Conventional wisdom holds that if someone's seriously considering a shot for elected office in Springfield, this is the time he or she needs to stop considering and start doing some real work. And so with Election Day still more than seven months away, the gossip mill is churning with talk about who just might take the plunge.
The top prize, of course, is the mayor's office—a job that will become infinitely more interesting, not to mention challenging, in the next term. On June 30, the state-imposed Finance Control Board will leave town, meaning that whoever wins the seat in November will be the first mayor in five years to run the city without the Board's oversight—and with expected deep cuts to local aid.
Incumbent Domenic Sarno says he's running for re-election. Long-time City Councilor Bud Williams has said he'll run for the mayor's seat, too, although the Springfield Republican, for one, has its doubts: in a recent "Cries and Whispers" item, the newspaper noted that "some observers, including those who consider themselves friends of Bud L., doubt he really will make that run." Businessman Brian Corridan's name is also circulating as a potential candidate, as well as that of at least one other city councilor.
But the real excitement this fall could be the race for City Council, which—after years of tireless work by advocates and tireless roadblocking by the Council—will add ward representatives to the mix. Names of potential candidates for the eight new ward seats are circulating, too, including longtime neighborhood activists as well as ward supporters such as E. Henry Twiggs and Gumersindo Gomez.
Meanwhile, incumbent councilors will have to make their own decisions: whether to run for one of the at-large seats—which will be whittled down from nine to five—or take a shot at one of the ward seats. With only five at-large seats now up for grabs, it will be especially interesting to see what the four councilors who finished in slots 6-9 in the 2007 election—Bruce Stebbins, Jimmy Ferrera, Pat Markey and Rosemarie Mazza-Moriarty—opt to do this fall.
For Springfield residents who want to take a shot at the City Council during this historic election season, or who are just interested in the changes brought by ward representation, the city's Election Commission is holding a series of informational meetings starting this week:
– March 25, 5:30 p.m. at Van Sickle School, 1170 Carew St.
– April 1, 5:30 p.m. at the Pine Point Community Center, 335 Berkshire Ave.
– April 22, 5:30 p.m. at Milton Bradley School, 22 Mulberry St.
– April 29, 5:30 p.m. at Rebecca Johnson School, 55 Catharine St.
– May 6, 5:30 p.m. at Mary Dryden School, 190 Surrey Rd.
– May 13, 5:30 p.m. at the Greenleaf Community Center, 1188 Parker St.
