Fireman-slapping Mayor Harrington Says His Job is to Make People Like Brockton and Ignore Crime

[Ian David]

Mayoral candidates debate crime, Brockton's downtown, power plant

By Maria Papadopoulos, Enterprise staff writer

BROCKTON— With two weeks until the Nov. 6 election, crime and a proposed power plant continued to dominate discourse between the two mayoral candidates Monday.

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“Investors, families, businesses, you name it, are not going to come to the city when people feel it's unsafe,” Stewart said Monday, when the two candidates appeared in a forum sponsored by the Republican City Committee at Country Inns & Suites on Christy Drive.

Harrington said Stewart is right, that the city is “higher than anybody around” with crime. But the incumbent said the mayor's job is to promote the city.

“I look at these crime reports and I see what the positive things are. That's the job of a mayor ... It's to make the people feel good about the city. Are there problems? Absolutely. Does that mean you have to hammer them in the head with it every day? Absolutely not,” Harrington said.

The candidates' comments came as they responded to questions about the city from the audience. The event was moderated by city Republican Larry Novak.*

More:
http://enterprise.southofboston.com/articles/2007/10/23/news/news/news14.txt


See also:

*Lawrence Novak: Former Vice-Chairman of the Massachusetts Republic Party. Arrested September 13, 2005. Allegedly offered to launder drug profits for client awaiting trial on federal trafficking charges. Resigned party position the same day after he was arrested.
http://thinkoutloud.blogspot.com/2005/09/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/09/14/lawyer.indicted.ap/%E2%80%9D