The City Council’s future
While looking through some old files in my computer, some online conversations jumped at me from 2014 and they sounded just like today’s.
There were complaints about fraud and cheating in the elections that year, but no one made it formally to the authorities because it was decided that it was best to stay with the cheater rather than the cheated. I won’t go into more details because it’s a very sad era in politics in this city.
Lawrence is going through a period of uncertainty never felt before. We always looked forward to the inauguration day for the new members of the City Council but this year, there are some doubts that it may not even happen. That ambivalence is because this time something is being done about the corruption here.
Last we published the letters to the Secretary of State William Galvin by Jessica Aquino and Vladimir Acevedo requesting an investigation on the November 7th elections. Secretary Galvin said Thursday he’s the one who referred this matter to the district attorney and such investigation produced two arrests and we are told that it is not over.
This caused people to come up with all kinds of conjectures and interpret the laws as they see fit but we have not heard anything official from anyone. Perhaps the City Clerk’s Office Eileen Bernal or Council President Marc Laplante should have at least sent out a press release acknowledging the arrests.
Mayor Brian DePeña was on Spanish radio Thursday morning but only to say that his office had nothing to do with that and has not been notified of anything else beyond the letter from District Attorney Paul Tucker.
Later in the day, we watched on NBC an interview with Secretary of State William Galvin when he said, “We’re going to get all the ballots out of Lawrence, we’re going to get all the mail-in ballots and we’re going to review everything and all the provisionals and reconcile the list, and if further investigation contacting some of the people who allegedly voted by mail needs to be done, we will do it,” Galvin said at the time.
This is a big deal because it affects our entire city. We must stop the speculations going on in social media that tend to create more chaos. For example, it has been said that Fidelina Santiago will be allowed to serve as Councilor in District A, despite the investigation. Can you imagine that? That will make it very difficult for her and all of us to watch the meetings.
“They’re serious indictments but like anything else in our country, you’re presumed innocent. I think it’s wise to let this process go forward before reaching any kind of conclusions,” said City Council President Marc Laplante to NBC.
“However, despite these charges, Laplante thinks Santiago will still be sworn in, but Galvin didn’t comment on whether Santiago will be sworn in, as this saga plays out,” the NBC article says.
Some are suggesting that Fidelina resigns. That is a very personal decision although there have been suggestions that we sign a petition to force her to resign. These are opinions based on ignorance because no one has explained where this case stands. We only know that Fidelina and Jennifer Lopez were arrested and taken to Boston, but we don’t even know if they are back home.
That’s the situation with Fidelina Santiago; she may get a one to five-year sentence for being the accomplice in the get-away car but the most serious charges are those of Jennifer Lopez who is seen in the videos opening the mailboxes and taking the ballots.
As I said last week, it’s not just to demand honesty in the process but to force a punishment on those who deserve it. Perhaps it will be a necessary lesson to have clean elections in the future.
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