The two surprise legislative races anchored in Springfield may yet rock political foundations in the city. However, on the fundraising front, the races are proceeding more or less typically for incumbent challenges. Both State Senator Adam Gomez and State Rep Bud Williams maintain healthy fundraising leads.
On Monday, the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Service reported out the age waiver to allow Springfield Police Superintendent Lawrence Akers to serve until age 70. As WMP&I reported last week, the Committee redrafted the home rule petition, which the Springfield City Council and Mayor Domenic Sarno had forwarded in February. The Committee’s changes essentially reverse those the city had made.
The attempt to gut the Police Commission was part of a broader legislative package that would facilitate Lawrence Akers’s appointment as superintendent. Another piece was a home rule petition to let him remain a cop beyond the state’s mandatory retirement age of 65 and cap his pension. That bill, too, went to the rewrite desk. Now the original language could make a return.
An audio recording has surfaced in which the outgoing superintendent trashed a School Committee member. Superintendent Daniel Warwick calls relatives of at-large member LaTonia Monroe Naylor “scumbags” and “crazy.”
In the recording, Warwick was ostensibly speaking with Chief Schools Officer Kim Wells, a finalist for superintendent.
SPRINGFIELD—Despite a lengthy debate and reasonable fears about how the city’s principal revenue stream affects residents, the City Council approved the fiscal year 2025 budget. It passed last week with no modifications and no dissent. This was also the first annual spending document presented under the new Chief Administrative & Financial Officer, Cathy Buono.
Amid the stream of mayoral photos on the misnamed City of Springfield Office of Communications Facebook page was a curious post. It was a meeting that would have been unimaginable 11 months ago. Mayor Domenic Sarno and members of his cabinet had met with government affairs staff from Amtrak. Last June, Sarno was at war with the railroad.
SPRINGFIELD—Facing his first electoral challenge since defeating an incumbent himself, Senator Adam Gomez kicked off his bid for a third term a few doors down from where his opponent had launched weeks before. Filling the lower level of Dewey’s Lounge, a downtown jazz bar, the senator underscored community.
The intrigue and protest that has consumed the selection process for the Superintendent of Schools in Springfield reached a new level Wednesday with an outside call to restart the process from the group Lawyers for Civil Rights.
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SPRINGFIELD—Ward 4 City Councilor Malo Brown kicked off his bid for State Senate Thursday with a low-key gathering downtown with supporters. However, he said little about how he would differentiate himself from the incumbent he is challenging, Senator Adam Gomez.
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Another major staffing change has hit Springfield City Hall with the exit of City Solicitor John Payne. Mayor Domenic Sarno has chosen former legislator and onetime district attorney candidate Stephen Buoniconti to replace Payne. Given his late-career return to City Hall, Payne’s exit should not be a shock.