Ed Sapienza Becomes Alderman From Ward 8; Once Said Drug Overdose Victims Should Not Be Revived — OPINION
When Ward 8 voters went to Memorial High School on September 21st to vote, they not only picked Republican Ed Sapienza and Democrat Sean Sargent as the two candidates who will face off for alderman in the November general election, but they elected Sapienza to immediately fill Mike Porter’s vacant seat on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
The brother of Ward 5 Alderman Tony Sapienza, from whom he reportedly is estranged, Ed started making his bones in Queen City politics as a co-host to Joe Kelly Levasseur on JKL’s controversial public access TV show. In private life, he had served as best man to Mike Craig when he married Joyce Hopkins, who is now Mayor Joyce Craig.
With Craig’s ascent to the Mayor’s Office in 2017, Sapienza bowed out of the Levasseur show. JKL has viciously criticized the mayor, in intemperate and sexist language.
Former Register of Deeds
Ed Sapienza served one term as the Hillsborough County Register of Deeds, when no Democrat or fellow Republican signed up to run for that office, which became his by default. It is seen as a do-nothing office that for some reason, is not paid at the minimal $100 a year that Register of Probate is, but over a thousand bucks a week.
He was voted out of office after one term, when a Republican perpetual candidate flipped her party allegiance and defeated him in 2020.
Ed Sapienza — a Democrat turned Republican — is a huge supporter of not just Donald Trump but of Joe Kelly Levasseur and JKL’s one-time nemesis, Rich Girard. That puts him on the hard right of the Queen City political spectrum, firmly inside the Levasseur-Girard-Elizabeth Moreau camp that is characterized by The Three Cs: Criticize Unfairly, Complain Loudly, and engage in Character Assassination.
That’s not to say that Big Ed will engage in unfair criticism or character assassination (and let’s face it: it’s in the nature of many a politician to complain loudly, not just the Levasseur-Rich Girard-Elizabeth Moreau Axis), but as an alderman, he would back them up and strengthen them.
Big Ed also seemingly shares Levasseur’s cold, cold heart on certain issues. When running in the 2017 primary for Ward 8 Alderman, his response to the Manchester Ink Link question, “How would you propose the city address the opioid crisis and related expense to the city incurred by out-of-state clients using Safe Station?” proved highly controversial.
Big Ed’s response?
Enough with the Narcan, stop reviving them.
Sapienza’s 2017 bid for alderman was derailed by his intemperate remarks. His opinion that the City should let drug addicts die rather than seek a solution for the problem indicates that, despite his good intentions, Big Ed Sapienza may cause more Levasseur-like disharmony on the Board of Alderman now that he is elected, as he will likely staunchly support JKL.
