Election breeds hostility
Vote is Tuesday on $1.65m tax hike
When more than 100 pro-override signs vanished from front lawns in North Andover recently, the leading override backers were frustrated, but they quietly dismissed it as rogue vandalism.
When about 150 anti-override signs disappeared, the beat-the-tax advocates denounced it as a calculated political crime designed to intimidate residents and influence Tuesday's election. They posted a reward ($400 and counting), protested to the Board of Selectmen, complained about police indifference, and hand-delivered a letter to William F. Galvin, the secretary of the Commonwealth, asking his office to investigate and to consider postponing the election.
Those responses illustrate the different styles of the opposing sides in a town facing a $1.65 million Proposition 2 1/2 override Tuesday, as well as the passions that can be stoked when taxes, schools, and town services are at stake.
On one side, the anti-override set is experienced at electioneering. In recent years, they have fought successfully against a series of spending proposals, using signs, direct-mail fliers, automated phone calls, and other tactics. Their red signs -- what's left of them -- state "No More Tax Overrides." North Andover has not approved an override since 2001.
On the other side is a group of political newcomers motivated by the layoffs and service reductions the town has made in the past three years. The group, called North Andover United, bills itself not as a prospending activist movement but as a "middle of the road" antidote to polarized town politics. Their signs state "Vote Yes."
"We've had a climate of hostility" during the past five years, said Sandy Gleed, a part-time gardener, homemaker, and local volunteer who organized North Andover United after last month's Town Meeting; the group has since raised about $11,000 in contributions and attracted 1,000 residents to sign up at its website, northandover.org. "Our obvious goal is to pass the $1.6 million override to make restorations for critical services, but our concurrent goal is to eliminate the anger, to unify the community, and to move us forward in a positive direction, because the negativity and the polarization of the past few years has produced nothing."
Anti-override leader Ted Tripp, president of the North Andover Taxpayers Association and chairman of the allied Taxpayers United for Fiscal Responsibility, said any hostility that exists has been invited by town officials.
"The problem with the acrimony is created by the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee, who keep coming back every year to take more money out of our pockets."
Tripp spoke at the selectmen's meeting last week, decrying the rash of missing "no" signs. "This is not a prank. This is not vandalism," said the chemical engineer, who works as a technical consultant. "No question in my mind, people who are in support of this override will do anything they can to win this override vote, [even] if it means breaking the law."
Gleed, who did not attend the meeting, was stunned by the accusation. She said North Andover United also abhors the thefts of signs and has assailed them on its website.
In the past, Gleed said, she has limited her involvement in local politics to attending Town Meetings and planting the occasional lawn sign. Many of North Andover United's organizers have a similar profile, and "are not only new to politics but new to our town, having moved here maybe in the past five years, with young children," she said. They see Tuesday's vote as a referendum on North Andover's identity. "We need to decide what kind of community we want to be," she said. "We need to decide if we value our services, if we value our way of life, if we value our home values."
Tripp's network counts about 250 consistent volunteers and donors. It was organized to fight a $4 million operating override in 2002; after that override failed, they campaigned successfully against a $7.3 million debt-exclusion override to build a new police station and a Town Meeting proposal to impose a trash-collection fee that would have offset a budget deficit and spared school cuts. All three measures lost by wide margins.
The two sides both have spent Saturday mornings campaigning near the Dunkin' Donuts on Main Street, but otherwise have used different tactics. The Taxpayers United for Fiscal Responsibility motto is "Overrides don't solve underlying spending problems!" Its main flier is a top-10 list peppered with accusations of mismanagement and over spending.
Members of North Andover United say they believe the town's finances are managed effectively, but the town is hamstrung by contractual obligations and mandated costs that have led it to enlarge some classes to three dozen students, close elementary and middle school libraries, and thin its police force.
The anti-override group last summer helped motivate a record crowd of 3,000-plus registered voters to the Special Town Meeting that dealt with the trash fee. The meeting left a bitter taste for many -- "It turned into a wrestling outing" with people "howling and catcalling," Selectman Mark J.T. Caggiano said -- and some fear the thefts of signs indicate continued hostility.
"I hope that this does not reignite the partisanship and the viciousness of politics in North Andover," said Thomas Licciardello, chairman of the Board of Selectmen.
Majorities on the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, and Finance Committee support the override, which would restore some lost staff positions. The override includes $1.35 million for the schools, mostly to hire 17 classroom, specialist, and special-education teachers, and adds money for the town to hire a program manager for the Senior Center, a social-program coordinator for the youth center, and an assistant library director. The override would add $172 to the tax bill for a $505,800 home, the median value in town. The total bill for that home would be $5,567.
State officials have no plans to bump Tuesday's election despite Tripp's request.
Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Galvin, said sign-stealing is a matter for local law enforcement. North Andover police Lieutenant Paul Gallagher said his department received "about a half-dozen reports" of missing signs, plus a phone call from a custodian who discovered about two dozen mostly "no" signs in a trash container outside the Sargent School. Residents have been encouraged to call the police with details related to the missing signs, Gallagher said.
Licciardello condemned the thefts but reminded Tripp "that signs don't vote, people do." Tripp said he believes a majority of residents oppose the override, but he is uncertain about Tuesday's turnout -- partly because of the missing signs. He called the official response "tepid," asking, "How are you going to protect my freedom of speech?"
Gleed -- who has been the subject of anonymous, off-color posts on Craigslist.org, as has Tripp -- worried less about the signs.
"It's done. The signs have been stolen on both sides. Neither committee for or against the override is responsible for it. We don't know who is. I would prefer to just keep in a positive frame of mind and get through the election on Tuesday."
Eric Moskowitz can be reached at emoskowitz@globe.com. 