LAWRENCE – The recall effort against Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera by former Mayor William Lantigua supporters has declined into chaos with two separate (legally valid) recall petitions circulating throughout the city to remove the mayor from office. Rivera’s attorney was in court Wednesday asking a judge to put a halt to the second recall, the […]
By: Kathy Runge – Oct. 2015 I heard that the real reason for the extreme shortage of poll workers for the Preliminary Election was that the city required the poll workers to be citizens (of the United States). Does that mean that there were non-citizens working the polls for the other elections? There was at […]
By: Tom Duggan – 9.22.15 With only 9% of registered voters in Lawrence participating in the city’s preliminary elections, at least one candidate has found himself one vote shy of being nominated for city council. Rich Russell, a Viet Nam veteran and activist at council meetings, placed seventh in an eight way race, being eliminated […]
The president of a local union has come forward saying he and his organization are going to bankroll the recall petition against Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera to have Rivera removed from office. A recall effort is underway in the city by undertaker Louis Farrah and his group Mike Gagliardi, head of Laborers Union Local 175 in Methuen, […]
JUDGES ORDER DOC091715-09172015142844 A Lawrence Superior Court Judge has put a halt to the recall petition against Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera Tuesday, issuing a temporary restraining order on the collection of signatures against the mayor until his challenge to the initial 100 signatures can be heard by the Lawrence Board of Registrars. A recall affidavit was submitted […]
Last month the Massachusetts Legislature delayed a scheduled vote on a public records reform bill after getting pressure from the very politicians who will have to pay the price for concealing such public documents. The Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) initially opposed the public records reform bill, but after realizing there was too much momentum in […]
WHO’S IN AND WHO’S OUT IN CITY COUNCIL AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE RACES Candidates wishing to have their names appear on the September ballot for municipal elections had until close of business on Tuesday to turn in the required number of signatures. The Lawrence City Council is made up of nine members. Six members of the […]
By: Kathy Runge, July, 2015 The City Council, led by Council President Maldonado, a.k.a. Lawrence’s Ambassador to the UN, has been busy in the last month. The FY16 budget got approved with Maldonado providing the only dissenting vote. He proposed a series of potential cuts and argued for them while acting as president of the […]
Massachusetts Legislators, members of the media and 1st amendment advocates testified last month before a joint House and Senate committee on Beacon Hill, asking legislators to add penalties to the state’s fake public records law. The law, MGL Ch. 66, states that the keeper of records in any municipality or public agency must turn over public […]
NEIL HARRINGTON IS THE POSTER BOY When I started this journey to reform our state’s public records law five years ago I had no idea that the Town of Salisbury would feature so prominently in my motivations to add stiff penalties for officials who refuse to turn over public documents. Yet, here we are. […]
AUDIO: Tom Duggan on Afternoon LIVE discusses the state’s impotent Public Records law and how it affects you. (VIDEO of Duggan’s testimony below at 41 MIN mark) Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan testified before a sub committee of the Massachusetts State Legislature in favor of a bill he wrote S1700 that would finally put teeth into […]
Over 1,300 associate degrees and certificates were awarded at Northern Essex Community College’s 53rd Annual Commencement Exercises which were held on Saturday, May 16th in the quadrangle on the college’s Haverhill Campus. Because Saturday was Armed Forces Day, NECC President Lane Glenn asked the 20-plus graduates who were veterans or military service personal […]
Valley Patriot 1st Amendment Lifetime Achievement Award The Valley Patriot bestowed its highest honor Friday to Michael R. Sweeney with the 1st Amendment Lifetime Achievement Award. The Award ceremony was held at the Firefighters Relief In. Presenting the award to Sweeney were 1st Amendment warriors and media personalities Michele McPhee and The Guy From Boston […]
OFFICER TOM DUGGAN SR. LAW ENFORCEMENT AWARD Each year, The Valley Patriot newspaper gives awards at the annual BASH to members of the community and members of The Valley Patriot family who do outstanding things. Throughout the evening of the Valley Patriot’s 11th Anniversary BASH, publisher Tom Duggan gave out two awards in 6 categories, […]
NO CONFIDENCE It was a night of dysfunction and shocking revelations Tuesday night as the Lawrence City Council was set to take a vote of “No Confidence” in Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera only one year into his four year term. The council, mostly made up of holdovers from the Lantigua administration and loyal to the former […]