Nahant plans special election to fill seat

NAHANT – A special election to fill the vacant seat on the Board of Selectmen will likely be held in October.The vacancy was created when Robert “Skip” Frary resigned in the spring. Town officials initially hoped to have the special election included on the state ballot in November.Nahant Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said the town submitted a home-rule petition request with the state in May, which if approved would have allowed the local election to appear on the state ballot. Since there was no response to the petition, he said selectmen decided to schedule a special election.Selectman Michael Manning was incensed there was no response to the request.”It is such a trivial and mundane item,” he said. “It should have been taken care of expeditiously.”Heather Johnson, a spokesman for Gov. Deval Patrick, said Patrick denied the request and a message was “left on an answering machine for the chairman of the Board of Selectmen.””After consulting with the Secretary of State’s Office and learning that the town has another viable option to fill existing vacancies, the petition was declined,” she said. “The town can hold a special election to fill vacant seats in September, allowing the citizens of Nahant to be more swiftly represented. Local officials, including the Board of Selectmen’s Office, have been notified of this decision.”Manning said the town was not notified of the decision”We haven’t heard anything so we wrote and asked the Governor’s office to let us know their intention in writing,” he said. “But there is so much red tape around the wrists of (Patrick’s) staff it won’t allow them to pen a letter. But I did get a call from his re-election office on my home answering machine.”Manning said not including the special election on the state ballot would cost the town money and inconvenience residents, but the town could not wait for a response any longer.”It’s getting late and we need to allow time for people to take out papers and launch a campaign,” he said. “So we will set a date, print ballots and hold an election. It will cost the town money, inconvenience poll workers and voters, who to express their democratic wishes have to go to the poll three times instead of two.”Selectman Richard Lombard said he is disappointed the state has not taken any action on the town’s request.”It will cost us $2,000 at a time when we need to save every dime we can,” he said. “It was such a simple thing and it couldn’t get done. It’s very disappointing.”Even though nomination papers are not available yet, Jennifer McCarthy and Lainey Titus have both publicly announced their candidacies. Both said they are looking forward to a spirited issues-based campaign.