New faces for city
BY GEORGE W. RHODES SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Thursday, November 5, 2009 10:52 AM EST
Candidate signs and their supporters were staked out all day Tuesday at Attleboro’s Ward 5 poll at LaSalette Shrine on Park Street.
ATTLEBORO - It was the tale of two elections Tuesday.
In the council race, vacancies dictated there would be at least three new councilors, and that's what the voters produced.
Who would win and by how much were the only questions.
But in the school board race, most seats were contested and nearly half the incumbents lost their jobs, including Chairwoman Robbie Wuilleumier and seven-term incumbent Jackie Romaniecki.
All told, there are five new members on the nine-member school committee. One of the jobs was won as the result of a vacancy.
In the council at-large council race, Richard Conti, a long active community volunteer, swept into office ahead of all incumbent at-large competitors.
In Ward 1, newcomer Cherie Felos bested fellow newcomer Joe Lazzerini; and in Ward 5, Duff White beat former Ward 5 Councilor John Davis.
In the school board race, newcomer Ray DiCiaccio led the at-large candidates with 28 percent of the vote, followed by fellow newcomer Teri Enegren, who garnered 25 percent.
The only at-large incumbent to retain her seat was Helen Johnson, with 24 percent of the vote. Wuilleumier finished fourth, with 21 percent of the vote.
Romaniecki lost to Brenda Furtado.
In Ward 2, incumbent Shawn Moran was bested by James Stors; and in Ward 6, member Michael Tyler lost to Bruce Levine.
Ward 5 incumbent Fran Zito barely hung on to her seat, winning by just 7 votes over David Sidman, who said he will seek a recount.
The school results combined with Conti's stunning victory and the defeat of Davis, who served four terms on the council previously, seemed to indicate an anti-incumbent mood among the 4,788 voters who made their way to the polls.
The turnout was 19 percent. The city has 25,164 registered voters.
Councilor Brian Kirby finished second in the at-large council race, followed by Peter Blais, Walter Thibodeau and Kim Allard.
Mark Cooper finished out of the running.
South Attleboro resident John Brederson said last week he was mounting a write-in campaign against Mayor Kevin Dumas who was otherwise unopposed, but results of his effort weren't available Tuesday night.
Dumas got 91 percent of the vote. There were 340 write-in votes but it wasn't immediately known for whom they were cast.
Gerald Chase, the Ward 5 councilor defeated in a preliminary election, mounted an effort to capture an at-large council seat with a write-in campaign, but those results weren't available, either.
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