The Mayoral Elections in Lawrence I Will it be easy to defeat William Lantigua?

 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