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Edwards to stay a city councilor until April 30

By adamg on Fri, 01/21/2022 - 6:18pm

Newly elected state Sen. Lydia Edwards announced today she will formally resign as a city councilor on April 30, which she says will give the city council enough time to call a special election to replace her without her East Boston, Charlestown and North End constituents losing representation on the council.

In a statement, she said:

As the residents of Charlestown, East Boston, and the North End continue to face extreme housing, development and recovery challenges during a pandemic, I believe the best thing I can do is represent them until they elect a new city councilor. This process will minimize the amount of time the district is without representation on the council and will give voters more of an opportunity to hear from the candidates about their vision for the seat.

The council could not schedule an election to replace her for the rest of her two-year term until she submitted a formal resignation.

Neighborhoods: 
Charlestown
East Boston
North End
Topics: 
Politics
Free tagging: 
Lydia Edwards
City Council
2022 elections


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Comments

By Terrapin on Fri, 01/21/2022 - 9:08pm.

I'm going to put as many Benjamins in my purse as I can as long as I can without jeopardizing my future electability. I mean, hell, if the voters are stupid enough to kill the bill years ago eliminating police details so sleepy cops can grab a Dunks while earning enough to pay for both alimony and their girlfriend's bling they won't object to me "representing" the people in both ends at the same time like you read about.

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By DCA-BOS on Fri, 01/21/2022 - 10:37pm.

How she waited until after the election and her swearing in to announce this. She’s had ample opportunities to let her constituents know of her plans. I feel so much better that I’ll be represented on the council by someone who’s spending their time in Revere and Winthrop.

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By AdamB on Sat, 01/22/2022 - 11:01am.

Who would you be represented by if she resigned today?

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By Terrapin on Sat, 01/22/2022 - 1:44pm.

They represent all city residents.

Plus the mayor, and since Boston has a strong mayor system that is who really does anything meaningful.

But seriously, the whole City Council could all take a 6 month nap and no one would suffer any harm. It is when they meet that they cause problems for us.

She is just collecting an extra check because she can.

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By Refugee on Sun, 01/23/2022 - 8:37am.

From the city charter:

• If, more than 180 days before an election, a district city councillor’s office becomes vacant then the city clerk must immediately notify the city council.
• At its next meeting, the city council must then order a special election for choosing nominees (preliminary election).
• This election must occur on a Tuesday between 62 and 76 days after the meeting.
• The 2 candidates with the most votes in the preliminary election then run against each other in a special election which occurs 28 days after the preliminary election

It's about 190 days from April 30 to the November election. The threshold for scheduling a special election is 180 days. It looks a lot like Edwards is deliberately trying to force an expensive special election to fill the seat, giving her head staffer a quasi-incumbent advantage, instead of waiting two weeks so it can be filled on Election Day at no cost to the city. That sucks.

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