Lynn candidates look to kick campaigns into high gear

LYNN – Candidates agree that political fervor ratchets up following Labor Day but not everyone prefers to wait that long to get started.”I think people don’t start to think of anything but summer until after Labor Day,” said School Committee candidate John Ford said.The incumbent calls himself “a Labor Day guy,” because that is when he gets down to work and he feels that people are more ready to listen.Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy also agrees with that logic. While she has put out a smattering of signs, attended events and debates, she admits that things get hotter when the summer winds down.”People get out of that summer thinking and into fall whenever things start up again,” she said. “It’s conventional thinking.”Conventional perhaps but not universal.School Committee candidate Charlie Gallo said he isn’t putting on any big push post Labor Day because he essentially hasn’t stopped working since he launched his original campaign over two years ago.”I’ve been working hard, not just during campaign season but for the last two years,” he said.Gallo admits there will be more coffee hours and more signs after Labor Day but he has been at events, speaking with community members, teachers, administrators and parents since he was first elected in 2011. He said that won’t change with the date on a calendar.”Certainly the intensity level goes up after Labor Day,” said Ward 1 Councilor Wayne Lozzi.Lozzi is a campaign veteran having worked on five of his own campaigns as well as campaigns for his father.”As a candidate I’m working the same before or after Labor Day but people begin to notice after Labor Day,” he said.City Council President and Mayoral candidate Timothy Phelan echoed Lozzi’s sentiment.”I’ve never waited until Labor Day to start my campaign. You can’t take things for granted,” he said. “My campaign is no different before or after Labor Day.”Robert Tucker has campaigned as a ward councilor and worked on other campaigns for about 14 years. He said while incumbents who have name recognition might be able to take it easy over the summer vacation months, a challenger won’t want to wait until Labor Day to get their name out.Ward 2 candidate Jesse Jaegar understands. Jaegar is hoping to unseat longtime incumbent William Trahant.”We started our operation in January and I was door knocking by the beginning of April,” he said. “By (Labor Day weekend) I will have covered the whole ward. My plan after Labor Day is to go back over it again.”Jaegar said he has friends who are campaign veterans who told him, “you walk you win.” Tucker called walking a key tactic in a ward race.”If you’re serious you have to walk,” he said.The second most important aspect is to be organized, Tucker added.”Those are key tactics if you’re challenging an incumbent,” he said. “Be prepared to walk and have coffee hours and get your word out ? never take anyone’s vote for granted. People want to see you and hear from you,” he said.Jaegar said that is why he walks because the best place he can think to talk to people is in their own home, face to face.Trahant agreed that despite changes in technology and the social media craze nothing beats standing in someone’s living room and listening to what is important to them.”It’s still the old grassroots campaigning,” he said.Grassroots also includes signs – much to the chagrin of some.Kennedy’s campaign manager Loretta Cuffe O’Donnell calls campaign signs a necessary evil.Ward 1 challenger Debra Plunkett began putting out campaign signs over the summer and though he said he’d prefer to wait, Lozzi followed suit.”I really don’t think signs should go out until after Labor Day but if your challenger is putting them out, you can’t leave it unanswered,” he said.Councilor at large candidate Paul Crowley joked that former councilor Steve Duffy used to call himself Mr. October because that was when he would begin campaigning in earnest.”I don’t know if I’ll wait until October,” Crowley said.But like Ford, Crowley said he does