to urban transformation,” Tosado said in one of his press releases.
Less than two weeks after Tosado’s announcement of his candidacy, Sarno presented a formal “State of the City” address in which he pointed out challenges being confronted in the City of Homes. But, he added, “Our beloved city of Springfield is strong and is steadily improving.”
Sarno calls the mayor’s job “one of the most rewarding positions anyone can have,” but he won’t say when he’ll make a formal announcement of his candidacy.
“That’s the furthest thing from my mind,” Sarno said. “I continue to do the job and get the job done. My major focus, rightly so, should be and will be dealing with the budgetary challenges we face.”
Sarno’s touted his administration’s accomplishments as including: maintaining the city’s financial stability in the aftermath of a finance control board and despite the recession and cuts in general state aid; maintaining public safety as his top priority, including new academy classes for police and firefighters; and providing incentives to help save jobs at businesses like Titeflex and Smith & Wesson.
Pepe, a seven-year member of the School Committee, says she decided to run for mayor at the urging of many people.
“I know I can do a better job than is being done now,” Pepe said. “It’s not personal. I have great respect for both of them.”
She said she’s planning a campaign that will be “hard-fought, serious and issue-oriented.”
“Honesty and integrity are my hallmarks,” Pepe said. “As a member of the School Committee, I have a record of accomplishments. Everyone who knows me knows I don’t make promises that I can’t keep.”
With Pepe added to the mix of candidates, Tosado said he’s expecting a lively race. “I say that with all due respect,” he added.
Two other residents, Jeffery P. Donnelly and Michael Jones, have also taken out nomination papers for mayor. There is a July 26 deadline to file nomination papers, and candidates must have at least 500 certified signatures of registered voters to be on the ballot.
Tosado said he sees the key issues facing Springfield as mirroring those which are being confronted by urban communities across the country: public safety, the economy and education.
In a recent press release, he said the drop-out rates in three Springfield high schools “is catastrophic” and in need of urgent action, referring to the high schools of Commerce, Science & Technology, and the Academy for Excellence. Resources and services are already there to address the issue, but, Tosado said, it will take “commitment, leadership, and the courage to hold ourselves accountable.”
In San Juan in February, a trip which Tosado described as a work vacation, he met with several senators, and during one meeting said he promoted a plan to create a teacher exchange program “to help repair the broken Springfield school system.”
In his recent trip to Newark, Tosado said he met with Mayor Cory Booker’s administration to share strategies on economic opportunity, police reform and supporting the arts. In his five years as mayor of New Jersey’s largest city, Booker has earned national attention for his leadership in fighting crime, improving educational opportunities and other issues.
Pepe’s campaign is to be headed by Teresa E. Regina, a former assistant superintendent of the Springfield Public Schools. Others on her leadership team are to include attorney Michael T. Kogut, who ran unsuccessfully last year for Hampden district attorney, and community activist Karen Powell. Pepe’s treasurer will be Daniel V. Walsh, who worked on Kogut’s campaign.