By Patrick Donges
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-993096.mp3
Pittsfield, MA – The mayoral race in Pittsfield came down to the wire Tuesday night, with former city councilor Daniel Bianchi and sitting, veteran city councilor-at-large Peter Marchetti each winning several precincts in preliminary reports after the polls closed at 8 p.m.
The election marked the first time since 2003 that current mayor Jim Ruberto was not on the ballot.
Ruberto, who announced his retirement earlier this year following the death of his wife Ellen in 2009, had voiced support for Marchetti prior to the election, and had this to say when interviewed by WAMC on Monday.
"I'm for Peter Marchetti. Peter Marchetti represents someone who believes in the importance of progressive government."
By about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, with 13 of 14 precincts reports, Marchetti was up by 2 votes.
Tallying results with about 15 supporters at his campaign headquarters, Marchetti appeared anxious but confident.
"I'm definitely proud of the work my campaign committee did. We came into this race 670 votes behind, and to be going into the last precinct two votes ahead means we made up ground and I'm proud of all the work that we did."
The race would end moments later as the two vote lead turned into a deficit, a mere 93 votes, when reports of the results of precinct 2B rolled in.
"...Hey Dan congratulations. I got the numbers for 2B "
That's Marchetti on the phone with mayor-elect Dan Bianchi.
In the weeks preceding the contest, Ruberto's mayoral legacy became a focus of the race, with one op-ed published by the Berkshire Eagle characterizing the race as being between Bianchi and, "Jim Ruberto's ghost," in Marchetti, a characterization Marchetti continued to reject in the moments after learning of his narrow defeat.
"I ran my race. It was Pete Marchetti versus Dan Bianchi, and that's what the results showed."
About 30 minutes earlier, and 20 miles north of Pittsfield in the city North Adams, Mayor Richard Alcombright handily held onto his seat over city council president Ronald Boucher, with preliminary results of Alcombright with 2,333 votes to Boucher's 1,377.
"We fought a good race, we stayed on track, we stuck to our message, and I'm just glad it's over with and we can get back to the business of the city."
In June, Alcombright led a failed campaign to enact a Proposition 2 1/2 override in the city to cover a budget hole that he had estimated at over $1 million.
While he admitted the failure of that measure at the polls may have precipitated Boucher's entrance into the race, in the end he said it may have ended up helping his campaign.
"The fact that we did it the way we did and we presented it the way we presented it; we put it out to the voters (and) I didn't try and force it down anyone's throat."
"I had people who I know very well on our campaign who didn't agree with what I did, but still supported me after the fact I think for the way we did it."
In 2009, Alcombright defeated John Barrett, who had been the longest serving mayor in the state's history with 25 years in City Hall. With the start of his second term pending, Alcombright said while he hopes to run again, he doesn't think his career as the city's chief executive will break a quarter-century.
"We're trying to set a direction and a course in this city and trying to move the city forward and we're going to do that for another couple of terms probably and then pass the torch."
"I'm a firm believer in keeping ideas fresh and moving on."
Unlike Ruberto in Pittsfield, Barrett did appear on Tuesday's ballot. He will return to North Adams city government next year, this time as a city councilor.