Reporter Jackie Majerus has the story:
Democrat Art Ward's relatively narrow win in the mayor's race could be because supporters of his primary opponent, Ellen Zoppo, crossed party lines at the polls Tuesday, Ward and others said.
Ward said Wednesday that he thinks the close race with Republican Ken Johnson can be partially attributed to the bitter Democratic primary battle he fought with Zoppo.
"Unfortunately, I believe it did have an impact on it," said Ward.
Some Democratic voters who supported Zoppo in the primary either cast ballots for Johnson or didn't participate in the mayoral election, Ward said.
The margin of victory should dictate to the Democratic Town Committee that Bristol's Democrats need to unify as a party, Ward said.
Zoppo said local races are "more about the personal relationships" than party affiliation. At the polls, people "voted a mix and match slate" of candidates from both major parties.
"Obviously by the numbers, some Democrats voted for Johnson, but I don't know who or why," said Zoppo. "And I am sure that Ward picked up a share of Republican votes as well."
Johnson could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
City Councilor Craig Minor, a Democrat who won re-election, said he wasn't surprised at the close race, but said it didn't have anything to do with Zoppo.
"I don't think there was an Ellen effect," said Minor, who said most Democratic voters don't care about bickering within the ranks. "The average voter was really oblivious to all that."
Minor, who along with Councilor-elect Cliff Block, recognized Zoppo and thanked her publicly for her support in their victory speeches Tuesday, had supported her in the primary.
Minor said a "handful" of Zoppo supporters may have opted out or voted for Johnson, "but not enough," he said, to make a difference.
Instead, Minor said, Johnson deserves credit for running a good race.
"Johnson raised a lot of good issues early in the campaign," said Minor, adding that at the end of the race, Johnson "said and did some strange things."
Johnson was a better Republican candidate than others, according to Minor. He worked hard, too, said Minor.
"He really invigorated the party," said Minor. "Maybe more Republicans voted this time than usual."
But Dick Inglis, who attended Ward's victory bash at Nuchie's Tuesday, said the close race indicates that either some Democrats cast ballots for Johnson "or didn't vote."
Some of the Democratic votes for Johnson could have been Zoppo loyalists, Inglis said.
Inglis said he knows all the candidates who ran for mayor this year and likes each of them.
"Ken Johnson is a good candidate," said Inglis. He said Zoppo has been running for mayor "since she was 10."
"She'll be mayor someday," said Inglis.
But for now, Inglis said Zoppo is inexperienced where Ward is not.
"Art Ward, he's earned it," Inglis said.
Ward didn't say that Zoppo campaigned for Johnson or used any influence on her supporters.
"I personally don't have any evidence to substantiate that," said Ward.
Ward said he hasn't spoken with Zoppo since the election. He said he knew she was in the room at the Democratic victory party Tuesday, but said, "I didn't cross paths with her."
Bob Dunlap, who served as the treasurer for Ward's campaign, said he wasn't surprised by the close vote.
The past two years under Republican Mayor William Stortz, said Dunlap, were a rocky road for Democrats, who held a majority on the city council but didn't always stick together.
According to Dunlap, the conflict within the party had a lot to do with why Ward's win wasn't by a bigger margin.
But at the victory celebration at Nuchie's on Tuesday, Democratic Town Chairman Dean Kilbourne glossed over the travails of the past several months, saying only that the party had been through a primary and an election.
"It's been a long haul, but we worked together," Kilbourne said.
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
28 comments:
Brace yourself people - a blog article about Ellen! Is cyberspace big enough for the response this is going to provoke????
I have a suggestion for the mayor - its been two months. Instead of saying "The margin of victory should dictate to the Democratic Town Committee that Bristol's Democrats need to unify as a party..." can he just pick up the phone and call her and put us all out of our misery. Her buds are on the City Council. Its in his best interest. He won. Be the bigger man. Going to work or else i would look up her phone number for him.
How did Ellen snare that cush job at the Family Center? Is it because she is such a people person? Stay tuned.
How many times is Craig Minor going to be allowed to attack the average voter's intelligence? This is the second time he has personally attacked Bristol's voting intelligence with some off the wall comment to the media. This time we are all oblivious to the issues. For someone that presents himself as being so polished, he really does insult a lot of people. Maybe this is why the Dems are loosing ground.
I actually think this a really good article. Let's not bash people and give those of us who are political junkies the opportunity to talk about things in a good way.
I don't think Minor is off the mark in his analysis, Ken Johnson did run a good campaign. I got a ton of mail from him, he came to my door, and he talked issues. Give credit where credit is due, and this time it is due to Art Ward running a good grassroots campaign.
Cush job at the Family Center? The freaking place is falling apart. Good luck to her on that one. I hear the pool is falling through the foundation.
"We didn't cross paths?"
Yikes, that sounds like a giant cop-out for both of them.
I am sure that some of the Dems who supported Ellen over Art weren't going to change their minds for Nov., but it seemed to me that a fair share of them did get over it and supported their candidate. The primary was all about personality. The unions came out strong to support Art because he has worked with them - Ellen couldn't overcome their activism. In Nov. there were a ton more people - independants and Republicans - who knows what they did or who they liked and why.
Art calling for unity after threatening to run as an independent is probably a little prickly for some and he has some bridge building to do with the Town Cmte which, for whatever reason, had issues with him last year. I am sure he can do it. Its relief this whole saga is over. Let's move forward!
The Town Chair should take Art and Ellen out to lunch. Enough already. There is more drama here than on television.
Ward's biggest problem will be if he surrounds himself with Yes people. He needs smart folks and not just union hacks. It will make his life easier if he looks at the Council group and uses their ability to his advantage and not go punitive on them because they supported Zoppo. If he were smart, he would give Zoppo a spot somewhere. Take a page from Mayor Leone's book "keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
Has Ken Johnson surfaced yet????
I think Johnson tried to capitalize on the disgusted dem voter thing from the primary but it looks more like people just stayed home. How could 2/3 of the town not show up and vote? It is beyond me to understand what makes peopel tick.
Of course he has surfaced, what do you think! I suppose you believe that he is mourning the loss of an election? Do you think he is crying and holed up in his house like a baby? Think again, cause he is none of the above! So move right along or ask another question, just next time ask an intellegent question!
If Ellen had won the primary the results of the election (If Arty hadn't pursued the independant thing) would have been the same - the unhappy Arty voters would have stayed home or split between supporting the party and casting a vote for Johnson as a protest that there candidate lost. Its just human nature and how it plays out. Its not a big deal either way.
O fcourse Ellen voters voted for Johnson, and in 2009 they will vote against Art Ward again, if he doesn't move quickly to mend fences with her.
Remember he needs her, ellen doesn't need him.
Johnson had his chance and Stortz blew it for him and the Republican Party.
Stortz will you please move to Florida ASAP?
I am sure that both Ms. Zoppo and Mr. Ward are mature enough to bury whatever animosity there might be between them and wise enough to work together toward their mutual goal of making Bristol a better place to live. Bristol needs them both.
Looks like Mocabee, Schafrick, Johnson will continue to blame Stortz for their failure.
Just exactly what did he do that made Johnson lose?
Maybe if the Republican had worked with Stortz they could have won the top seat again, AND had another Councilman.
Seems like his "issues". conveyance tax, purchasing, the Mall, etc were things he differed with the city on. All were things that stortz's positions were know on some time back.
That was JOhnson's choice to bring them up.
if ellen is to be a positive influence at the job that she has just been dropped in her lap. she should get her nose out of the air and realize that real people utilize the boy's/girl's club otherwise she will lose that position too.
supposedly zoppo showed up on election night, why didn't she step up to the plate and congratulate ward for his victory? so much for party loyalty, I guess her ego means more than she preaches, she needs to get over herself, ward won the primary, ward won the general election, I guess her lack of decency and respect demonstrates why she didn't win either contest - thank goodness, the voters know best.
Its always about Ellen. I didn't see Ward demonstrating any statesmanlike behavior on Election Night or the night before at the rally when he failed to even acknowledge the other Dems running. And if she hadn't shown up at Dem HQ, then she would be getting busted for being not going or accused of being at the Republicans. Let's remember which candidate was threatening an independent run before we start comparing who the real Dems are.
I wish Art well and the one piece of advice I would give him is if you really believe there are a portion of the 48% of the vote that went for Johnson cuz of the primary, then ask yourself why. Art didn't landlside through the primary or the Nov. election. Is it because of Ellen or because of him?
Who cares about Zoppo, and Minor once again proves he is out of touch with the voters.
That last post didn't make any sense. Please explain. By the way, apparently people do still care about Ellen otherwise they wouldn't keep bringing her name up so don't blame her for her name being posted all over this blog.
The people who were supporting Art or the people who thought Ellen was going to be bad for the unions were very succesful at painting her in a bad light. But there are a lot of people at City Hall who like her very much and are sad to see her go. I think you have to get to know her. When people do, they become big fans and very loyal, like my neighbor is who works there and ddin't know her at all at first. Art is also a fave among staff, but if they needed something done or pushed, the staff would go to Ellen in recent years from what I can see. It is too bad she is off the council.
Hey Stortz, stop blogging about how great you were. Mocabee and his leadership team tried to work with you and you kicked them in the tail, like you did Suchopar and Krawiecki.
Just get out of office and stay home and watch the squirrels.
Ward needs Zoppo? My gosh I can't stop laughing!! City politics DOES NOT NEED HER! She was voted out enough said.
You bet your bippy!!
One observation: It's amazing how far nasty, smearing press articles can get you.
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