setti warren a finalist for Newton mayor

[MBS]

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/newton/articles/2009/09/20/newton_mayors_race_down_to_two_similar_candidates/

He came in second, but a close second (36% for Balser, 30% for Warren). I'm so pleased about this. : )
Best of luck, Setti!

With last week’s preliminary election eliminating three of the five candidates for Newton’s mayoralty, the race is now between two people with remarkably similar positions on the issues facing the city, according to local observers.

State Representative Ruth Balser and Setti Warren, a former aide to US Senator John Kerry, have both said they won’t call for an increase in property taxes in their first year of office. They have both called for saving money by moving the city’s employees to the state’s health insurance plan, have both called for installing a performance management system to ensure good production from municipal employees, and have both said that more money needs to be put into maintaining Newton’s infrastructure.

With so little separating the two on the issues, observers say, the campaign may hinge on which candidate voters trust more to lead the city.


“This is a very different race’’ from the preliminary campaign, said Lisle Baker, president of the Board of Aldermen. Baker has watched the campaign closely but has not endorsed anyone. “They’re more similar than they are different on the issues. It becomes a question of which one do voters think is going to do a better job, and how do they come to that judgment.’’

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Balser has spent 20 years on the Board of Aldermen and in the state Legislature.

Warren, an Iraq War veteran, was a deputy state director for Kerry and held several positions in the Clinton administration, including as head of the New England region of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“This is about leadership,’’ Warren said in an interview Thursday. “It’s about vision, being able to bring the stakeholders together, driving the process, hiring the best people, really being relentless.’’. . .