UPDATED 5:10PM: To note District Court issued warrant for Collamore.

Not the best layover to election. (WMP&I)

Of the contested ward seats in the Springfield City Council elections this year, Ward 6 has not exactly captured much attention. Still, a battle between incumbent Victor Davila and Robert Collamore, given his random political runs, has its notable points. For example, Collamore is the son of a former councilor and he faces charges for destruction of property.

Collamore was due to appear in Springfield District Court to answer the charges which date to an incident last year. At the time, Collamore was running against now-Register of Probate Rosemary Saccomani in the Democratic primary. Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni’s office ultimately decided to press charges with an arraignment on Monday. Collamore said the victim was to blame. It was not immediately clear whether he showed up to, but a judge issued a warrant over his failure to appear.

According to a police report, Collamore allegedly threw a brick through a window at a Dwight Road home on August 7, 2020. The resident of the property, John Ryan, confronted Collamore and pursued him to the latter’s own home where the resident contacted police. Springfield Police responded, though it was not clear if they arrested Collamore. Police advised the resident to file a report according to a written statement.

Court records show a judge scheduled the Monday arraignment in August after the DA filed charges in June. It is not obvious why it took 10 months for the DA’s office to file charges, but courts were closed for much of last year. There may have been a backlog of charging decisions within district attorneys’ offices as well.

In a rambling spellcheck-averse statement to WMP&I early Tuesday morning, Collamore said the victim “diabolically brilliantly planned To do this 2 weeks just before the election.[sic]” Collamore’s email references a series of recent examples of political violence, such as the January 6 insurrection. Ostensibly this was a comparison to his history with Ryan. The Republican reported that he pleaded guilty in 2005 to assaulting Collamore the year before.

In his statement, Collamore claimed both incidents were engineered to derail political campaigns. In 2004, he was running for state rep as a Republican. The 2020 primary election was September 1.

A source told WMP&I that Collamore did not appear at the arraignment. However, this could not be independently confirmed until the court docket updated on Tuesday. District Court Judge Kevin Maltby ordered a default warrant against the Ward 6 candidate for failure to appear. The docket indicates the court issued it on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for Gulluni’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Collamore did not address his scheduled court appearance in his statement. He CC’d his lawyer in his reply, who had not responded to an offer of comment.

Collamore’s campaign for Ward 6 is not his first. He challenged then-Councilor Ken shea in 2017. Shea flattened him by nearly 50 points. In addition to Register of Probate, he has run for state rep multiple times according to data from the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office. One bid provoked a state campaign finance investigation. The Republican previously reported Collamore had worked as a state senate aide. His father, Leonard Collamore, served on the City Council and the now-defunct Hampden County Commission.