Revere mayor only incumbent safe from challenge

REVERE – Local voters get plenty of chances today to make changes in the City Council and School Committee ranks.With polls opening at 7 a.m. and closing at 8 p.m., voters will not only select or reject candidates, but also decide the fate of a ballot question on high school condom distribution.The question asks voters if they want to suspend distribution of condoms and other birth control through the school health center and form an advisory council to review the distribution program. A School Committee vote earlier this year made birth control available to high school students if they are enrolled in the health center and if their parents gave them permission to receive birth control.Mayor Thomas Ambrosino is spending Tuesday’s final election on the sidelines: His four-year term ends in 2011, but voters will decide between five incumbent councilors at large and six challengers, including some familiar names to Revere residents.Incumbents George Colella, John Correggio, Robert Haas, Daniel Rizzo and Anthony Zambuto are seeking re-election while challengers Victoria Laws, Edward O’Hara, Richard Penta, Linda Rosa, George Rotondo and Albert Terminiello, Jr. are seeking at-large seats.Rizzo is the current council president and Haas and Colella are former mayors. Correggio is a Fire Department retiree and Zambuto has staked out public safety as a top council concern.Rotondo is leaving his Ward 4 council seat to seek an at-large seat after spending the last two years, in part, focusing on Public Works Department reforms.O’Hara is a Beach Street resident and Penta a former councilor who, like Rosa, is a veteran of past elections. Terminiello is active in local community affairs and is a past Revere Chamber of Commerce president.Three candidates – Ricky Freni, Joseph Lavino and Stephen Reardon – are running to succeed Rotundo. Ward 2 Councilor Ira Novoselsky faces a challenge from Steven Morabito and beachfront resident Todd Braid is challenging Ward 5 Councilor John Powers. Ward 3 Councilor Arthur Guinasso is facing a challenge from Oxford Park resident Brian Vesce.Ward 6 Councilor Charles Patch and Ward 1 Councilor James Kimmerle are running unopposed.School Committee members Carol Tye, Dan Maguire and Donna Wood Pruitt voted in favor of the condom distribution policy along with Ambrosino last February. Members Michael Ferrante and Ann Raponi voted against it and member Frederick Sannella was not present for the vote.Committee candidates Charles Giuffrida and Stacey Rizzo said they will vote today in favor of the ballot question. Candidate Joseph Nichinello could not be reach for comment.