The Springfield mayor’s race was officially kicked off last week when City Council President Jose Tosado announced that he’ll run this fall against incumbent Mayor Domenic Sarno.
Of course, the race has had plenty of unofficial starts over the past year or so: last July, when Tosado secured enough votes—five months in advance—to ensure another term as Council president; in December, when Sarno and Tosado brought competing trash fee proposals to the Council. (Sarno, whose first campaign for mayor in 2007 included a vow to end the controversial fee, now says it’s a financial necessity; Tosado, who voted to institute the fee in the first place as a member of the Finance Control Board, now says it’s time to rescind the charge.)
While the trash fee has been perhaps the most visible point of contention between the two candidates, Tosado is eager to draw voters’ attention to his broader agenda, which, based on last week’s announcement, focuses on such big-ticket items as improving the city’s “broken” school system, addressing violence, and supporting small businesses. His campaign theme: “Another Springfield is Possible.”
Tosado has served on the City Council since 2003; before that, he was a member of the School Committee and the Police Commission. A manager for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, he no doubt will emphasize his management and budget experience during the campaign. Tosado would be the first Latino to serve as mayor of Springfield, a significant distinction in a city with a large and growing Latino population.
Sarno, a former City Councilor always popular with voters, won the mayor’s office in 2007, with a surprising upset of incumbent Charlie Ryan. In 2009, Sarno easily held off a challenge from Councilor Bud Williams, with 70 percent of the vote to Williams’ 30 percent. Tosado, however, is a much better candidate than Williams, who ran an uninspiring and generally whiny race. Like Sarno before him, Tosado has been a popular city councilor; in the 2009 race, he was the top vote-getter, finishing just ahead of Tim Rooke, another Sarno critic.
This year’s mayoral election is an especially crucial one for the city; whoever wins will be the first mayor to serve a four-year term. That change, approved by voters in 2009, sprang from the argument that extending the term from two years to four would allow the mayor time to focus on long-term planning and ease the almost-constant campaigning that comes with a shorter term.
The winner of this year’s election could also be the recipient of a serious pay boost, if an effort—promoted by the Chamber of Commerce and some councilors, among others—to increase the mayor’s salary (currently $95,000) is successful. So far, public response to the proposal has been lukewarm at best. Tosado has said he’s dead set against the proposed increase, citing the financial pressures on the city and its residents. Sarno, wisely, has stayed out of the debate, recognizing that, as the incumbent, he will be accused of being self-serving no matter what he says.
