Two-way race for state representative seat
By Josh Press/ Staff Writer
Friday, December 2, 2005
Foxboro residents Virginia "Ginny" Coppola and Claire Naughton will face one another in a special state election to fill Coppola’s late husband’s seat.
Rep. Michael Coppola, R-Foxboro, was 62 when he died Aug. 26 from colon cancer. He was in the first year of his third, two-year term serving the First Bristol District comprising all of Foxboro, precincts 3,4, and 5 in Norton, and 1,3, and 6 in Mansfield
A special primary will be held Tuesday, Jan. 10, followed by a special election Tuesday, Feb. 7 to fill the legislative post
Coppola, a Republican, decided early last month to run, while Naughton, a Democrat, returned her nomination papers to Foxboro Town Clerk Marie Crimmins Tuesday - the final day to do so.
"I don’t think there should be just one person running, there should be some opposition," said Naughton. "There are some important issues facing communities and families, and local government has a role in those."
Coppola, a Foxboro resident since 1979, could not be reached for direct comment this week but said earlier this month that she elected to run was because she wanted to continue and finish a number of projects - including construction of a housing project (currently underway) and Children’s Advocacy Center on the former grounds of the Foxboro State Hospital - her late husband began.
Naughton, a Foxboro resident since 1971 who taught Family and Consumer Science in Brookline, Attleboro, and Warwick, R.I. schools before retiring last April, said bringing local aid into communities and more money into school systems are issues she believes most strongly in.
"I want to help bring local aid and financial assistance into communities," said Naughton, "School budgets need a bigger piece of the pie and more money needs to be put into local services (such as police and fire departments). In Foxboro, there is a pulling between the municipal and school sides and no one likes to have that. If we had greater local aid, that wouldn’t be."
Naughton said she has extensive experience in public service. For the past six years, she has been the Democratic State Committee’s representative for Foxboro, Mansfield, and Norton. In Foxboro, she also was the chairwoman of the Foxboro Registrar of Voters and Democratic Town Committee, and a member of the Historical Society and the now-defunct League of Women Voters.
"I’ve been very active in politics and in the community," said Naughton, who is married to her husband Dennis, the interim assistant principal at Norton High School, and has two grown children, Patrick and Matthew.
Coppola, meanwhile, served several years as state Rep. Barbara Hyland’s legislative aide, and amongst other organizations, was a member of the Foxboro Advisory Committee.
She has said she was "flattered" that so many people in the district had asked her to run for the seat, and in a Nov. 8 press release said she would be "honored to have their support in the upcoming special election."
Her campaign manager Holly Robichaud said Wednesday Coppola plans on running a positive campaign and telling voters why she is the best person for the job.
Naughton said she is looking forward to going door-to-door and meeting a lot of people in each of the three communities. While collecting nomination signatures at the train station in Mansfield last week, she already had the chance to do that.
"It was very interesting," she said. "Someone who I didn’t even know came up to me regarding parking problems at the (train) depot. Here we have rising gas prices, and now we haven’t done enough to get more parking. I think that’s worth looking into as well."
William Redding of Mansfield also took out nomination papers last week, but said he was unable to run because he does not live in any of the three districts the First Bristol District covers.
"I am very concerned that the gerrymandering of Norton and Mansfield limits our representation," Redding said. "I have come to the conclusion that despite having lived in this community for the better part of my life, I am unfortunately unable to run because until May of this year I lived in one of the three other districts our community is split into."
Josh Press can be reached at 508-634-7564 or jpress@cnc.com. | | |
