It hasn't always been easy to understand the decisions made by the Springfield electorate. This is the city that elected Mike Albano to multiple terms, defeating impressive candidates such as Charlie Ryan (in 1995) and Paul Caron (in 2001); the city that almost robotically returns the same batch of incumbents to the City Council and School Committee election after election; the city that ousted Ryan from the mayor's seat in 2007 for longtime councilor Domenic Sarno.
This year, however, voters gave Sarno a decisive re-election victory, with the incumbent taking 70 percent of the vote over his challenger, veteran city councilor Bud Williams. Despite a tough first term for Sarno and a climate in Springfield that, with rising crime and a sinking local economy, ordinarily might favor a challenger, there was no surprise in the outcome.
Sarno's first two years in office have been far from flawless. But many of his missteps have been matters of what it's now fashionable in political circles to call "style." Appearing a bit overwhelmed during his early days in office, Sarno adopted a bunker mentality, holding city councilors, the media and others in the city at an unhealthy (and politically unwise) arm's length.
Over his time in office, however, Sarno appears to have relaxed, making himself generally more accessible to the media, for instance, and inviting the City Council to more actively participate in this year's budget process.
As for Sarno's challenger, Williams' campaign—like his career on the Council—smacked a lot more of political calculation than sincerity. On the campaign trail, Williams mostly complained about anything and everything Sarno has done in office, and offered little in the way of vision or concrete plans.
The strong rebuff he received from voters aside, Williams insists he's not going away; according to the Springfield Republican, "Williams said he will probably run for mayor again in 2011."
If he does, he's likely to find a more crowded field, thanks to voters' approval yesterday of a ballot question that will change Springfield's mayoral term from two years to four. Supporters of that change hope the longer term will attract more, and more qualified, candidates for the seat, such as businesspeople who might be willing to step out of the private sector for a four-year term, but would be unwilling to do so for the revolving door of a two-year term. The job could become even more appealing if efforts to increase the mayor's salary (currently $95,000 a year) are also successful.
