HAVERHILL — The City Council has been a receptive and comfortable forum for police Chief Alan DeNaro to unveil crime reports and new initiatives, praise his officers and lobby for money to fight crime.
The nine members include several vocal supporters and his self-professed No. 1 fan, David Hall — a retired Haverhill police officer and local constable.
Other city officials haven't fared as well before the council. In just the last week, councilors have publicly criticized the fire chief and the school superintendent over issues such as alleged sick-leave abuse by workers and their management and control of employees. At Tuesday's meeting, Hall went so far as to suggest fire Chief Richard Borden should consider resigning.
And there is no shortage of critics of Mayor James Fiorentini on the council, with several supporting former council President John Michitson's bid to unseat the mayor in the upcoming fall elections.
Just a week ago it looked like the council's chambers might actually become an even friendlier forum for DeNaro after the election. A police officer who works for DeNaro, patrolmen's union President Stephen Iannalfo, was seriously considering running.
A lot can change in a week, however. Iannalfo is now out and the man who is perhaps the chief's most dogged critic is officially in the race.
Leonard Russo — a Haverhill landscaper with a history of public and legal feuds with his neighbors, the police chief and other city officials — is among 20 candidates seeking nine seats on the council. Russo was the final candidate on Tuesday to turn in the 50 signatures that are needed to get on the ballot for the Sept. 15 preliminary election. The final 18 candidates will face off in the finals Nov. 7.
"Why is the Fire Department and even the School Department so heavily scrutinized by the council, yet the Police Department seems to have free rein and get a free pass?" Russo said. "That won't be the case if I get in."
Russo has had a long-running feud with some of his Fairmont and Newton Avenue neighbors, most notably retired police officer Joseph Spero, who is a personal friend of DeNaro and related to Russo by marriage. The feud is over a landscaping business Russo has operated for decades in the residential neighborhood.
The feud reached its boiling point two years ago when Russo was arrested by Haverhill police and charged with trying to hit Spero's girlfriend, Eileen Dekeon, with one of his work trucks. The case was continued for a year without a finding, and it was dismissed by a judge late last year.
The city has sued Russo several over the landscaping business, with mixed results, and Russo still has a pending civil rights lawsuit against the city over its efforts to banish his business from the neighborhood, he said.
"I have noticed our laws aren't always followed as they are written and are often circumvented based on who people are and who they know," Russo said. "If I'm lucky enough to get on the council, I'll treat everybody the same and look out for the taxpayer.
"As a small business owner, I'm used to running a business on a razor's edge profit margin," Russo said. "I'm frugal and I don't like to see waste, and I see a awful lot of it in government these days."
On Thursday, Iannalfo told The Eagle-Tribune he was withdrawing his candidacy due to a family issue.
"I have an uncle that is terminally ill," Iannalfo said. "We were hopeful ... (but) he has taken a turn for the worse, so it didn't seem like the right time to run."
Iannalfo also said his aunt is disabled and often requires his help.
Iannalfo said he took out papers to run on a whim and that he had no specific agenda in mind were he to have been elected to office. Nonetheless, he noted he's not a fan of Fiorentini.
"It would have been interesting duking it out with the mayor as a councilor," Iannalfo said. "But for now I'll be content with sparring with him in my capacity as the union representative."
Another unusual facet of this election season has been the interest of several city workers in running for office. Three firefighters had taken out nomination papers, but none of them — Deputy Chief Lewis Poore, firefighter James Jardine or Lt. Pete Schena — returned their papers to get on the ballot. The firefighters union has been fighting with the mayor over several issues including his use of private investigators to spy on firefighters suspected of violating sick-leave rules.
The president of the school custodians union, Fred Simmons, pulled paper for School Committee, but later switched to a bid for council after he was told local rules ban school employees from serving on the School Committee. School maintenance worker William Evans has continued his School Committee candidacy, despite the ban.
The School Committee race is shaping up to be one of the most crowded and hotly-contested contests in many years. There will also be a preliminary election Sept. 15 to pare the pool of school candidates from eight to six, for three available seats.
Incumbents Kerry Fitzgerald and Joseph Bevilacqua are being challenged by a group that includes: Raymond Sierpina, retired principal of Tilton Elementary School; well-known local lawyer Paul Magliochetti; former City Councilor Krystine Hetel; Evans, the school maintenance worker; Daniel DeRoche Jr., an active member of the Team Haverhill citizens group; and Katherine Kaczor, a parent who is active in the local PTO and school community.
School Committee member Erin Francescone is not seeking re-election. In the council race, neither is incumbent James Donahue.
The September preliminary election will not include a mayoral vote. The preliminary is designed to cut the number of candidates to two for each available seat. Since only incumbent James Fiorentini and former City Council President John Michitson are running for mayor, their names will appear only on the final ballot in November.
Councilors serve two-year terms and are paid $8,000 annually. School Committee members serve four-year terms and are paid $5,000 per year. City employees elected to these offices are not allowed to collect those stipends. The mayor serves a two-year term and is paid $90,000 annually
Candidates have until Aug. 13 to withdraw their names from the ballot.
Candidates for Haverhill election ("I'' denotes incumbent):
Mayor
James Fiorentini (I)
John Michitson
City Council (9-member board, all seats available this election)
Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien (I)
David Hall (I)
Michael Hart (I)
William Macek (I)
Michael McGonagle (I)
Ken Quimby Jr. (I)
William Ryan (I)
Robert Scatamacchia (I)
Malcolm Kimball Jr.
Christian Miller
Michael Young
Norman Milhendler
David Langlois
Sven Amirian
Colin LePage
Anastasia Papaefthemiou
Fred Simmons
John Curtin Jr.
Leonard Russo
David Noyes
School Committee (6-member board, 3 seats available)
Joseph Bevilacqua (I)
Kerry Fitzgerald (I)
Raymond Sierpina
Paul Magliocchetti
William Evans Jr.
Krystine Hetel
Katherine Kaczor
Daniel DeRoche Jr.
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