Municipal Election Sparks Hope For Efforts to Protect Portsmouth's Character

Despite an uphill David and Goliath battle against big bucks, a first-time partisan political slant to a Portsmouth municipal election, and the clout of powerful vested interests backing a garage on the Worth Lot (near one of the city's most traffic-choked intersections and yet another parking garage), Portsmouth Now! has won a majority on the next City Council.

Candidates endorsed by Portsmouth Now! landed three of the top four seats, including our next Mayor Bob Lister and Assistant Mayor Jim Splaine along with our stalwart supporter  Esther Kennedy, firebrand Zelita Morgan and incumbent Jack Thorsen. Five out of the nine candidates we endorsed won seats on the next City Council. Most noteworthy is that all nine of our endorsed candidates ended up in the top 13. Not only that, 1,101 more voters turned out to vote in this race—30 percent more than in the last municipal election, suggesting that many voters share our concerns. For story and photos, see: thttp://portsmouthnow.org/  and scroll down one.

One of the most heartening aspects of this campaign is that it was a coordinated team effort. Instead of competing, our candidates cooperated and supported one another. Veterans advised the newcomers, and these contributed incalculable hours, group sign-building skills (Joe Caldarola), legal expertise (Duncan MacCallum) and  a passion for transparency and the city's character (Arthur Clough) to the group effort.

After the votes were tallied, even our candidates who didn't win gave each other high-fives when they learned that our team won a majority on the Council, and took the trouble to pick up all the left-over signs at each of the polling stations.

Instead of the big money that finances key campaign tools these days like mailers (which cost many thousands) and signs, our grassroots effort was funded by an incredible patchwork of dozens and dozens of donations large and small, but mainly small. Two talented designers volunteered their services for free. And an army of volunteers held our signs and passed out our cards outside the polls in each of the five Wards on Election Day. Despite the bitter cold, they were fueled by hope for change and food and libations provided to all candidates-- regardless of their cause-- by Esther Kennedy.