After Mike

As Mike Capuano heads into the general election for the Eighth Congressional District, the race to succeed him as mayor of Somerville has already begun

Somerville by Ben Geman

It's suddenly a familiar tale: a Somerville politician, one who has weathered years in the city's often brutal political trenches, uses foot soldiers and sweat to trump cash in the race for a seat that's been locked up since the 1980s.

Somerville mayor Michael Capuano did it, breaking from the pack to win the Eighth Congressional District Democratic primary, all but assuring he'll succeed outgoing representative Joseph Kennedy. Two weeks later, his blueprint is a hit. Somerville alderman Stan Koty is now eyeing a similar plan in his bid to win a mayoral race that began among insiders as soon as Capuano looked capable of passing Ray Flynn.

Seated in the living room of his modest two-family home, Koty doesn't look like a candidate scurrying for backing: he's watching the Patriots game after a trip to the mall with his wife. But the paunchy 44-year-old, who laughs easily and calls people "pal," is just taking a break. Koty says he's been calling dozens of possible supporters, readying a street organization to branch out from his city ward, a micro-version of Capuano's strategy.

"I'm the poor guy. I'm struggling to put him through college," says Koty, gesturing toward his college-freshman son, who's home for a weekend visit. "I don't have my own money to spend, and I think everyone knows that."

Those in the know include his possible opponents, and there are many. This largely working-class city of double- and triple-deckers -- built so close together that a house fire will melt the siding on the dwelling next door -- has spawned a pack of hopefuls just as crowded. The number of people at least mulling a run has reached double digits. Bill Roche, a city alderman who, unlike most of his colleagues, says he's not interested, predicts that the race will be "the Eighth all over again, only this time it's just in Somerville."

Still, it's not just locals who will be watching. Capuano's win has put the spotlight on Somerville, and for candidates, it's a tough stage: here, politics can be blood sport. In the glare, candidates will struggle to craft messages showing them fit to lead a city of roughly 75,000 that's changed greatly since Capuano took office nearly a decade ago.

Somerville is an up-and-coming place to live, increasingly seen as an alternative to Cambridge, where a kaleidoscopic mix of people -- young professionals, beatniks, immigrants -- shares space with long-time residents. The Utne Reader, an alternative journal that's hardly the periodical of choice for the city's political establishment, last year declared Davis Square one of the nation's hippest places. It's also getting expensive, with rents climbing as Somerville absorbs refugees from post-rent control Cambridge and others drawn by the city's new cachet.

A walk down Elm Street, where it passes through Davis Square, illustrates the race's underpinning. Capuano's campaign headquarters are in Davis Square, the windows now adorned with hand-drawn thank-you signs that reflect his no-frills "street campaign." Just yards away are storefronts that testify to the changed terrain on which the candidates will compete: the worn and fading sign for the Sligo Pub is visible from the much newer Joshua Tree Bar and Grill across the street, where the microbrews flow. Streets behind both bars are home to both long-time Somerville families and newcomers willing to pay $900 a month for one-bedroom apartments close to trendy stores and restaurants.

"I think the candidate who wins will be the one who succeeds in making the broadest appeal," says Dale Patterson, who's the director of planning for the Community Action Agency of Somervilleand is active in several local organizations. "And that includes appealing to people who have been here many years, people who have come here from Cambridge, and people from Central America and Haiti."

All, of course, need a place to live, and affordable housing will be among the race's key themes. Also lurking are questions over how best to handle the rush by developers to rebuild the city's few large commercial tracts. And the city's improving school system -- the base of Capuano's "results" campaign theme -- will remain a focus.

There may be a natural limit to the number of candidates chasing these issues, but if so, no one knows it yet. The list of current and former city officials considering a run includes alderman John Buonomo, who lost to Capuano by just a few hundred votes in the 1989 mayor's race and is eyeing another shot, and alderman Joe Curtatone, a Capuano critic whose sister ran a bitter campaign against Capuano in 1991.

Several other members of the board of aldermen -- including its president, Walter Pero -- may join the fray. In the short run, observers expect these developments to stir up the board's already boisterous televised meetings as members jostle for air time. "I'll have to talk to Walter [Pero] to see if there will be a midnight curfew," jokes alderman Bill White, who may also enter the race.

Somerville state rep Pat Jehlen, a progressive legislator whose agenda doesn't mix well with that of conservative House Speaker Tom Finneran, may jump in. Former alderman Richard Johnson is testing the waters. Another intriguing possibility is failed lieutenant-governor candidate Dorothy Kelly Gay, who ran a close race against Watertown state senator Warren Tolman and declared, when conceding defeat on Primary Day, that she would "rise again, and in the not-too-distant future."

But for now, who knows, really, who will be in or out when candidates are forced to show their cards? Somerville politics are hard to pin down, especially for observers accustomed to a traditional left-right spectrum. The much-discussed split between the city's "progressives" and the other side, which lacks a name but is pro-Capuano, is as much about style and personality and long-time allegiances as it is about ideology.

For example, White, the nonpartisan board of aldermen's lone Republican, leans toward the progressives. It was he who introduced a plan for sweeping development regulation -- a Republican bogeyman -- earlier this year. And alderman Jim Halloran, who's not a progressive, tried to get his colleagues to back the drive to repeal the state's electrical-deregulation law earlier this year. That movement was launched by failed Eighth District candidate John O'Connor, a progressive by most any standard.

Some observers suggest that the city's "up-and-coming" label and spot in the limelight could work against a brutally negative race, with candidates concentrating instead on organization-building, compiling voter lists, and drawing out their pledged supporters. "I don't think it will be pretty, but I don't think it will be a slugfest, either," says Bob Trane, vice chair of the city's Democratic Committee. "Somerville politics have grown through the years, and there is a lot more sophistication."

That didn't stop last year's city races from getting nasty, though. One piece of literature showed a hand taking money from a pocket under the heading HAD ENOUGH? Another painted foes as characters from The Wizard of Oz. Off the record, politicians will say their opponents lack other anatomy than just hearts and brains. "Between you and me and the wall, a lot of guys have a lot of crap on each other," says one city official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They are looking at histories that go back many years, financial histories and such."

Indeed, while Somerville's image and economics are on the rise, its politics are still firmly entrenched in the old school. In the race for the 37th Middlesex District seat, which covers parts of Somerville and Medford, Vincent Ciampa, regarded by many as embodying everything bad about Somerville politics, easily beat the progressive Josh O'Brien, who'd been hailed as a symbol of the "new Somerville" and endorsed by the Globe, the Herald, and the Somerville Journal. The "new Somervillians" apparently didn't get out the vote.

One thing's for sure: Capuano will be a factor in the race to replace him, though observers don't know how involved he'll get. This is Capuano's town, and never has he been more powerful. The mayor, who hasn't announced when he'll step down, said in a recent interview that he's unsure he'd back anyone in the primary election. Still, he may well be tempted to weigh in against one formidable potential candidate: Curtatone, a wealthy 32-year-old lawyer who's been Capuano's most strident critic in recent years. There's an up-front bitterness between him and Capuano. It's not surprising Curtatone was the first person quoted in a Boston Herald story last week unfairly accusing Capuano of treating the family of jailed Somerville gangster Howie Winter with kid gloves in a case involving back property taxes (see "Don't Quote Me.")

Curtatone, for his part, says his run is not against Capuano's legacy, but a blow against the city's status quo that's "about shaping the future of Somerville." Yet for years, Capuano has been the status quo, and it's easy to imagine the mayor -- who racked up more Somerville votes in the Eighth District primary than the other candidates combined -- throwing his support behind another candidate.

"If you are doing it [running] for your own self-aggrandizement, I will do everything I can to stop you," says Capuano, who stops short of singling out Curtatone as someone he'd try to thwart. "I want to be sure the next mayor cares about the community."

The outgoing mayor is just one factor in the race, however, and he is sure to be preoccupied by his responsibilities as a freshman congressman in Washington. Also important in this race is whether candidates can pitch messages that will stand out to an electorate that may be feeling spent after a long campaign season. Things will slow down little for Somerville voters after the general election in November. Even after the races for the Eighth and the governor's office end, the city's residents will be asked to choose a new mayor twice in less than a year: If elected, Capuano will probably have to step down well before his term ends, which means a special election to replace him. Then the city does it all over again next fall.

Some candidates can be expected to position themselves as the ones most capable of continuing Capuano's agenda, perhaps minus his often combative style. Koty, for example, will stress his years on the city's school committee and try to keep the race focused on education. Others will stake out different ground -- though Capuano is riding high right now, there are openings for candidates to call for a new city politics. Jehlen, for one, says she'd like to steer the city away from what she calls an excessive stress on loyalty and personalities that stymies cooperation.

"I think it would be a bad thing if the next election was about Capuano versus anti-Capuano forces," says Jehlen, who notes that the city's political fault lines have been around for "a long time."

"It didn't start with Mike Capuano," she adds.

What did start with Capuano, or at least with his primary win, was a race that will challenge the Eighth District contest as the most important election facing Somerville residents in a long time. Whoever replaces Capuano will probably be mayor into the millennium, which carries symbolic weight over and above the challenges of steering development and keeping the city affordable. The election could turn out to be the easy part.

Ben Geman is a freelance writer in Boston.