This fall's election was guaranteed to bring some major changes to the Springfield City Council, thanks to the long overdue introduction of ward representation. But mixing things up even more are the announcements—some expected, some surprising—by a number of incumbent councilors that they won't seek re-election this year.
That list includes Bud Williams, who's leaving the seat he's held since 1994 to challenge Mayor Domenic Sarno. Next, councilors Pat Markey, Bruce Stebbins and Rosemarie Mazza Moriarty announced they won't run again, either. Now add to the list Council President Bill Foley, who's sat on the Council for 26 years.
"I have enjoyed serving the people of Springfield over the past 28 years as a member of the City Council and School Committee; however, I feel, at this time, I cannot give the people the respect and commitment they deserve," Foley said in a press statement released last week. In the statement, Foley estimated that he "averaged 600 official visits to neighborhoods and community events for each year of service" and said he never missed a City Council meeting.
"[D]uring my political career I have strived to live by three principles: (1) Be true to your word (2) Never forget the people who got you there and (3) Do what you think is right. I leave office with the knowledge that I treated people fairly and hopefully my service left the city a little better," he wrote.
The 62-year-old Foley is an old-school Springfield politician, the kind who recognizes the importance of showing up at community meetings—not to mention the wakes, stags, parades and other events where smart politicians build good will and name recognition. (Indeed, Springfield voters seem to have an unhealthy attachment to electing officials based on name recognition—a tradition that, it's hoped, will be broken up by the introduction of ward representation, which will give less recognizable, but worthy, candidates a better shot at breaking on to the Council, where incumbents are rarely unseated.)
But with some notable exceptions—consider his occasional battles with then-Mayor Mike Albano over, for instance, Albano's scheme to build a minor-league ballpark in the North End—Foley was not one to stick his neck out on controversial matters. "Bill is an affable guy. I cannot remember him taking a controversial position on anything, ever," Michaelann Bewsee, a founder of Arise for Social Justice and dedicated ward representation activist, put it plainly on her blog, www.michaelannland.blogspot.com.
But that apparently wasn't enough to dissuade voters, who not only re-elected the gentlemanly Foley 13 times, but regularly made him one of the top vote-getters each November.
Indeed, some of the incumbents who are leaving the Council were perhaps motivated by a suspicion that they might not get re-elected. Under the ward rep system, the number of at-large seats will be reduced from nine to five—a fact presumably not lost on Mazza Moriarty, Markey and Stebbins, who finished, respectively, sixth, seventh and ninth in the 2007 election. (Jimmy Ferrera took the eighth-place spot.) Foley, who finished in third place in 2007, would likely have easily won a spot again this fall.
Next to his loyal supporters, Foley's absence will perhaps be most keenly felt by Sarno—who, not incidentally, also has shown an aversion to taking tough stands. While the mayor has been on the receiving end of criticism from certain councilors (Tim Rooke most consistently, and Williams, his mayoral rival, more recently), Foley has been one of Sarno's most dependable allies on the Council.
"Bill is a gentleman and a true statesman and I consider him a great friend," Sarno told the Springfield Republican. "Bill has always put the people before politics. I have always had a great working relationship with Bill and have the highest regard for him."
