With low voter turnout predictions and many Massachusetts communities without contested elections, Thursday’s primary election offers Essex County voters strong choices for Essex sheriff and state representative.
Two Democrats, Jennifer Migliore and Saritin Rizzuto, are running for elected office for the first time. The winner will face Saugus Rep. Donald Wong (R-Saugus) in the Nov. 8 final election. Migliore has made a strong case for herself as a former aide to U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) who is ready to hit the ground running if she can beat Wong, who was elected in 2010, in November.
Rizzuto has made a convincing argument for translating her business background and commitment to community into service as a legislator representing Saugus and parts of Lynn and Wakefield.
Voters assessing the candidates on Thursday should ask if Migliore and Rizzuto are capable of looking at Saugus’ long-term needs and taking a measured and thoughtful approach to meeting them. That question should specifically apply to how the candidates address the town’s relationship with Saugus Wheelabrator.
With Wheelabrator’s landfill lifespan extension poised to advance to the state Department of Environmental Protection for permitting, voters should ask if the two Democratic candidates or Wong are best suited to guide discussions about how the extension, if permitted, can translate into economic benefits for the town.
Voters have a different question to ask the 11 candidates running for sheriff.
All of the candidates bring law enforcement backgrounds to the race. All 11 candidates bring different ideas to the sheriff’s race. All agree the department can play a role fighting the opioid addiction epidemic.
But the 11 can be easily divided into two camps, not along party lines, but along philosophical lines.
Candidates Michael Marks, Jerry Robito, Jeffrey Gallo, William Castro and Craig Lane have spent years working in the jail. Each one of them delivers a loud and clear message to voters: I know how the Sheriff’s Department works and I can improve it.
Kevin Coppinger, Anne Manning-Martin, Edward O’Reilly, James Jajuga Jr., Paul Russell and Kenneth Berg say their law enforcement backgrounds combined with a fresh perspective can improve the department.
Coppinger and Marks offer the starkest contrast on these competing philosophies. Marks said he knows the department and is ready to succeed Sheriff Frank Cousins. Coppinger said his track record of introducing new approaches to crime fighting in Lynn and managing a city police department make him the right person for the job.
In picking a sheriff, voters are urged to ask themselves if the next sheriff should be an insider or someone with an outsider’s perspective.
It’s up to the voters to do their homework on the sheriff’s and the state representative race today and go to the polls on Thursday armed with information.