State Representative and 16-year incumbent Vincent Ciampa will fight for his political life tomorrow in his write-in campaign against Democratic nominee Carl Sciortino.
Fewer than two weeks before the election, Ciampa announced a last minute write-in campaign to win back his seat from Sciortino, who faces no Republican opponent. Sciortino was defeated in the Democratic primary for the Massachusetts 34th House District by a narrow 93 votes this September.
Ciampa is running as an independent and his name will not appear on Tuesday's ballot. He has instead sent out a flyer to voters in the district with stickers to place on the ballot, allowing them to write in, or stick on, his name. The sticker campaign coincides with an abundance of posters urging voters to "stick with" Ciampa.
Historically, write-in campaigns are rarely successful. Regardless, Ciampa has expressed optimism for his chances of reelection.
But the most controversial aspect of the election has been a flyer sent to residents of the 34th district last week, calling Sciortino a "homosexual, anti-Catholic extremist" and highlighting a protest that Sciortino and his partner held at the Holy Cross Cathedral.
According to the Parents' Rights Coalition, a local conservative group, Sciortino stood up with his back to the altar during a Catholic Mass in June of 2003 and reportedly kissed his partner.
Sciortino denies the kissing claim and says he was at the church to protest the Catholic Church's opposition to the Massachusetts State Legislature's vote to allow gay marriage.
Sciortino responded with a press release stating, "Unfortunately, my opponent has made this an ugly campaign, but we are trying to stay positive and focus on the issues that really matter to the families in Medford and Somerville."
"I don't believe the voters in our community respond well to hate-mail," Sciortino told the Daily. "Most of the voters I've talked to have been less than pleased with the negative mail coming from Ciampa and his supporters, and we are picking up more support because of my commitment to all the issues."
The flyers were sponsored by the PRC, with which Ciampa has denied any involvement, but Ciampa does admit that in discussing Sciortino's protest in the cathedral, they have brought out "an issue of grave importance,"
"I'm trying to run a sticker campaign, and they've got an issue with Mr. Sciortino," Ciampa said. "What he did [at the cathedral] was absolutely absurd, and he should answer to the public."
In response, the Sciortino campaign has continued to use the techniques that brought it success in the primaries - meeting with voters and concentrating on issues that concern area residents.
"I am confident the voters will respond favorably to our message, we've been campaigning very hard on all the issues that our community cares about," Sciortino said.
His campaign has sent out various mailings to area residents emphasizing his status as the Democratic nominee and the endorsements he's gathered since winning the nomination.
Ciampa called Sciortino a "one issue candidate" who focused on gay marriage and distorted Ciampa's record regarding a vote on $1 million of school funding for Medford and Somerville. Ciampa claimed that his vote against a bill to fund schools was to preserve public safety jobs. Sciortino contended that Ciampa had no proof that public safety jobs would be lost as a result of the bill's passage.
"I'm running a campaign based on the false accusations; the fact that Mr. Sciortino was with me in the beginning of this campaign, until my constitutional convention vote [to ban gay marriage and allow civil unions]," Ciampa said. "That's where Mr. Sciortino and I separated - Mr. Sciortino thinks government is about self service."
Ciampa also has attacked Sciortino for the donations he has accepted, most recently $400 from controversial former Massachusetts Speaker of the House Tom Finneran.
"He just accepted a check from the Finneran victory fund - less than 24 hours after the Democratic primary," Ciampa said.
Sciortino, who has often made issue of his dislike of the leadership style of the former Speaker, said the donation was accepted in the interest of "party unity" and that all Democratic primary winners received such a donation.
-- Keith Barry contributed to this article.
