To the editor:
Editor’s note: The Daily Item’s editorial (March 8) offered a positive assessment of state Rep. Paul F. Tucker’s candidacy for District Attorney, but it did not constitute an endorsement.
It is confounding to me how virtually every Lynn elected official and The Lynn Item at this early stage of the campaign to succeed Jon Blodgett as Essex County District Attorney have all endorsed Paul Tucker, a longtime Salem politician, cop, and a non-practicing attorney, for the job.
Don’t get me wrong, Mr. Tucker may be qualified for the job. I don’t know him. But that’s my point. For 37 years, I have routinely appeared in every court in Essex County on behalf of my clients and I would not know Paul Tucker if I fell over him. Local trial attorneys are a relatively small group.
On the other hand, a longtime Lynn attorney, James O’Shea, is also a candidate who I know well simply by seeing him regularly in several courts over the last two decades in the trenches grinding out the daily work that makes our criminal justice system work.
He knows how the system works, understands the strengths and weaknesses in the system, is smart, seasoned and could bring a fresh perspective to an office described by many who deal with it as antiquated, rigid and harsh in how it handles its business. Paul Tucker endorses a continuation of Blodgett’s modus operandi. It is time for a change in approach.
It is my opinion that local officials and the Item should make a fair assessment and consideration of all candidates before jumping on the bandwagon of an out-of-town pol at the expense of a well-qualified Lynn candidate. It looks more like the old-boy network is alive and well.
Michael Cerulli
Lynn
