Avoid making enemies is watchword in rep race

LYNN – With the West Lynn-Nahant legislative race set to be decided in just over a month, Democratic activists warned candidates must avoid alienating voters even as they try to win their hearts and minds.”No one wants to make enemies,” said Lynn Democratic City Committee member Joseph Scanlon.Voters not already pledged to support candidates Brendan Crighton or Charlie Gallo are going to have to think long and hard about what they like – and don’t like – about the two, said Scanlon and former West Lynn legislative candidate Donna Coppola.”You have two guys almost the same age with almost the same friends who are both active in politics – that’s a lot of close ties,” Scanlon said.Gallo, Crighton and former city councilor at large candidate Aikaterini Koudanis are on the Sept. 9 Democratic primary ballot. The race is the most competitive local legislative contest, said Coppola and Scanlon, since the 2002 campaign for the West Lynn seat that saw former state Rep. Steven Walsh beat Coppola and School Committee member John Ford.There is no Republican running to date in the Sept. 9 race.Like Veterans Village native Crighton and Gallo, who spent part of his boyhood on Edwards Court, the 2002 candidates enjoyed West Lynn popularity. Coppola said the race came down to hard campaigning and Walsh’s ability to combine strong support in Nahant with a family name steeped in Lynn politics.”He came from a well-known family involved in politics for years. His mother (former councilor and committee member Deborah Smith Walsh) is very well-respected,” said Scanlon.Gallo said his “responsiveness” to Lynn residents as a two-term School Committee member and private and public sector experience are earning him voter support.”I’ve always had to work very hard. I think people appreciate that,” Gallo said.With more than four years on the City Council and nine years working in state Sen. Thomas M. McGee’s office, Crighton said he has the experience required to serve in the Legislature.”People want someone who can hit the ground running,” he said.Koudanis said she is not raising money to pay for her campaign or sticking campaign signs on local lawns. “Save Union Hospital” signs representing the organization she helped found dot front yards across Lynn and she said the “grassroots” group underscores the organizational and community activism skills she said legislators need.”I’m hoping what people are looking at is what I’ve done in the community and not who they went to high school with,” she said.Although state Rep. Lori Ehrlich represents a corner of Lynn, Coppola said it is tough for women to win local legislative races.”Voters often equate women with children and schools,” she said.The same formula for winning an election in 2002 applies in 2014: Candidates have to knock on voters’ doors.”There’s a lot of climbing up hills in Pine Hill on 100 degree days,” Coppola said.