Lowell Sun / Julia Malakie

Incumbents roll in Lowell

Voters bring back entire City Council
By CHRISTOPHER SCOTT and JASON LEFFERTS
Sun Staff

Article Last Updated:
Wednesday, November 07, 2001 - 12:03:49 PM MST

LOWELL -- Voters yesterday re-elected all nine incumbents to the City Council for the first time in years in a contest marked by lackluster turnout and a little bit of suspense.

With just 32 percent of registered voters casting ballots, incumbents said the results confirm that people generally approve of the performance of City Council and, to a lesser extent, the work of City Manager John Cox, who recently completed his first year in office.

For the second consecutive election, four-term incumbent Rita Mercier topped the ticket. Mercier finished with 9,994 votes, nearly 1,000 more than two years ago.

"This is my job and I love it," said Mercier, who'll make a push to be elected mayor by her colleagues in January. "I like helping people, and that's what this job is all about."

Four other veteran incumbents also had strong showings, as Mayor Eileen Donoghue (four terms) finished second with 9,347 votes; Edward "Bud" Caulfield (nine terms) finished third with 8,301 votes; Richard Howe (19 terms) fourth with 7,907; and Armand Mercier (three terms) fifth with 7,602.
Rounding out the top nine were Rodney Elliott, 7,561 votes; Bill Martin, 6,749; Rithy Uong, 6,536; and Dan Tenczar, 6,067.

"I think the people of Lowell sent a strong message," said Caulfield, who celebrated at the Centralville Social Club. "They like the direction the city is taking under the leadership of the City Council and City Manager Cox. I'm just thrilled, and I want to thank the voters of Lowell."

Only one challenger, James Milinazzo, Lowell Housing Authority executive director, mounted a serious charge for a seat during vote tabulations last night.

With 31 of 33 precincts reporting, Milinazzo was less than 400 votes behind Tenczar. The precincts that hadn't reported, however, were Milinazzo's home precinct in Belvidere -- a voter-rich area -- plus an Acre precinct.

A malfunctioning voting machine kept the officials monitoring results inside Cox's office at City Hall on the edge of their seats, wondering if Milinazzo could pull it off.

Finally, at about 10:15, the last votes were tallied and Milinazzo hadn't closed the gap, finishing 349 votes behind Tenczar.

Tenczar said he was relieved to be back for his second term, despite falling from a strong third-place finish in 1999.

"My first reaction was, I was happy voters elected me as one of their nine," Tenczar said.
Milinazzo was disappointed, but said it's hard to break in when "it's the year of the incumbent. I'd like to congratulate all the incumbents."

Milinazzo would have needed to obtain a waiver from the federal government to serve as both councilor and head of the housing authority. The potential conflict of interest had put him at odds with several members of the authority's board of commissioners.

Last night, he was refused to speculate whether the waiver issue had an impact on the election.
"I can't sit here and say it did," he said. "I'd only be second-guessing."

If there was any displeasure felt by the electorate, it certainly wasn't toward the incumbents.
"I would think that if people were unhappy with the direction, they would have said so today," Donoghue said.

Howe, who finished a disappointing seventh in the 1999 election, campaigned aggressively for the first time in 36 years, holding fund-raisers and posting more than his share of signs around the city. And it paid off in the end with a fourth-place finish.

"I feel pretty good about it. There was a lot of competition," Howe said. "I think I worked pretty hard."
Another councilor who kicked it up a notch was Martin, whose campaign was knocked off track with the Sept. 6 death of his father.

"I had a positive story to tell, and I made sure it got told," said Martin, referring to his successful "Two for Lowell" program, which encourages neighborhood revitalization by giving the owners of multifamily housing units loans that are forgiven the longer they live in the homes.

Elliott was thrilled with his finish, after two elections where he barely finished in the money. This time around, he relied heavily on his role as a financial watchdog. With the economy slipping, his campaign earned him 1,500 new votes.

"I think the message was very sound," Elliott said. "In light of the economy, voters want an individual on the council who can address the financial issues of the city."
Uong, the first Cambodian-American elected to any office in the nation in 1999, said his team-player attitude helped seal his victory.

"I'm proud to serve them and be with them," Uong said of voters. "It showed that when people are working together, how much can happen."

City Councilors working together is something Armand Mercier stressed through the campaign.
"I feel like the team effort really paid off," said Mercier. "The team is back, and I'm proud of it."
In the late stages of the campaign one of the primary challengers, real-estate agent Walter "Buddy" Flynn, looked to light a spark under voters by criticizing the team approach in advertisements. But the strategy failed to ignite any significant support, and Flynn finished in 11th place with 5,054 votes.
Another challenger with a significant support base, Dr. Louis Stylos, finished 13th with 4,602 votes.
"To beat an incumbent, you need a big turnout," said Flynn.

Christopher Scott's e-mail address is cscott@lowellsun.com. Jason Lefferts e-mail address is jlefferts@lowellsun.com.

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