Newton Debate Excludes Mayoral Candidate

NEWTON, MA — Three of the seven official candidates for Newton Mayor–Ruthanne Fuller, Scott Lennon and Amy Sangiolo — are slated to attend a forum sponsored by the City Democratic Committee tonight, Aug.24, from 7-9 p.m. at Newton City Hall. All three are registered Democrats. But there are four registered Democrats running for mayor.

New to the political scene is Democrat Eli Katzoff. But he wasn't invited to the forum tonight. And it's not because he doesn't want to participate.

The Democratic Committee said they only allow registered Democrats to participate in their partisan events, and though he is technically one, he only registered last month to run on a Democratic ticket. Too late, said the committee.

Committee members worried the 32 year old who first enrolled as a mayoral candidate under no party affiliation wasn't a serious candidate or might just want to use their resources to gain traction. Katzoff said he only registered late because, new to the political world, he wasn't sure all of his ideas were 100 percent Democrat and he didn't want to rock the boat. And he only jumped into the race in June.

Early last month Katzoff attended a committee meeting where he learned that it would be OK for him to run on the Democratic ticket and he decided it would be more beneficial for people to see that the majority of his ideas were Democratic so he'd do just that and registered shortly after.

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But at a second meeting on Aug. 3, that Katzoff said he wasn't able to attend, the majority of the voting members decided not to let anyone who wasn't registered to run on the Democratic party by July 1 to participate in their events. People were concerned he registered as a Democrat only after learning he had to do so in order to be included in NDCC events and communications.

"Like with anything there's the truth and then there's the political angle," said Katzoff. "I was the only one who hadn't registered by July 1."

Katzoff said this is his first foray into politics. He's only voted in three elections and was inspired by the last National political election to get involved he said he looked around the city and saw - despite how much he loved Newton, that residents were in danger of disconnecting from one another and he wanted to do something about it.

One of the reasons he chose to run for mayor was that he felt it was important to step up and add a new young voice and fresh ideas to the table. The national Democratic Party has been urging that young people and those formerly outside the political system get involved, he said.

He stood at Whole Foods and talked to Newton residents for hours as he sought the 400 signatures he needed to get on the ballot. And as he talked with them, he spoke about his concern that residents were at risk of isolation. He was running on a campaign to unify community members, he said. If he wasn't serious, why would he have stood out there for so many hours? he asked rhetorically.

But many of the Democratic Committee members had a hard time taking him seriously, citing the video he put out of himself announcing his candidacy in which he rides out on a motor scooter with some comedic effect.

Katzoff said that's just his style, and while he was still figuring out his voice in those early campaign days, it got the attention of a lot of young people around town. And that was his goal.

"It was unclear if he was a serious candidate. If he had registered even two months ago we definitely would have included him," said Shawn Fitzgibbons of the Newton Democratic Committee, adding that he personally likes Katzoff and what he stands for and even encouraged him to run.

Fitzgibbons pointed to the recent growth of the Newton Committee as evidence that this is nothing personal.

"We definitely welcome newcomers including people who are just registering and haven't ever participated in politics before... In the past six months we've added 50 more people to our membership roles... the number of voting members that a political committee is allowed to have by law is totally full... In this case with the mayoral forum it just didn't seem appropriate taking up time given the concerns," said Fitzgibbons. "We want him to stay involved and this is by no means an effort to exclude him or to favor the three elected officials who are participating tonight."

Katzoff, for his part, had high praise for Fitzgibbons, but said he still didn't think the decision the committee came to was the right one.

"It's a shame that this happened cause it really does send a message to people that [the party is] not that welcoming... It's really frustrating," said Katzoff. "There are people in Newton who just hated the fact that I was running."

RELATED:

Who is running for mayor of Newton? (Plus Video of the NewTV debate)

Ruthanne Fuller Wants To Be Newton's First Female Mayor
Amy Sangiolo Could Be Newton's First Asian American Mayor
Scott Lennon Has Wanted To Be Mayor Since He Was 15

Photo of Eli via YouTube screen shot. Photo of Newton City Hall by Jenna Fisher/ Patch