HAVERHILL - During a campaign that was sometimes dominated by insults, Mayor James Fiorentini and challenger James Rurak argued whether the record pace of housing development in the city is good for Haverhill.
Fiorentini said it is a way to boost the economy and bring life to old shoe factories. Rurak said it's too much too fast.
But last night, after voters overwhelmingly returned Fiorentini to office, the two men agreed on one part of the development issue: It's what voters want.
"Tonight the people of Haverhill have spoken in a loud and clear voice," said Fiorentini, who has rolled out a political red carpet to developers planning hundreds of condominiums and apartments for old downtown shoe factories.
"This is a mandate for our programs and our vision," he told about 100 of his supporters in a victory speech at Maria's Restaurant on Essex Street.
On the other end of the downtown at The Tap Brewpub on Washington Street, Rurak agreed.
"We have clearly different visions of this city and the people clearly chose one over the other," Rurak, mayor from 1994 to 2001, said at his post-election gathering.
"The mayor's vision is to grow the city out of its problems, and I believed we could slow the growth and improve the city in other ways," Rurak said. "People believe the downtown is coming back under this mayor and only time will tell. I wish him luck and hope he's right."
Fiorentini won the mayorship for another two years over his longtime political rival Rurak. Fiorentini received 7,302 votes to Rurak's 4,456, or 62 percent to 38 percent. Fiorentini captured 21 of 22 voting precincts in coasting to his third two-year term as mayor.
Fiorentini called his victory "a clear mandate from voters" to continue his economic development policies of turning old downtown factory buildings into housing developments and recruiting large retail stores to the city outskirts.
A total of 11,968 of 38,224 registered voters - 31 percent - cast ballots to elect their mayor and City Council for the next two years, and three School Committee members for the next four years, City Clerk Peggy Toomey said.
At Fiorentini's party, the mayor tried unsuccessfully several times to reach Rurak by cell phone to congratulate his opponent before addressing his supporters - whom he called "Team Fiorentini."
He began by thanking his campaign staff and family, in particular his father, John Fiorentini, who died in May.
"We lost my father this year, but he has been in my thoughts and mind every single day of this campaign," the mayor said. "My father's advice and guidance have given me whatever success I have had in life, and would never have been mayor without him."
Fiorentini, 60, and Rurak, who turned 59 yesterday, faced each other in two previous elections. They have debated each other since their days as students at Haverhill High School in the 1960s, and waged a fierce campaign this time. At various times, Rurak questioned Fiorentini's honesty and integrity and Fiorentini called Rurak a desperate and washed up politician whose handling of the Hale Hospital crisis caused the city's financial despair.
Both men also ran high-finance campaigns, with Fiorentini spending a Haverhill election record $108,456 and Rurak spending $59,585.
Last night Fiorentini praised Rurak for his hard-fought campaign and asked his supporters to get over any animosity they may have toward their opponent, and instead focus their energies toward moving Haverhill forward.
"I want to thank a man my father liked very much, my opponent Jim Rurak," said Fiorentini. "The Ruraks have served our city well over the decades, and I thank him for his public service.
"Campaigns sometimes get heated, and sometimes supporters find it hard to move on," the mayor said. "But I encourage all of you to do so, so that we can all work together to face Haverhill's great challenges."
Rurak blamed his loss in large part on the Hale Hospital issue. When he was mayor in 2001, he sold the financially troubled hospital to a private company, keeping the hospital operating in the city but leaving Haverhill with a $7 million annual debt payment for 20 years.
"I couldn't get the Hale off my back," Rurak said last night. "(Fiorentini) had four years to blame the city's financial troubles on me and it was too hard for me to get away from that in an election."
Rurak said he is uncertain what the future holds for him. He said he planned to go fishing today at Crystal Lake, either by himself or with his son. Looking further down the road, he said he and wife Kathy, who was his campaign manager, would like to start some kind of business together.
"We enjoyed working together so much we'd like to keep doing it," he said.
Fiorentini said he would be at his desk in the mayor's office at 8 a.m. today.
"You have all seen how hard I worked on this campaign," he told his supporters. "I will work just as hard over the next two years to meet the challenges ahead. Please join with me, work with me, and we will meet the challenges that lie ahead."
