Lawrence mayor raps Galvin
Dan Rivera: I got angry call about endorsing Zakim
Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera says Secretary of State William F. Galvin gave him an earful for supporting Galvin’s rival Josh Zakim in an irate, profanity-laden phone call, with the longtime Beacon Hill pol reportedly telling Rivera, “I made you mayor.”
Rivera is bristling at what he says was an “inappropriate” call, adding Galvin is trying to claim undue credit for simply doing his job as the state’s chief election official by monitoring the voting process.
Galvin, who has been secretary of state since 1995 and has rarely seen a challenger, is facing an upstart campaign from fellow Democrat Zakim, a Boston city councilor.
On the same day Rivera endorsed Zakim two weeks ago, he said Galvin called him up to angrily criticize the endorsement and told Rivera, “I made you mayor.”
Rivera fired back and the two men exchanged profanities during the conversation, Rivera said. He said Galvin’s comment about making Rivera mayor seemed to stem from the secretary of state’s office monitoring Rivera’s win of fewer than 100 votes in 2013 over controversial incumbent Willie Lantigua.
“He wanted me to recognize that he sent people out to make the elections fair and organized, I told him that his job was to make them fair and organized,” Rivera said, adding his pushback on that issue angered Galvin. “They needed to be made fair because the secretary of state turned a blind eye to the city’s elections in the past.”
A spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office deferred to Galvin’s campaign, which did not return requests for comment. Rivera said the phone call was out of line.
“It was inappropriate for a constitutional officer to do that. I can see that type of call back in the 1950s, but we’re in a different day,” Rivera said.
Rivera said he initially tried to be polite during the conversation, but once Galvin claimed credit for his victory, “all bets were off.”
“We worked really hard to win that election, a lot of people in Lawrence can take credit for that and none of them are named Bill Galvin,” Rivera said.
While no Republicans are currently on the ballot for secretary of state, the state Republican Party denounced Galvin’s call as an “unhinged rant” that echoes the influence-peddling scandals on Beacon Hill. Gov. Charlie Baker, asked of the MassGOP’s email blast, said he wasn’t aware of it or Galvin’s reported comments.
“I’m not familiar with what you’re talking about. But I’m a big Dan Rivera fan, I always have been,” Baker told reporters.
Zakim has heavily criticized Galvin since launching his campaign earlier this year, slamming him for setting the state’s primary election for the day after Labor Day — a time widely seen to have low turnout that would benefit the incumbent.
Of the call to Rivera, Zakim said, “This kind of behavior is exactly what turns people off about politics. It’s highly inappropriate, especially from the chief elections officer.”
Zakim said he would not rule out deploying his own election monitors during the primary, though he said he is confident the state would have a “free, fair election.” Neither he nor Rivera said they would call for an investigation of Galvin because of the phone call, and a spokeswoman said the attorney general’s office had no comment on the matter.