Nahant selectmen candidates stepping up campaigns

NAHANT – The special election to fill a vacancy on the Board of Selectmen is heating up even though nomination papers are not available yet.To date, residents Jen McCarthy and Lainey Titus have announced their candidacy for the seat left vacant when Robert “Skip” Frary resigned this spring.Town Clerk Peggy Barile said nomination papers would be made available when Secretary of State William Gavin’s office authorizes the Nov. 2 election in which the local selectman candidates would be placed on the state ballot.Even though potential candidates are unable to pull papers, McCarthy and Titus have both held campaign kickoff events. Bumper stickers and a couple of campaign signs have already sprouted up in town.Titus said at this point in the campaign she is focusing on getting out and talking to people.”I have bumper stickers out,” she said. “I’m going to wait awhile before putting signs out.”McCarthy said she hasn’t officially started putting out signs because the election is still months away, but her father put one in his yard and it was vandalized.”I got a call saying the sign was gone but the metal frame was still in the ground,” she said. “I didn’t think it was a big deal. I figured some kids took it. But when I went out to get the mail the sign was crumpled up on my walkway. Someone took the sign and drove it across town and dumped it on my walk.”McCarthy added the bumper sticker on her husband’s vehicle was also removed.”It was crumpled into a ball,” she said. “They left it on our lawn.”Both potential candidates said they are looking forward to a spirited, issues-based campaign.