Victoria Sullivan’s Insistence on Ward 8 Suffrage Spotlights Shortcomings of Current System
Ward 8 Lacks Alderman but Residents are Represented by Aldermen at Large — OPINION
MANCHESTER, NH — The Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen held three special meetings on Tuesday, July 20th, at 5:30, 6:00 and 7:00pm. The 5:30 and 6:00 pm meetings were held to solicit public commentary on the spedning of federal monies and the proposed City Charter/School Charter amendments proposed by Alderman Pat Long (Ward 3), respectively.
The 7:00 meeting was the one that is always held before a BMA meeting.
Mayoral candidate Victoria Sullivan — a Republican matching up for the second time against Mayor Joyce Craig, Democrat, in the non-partisan municipal election — spoke at the two meetings I attended, at 6 & 7.
In her campaign speech offered up during the 7:00pm Special Meeting, Sullivan demanded that any be put off until Ward 8 was represented on the BMA.
What the would-be mayor seemingly does not grasp is that Ward 8 is represented on the Board, by the two aldermen-at-large, Daniel P. O’Neil (Democrat) and Joe Kelly Levasseur (Republican).
Faux Pas
Having been a resident of Manchester for a baker’s dozen of years or less, perhaps Sullivan can be forgiven not remembering the last successful City Charter Commission, which brought the alderman-at-large offices into existence, after the proposed charter amendments were approved by their voters.
This is a faux pas Rich Girard would not and could not make. He and Danny O’Neil were the first people elected to the alderman-at-large position.
The consensus among Inside Manchester Politics is that Victoria Sullivan will beat the more-experienced Rich Girard handily in the September primary. She is far more likable than Girard, whose quarter-century involvement in Queen City politics has made him highly unpopular.
What other politician who served as a mayor’s chief of staff, an alderman-at-large and an at-large School Committee member — a person who had a radio talk show for a decade — was reduced to working as a truck loader at the age of 50? Rich Girard obviously didn’t cultivate the contacts that he could have turned to when he needed a job.
Possessed of the same charm of a lap dog hornily humping away at somebody’s leg, Girard rubs people the wrong way. It would take something beyond an “Act of God” (to use an insurance term that Girard must know as the “regional vice president” at Primerica) to miracle his ass into the Mayor’s Office come the November general election.
Newbie Alderman Sebastian Sharpov of Ward 6 tried to do something about the long periods that some wards have gone through without having an alderman that represents just their ward and no other. He proposed, as was his privilege as a BMA member, that the City Charter be amended to require that a special election be held within 90 days if an alderman resigns.
He was shut down.
Sharpov’s reasonable proposal was rejected, on the basis that it would cost the Queen City too much money and on the basis that everybody was represented by the aldermen-at-large.
Although it seems that Sharpov is right, and his position is one that I support personally, a vast majority of aldermen and political players see it as unnecessary. The naysayers may have a point.
Frankly, most aldermen, even those not elected on an ‘at large’ basis, serve the constituents of other wards, if they are asked for help.
Barbara Shaw of Ward 9 has volunteered to help Ward 8 citizens, and when Shaw was being swamped with bad press and buffeted by the bloviating bitchery of irate South End burghers over the traffic barrier at the new Walmart, Thomas Katsiantonis of neighboring Ward 8 pitched in to help Ward Niners who thought he was their alderman.
Known as “Tommy K” as a restaurateur, Katsiantonis — who served three terms on the BMA from 2012 through 2018 representing Ward 8 — will be taking part in a special election to fill the seat left vacant when Mike Porter resigned due to family obligations.
Porter resigned at the beginning of April, nearly four months ago.
On primary day in September, Tommy K will face off against former Hillsborough County Register of Deeds Ed Sapienza and Planning Board member Scott Sargent to replace Porter for the rest of the term. The two top vote-getters will be paired off in the general election come November.
