Scott Lennon Has Wanted To Be Newton's Mayor Since He Was 15

NEWTON, MA — Scott Lennon remembers vividly the feeling of being in awe as a teenager visiting with politicians who made a difference in Newton. He's got the pictures to prove it. Like most teens, he was interested in sports and hanging out with his friends, but he was smitten at an early age with the idea of becoming mayor.

"Ask any of my oldest friends, they'll tell you," he said recently from inside his campaign headquarters.

In fact, that feeling of wanting to be mayor never quite left him.

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Lennon is a Newton boy.

He was born and raised in the city and so was his family. He's a product of Newton Public Schools, as were his parents before him. He grew up on Traverse Street and his parents still live in the house they bought in 1972. His dad was a Newton firefighter. His grandfather lives around the corner and turned 102 in June. Every day before work he takes his daughter, Jenna, to school - the school he grew up going to.

"One of the reasons I have run and served is because I just feel that this city has given me everything to succeed," he said. "I still feel that after all these years in service... I still continue to feel I owe this city."

That feeling comes from his family's values and from living in Nonantum. "It's a village of tradition," he says. "It was always about giving back: Community service. Being part of the community giving back to the veterans. In my family, in my community."

It was also the M.O. at the Boys & Girls Club. When he was younger and it used to be on Dalby Street, he'd walk past it every day on his way home from school. He was a member there until he was 17 and when he was 25, they asked him to be on the board of directors.

"I thought, ok, wow, this is how I'm going to give back. I'm going to be a director," he said. It was a thrill to go to board meetings with the director of the club and be considered an equal.

He helped usher in the teen center, figure out a new spot for the club, work out property use, and he'd made regular trips to the City Hall. And that upped his goals.

"This is what I want to do. This is how I want to give back," he remembers thinking, while he watched the Aldermen in action. He liked the idea of being the one people came to with problems he could solve.

He ran for a position on the Board of Aldermen for the first time in 1997. He knocked on doors and told people how much he loved the community. He lost by about 200 votes, he says, to the incumbent. But it didn't stop his resolve. He stayed involved at the club, joined a ward committee, watched what was going on at the schools, joined advisory committees then, four years later ran again.

He admits being president of the city council, having a full time job with the Middlesex Sheriff's office in finance, being an involved dad and husband can be time consuming. "But I love being the person in the neighborhood that people come to asking for help," he said. "I really feel like I'm making a difference."

The thing he most feels proud of while serving goes back to his first days on the board. He noticed there were no school safety zones around the schools. So he worked with Planning and DPW and with the police to pilot advance warning signs at three schools. It proved successful enough to implement those safety speed zones around all the schools in the city.

As the son of a firefighter, the other thing he's proud of is working to get the council to understand the firehouses across the city needed renovating. When he was a kid, he'd hang out with his dad there. He remembers thinking he wanted to do something about their condition when he became a councilor.

It wasn't on anyone's radar, he said. But, he secured a Boys & Girls Club van and took councilors on a tour of the firehouses.

"And after so many years of being told it wouldn’t be done, we’re finishing the 4th [firehouse]," he said. "Mayor Warren’s office has changed the financing plan a bit. But to their credit they stuck with it," he said.

It's more difficult for him to think of something he regrets in the past 16 years or third of his life in office.

"That’s a hard question to answer. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on the council. I don't have any regrets. I truly feel like I have given my all... My only regret is that I'm not giving more time to it," he says.

Time to run

After 16 years as a city councilman, eight of those serving as the president of the city council, and with Mayor Setti Warren announcing that he is not running again, the time is right.

Lennon's been knocking on doors, heading to as many meet and greets as possible and going from house party to house party since the end of January. And more are planned right up until the primary.

It's something he's obviously passionate about. He lights up as he tells about his early political experience with the Boys & Girls Club, pointing out a photo of him at about age 15 with then Gov. Michael Dukakis circa 1986.

But the best part of the day? Easy. "It's is walking Jenna to school. Seeing her excited about school and the bus ride," he says smiling.

He said he tries to get at least six hours of sleep, but it's rough. If he gets elected he said he's looking forward to getting to focus on Newton.

His wife Wendy is on board. When they started dating in the late 1990s, told her he was planning on running for mayor, he said. He praises her for her patience and support. "My wife is an amazing woman she puts up with a lot."

What kind of mayor?

Lennon positions himself as the listening candidate.

"I really feel that I've gotten to this point, as president four times — 3 times unopposed — because they believe in my leadership capability and ability to listen. I feel like the most effective politicians that I have watched are listeners," he says.

Back when he first ran he used to go home and watch Aldermen meetings. There were moves he remembers thinking he wouldn't do. And he remembers admiring former State Rep Peter Koutoujian (current Sheriff for Middlesex ) for his ability to listen.

He's made a point, he says, as president of the council to reach out to each of the council members to ask them what he could do better and he takes their critique to heart, he says.

If elected, he says his experience managing budgets daily and managing a team and knowing how the council works position him to be a strong mayor.

He plans to be at committee meetings and visible during the budget process. "Wouldn't it be great to have a mayor right there and willing to talk?"

He's pro charter, and voted against the resolution that would have Newton encourage the House to look into the possibility of impeachment against the president on grounds that he didn't consider it Newton City Council's role to weigh in on Federal issues. Though a lifelong Democrat himself, he said he wrote Kennedy a letter supporting a move as a citizen.

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Editor's note: This article has been changed to correct the spelling of Peter Koutoujian's name.

Photos of Scott Lennon at his candidate headquarters on July 14 by Jenna Fisher/Patch Staff