Last night the Republicans invited one and all to their grand opening of the party head quarters for the 2008 campaign. Special guest Lt. Governor Michael Fedele was eagerly anticipated by the crowd of about 50. State Rp. Larry Cafero, House Minority Leader of the “fightn’ 44″ introduced the Lt. Governor, after being introduced by Republican Town Committee Chair Jeffrey Konspore.
“There is a spirit in the party and in the town committee because we believe again because of that man over there,” he said pointing to Mayor Moccia.
Fedele touched on the Moccia’s narrow victory in 2005 with humor. “Who would have thought two years ago that we’d be here today,” he said, “you could have said that about my career.” The room laughed appreciatively. But then Fedele threw some read meat to the crowd, “There is unbalance in the state legislature,” he intoned, alluding to the Democratic super majority and the 44 Republicans in the house. “There’s nothing super about the Dems super majority — We have a super minority because of Larry Cafero, who’s now battling on the bond package. Imagine if there were 88 of them.”
Dapper Dick Moccia, channeling Steve Jobs with a black t-shirt under a sports jacket, spoke next. He thanked the crowd for supporting him two years ago, supporting him s mayor and supporting him now in his re-election campaign. “When I took office there was a $500k deficit in the Parking Authority and meters on Main and Wall street. Today there’s a $165k and there are no meters on Main and Wall street. We’ve recovered $1 million on the boat and tow program this year. The $1 million pays one and a half years of debt service of the maritime garage.”
Moccia touched on many topics beyond parking, pointing to improved open space and historic preservation by moving forward on Fodor Farm, the Harte property, the White Barn property. “One house doesn’t make for historical preservation,” Moccia said as he explained that preserving neighborhoods by enforcing zoning regulations against illegal apartments is just as important.
Doug Hempstead, Council Member from District D said afterwards, “Quality of life is always the most important issues, the challenge is what definition to use for quality of life. I think the mayor as got back to the business of the basics, what people see, drive over and are affected by.”
