Karen Powell has little use for the unwritten rules that govern "acceptable" political behavior.
Take, for instance, the time in 1998 when she and her husband, Bob, tried to launch a recall election to unseat then-Springfield Mayor Mike Albano. The Powells were frustrated with Albano for, among other things, his continued support for a needle exchange program in the city, even after voters rejected the idea in a non-binding referendum. Until that point, the Powells counted among their backers a number of local politicians who shared their opposition to needle exchange; the moment the idea of a recall was raised, however, the pols took to the hills, no doubt nervous for their own hides in a climate where frustrated voters might take it upon themselves to knock off recalcitrant politicians.
The next year, the Powells decided to liven up the election season by running their dog for mayor, contending that he couldn't do a worse job than Albano, who was running for a third term unopposed by any two-legged challengers. Critics—a humorless Albano among them—sniffed that the Powells failed to show the requisite respect for "the office" of mayor (insert here your own favorite memory of how the honorable Albano managed to befoul that office). Simon the dog, meanwhile, got about 500 votes.
Over the past dozen years, Karen Powell has become a force in Springfield public life, powered by a simple take on the business of politics: that many politicians take themselves, and all the trappings of their positions, way too seriously. And that all too often they fail to take seriously enough their responsibility to the people who put them in office.
Now Powell is ready to try the view from the other side of the aisle. She's announced her candidacy for City Council, under the campaign slogan "Common sense leadership, for an uncommon time."
"We have a lot here for people," says Powell, a lifelong city resident, pointing to Springfield's rich architecture, its parks and museums and libraries. "I just want to try to see the city come back to where it was."
Powell's earliest forays into local politics came from ideologically conservative positions—first, opposing an ordinance that would have required gun owners to use trigger locks; later, founding with Bob a group called Citizens Against Needle Exchange, or CANE, to fight the needle program.
Before long, the Powells widened CANE's scope, changing its name to Citizens' Action Network and expanding its mission to serve as a City Hall watchdog. They led a successful campaign to stop Albano's plan to take a North End shopping center by eminent domain and build a minor league ballpark with public funds. Later CANE joined efforts to expand hours at city libraries, which eventually led to the city's taking control of the libraries from the Springfield Library and Museums Association. Powell served as treasurer of the Sixteen Acres Civic Association and on the board of Citizens for a Clean Springfield. She's also a longtime activist with Citizens for Limited Taxation, the statewide taxpayer association.
Powell says she was motivated to run for City Council in part by the fact that, with councilor Dom Sarno running for mayor, one seat will be open. "It's really hard to get in when it's all incumbents," she says.
She's also intrigued by the idea of working with rather than against the mayor. After years of battling with Albano, Powell is a strong supporter of his successor, Charlie Ryan. "Now that Charlie's in, I can work with the mayor. Before, there was no way I could work within the system," she says.
That doesn't mean, however, that Powell would march in lockstep with Ryan. She disagrees with him, for instance, on the question of ward representation, which she contends would lead councilors to focus on neighborhood concerns solely, at the expense of larger, city-wide issues. "Right now, there's too many people who only think about parts of the city," she says. "We're a whole city. We need to look at the whole city." In addition, Powell argues that ward representation would encourage vote-trading among councilors—"Not that it's not done now, but I think it would be worse."
Powell is also critical of the controversial trash fee imposed on residents by Ryan and the state Finance Control Board; while she understands the city's need to generate new revenue, she says, the fee is an unfair burden.
Powell shared the unease many residents felt when the Legislature created the control board to oversee the city's finances. "One thing that bothers me is that people felt disenfranchised. It's not our fault, the people who live here," she says. Overall, though, Powell is supportive of the work of the board, and she applauds the recent decision to extend its life by two years.
"I think they did a really good job. I don't think people realize how good a job they did," she says. "They looked at the numbers and didn't let anyone sway them from what they needed to do." And, she adds, she's optimistic about the naming of three new board members, Chris Gabrieli, James Morton and Bob Nunes.
Powell's platform addresses the nuts and bolts of getting Springfield back on track, starting with the continued stabilization of its finances. She also promises to work to find a fair balance between neighborhood concerns and business needs. As a small business owner (she and Bob own an auto repair shop in East Longmeadow) and a neighborhood activist, she's had a front row seat to plenty of contentious battles over zoning and special permits. "There's a big disconnect," says Powell; for the city to have a healthy future, she says, it has to be able to attract and retain both homeowners and tax-paying businesses.
Powell is also focused on improving the quality of life in the city by, for instance, addressing blighted properties. "We let too many of these properties go into disrepair for too long. It's got to be a priority," she says. She praises the city's recent push to bring negligent landlords to housing court and supports a proposal by Councilor Tim Rooke that would require landlords to be licensed by the city. She'd also like to see more first-time homebuyer programs and other efforts to attract middle-income families. "I don't think the city can survive without a middle class," she says.
Unlike many first-time candidates, Powell does not have a name recognition problem. As CANE's public face (Bob, while a key to the group, is naturally more reserved than his wife), Powell is well known to anyone who follows Springfield politics, and she's formed numerous, sometimes unexpected alliances through her wide-ranging activist work.
When Powell announced her candidacy in June, Ryan and Melinda Pellerin Duck, a former Massachusetts teacher of the year, spoke on her behalf, and Rock 102 morning DJ John O'Brien served as emcee. The crowd was filled with city pols: city councilors Tim Rooke and Bud Williams, former councilors Carol Caulton Lewis and Paul Sears, School Committee member Antonette Pepe, state Reps. Ben Swan and Angelo Puppolo.
Familiarity can also breed contempt, and Powell has her share of enemies, starting with the remnants of the Albano crowd, as well as other local politicians who've felt the sting of her criticisms. Nor is the Springfield Republican likely to give Powell a warm reception. Publicly, the newspaper will probably slam Powell for her opposition to ward representation and needle exchange, both of which the Republican (as well as this paper) editorially supports. Under the surface, meanwhile, it's likely that David Starr—the Republican's president and a leader in the Springfield Museums Association—is still sore about Powell's role in the citizens' campaign against an a takeover of the city library by the MLA.
Powell's long history of city activism makes her an ideal candidate, says one fan, Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation. "Every city council should have a taxpayer activist on it," Anderson says. "Karen is the kind of person you want on any board: hard-working, committed, intelligent and knowledgeable. … She's certainly already earned her points for what she's done for the city."
Powell hopes that voters will appreciate her commitment, whether or not they agree with her on every issue. "I've been out there enough that people know I work hard and I don't give up," she says.
And while sitting on the city government, rather than working from the outside, might require her to tone down her style just a bit, Powell promises she won't morph into a standard-issue politician. "I'll still be me," she says.
—mturner@valleyadvocate.com
