Richard Reyes quits!
Richard Reyes, the senior member of the Lawrence Elections Department, has resigned from his position effective September 14th. That leaves Rubén Pérez, Marcos Devers’ former campaign manager and the Bilingual Elections Coordinator Lourdes Alvarado, former councilor at-Large candidate Franklin Miguel’s wife who has been in this country only three years and doesn’t speak English.
These are like the two previous selections made by the mayor for this position since firing Rafael Tejeda. Do you remember Frandy Matos and Sara García?
Secretary Galvin should send a team of monitors for these upcoming elections. Who is to say that Mayor Rivera has set up the election division to ensure his endorsed candidates have the upper hand?
The election division is in a precarious position and needs the oversight of the Secretary’s office. After Richard’s departure, the election division will have no one certified for the November elections and only one person who speak limited English in the elections office.
I can only imagine how they are running around at city hall to find another friend to fill the gap.
The new city website
The City of Lawrence website looks great. The colors, pictures layout, everything is very attractive… until you want to look up something. I have no idea who has the brilliant mind to design such a work of art which, to me, it’s like a Picasso.
I admit that I am not the brightest component in my Dell but I was able to navigate it before. Take a look at the City Council page with the agendas and minutes and say if it makes any sense as it is.
My hope was that perhaps they would have made changes to the Boards and Commissions page but they are the same. They are outdated as before with the names of members who resigned, moved away from Lawrence or have died still there.
Instead of wasting time, effort and probably money designing a fancy, difficult to navigate site, they should’ve tried to make it accurate.
My email to city councilors
Please note that Kendrys’ advice to councilors was, “I encourage you to keep all conversations about candidates for the City Attorney position in an open/public forum.”
On Monday, Eileen Bernal made the rounds visiting a few of them asking for their consideration on Tuesday night. If councilors were advised not to discuss it with me for fear of violating the Open Meeting Law, I think it was worse for one of the candidates to be begging for votes.
She was in violation!
Selection of the City Attorney
Email I sent to all City Councilors on August 18, 2018:
On June 14, 2018, Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera posted the attached picture of our home with William Lantigua’s car in the driveway on his Facebook page. The political history between them brings out the worst in people and immediately the comments began to appear. I did not respond because I realize it’s all politics in an election year, until I came up to Eileen O’Connor Bernal’s comment.
I have serious concerns about what she wrote on the mayor’s posting on Facebook. Whether it was social or business, nobody knew the reason for Mr. Lantigua to be at my home. Still, she passed judgment on gossip assuming that he was here for an interview and then speculated that I would not be interviewing his opponent which “it’s a problem,” she wrote.
Her action reflects adversely on her honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer. She made comments that were not facts or made comments without investigating the circumstances. She has my cell phone number and she had called me in the past, but in this case she did not call to ask me why Lantigua was at my home/office. She also has my email address.
It was in response to a Facebook post by the mayor on his page so it is logical that she was acting as his chief of staff, in a political way. I believe she engaged in conduct that adversely reflects on her fitness to practice law for being dishonest.
Ms. Bernal has the probability of being City Attorney for the City of Lawrence. Can we expect her to be fair in her decisions which will affect the entire city, instead of playing politics?
Chief of Staff Eileen Bernal has been the right hand of Mayor Daniel Rivera, not only his confidant but political and legal advisor. She has been a fierce campaign worker and her behavior regarding her comment on his Facebook page has made it clear of how committed she is to him – to the point of passing judgment on a situation unknown to her and then speculating as to my future behavior on that matter.
I strongly believe she is the wrong person to become City Attorney, a position in which she is supposed to be impartial, listening to all sides of a situation before making a determination.
The political climate in Lawrence is in turmoil and no one seems to care. Atty. Bernal will add to the lawlessness already existing in this city.
Response from Kendrys Vasquez:
I will encourage you not to respond to this email chain either in favor or against the City Attorney candidate as it is potentially a violation of the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law.
Also, I encourage you to keep all conversations about candidates for the City Attorney position in an open/public forum.
