By: Tom Duggan – July 17, 2017 `In response to the State’s Office of Campaign and Political Financing (OCPF) demanding he disclose donors to his campaign, Lawrence City Councilor and mayoral candidate Modesto Maldonado, says the OCPF is “wrong” in its’ assessment of his campaign finance reports, and said the media should be more focused […]
By: Kathy Runge – November, 2015 The election has come and gone and the good news is, I should have no scarcity of material for the foreseeable future. The bad news is that Brian DePena was top vote getter in the Councilor at-Large race. Mr. DePena, I will be thrilled if you prove me wrong. […]
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 […]
By: Tom Duggan Sept, 1, 2015 Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has ruled that Lawrence City Council President Modesto Maldonado has violated the open meeting law by holding secret meetings and not notifying the public of what was to be discussed or what was discussed during their secret session. Ruling The state’s open meeting law […]
By: Kathy Runge – August 2015 We’re starting campaign season and I’m already preparing myself for the onslaught of robo-calls and junk mail we’ll be receiving in a couple of months. Please don’t vote for candidates that spend thousands of dollars trying to impress you. The more money a local candidate receives in donations, 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 […]
July, 2015 Now that his pal Willie Lantigua is out of office, you will hardly find another politician in Lawrence as slick and sleazy as City Council President Modesto Maldonado. Maldonado was a part of the Lantigua machine. His job in that span of four years on the council was to advance Lantigua’s agenda and […]
By: Kathy Runge – June, 2015 Myra Ortiz, Candidate for District A Councilor I recently spoke with Myra Ortiz, who will be running against incumbent Sandy Almonte. Myra has made Lawrence her home for 15 years and currently represents District A on the School Committee. Although the school system is under receivership, Ms. Ortiz has […]
By: Katy Runge – January, 2015 Happy New Year to all of The Valley Patriot readers! If you missed the City Council meeting of December 16 you should watch it on YouTube (Channel: LawrenceCityCouncil), because it was a gem. Public safety loans were denied, a vote of no confidence in the mayor was attempted and confusion […]
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 […]
With all of the problems facing the City of Lawrence, the city council is focusing their efforts on protecting political hacks in city hall and attacking Mayor Dan Rivera. Last month, the council considered a vote of “no confidence” in Mayor Rivera claiming he is playing politics with his firing of Lantigua appointees. The narrative […]
By: Tom Duggan 12/17/14 With only 11 months under his belt as Lawrence’s new mayor the Lawrence City Council is considering a vote of “No Confidence” against Mayor Dan Rivera for not staying at a council the city meeting Tuesday night to answer their questions about a recent spate of firings of Lantigua cronies. The council is […]