In November, 2005, Michael Bissonnette won a landslide victory over former Mayor Richard Goyette, just one week after Goyette was arrested on federal extortion charges.
Bissonnette, a well-known local attorney, has been a member of the Democratic State Committee since 1992. Before becoming mayor, Bissonnette worked for the late U.S. Representative Silvio Conte, former State Representative Kenneth M. Lemanski and former State Senator John Burke. In 1996, Bissonnette was named Chicopee's Democrat of the Year.
Last year, Bissonnette put himself and his city at the forefront of the statewide debate on Gov. Deval Patrick's effort to legalize casino gaming in Massachusetts. Bissonnette urged casino developers to build a gaming establishment in Chicopee after voters there narrowly approved a ballot question asking whether they favored casino gambling in their city. As the state Legislature was set to kill Patrick's initiative, Bissonnette refused to testify at a Beacon Hill hearing on the gaming plan, saying, "I have come to the conclusion that this [legislative] hearing is not about obtaining opinions or advice to aid an informed decision, but is a sideshow act in what has become a larger circus."
