Election Day Massacre – Lawrence Voters Fire 5 Elected Officials

By: Tom Duggan – November, 2007

LAWRENCE – Five elected officials in the city of Lawrence were fired by the voters on election day, as growing discontent among voters saw three members of the Lawrence city council rejected on election day and two members of the Lawrence School Committee being replaced by newcomers.

Eight out of the nine current members of the city council sought reelection, only councilor Gil Frechette (District “E”) chose not to run.

While voters rejected councilors Marie Gosselin, Nunzio DiMarca and Joe Parolisi,  outright, Councilors Patrick Blanchette, Grisel Silva, and Jorge Gonzalez all barely squeezed by their opponents. Only two incumbent city councilors secured a comfortable margin over their opponents on election day: At-Large Councilor Nilka Alvarez-Rodriguez, and Tower Hill (District “D”) councilor Nick Kolofoles.

Of the six current members of the Lawrence School Committee (the mayor serves as chairman and was not up for reelection) all but one decided to seek reelection. Patricia Sanchez-Reyes recently had her second child and chose not to run for a second term.

Of the five who did ask the voters to return them to the committee, one ran unopposed, (Jim Vittorioso) two were reelected with a comfortable margin (Martina Cruz and Peter Larocque) and two were replaced by the voters after serving only one term (Mejia and Morris).

Both Morris and Mejia ran unopposed two years ago.

Filling the vacant seat of Patricia Sanchez in District “C” Pricilla Baez garnered enough votes to edge out Lawrence Personnel director Frank Bonet.