Area races will feature 14 for mayor

August 21, 2011|By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent

Beverly’s incumbent mayor, William F. Scanlon Jr., is battling three challengers while candidates in four other cities are jousting for open seats in area mayoral contests claiming the spotlight this election season.

Across the 21 communities in the region that are holding fall elections, 14 will be selecting mayors, and 10 feature contests with two or more candidates.

Elections will take place Nov. 8, in some cases preceded by September preliminaries to winnow the fields.

Among the mayoral races is a four-way contest in Methuen to succeed the outgoing three-term incumbent, William M. Manzi III, who is barred by term limits from running again. Contending are School Committee member Kenneth R. Willette Jr., Councilor at Large Stephen N. Zanni, Central District Councilor John A. Cronin Jr., and Al DiNuccio, who lost to Manzi two years ago. A Sept. 20 preliminary will pare the field to two.

West District Councilor Jeanne M. Pappalardo said the race has been relatively quiet but “things are picking up now. With the primary coming, you can see signs popping out all over the city.’’

She said the race appears to be very competitive with no obvious outcome, noting that Cronin, Willette, and Zanni are familiar to voters from their years in local politics, while DiNuccio, a local businessman, is known from his mayoral run and his unsuccessful bid for state representative last year.

The mayoral race in Beverly is also described by observers as difficult to handicap.

Scanlon, who has occupied the mayor’s office for all but two of the last 18 years, is one of the city’s most enduring political figures. But two of his challengers - City Council president and former state representative Michael P. Cahill and former City Council president Timothy P. Flaherty - also are high-profile figures.

The third challenger is Rick Marciano, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2007, and for City Council in 2003, 2005, and 2007. A Sept. 20 preliminary will reduce the field to two.

Given the wide-open nature of the race, Councilor at Large Patricia B. Grimes said of predicting the outcome, “I wouldn’t even want to try.’’

In Revere, two at-large city councilors, Daniel Rizzo and George Rotondo, are vying to succeed Mayor Thomas G. Ambrosino, who is retiring after 12 years in office.

Both contenders in the first mayoral contest in Revere since 2003 are visible figures in the city and are waging energetic campaigns.

Rizzo, the owner of a local insurance company and part-owner of a function facility, is in his sixth term as a councilor at large. He is also past president of the Revere Chamber of Commerce and the Revere Rotary Club.