10-20-26
Tonight, the Lawrence City Council voted on a resolution expressing “no confidence” in Mayor Brian DePeña, who faces 26 state and federal criminal charges.
Admittedly, this vote cannot remove the mayor, determine his guilt, or influence how prosecutors handle the cases against him. The council cannot even restrict his authority as mayor.
Methuen has its own version of this kind of meaningless political grandstanding.
Mayor Beauregard and some city councilors have spent weeks trying to get the council to approve a “strongly worded letter” asking the U.S. Attorney to reopen a federal investigation into former Police Chief Joe Solomon after four federal grand juries failed to indict him.
They admit that a city council resolution cannot compel the U.S. Attorney to reopen an investigation or bring charges. They admit this vote is merely symbolic.
So why are these elected officials spending so much time on gestures that cannot change the legal outcomes and have no significance whatsoever?
The answer is grandstanding.
These actions make it LOOK like they’re fighting corruption and doing something, when in reality they’re sitting on the sidelines merely trying to inject their names into the latest news cycle.
In Methuen, Mayor Beauregard often pats himself on the back, claiming he is “fighting corruption” in the Solomon matter. But writing letters and making speeches isn’t fighting corruption. It’s virtue signaling.
Beauregard wasn’t even an elected official when Solomon’s alleged misconduct took place. He came along after the fact and pounded his fist in protest against a city official already as unpopular as Osama bin Laden. He merely took advantage of the negative press surrounding the Solomon controversy to make it LOOK like he was part of the fight. And he is still doing exactly that!
That’s not courage.
It’s showboating.
The Lawrence City Council’s vote of no confidence rings hollow, too.
For nearly two years, these same city councilors let Fidelina Santiago sit and vote as an illegitimate councilor after videos showed her committing voter fraud in 2023 to get her council seat.
Even after she was indicted on voter fraud charges, council members never once called her out, voted to remove her, censured her, or took a vote of no confidence.
Why?
Because Santiago was voting with the faction of councilors that opposed everything Mayor DePeña wanted. She was their deciding vote and helped make the mayor’s life miserable. So they willingly looked the other way and continued to let her vote illegitimately because she was voting the way they wanted her to.
Santiago later pleaded guilty to 12 voter fraud-related charges and resigned in August 2025.
Yet not one of those councilors publicly condemned her. In fact, Councilor Wendy Luzon joined criminal advocate Julissa Nunez in thanking Santiago for “serving the city with honor and dignity.”
Now the City Council has an opportunity to present itself as morally superior while drawing attention away from its own complicity in the Santiago affair. Like Methuen Mayor Beauregard, councilors can make it LOOK as though they’re actually doing something after the horse is already out of the barn.
Don’t fall for the bait and switch.
Yes, Joe Solomon pleaded guilty, and I suspect Mayor DePeña will be convicted on some of the charges against him, too.
But don’t let officials on the periphery—who either did nothing to stop corruption or had a hand in it themselves—distract you from their own records, especially when every minute Lawrence and Methuen officials spend on these meaningless rituals is time the taxpayers’ business is being ignored.
Taxes are going up, trash fees are skyrocketing, and 75% to 85% of kids in Methuen and Lawrence schools (respectively) cannot read and write at grade level. There is no plan by these officials to reverse those numbers. They should be spending every waking moment on these issues, not trying to get their names in the newspaper.
It’s time for our local officials to stop the foolishness of symbolic gestures and get to work serving our community.