Field filling up in wake of Walsh announcement

LYNN – City Councilor at large Brendan Crighton and School Committee members John Ford and Charlie Gallo announced their candidacies Tuesday for the West Lynn-Nahant legislative seat hours after state Rep. Steven Walsh said he is leaving the Legislature in March for a private sector health care job.The rapid-fire announcements set the stage for the first political fight among local Democrats for a legislative seat in more than 10 years. It also identified local politicians hoping to grab higher office now that the opportunity has presented itself.”There’s three people on the move here. The candidates interested are all politically ambitious,” said former Councilor at large Loretta Cuffe O’Donnell.Walsh on Tuesday said “who succeeds me is a question that is the furthest from my mind,” but Crighton and Ford said their legislative experience gives them standing in a race for the Massachusetts House 11th Essex District seat.Crighton has worked for state Sen. Thomas M. McGee for more than eight years, including four as McGee’s chief of staff.”I thank Steve for all he’s done for the district. Now it needs someone who is ready to represent it from day one,” Crighton said.Ford was the runner-up in the 2002 legislative race Walsh won and he has worked in Walsh’s legislative office for four years. He said public safety and education are issues he will campaign on.”I won’t be any Steve Walsh, but I think I can do the job,” he said.A committee member since 2011, Gallo said he has a reputation for returning residents’ telephone calls and attending school-related meetings. He said his family has lived in West Lynn for four generations.”I want to continue to serve,” he said.Ward 6 Councilor Peter Capano said he will decide in the “next week or so” if he is going to run for the 11th District seat.”It’s in West Lynn, and that’s what I’m interested in,” he said.All three declared candidates and Capano are Democrats and Nahant Republican Christopher Dent on Tuesday said the West Lynn seat “would be very tough” for a Republican to win.Dent ran unsuccessfully against McGee in the 2010 state Senate race.”I don’t know of anybody who could run on the Republican ticket,” Dent said.State elections are scheduled this fall and Walsh on Tuesday said he will leave the Legislature in March shortly before he starts his Massachusetts Council of Community Hospitals job. Secretary of State spokesman Brian McNiff said the decision to call a special election before the fall to fill Walsh’s seat is up to the Legislature, specifically Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo.”Elections are called by the branch where the vacancy occurred. The decision, as a practical matter, is made by the speaker,” McNiff said.The House does not have to call a special election, McNiff said, but if one is scheduled for Walsh’s seat, election dates will be announced by the state secretary’s office.The West Lynn-Nahant House seat has a history of bloody political fights where victors emerged to lead long political careers.The late Thomas W. McGee represented West Lynn and served as House speaker. He was defeated in a 1990 election by former legislator and Lynn Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. that included a vote recount.Clancy became Lynn’s state senator in 1994 and Thomas M. McGee, the late former speaker’s son, won election to the 11th district seat. He went on to win a special election for the Senate in March 2002 after Clancy was sworn in as mayor. The special House election scheduled that year sent Walsh into the House as McGee’s successor.The winner of the fight to succeed Walsh could leave a vacancy in city elected office and the City Charter calls for the runner-up in the last city election to fill the vacancy. Former Councilor Paul Crowley was the council at-large runner-up in last November’s election and Lorraine Gately was the School Committee runner-up in the final election.But city office holders don’t have to resign to serve in the Legislature – just ask Clancy, who continued