Candidates hope to buck the trend as Revere decides a new mayor, city council

By Barbara Taormina

REVERE – For the past few months Revere voters have been told repeatedly that the upcoming election is the most consequential in recent memory. It will soon be clear if they have been listening.

Election Commissioner Paul Fahey isn’t expecting a crush at the polls. “I look at the historical record,” said Fahey.

“During the last highly contested mayoral race in 2015, turnout was 30 percent. I think that’s a reasonable number,” he said, adding that it could be a little under or it could be a little over this time around.

“Unfortunately, the historical trend has been that turnouts in local elections are not that high,” said Fahey.

While that might be the historical trend, some of the candidates on this year’s ballot don’t agree with Fahey’s low prediction. “I think we’ll see closer to 40 percent,” said Acting Mayor Patrick Keefe. “I’m confident it will be 37, 38 or 39 percent. That’s it, 37 is my number.”

Keefe went on to say that a low turnout typically means people are happy. “People vote angry. They vote because they are unhappy with the situation,” he said.

Keefe said campaigning has been extremely positive. “I felt like I had a depth of knowledge of Revere,” said Keefe, who added that he’s been circling the city hearing what people have to say.

“A big difference between me and a lot of officials is I’m year-round. I do things every year, not just election years. It’s what I enjoy,” said Keefe, who has long been involved in youth sports and community programs and events.

Some have questioned Keefe’s experience, since prior to being appointed acting mayor, his focus was as a ward 4 city councillor. But Keefe said he debunked that myth early on. “My base is all over the city,” he said. “That made it easy to spread my wings.”

Keefe’s opponent, Councillor-At-Large Dan Rizzo, isn’t quite as sure that campaigning has been positive and civil. Rizzo recently posted a video on Facebook that described how a group of his supporters, many who were seniors, were harassed and bullied by the Keefe camp. “They were bullying and yelling,” said Rizzo. “It was despicable.”

Rizzo also felt that the forecast of a 30 percent turnout was a sad reflection on the apathy of voters. “I’m hopeful voters will turnout just for the purposes of democracy alone,” he said, adding that 30 percent should not make decisions for the whole city.

But Rizzo said he also feels very confident. “We’ve been working diligently going around the city, talking with people… Regardless of the outcome, we’ve done everything it takes to win,” he said.

Incumbent Ward 3 Councillor Anthony Cogliandro, who is running unopposed, said this year has been par for the course for a mayoral election. “Every four years, the city has a stake driven through the middle of it. During the preliminary, there were four candidates and the city was divided into four. Now, it’s divided in two.”

But Cogliandro’s focus has been more on the city council, which will have five or as many as seven new members next term. “I’m excited to have a council that’s new and to be one of the people with experience. There are some great people slated to get onto the council and I’m looking forward to working with them,” he said.

Incumbent Councillor-At-Large Anthony Zambuto also looks forward to a city council with new faces. “My pitch has been I’ve been around for a long time, I have a lot of accomplishments and I’ll be around to help the new people,” he said.

He said, overall, the election season has been positive. “There are always the haters who don’t like me because I tell the truth, but really, I haven’t seen any of that.”

Zambuto stressed his pitch is common sense, fiscal responsibility and experience. “That’s what I bring to the table,” he said.

Anthony Parziale, who is running for an At-Large seat, said campaigning has been a very positive experience and all the candidates in the race get along very well. Parziale has held campaign signs for all of the candidates in the race. “There’s no room to rip people down or point fingers,” he said.

“We’re all on the same side,” he said, “Team Revere. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing, a better city.”

Parziale said the feeling he got from voters was that they are looking forward to some new blood on the council. “Little things matter and accountability is important to have a fair city. It’s our city and we have to stick up for it,” he said. “For me, that means putting people first.”