Unopposed, selectman Connolly set to win 8th term

Incumbent selectman John Connolly may be running unopposed in April’s town election, but there’s still one other alternative to the seventh term selectman on the ballot, and Connolly said he still wants to finish ahead of it. 

John Connolly

“Of course you want to do well because it’s a reflection upon not only yourself, but the job you’re doing,” Connolly said. “You don’t want to get beaten by the blanks, let’s put it that way.”  

This is the first uncontested race for a seat on the BOS since 2007, the last time Connolly was up for reelection.  Including this year, he has run unopposed three times. 

“There are two messages you can take from [running unopposed],” Connolly said. “You’re doing a great job or nobody cares … I’d like to think it’s somewhere in the middle.”

Connolly, 50, has served on the Board of Selectmen since 1989 and is assured of winning an eighth term on Tuesday, April 6. Only fellow selectman Avril Elkort has served on the BOS for a longer period of time. 

Born and raised in Canton, Connolly said his “blood is green.”  He said his passion for the town and his willingness to “do what’s right for the town” resonates with voters. 

Connolly said he takes the position very seriously, but did admit that he “went back and forth several times” in deciding whether or not to run for another term.

“My family comes first,” he said. “I make no bones about that.”

Connolly and his wife, Nancy, are the parents of two small children, 5-year-old Caitlyn and 3-year-old Kayla, something that factored into his decision. But after talking with his wife, he decided to run again.

“As I said to my wife, it’s more than a hobby, it’s a passion. It’s what I do,” Connolly said. “It might sound corny, but I love it. I really do.”

In his 21 years on the BOS, Connolly said one of the town’s greatest accomplishments has been bringing marquee businesses to Canton like Reebok or Dunkin Brands or the Irish Cultural Centre of New England.

He’s helped deal with issues like the Plymouth Rubber or Westwood Station sagas, but calling Canton a “cut-through community” since it is located near a bevy of major highways, Connolly feels the town’s biggest issue will always be traffic — something that could have spiked if there had been a different outcome in either the Plymouth Rubber or Westwood Station situations.

He’s also been there for projects that have directly impacted the traffic flow of Washington Street — the downtown underground wiring project and the Streetscape project.  

“Whether it was ten years ago, 20 years ago, or five years from now, [the top concern] will still be traffic,” he said.

Connolly said his “number one priority and issue” heading into his eighth term is to have some sort of renovation done to the Department of Public Works facility. While he said the town cannot afford to build a new facility, which he estimated would cost between $13 and $15 million, he is opting to explore more of a “band-aid” approach.

“The men and women of the DPW deserve it,” Connolly said, noting that the police station, fire station, high school and library have all recently been renovated. “Is it a bad time? Yes it is, but we can’t wait any longer.”

He also said it was important to try to “hold down taxes as much as possible” while maintaining the level of services Canton residents expect. 

After serving on the School Committee from 1983 to 1989, a then 29-year-old Connolly decided to pursue a seat on the BOS in 1989 when former selectman Richard Staiti did not run for reelection. Connolly held off three challengers in that election and has been serving ever since.

While the last two election cycles have been uneventful for Connolly, his 2001 and 2004 reelection bids were highly contested. In 2001, Connolly held off current selectman Victor Del Vecchio by 221 votes in what Connolly said was the most difficult election of his life because his mother, who was terminally ill during the campaign, died shortly after the election. 

Del Vecchio won a seat on the BOS the following year, and Connolly said there are no hard feelings. 

“I have a great deal of respect for Victor,” he said. “I love the guy very much, I really do. I’m not afraid to say that.”

In 2004, Connolly came out ahead in a unique election where three people were elected to the BOS (current selectmen Sal Salvatori and Bob Burr were the other two) as the board was expanding from three members to its current total of five. 

Connolly prides himself on his “common guy” qualities; he said he has an “open door policy” and makes himself available to talk about town issues, even if people disagree with him.    

“What you see is what you’ll get,” he said. “I have no hidden agenda.”

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Posted by Jeffrey Pickette on Mar 25 2010. Filed under Features, News, Town Government. Both comments and pings are currently closed.