Election Update: With Donovan In... we all lose.

The Salem News and Peabody Patch report that Russ Donovan has filed papers to run for mayor in Peabody... again.

The Salem News has not published this article on-line for some reason.

The Peabody Patch article is here: Donovan Enters Peabody Mayor's Race

Now the Salem News article has a short interview and here are the main points of Mr. Donovan's reasons for running:

• He doesn't think either Fitzgerald or Bettencourt will make the needed changes in Peabody
• He is a non-politician
• He is a fiscal conservative
• He has no plans to raise money for a campaign
• He wants to end bus fees for Peabody students
• He wants to cut spending
• He wants a 20% personal exemption for property taxes
• He would slash the mayor's salary (to the avg. city worker pay)
• He would not accept city health insurance (to set an example)

So in his effort to cut the cost of city government he is going to run a non campaign with no fund raising, he will (I assume) hit the pavement and be speaking to people (but not spending any money on literature, outreach, etc.) in order to explain how he will CUT SPENDING while INCREASING SERVICES!

Of course his non campaign is going to already COST THE CITY because he is forcing a CITY WIDE PRIMARY! I called the clerks office and they were unable to tell me today what the approximate cost of a city-wide primary election will be... but other I have spoken with estimated the cost to be between $15-20,000 TAX DOLLARS!

All so a non candidate can run a non campaign on the platform of saving the city money.

Russ Donovan is just as welcome as any other citizen to run for office. However... if you are going to run for office... THEN RUN FOR OFFICE! Don't make this some symbolic gesture that has no value to the city... except to cost us all $$$ for your personal ego building.

I mean... that $15,000 would actually pay for 50 Peabody students to ride the bus to school for the year. Wouldn't that be money better spent?