SALEM — The mayor’s seat isn’t even vacant yet, but candidates for the to-be-scheduled election are already chomping at the bit to run.
To end 2022, two heavily discussed candidates for mayor in 2023 have already held campaign kick-off events. A third has gone public with his plans to run, a fourth emailed The Salem News amid the noise to say they’re considering it, and untold others are said to have started planting grassroot seeds that may or may not germinate once nomination papers become available.
The campaign for Neil Harrington announced his plans to run last Friday, after a kickoff took over the Hawthorne Hotel Ballroom on Dec. 14. Harrington, who has more recently served 20 years as town manager in Salisbury, served four two-year terms as mayor of Salem from 1990 to 1997. He was followed by Stan Usovicz, who served eight years until current Mayor Kim Driscoll won her first term in 2006.
“At various times over these past four centuries, there have been instances when Salem faced an unexpected development that required new leadership to take the helm and successfully guide the City’s government through a period of uncertainty,” Harrington said at his campaign’s kick-off event. “Our long-time Mayor Kim Driscoll’s departure to take her new job as Lt. Governor will create one of those transitional challenges. As we wish her all the best in her new position at the State House, we face the need to fill the leadership vacuum this creates for the remaining 2 ½ years of her term. The citizens of Salem are understandably concerned about the City’s security, stability and future direction.”
Dominick Pangallo, Driscoll’s chief of staff, held his campaign kick-off on Oct. 26 at Notch, providing an even earlier jump on the season.
“I’m preparing to run for mayor to ensure that Salem keeps moving forward, that our city is a place that continues striving to work for everyone, and to make sure we keep the momentum and progress of these past years,” he said in a social media post after the event. “We can build on the foundation that we’ve created together.”
A third candidate has quietly emerged, causing him to fly under some radars: Robert “Skip” Bensley, a Lafayette Street resident who moved to Salem in 2016.
“I have an undying need I haven’t fully explored to help others. I’ve always been like that, always been the person making sure everyone is having a good time at the party,” Bensley said. “I think of Salem and the way the economy has been managed in the same way a snowplow driver has to prepare himself for sustainability. We can’t do it without a better middle class tax base that comes with affordable housing and with more people wanting to come to Salem to raise kids and have families.”
That’s why one of Bensley’s biggest focuses is on the number of families calling Salem home, and building upon that number, he explained. Recent boosts in the school district’s performance is helping to grow enrollment, something Bensley said he wants to see more of: people coming to or staying in Salem when children arrive and the building of a family begins.
“I want Salem to be more of that community,” he said.
Bensley’s presence provides an early promise for two mayoral elections in 2023, as a preliminary contest will be needed if more than two candidates make the ballot.
That said, there is a fourth name in pretty wide circulation: Steve Dibble, a three-term city councilor to Ward 7 who ran unsuccessfully against Driscoll in 2021, from which she secured the term that must now be completed. While Driscoll took 59% of the vote, turnout didn’t reach 35% — something Dibble said could’ve gone differently in both ways.
“I felt if more of these Salem residents (who didn’t vote) voted, we stood a good chance at winning the mayor’s race last year and would be working hard for them right now as Salem’s mayor,” Dibble said. “I have the experience, the leadership, and the energy to keep Salem moving forward.”
Like Pangallo, Dibble said he also worked for Driscoll at one point, as well as the two mayors before her, one of which is already an opponent in Harrington. That said, Dibble’s message wasn’t one announcing a campaign. Rather, it was to state “that I am considering running for mayor.”
“My wife and I raised our family here and we love Salem,” Dibble said. “Hundreds of people have recently asked me to run again. If I do run, I promise to continue to work hard for all of Salem as I have been doing for the past 40 years.”
Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.
