PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Donald Hause, left, and Patrick Jones are the two newest members of the Swampscott Board of Selectmen.
Like an undercurrent tugging a swimmer out to sea, the political dynamics or voter frustrations in Swampscott’s Tuesday election left Matthew Strauss without a seat on the Board of Selectmen.
Ask anyone in town and everyone will say Strauss is a nice guy who holds Swampscott’s interests close to his heart. So why was he the odd man out in the three-man contest for two board seats?
Rain and unseasonably cold spring temperatures limited voter turnout to 16 percent of registered voters. That core likely included supporters of Strauss, Donald Hause and Pat Jones, and residents interested in town politics.
When the last vote was counted, Strauss trailed Jones by more than 100 votes. Hause received 20 percent more votes than the incumbent.
What forces were at work to craft the results? To start with, Hause and Jones weren’t competing with Strauss for one open seat on the board. They were aiming for two seats in the wake of John Callahan’s decision not to seek reelection.
With that goal in mind, the two challengers did not need to target Strauss for defeat. They simply needed to convince enough voters that two new faces on the board made sense.
They obviously didn’t have to work very hard to make the argument. Voters in Swampscott are frustrated and the objects of their disaffection are easy to define. They think property taxes are too high and they have friends and neighbors who moved to Marblehead where tax rates are more reasonable.
Every homeowner gripes about tax bills. But the anger felt by Swampscott residents ties in with frustration over the number of empty public buildings in town. The shuttered police station, the senior center building, the Greenwood Avenue middle school and the Machon School prompt residents to ask the same question every time they drive by one of those buildings, “I wonder what they’re going to do with that place?”
It’s hard not to wonder if the board’s decision Monday night to map out a future for Machon convinced voters go to the polls wondering about plans for the other empty buildings.
It is interesting to speculate on how Hause and Jones will fit into the board. The two are no strangers to town government, having served on other important boards. Jones shares a knowledge of government with Naomi Dreeben. Peter Spellios is the board’s political mover and shaker and Laura Spathanas is the person ready to help anyone and everyone.
Where does that leave frontrunner Hause? He brings business experience to the board. Will that translate into refreshing approaches to tackling taxes and town buildings? The voters, or at least the handful who went to the polls, will be watching and waiting.