Mayor, Most of the Council Moves New Bedford Forward [OPINION]
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell has been working on a plan for an Advanced Manufacturing Campus for years. He plans to bring 1,000 jobs and millions of tax dollars to his city.
Tuesday night was the first time the New Bedford City Council had an opportunity to ask questions about Mitchell s plan and to vote on a portion of it. Despite a robust lobbying effort, the city council voted 10-1 in favor of the jobs plan.
When the dust settled, only At-Large City Councilor Linda Morad was a negative vote. It may have been the final defeat in a long-running feud with Mitchell. Even as the veteran councilor voted no, she made a light-hearted joke and said something about always voting no at meetings. As of last week, she appeared to have a serious block of councilors supporting her opposition to the project.
Money is the mother s milk of politics is an old phrase that is still true today. In fact, money might be more important in the age of COVID-19.
The pandemic has put an end to many forms of traditional campaigning. Most people wouldn t appreciate a candidate knocking on their door these days. Large events are not currently allowed. Even a small gathering of a campaign s key volunteers would be a risky endeavor. Candidates are going to have to buy the time to communicate with the voters this cycle.
Here are the amounts in some of the political campaign accounts of officials elected in the city of New Bedford:
New Bedford's Richard Tyson Moultrie ran for mayor in 2019 and he lost. He is now going to run for the New Bedford City Council according to OCPF documents.
The New Bedford City Council overrode the veto of Mayor Jon Mitchell and put in place a new ordinance covering the residency requirement for employees.