If candidate Tony LaFuente is victorious in Somerville's mayoral race, he will have turned the city's political machine on its head.
He eliminated the incumbent mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay in September's primary, and on Tuesday he aims to eliminate another long-time city employee, alderman-at-large and mayoral candidate Joe Curtatone.
LaFuente's rise has been facilitated by the toll of recent state budget cuts and a campaign aimed at a dispirited electorate used to seeing the same faces in local government.
"We ran this campaign with normal people," LaFuente said, "who gave $10, $50, $100, but most of all their time."
Throughout his campaign, LaFuente has touted his stance as an outsider to city politics. He has never served in any town office, although he is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and has been involved with several town committees.
"If political experience brings us to the state we are in now -- with the city in fiscal and moral crisis -- then I don't want it," LaFuente said.
Last Tuesday, over 100 supporters held a rally at the Somerville City Club to kickoff the final week of the campaign. Senior citizens, business owners, and school officials were in the crowd, but most city employees were not. The common theme among supporters in attendance was the need for change in city government.
"I think we need some different leadership and he's man for the job," Chairman of the Democratic City Commission Ellen Clark said. "I think he's honest and a man of integrity."
"We need to think outside of the box, and I don't think we are going to get that with Joe [Curtatone]," Somerville resident Clara Surpa said.
Like many of LaFuente's campaign workers, Surpa is volunteering for her first political campaign.
"You can't put your all your eggs in an Assembly Square basket," said Supra, referring to the stalled development project in Somerville's largest undeveloped commercial area.
Curtatone has said he wants to solve the city's budget crisis by generating additional tax revenue through development of Assembly Square. LaFuente has advocated additional negotiations between the government and developers before construction.
Instead, LaFuente has made improving education the centerpiece of his campaign. He has plastered large billboards in Davis Square and major intersections promising to "clean up our schools." He called the elimination of special education monies for private schools by Kelly Gay "terrible." At a debate last month, LaFuente attacked Curtatone and the Board of Aldermen for laying off teachers as part of a plan to close a budget gap.
"We were the only community in the state to cut the reading specialists," he said. "What kind of priorities do we have?"
If elected, LaFuente has promised to lower the high school's dropout rate and ensure full equipment and employment at all schools. However, LaFuente has given few specifics on whether he will raise additional revenue or divert monies from other parts of the city to protect schools. The city is projected to have an additional one to two million dollar shortfall in next year's budget.
LaFuente seemed unconcerned. "We can take care of the budget. No problem," he said. He has advocated a non-combative relationship with Massachusetts' Republican Governor Mitt Romney. He blamed Somerville's receipt of the largest cut in state aid, $11 million last year, on sour relations with Romney.
To solve the crisis, and other city problems, LaFuente has trumped his experience as founder and operator of Flagraphics, a local design company.
"I'd rather go to City Hall being where I am, with a successful business with a time proven track record," than having served in city politics, LaFuente said.
Going against the city government, LaFuente has run an aggressive campaign that has challenged city norms. His campaign was the first to break a long standing "gentlemen's agreement" against posting signs on city lawns, leading to an expensive turf war. At the Chamber of Commerce's debate last month, his attacks on Curtatone's credit rating and residency led to some gasps from audience members. His opposition has labeled him a turncoat for having a primary residence outside of Somerville and until recently being a registered Republican.
The LaFuente campaign has been successful in circumventing most of this criticism. With an endorsement from the Somerville Journal LaFuente has convinced many that he is qualified to lead. His campaign has beaten the odds, starting with three percent name recognition among likely voters last December to nearly wining the September primary.
In the final days before the election, he described his opponent's campaign as desperate.
"Joe Curtatone and his friends aren't working as hard as they are because they don't like me," LaFuente said. "They just know that once I'm elected, life in the city will never be the same again."
LaFuente told the crowd walking into a debate last week, "I walk in with a bunch of normal people. [Curtatone's] people go in dressed in dark suits and looking somber. They looked like they were at a funeral."
"They were," a LaFuente supporter in the crowd yelled in response, typical of the way many of his supporters see this election. This exemplifies the candidate who often speaks of the "haves" and the "have nots," in the current administration and speaks to the coalition of minority voices he has gathered in an attempt to challenge the majority.
"Look around," LaFuente told the crowd, "this is what we can achieve with normal people. You don't see alderman -- here are the people without representation."
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