Cumberland’s Mutter wins
Challenger upsets incumbent Mayor William Murray in primary by 401 votes
CUMBERLAND – For Cumberland, it was a Democratic primary election Wednesday, but that meant all the marbles as Mayor William S. Murray learned when his challenger, former School Committee and Town Council member Jeffrey J. Mutter, took home the prize -- an uncontested appearance on the Nov. 6 election ballot.
“I’m going to take tonight and celebrate, take a few days off, and then move on the next one,” Mutter said at his victory party at the Venue 131 meeting room at Angelo’s Palace Pizza on Mendon Road.
Mutter said he was trying to keep it all in perspective and noted that he doesn’t judge his life by political vic- tories, even if it is nice to win.
“I feel good about it, but I’ve had a blessed life and while this is a good thing, it’s not going to change that.”
What was important, he added, is that “I strongly feel that there are many thing we need to attend to in town and with the help of the Town Council we are going to do that.”
Mutter had the support of many members of the council heading into the primary, and that should continue when he is mayor, according to Town Councilman Thomas Kane, one of Mutter’s campaign supporters. Kane did not seek re-election to another term on the council
Over at Murray’s headquarters, next door to Cumberland’s House of Pizza on Mendon Road, the mood was somber at best.
Walking through the door after the outcome had been tabulated by his campaign staff, Bonnie Large and David Cruise, Murray told his family, friends, and town employees present he was “shocked,” by the result in Democratic party voting.
“I wasn’t prepared for this, it’s a shock,” Murray said while looking at the results showing he claimed wins in only three polling places of the 13 in the election. Even in those he won, Murray did not collected large enough wins to counter the margin his opponent secured in his 2,888 to 2,484 win.
As he gathered his wife, Jean, and his grandchildren around him to concede to Mutter, Murray noted “that’s politics, that’s the way things go.” Murray had come into politics as a business executive winning a run for Town Council and also winning two terms for mayor after coming in to replace former Mayor Daniel J. McKee when he headed to state service as Lt. Governor.
The experience of defeat in politics came as a surprise to Murray and he declined to speculate on what resulted in his loss.
“We worked hard, we told our story and we did a great four years, I’ll tell you,” he told his supporters.
While he will not move forward to the election in November, Murray promised to do his job through the end of his term.
“I’m going to walk out of here proud of the job that we did,” Murray said.
Murray also said he would also support Mutter coming in and said he expects he, too, will “do a bang-up job” job for the town with the professional staff that he has on board in town hall.
Mutter, on Wednesday evening, did not want to begin laying out his plans for the town and noted he still has an election to win in November before he can actually start work as the town’s next mayor.
He will be giving up his job as vice president of his family’s automotive business when that does occur and Mutter expects there will be other changes that come with the new role, the executive office of town government.
“I don’t plan to do it alone,” Mutter said of his coming transition to the last local elected office that he has not yet held. “There are a lot of people in this town and on the town council and town boards and I don’t see it as a one man lift.”
As for how he collected such a major win over an incumbent mayor, Mutter declined to speculate on that. “I’m appreciative of whatever it was,” he said.
A member of his campaign, Marcia Green, offered that it may well have been Mutter’s roots in his community, all of his years of past service, that contributed to the surprise upset.
“I think Jeff has deep roots in the town of Cumberland. He has a business, he has family, a home, and his deep roots go in many directions and I think that maybe the mayor didn’t appreciate that enough,” she said.
Mutter and his wife, Jenny, reside at 12 Scotia Drive. He has two grown daughters, Ashley and Alison.
In other two contested Democratic party races for Town Council on the local ballot, Lisa A. Beaulieu moved on in District 3, and Peter J. Bradley, Council President, and Michael Kinch, got the nod to run for the two at-large seats on the council.