Worcester City Hall from Franklin St. (Public Domain)

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October 19, 2009 - “City Council At-Large” (Worcester Mayoral) Debate - Mayor Lukes didn’t waste any time in going after Joseph O’Brien, whom she obviously considers her primary challenger come November 3rd.

Lukes continued to bang away at the idea from the last debate that O'Brien's connections in Boston are somehow detrimental to the City of Worcester. Although it's unclear as to why having friends in high places is a bad thing, and Lukes hasn't made any sort of accusation, she still used her opening remarks to question who is “whispering in his ears”.

The only connections of O'Brien's that can be determined by the focus of Lukes' attacks are Rep. Jim McGovern, (D-MA), whom O'Brien is the district director for, and Worcester's Own Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, whose campaign was run by O'Brien. It should be noted that Lukes took over for Murray as Mayor when he was elected Lieutenant Governor, and the two were famously rivals and at-odds when both were on the City Council.

Mayor Lukes concluded her opening statement by defending her record as an independent voice who is not afraid to make tough decisions. She said, “Nothing is sacred in this election or the next two years, because we’re going to have to solve some serious problems.”

O’Brien opened by talking about his background of working with children and his six years on the School Committee. He said he has visited more than 3,000 households to talk to people all over the city. He noticeably omitted any mention of McGovern or Murray, and appeared to ignore Lukes' early attack.

Councilor Kate Toomey, said she would work with state and federal officials to help Worcester get the tools it needs to attract more business. “I’m going to go out and I’m going to sell Worcester,” she said, continuing the main focus of her campaign to this point.

In response to a question about whether the structure of city government should be changed, Toomey said she favors changing to a strong mayor system, similar to Boston’s. She mentioned that she used to work for Former Boston Mayor Kevin White. She said that “cities with strong mayors do well.”

There has been much made of this lately, as Worcester’s charter calls for essentially a figurehead mayor, a strong City Council and a city manager. The mayor's only duties are as chairman of the City Council and School Committee.

Lukes said she prefers the current system. She said, “In Boston, the mayor is the only game in town … I don’t want to throw the whole system out because it’s flawed”.

O’Brien said he also supports the current council-manager form of government. He said, “Things are getting so tough in the city that we need two O’Briens to straighten it out,” referring to City Manager Michael O’Brien (no relation). It was an effective laugh line for O'Brien.

Emmanuel Tsitsilianos said that he is running to help bring businesses from around the world to Worcester. He said “The city has become a “dark” place.” That comment came off as a little creepy more than anything.

The candidates were asked how they would work with the school department, and Lukes said she would not be a “micro-manager” and went on to point out that O’Brien had sent political e-mails to school employees. Stop the presses.

O’Brien said that he e-mailed a position paper on schools to some school department employees, and that City Solicitor David Moore told him it was OK to do so. Lukes didn't have a comeback for that, probably because she knew that already.

On the hot issue of the Quinn Bill, which provides extra pay to police officers with college degrees, Lukes said the city can't afford to fully fund the program. “This is a crisis,” she said. “We need to make substantial changes.”

Before this year, half of the Quinn Bill benefit had come from the Commonwealth and the other half from the local cities and towns; but this year the state slashed funding in order to make up for a budget shortfall. The issue is that Worcester’s existing contracts with the Police Union require the benefit be paid in full.

O’Brien said he supported grandfathering existing employees who receive the benefit, due to those contractual obligations. Tsitsilianos agreed completely, while Councilor Toomey said she supported continuing the program in some form, but didn't elaborate as to where any changes would come from.

All in all, there wasn't much spectacular because Mayor Lukes, at the beginning of the debate, requested the format be changed to simple Question and Answer as opposed to the originally agreed to Question, Answer and Debate format. None of the candidates disagreed, so they went with it.

Click Here if you missed Part 1

Click Here for the Worcester Web Cam from the T&G Building

For more info: Boston Globe

Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Daily Worcesteria Blog