Accusation By Ward 1 Councillor Could Throw Monkey Wrench into Mayor’s Race

  As I read this past week’s Revere Advocate, how could I not notice the front-page news story where a ward councillor accused the mayor of bullying her and alleged payback by the mayor of the future of the public arts center at the renovated Beachmont firehouse. Ward 1 Councillor Joanne Mckenna was quite disturbed upon hearing that the mayor informed the Metropolitan Area Planning Council that work on the arts center must stop completely.

  The upcoming mayor’s race is already generating lots of political activity with a vacant mayor’s seat on the ballot come the September preliminary race. Already a number of candidates have announced their intention of running to replace the incumbent, who will be resigning later this month and getting appointed to a state post.

  The candidates to date include three councillors-at-large, Dan Rizzo, Gerry Visconti and Steven Morabito, all giving up their at-large council seats. Another candidate is Ward 4 Councillor and current City Council President Patrick M. Keefe, Jr. He seems to be getting support from the current mayor and many of his supporters.

  Seemingly, O’Keefe will become the acting Mayor until a new mayor is elected and gets sworn into office. You can bet your bottom dollar that the Public Art Center will become an issue in this campaign as candidates will work Beachmont voters to the max. In a crowded campaign any political edge will be worth fighting for. It will, as some say, make things a bit more complicated for O’Keefe, who is running for mayor. The other candidates are surely going to try and tie O’Keefe to the incumbent mayor. The McKenna accusation just makes things a bit more difficult for O’Keefe but he’s also pretty politically astute, too. All in all, the 2023 mayoral race in Revere could be one for the ages.

  In the end, all the candidates will be spending the rest of this year with one eye on their council jobs and one eye on the mayor’s race. Soon we all will see the campaign ads up the kazoo.