After photo flap, race focuses on issues (Jim "Powerplant" Harrington vs. Jass Stewart)

[Ian David]

After photo flap, race focuses on issues

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | October 14, 2007

When the finalists in Brockton's mayoral campaign meet next week for their first debate, the mini-controversy that prompted Mayor James Harrington to suspend a top aide probably won't merit much, if any, mention.

Moises Rodrigues's alleged role in circulating a photo from Jass Stewart's 2004 wedding, in which Stewart is kissing the man he just married, has become a mere footnote in a race dominated by city finances, crime, and, most of all, a proposed power plant.

Before Stewart was well known to voters, the photo might have mattered. But he has spoken openly about his private life and his marriage since he started campaigning in 2003. That Stewart would become not only the city's first African-American mayor, but its first gay mayor, is no longer the issue of the race.

"We're just at a different place," said Stewart, 36, whose vote tally in last month's field-narrowing preliminary election was only a percentage point shy of Harrington's.

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Stewart opposes the power plant, calling it economic development out of desperation. He said that the controversy over the plant has divided the city, and that he would bring the type of leadership to unite residents.

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/14/after_photo_flap_race_focuses_on_issues/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+City/Region+News


See also (From the local right-wing Murdoch rag by yellow journalist Dave "I see Naked People" Wedge):

Brockton brawl

The mayor’s race in Brockton has turned nasty as Mayor Jim Harrington is fending off a blitzkrieg of bad press in his battle against openly gay candidate Jass Stewart.

Two weeks ago, Harrington suspended a top aide, Moises Rodrigues, after Rodrigues mocked Stewart’s sexuality while circulating a photo of Stewart kissing his partner on their wedding day. Stewart called the suspension a “slap on the wrist.”

Things got uglier this week when Harrington made comments about the city’s large Cape Verdean population during a debate about crime.

The remark prompted Cape Verdean activists - led by a Stewart supporter - to circulate a vicious anti-Harrington petition.

More:
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/politics/view.bg?articleid=1037959

Who the hell decided to start letting that puerile idiot Dave Wedge write opinion pieces?