The mayoral race just got a little more clear.
Financial planner Rich Armington said Tuesday that after weighing his options, he's decided that “I’m not going to run."
Armington had been eyeing the Democratic primary that may pit the party's endorsed candidate, Ellen Zoppo, against longtime city Councilor Art Ward.
If Ward is running, he needs to file the papers on Wednesday.
But with two candidates who hoped to force City Council primaries -- Tom Ragaini and Terry Parker - struggling to get enough signatures, there's a growing possibility that Ward will forgo the primary and run, as he put it, as "a petitioning Democrat" on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.
Ward said he hasn't made a decision yet. But, he said, if he's the only person seeking a primary, he might give it up in order to save taxpayers the cost of holding the Sept. 11 primary.
Armington said he believed "I had at least a shot" of winning the primary, but after thinking about his many elderly clients, he decided that he owed it to them to keep looking after their money instead of seeking elected office.
"It was gutwrenching to me," Armington said, but "I just can't leave my people."
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
21 comments:
At least someone is looking out for the taxpayers!
thank you Art Ward for saving us taxpayers some money! finally, a responsible politician. He'll win in November anyway, so why force the city to spend money on a meaningless primary.
Definitely the noble thing to do since he is struggling to get the last 200 signatures and doesn't want to appear weak. Why didn't he just do this in the first place? Although one would think that someone on the Council for so many years could find 600 Democrats willing to sign.
Yes, Art thanks for looking out for the taxpayers despite the fact that the register of voters budget for primaries each year and so in fact we have already "paid for it." But better to save face, we understand.
Yep, thank you Artie! Avoiding the traffic Jam and taking the road les traveled it seems. Do you think its wise? I do, you will avoid opening a very problematic jar of worms that way.
A master stroke. Dare we refer to him as a "Green Party Candidate"? :)
Too bad Rich isn't running. We could have used someone who isn't a politician.
Earlier posts this week had Art supporters frothing at the mouth to trounce Ellen at the polls, now they are declaring the primary process meaningless.
Is the loophole available to him to run as a petitioning candidate for November useless as well?
Word is that their are community groups asking the candfidates to come to forums and skipping the primary is one way of Arty getting out of participating.
The real word is that some people wanted a candidate debate and Art refused. He said only if he could see the questions before hand and select the modirator. Seems he is afraid to go toe to toe with a woman.
Art is double digits away from getting the signatures he needs force the primary. It wasn't easy though. He had less than 2 weeks to get over 600 signatures during a time when so many people are on their final vacations for the summer or taking their kids back to college. There is no absentee petition signing process.
If Art had given one blank sheet to each of his American Legion friends, they could have collected over 600 signatures in one day. So much for his vastly over-hyped "veteran support".
You are all a bunch of Zopp-supporting cry babies. Grow up already. As for the debate and Art wanting to see the questions before hand - WRONG! It was Ellen who wanted to see the questions, Art will debate her at anytime.
As for signatures - he got them all with no problem.
Now you should all go put your knives away, go back to kissing EAZ's feet.
Patel
Well Steve, I am surprised at that I always thought you had an opinion.
It was nice chatting with you.
Have a great evening.
Whatever you say, "Patel". This is the same Art Ward that skipped a candidate Q&A forum in order to go the bar for a party.
Well, the proof's in the pudding. The democratic Town Commitee has scheduled a "forum" for Ellen and Artie at their next meeting on August 27. Let's see if Artie ducks this one...again.
Oh, so you think that Artie is foolish enough to be badgered by the same people who voted for zoppo at the DTC meeting for endorsement - duh?
Artie has no need to debate with her anyway, her horrible record of accompolishment speaks for itself and she can't change it in a month.
Gee do you think those that voted for Zoppo on the DTC will give her questions or a "script" before the meeting? I am betting on it being more of a set up with the Den Mother working behind the scenes. The DTC is such a joke!
"Oh, so you think that Artie is foolish enough to be badgered by the same people who voted for zoppo at the DTC meeting for endorsement - duh?"
He'd be foolish if he thinks the badgering he gets from the DTC will be any worse than the badgering he's gonna get from Ken Johnson's supporters in November. He might as well start toughening up now. Besides, if he claims to be a Democrat, then he shouldn't be allowed to run away from the other Democrat in a primary contest.
I see Minor and McCauley riding on Ellen's coat tails! Can't wait for them to be voted out.
Trying to Make Art Ward look bad that he had a Previous Engagement to attend a "Retirement" gathering for one of the Firemen~and Ellen left on vacation the next morning~she just had another one of her Hissy fits because she did not get the Forum she wanted when SHE wanted it! Mr. McCauley didn't you attend the gathering to Wish Your Fellow Firefighter well? These people cannot Tell The Truth if their Lives depended on it~they Only want to make themselves Look Good~What A Joke!
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