Donohue concedes recount, Devaney back on Watertown council

Town Councilor John Donohue has conceded his seat to Marilyn Petitto Devaney

WATERTOWN

Town Councilor John Donohue has given up his legal challenge of the Nov. 30 recount that bounced him from the council and put incumbent Marilyn Petitto Devaney back in office for another two-year term.

Donohue, who was initially declared the winner of the Nov. 6 election, conceded the race after a Middlesex Superior Court judge declined yesterday to review most of the ballots that he believed were erroneously tallied in Devaney's favor during the recount.

"Although I have been advised that the judges decision not to allow a review of the ballot boxes in Districts B-4 and B-5 maybe erroneous as a matter of law, I have decided not to appeal the decisions further," Donohue said in a statement he posted on the H20town blog.

"I have done so, so as not to provide for a lengthy and costly dispute with the town, while putting the continuity of the council and the best interests of the residents first," the statement continued. "I also feel that an appeal will not allow for a clear and conclusive answer for the irregularities that occurred during the re-count."

Donohue, a Watertown pub owner, had served as a councilor-at-large since 2005.

-- Christina Pazzanese