By Pedro Payano
On
November 5th of this year, elections for Mayor, City Councilors, and the School
Committee for the City of Lawrence will be held. The first candidate to
announce his candidacy is William Lantigua, for re-election as Mayor. The first
to challenge him is City Councilor- at-Large Daniel Rivera. Usually, in a
campaign for re-election, there aren’t many candidates. It is anticipated that
at least two other candidates will enter the race. Furthermore, if the Justice
Department formally indicts the current Mayor before the month of May, there
may be several more candidates considering running. 
Many believe that this
election will be one of the most hard-fought in the history of the City of
Lawrence. The controversies generated and the bad public image created by the
mistakes and political tactlessness of the incumbent will probably polarize the
city into those who will want four more years of the same, and those who will
do everything possible to block a Lantigua victory.The first generation of Latino politicians in Lawrence, as has occurred with other first generation immigrants, has had political success. This success was facilitated by a new electorate that is not completely aware of the political culture of the United States. In addition, this electorate lacks the experience and information to really understand and identify the politicians who offer sound solutions and who have high ethical standards. The new immigrant electorate is sometimes drawn to politicians who manipulate the public.
Of all the politicians in Lawrence, it is William Lantigua who has most taken advantage of this reality in Lawrence, and that is why some consider him the most skillful, even if he lacks a strong foundation in political science/governing. He recognizes the idiosyncrasies and the limits of his largely Latino community. He knows what he needs to preach to them. He knows what they want to hear and he knows what he has to do to be heard. He also dedicates his time to visiting the bars, bodegas, and other places frequented by the Latinos who make up the majority of voters in the city.
The political machine of the Mayor has never stopped working. He counts on the support of various Spanish radio personalities that he has hired to work for the city, or who identify themselves with his administration. We are aware that in various bodegas they are registering new voters with the message that we have to vote for this Dominican Mayor because the “gringos” have prejudiciously targeted him and want him out.
Even with so many mistakes and criticisms against the incumbent, it will not be easy to beat him as some might think. The worst thing his challengers can do is to underestimate him. Furthermore, if they give in to their personal passion to defeat him and become fanatics, they could make many errors that the Mayor could take advantage of. Three grave mistakes that his opponents can make are
1) to
make the need to defeat him into something personal, thereby showing desperation
and attacking him on issues that are irrelevant to the greater good of the city
2) to
believe that the perception that they have about William is uniformly share by the
entire Latino community
3)
and to not put together a large coalition to defeat him, including
community leaders and voters from every ethnic group that lives in the city.
IN ORDER TO DEFEAT HIM, LANTIGUA’S OPPONENTS should
consider the following:
1) he is a tireless political worker who will give it his all to
win, knowing he has nothing to lose
2) he understands perfectly well the importance of knowing at
least a certain section of the electorate and how to best utilize them, not
only to connect with them, but also to get out their vote
3) he has the courage to take political actions; he is not afraid
to take risks or to make mistakes 4) he makes decisions without hesitation,
knowing that not everyone will be in favor of his decisions and knowing that
this is part of the logic behind much politics
5) he will use, in an election campaign, when he is confronted with difficult
situations or challenges, whatever method or means possible to win
6) he will not consider “reaching out”
to the losers if they consider running for any other political office because
he will in all liklihood take their opposition personally
7) he will utilize some of the tricks of traditional Dominican
politicians that are used in his native country, including political patronage,
rewarding those who support him with political favors
8) he has the advantage of running as the incumbent.
One of the
weaknesses of some of his opponents is the failure of recognizing anything
positive about Lantigua. They interpret him as a constant “dark cloud” or sore
eye for the city. If his opponents want any credibility they have to be
objective in evaluating the Mayor. Quoting the person recognized as the “father
of the Dominican Republic,” Juan Pablo Duarte, “one must be judge fairly first,
if you want to be happy”!
For
example, people credit their State Representatives with bringing into the City
of Lawrence the funds to fix the streets. Yes, but is the Mayor who does the
job. For those people who have had their streets fixed, they are grateful to
the Mayor. There is no use arguing with them even if you have not had your
streets fixed in over twenty years!
Some
Latinos aren’t necessarily supporters of the Mayor but they feel, now that
there is a Latino in office, that there is a better atmosphere when they visit
City Hall. Similarly, perhaps they don’t feel as intimidated as before when
they used to encounter a police officer. It’s probably just a perception from
having a Latino Mayor but it’s treated as reality and it’s of little use for
the opposition to argue against it if they are going to be effective.
The
perception that many in the opposition have of William is that they believe
that he is not a modern leader and that his approach to administration is top
down (my way or no way). They see him as being egocentric, even a megalomaniac
who craves constant recognition. They think that his arrogance and lack of
diplomacy have hurt him in his role as Mayor.
However,
all of the aforementioned characteristics that have been ascribed to him are
subjective in a political election campaign. Do all the voters perceive him the
same way? Of course not! This interpretation about Lantigua might help them
with some voters, but not all. Regarding the federal investigation now underway
against him, we hear some of his followers say that since they have not been
able to officially indict him they will have to resort to “dirty tactics.”
Anticipating this as a possibility, Lantigua’s followers are not resting on
their laurels. They have already started preemptively countering these
suspicions by putting out a message that the federal investigation is just a
dirty campaign against a Dominican. If it does happen that he is officially
indicted, his challengers must be forbearing and let the justice system do its
job. In that way, Lantigua may not come to be perceived as a victim of the
system.
His
challengers have a huge feat ahead of them. It is by no means simple. If they
are going to defeat William, they cannot believe that everyone has the same
perception of Lantigua in Lawrence. He has his diehard supporters. They also
cannot plan on fighting a campaign in the same boxing ring that Lantigua uses
because they would surely lose. Lantigua’s challengers must come out from the
ropes of his boxing ring and fight their own fight. If his challengers are
going to succeed in defeating William, their fight has to be based on a just
and honest message with a clear intent and purpose, and bring that message
directly to every voter.
In our
next article of this series, we will continue to examine William Lantigua’s
challenges and concerns, and ask ourselves: Is there any reason why the voters
of Lawrence should give him four more years?
The author is an educator and a political scholar
