By Jose Alfonso Garcia
I’m sure that when reading the header of this article, many of you may immediately imagine that I have come with it to rub on your face the many times that our State Representative, Marcos Devers, has tasted the dust of defeat in a political campaign. The recent one was not an exception, although it would be quite interesting to review his 20 plus year career running it is not exactly the topic moving my opinion.
Let me take a chance, however, to refresh the memory of some of his closest friends for having started the battle for the state representation so early and in such aggressive, dirty and demeaning manner, as they always have done. Mr. Devers has never been able to win an election against William Lantigua, although he has tried and failed in five (5) consecutive elections, which is a remarkable record for any politician and it a clear indication of why they are so afraid of fighting against Lantigua for his re-election. Those “Devers’ Close friends” were the ones who pushed him down from the mound by almost forcing him at gunpoint (the gun of ignorance) to abandon his seat at the State House to run for mayor in a city that was moving forward in the right direction.
I request your attention, my dear readers, to explain some of the reasons why I have come to conclude that Marcos Devers was the biggest loser in the past mayoral elections in Lawrence.
He lost friends, thousands of followers in the Sixteen District, he lost his credibility in the community, he lost trust, lots of money, he damage his great image of being a humble, honest and generous man, he wasted time, he served his leadership to Mayor Rivera in a silver platter, he lost time with his family, connections, and above all this, Marcos Devers lost the opportunity of reaching his main dream in life: Becoming Mayor of the Great City of Lawrence.
What was his political mistake? He launched his campaign for Mayor when he was at the highest peak of his popularity as State Representative only three months after winning an election with more than 9,000 votes. Another mistake could be that he thought he would get the support from the Anglo community; but it looks like this support was reserved for someone else.
By his political decision, many of us are convinced that Marcos Devers betrayed his political base in North Lawrence, with the largest concentration of voters in his district. Thousands of voters in the rest of the city consider the low turnout in his favor as a political failure. Many of us believe that Marcos Devers should have never put his leadership at risk for personal reasons. He should have listened to the wise counsel of many people like you who used to admire him as a Hispanic leader thought to be committed to his community. He should have continued as State Representative using his leadership to become part of the solution, not part of the problem.
You may not agree with my opinion and that’s fine, but for me and many of you, Marcos Devers was the biggest loser in the past mayoral elections.
