With no ballot rival, mayor looks ahead

It's the late summer of an election year in Revere, but Mayor Thomas G. Ambrosino is not spending much time asking residents for their votes.

As the only candidate to file nomination papers for the city's top office, Ambrosino has the luxury of running unopposed in the Nov. 6 election, barring the unlikely scenario of a write-in candidate emerging.

In a city with a tradition of lively electoral clashes, the lack of a mayoral fight seems an anomaly, even to Ambrosino, who has served a pair of two-year terms and one four-year term. The city went to a four-year mayoral term in 2003.

Having no race is "a bit of a surprise, especially given the four-year term that is up," said Ambrosino, who attributed his unopposed status to a combination of luck and hard work. "We've done a reasonably good job in some difficult times," he said.

Ambrosino was also unopposed in 2001. But his other two mayoral victories, when he unseated then-mayor Robert J. Haas Jr. in 1999, and when he defeated an at-large City Council member, John P. Jordan, following a three-way preliminary election in 2003, came after hard-fought contests.

Colleagues see Ambrosino's evident popularity and the generally positive direction of the city as factors in his escaping an opponent this time.

"I'm not really surprised because he's energetic, he's bright, and a lot of good things are happening in the city," said Ward 5 Councilor John F. Powers, who was administrative assistant to Haas when he was mayor.

Despite his praise for the incumbent, Powers said he would have liked to see a mayor's race.

"I think that competition is good because it creates the opportunity for different opinions, different ideas" to be offered, he said.

Haas, now a councilor at large, said he also believes the one-man race this fall is a reflection of his one-time electoral foe's efforts as mayor.

"He's done a good job," Haas said. "He's started partnerships to make things happen," referring to Ambrosino's efforts to work with the state, the City Council, and the School Committee, which the mayor chairs as part of the job's duties.

Even without an opponent, Ambrosino, a former three-term School Committee member and two-term councilor at large, plans some low-key campaigning, including holding signs and possibly knocking on doors. But the lack of a race has given him an opportunity to think ahead.

"There are still things I would like to complete," Ambrosino, 45, said in a recent interview, citing Revere's ongoing school building program in particular. To date, the city has built a new A.C. Whelan Elementary School and a new Susan B. Anthony Middle School, housed in one facility. It is now building a new Rumney Marsh Academy middle school, and has plans for a new Paul Revere School and a new McKinley School.

Ambrosino also wants to build on the public-private efforts that have begun to revitalize Revere Beach, observing, "We've come a long way."

The state is in the midst of a $9 million upgrade of Revere Beach Boulevard. Ambrosino also pointed to new private developments along the boulevard, including the completed Atlantica and Surfside Lofts condominium complexes, and the planned Ocean Club condo development.

And the city has just secured a $10 million state grant for infrastructure work at Waterfront Square, a public-private development venture at the MBTA's Wonderland Station that calls for a hotel, an office tower, and residential condominium units.

"The other thing that's got me excited is expanded gaming; that could have a big impact on the city," Ambrosino said, referring to legislative efforts to allow slot machines at the state's four race tracks, including Wonderland in Revere and Suffolk Downs in neighboring East Boston, and the possibility, proposed by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, of building a casino at Suffolk Downs.

Even as Ambrosino looks ahead to his next term, his wider plans remain a source of lively speculation in Revere. Rumors suggest he is looking to take another job, possibly at the state level.

"I'm not looking to leave," Ambrosino said. "I certainly don't have any prospects out there at the moment." He said he expects to complete his term, "unless something were to come up that was some sort of extraordinary offer. It would probably be in the public sector, because that's what I enjoy."

Ambrosino said he had been informally approached by the Patrick administration about serving as commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, when the new governor was looking to fill the job. But he said he indicated that position would not interest him.

A graduate of Boston University and Harvard Law School, Ambrosino worked as an associate member of a Boston law firm from 1986 to 1994, and maintained his own law practice from 1994 until he became mayor five years later.

Ambrosino said the city has also made notable strides in investing in its water and sewer systems. And he said despite difficult times, Revere is also now in "relatively good financial shape," noting its bond rating is better than it has been in years.

School Committee member Carol A. Tye, who has known Ambrosino since she was his teacher in a sophomore English honors class at Revere High School, is not surprised that he is unopposed, observing, "Tom is regarded with such admiration by so many people, I absolutely do not think there is any candidate who could beat him.

"He's extraordinarily talented -- not only academically, in knowledge and education, but in the human element," Tye, a former Revere school superintendent, said. "He can sit in a room and bring opposing sides together. He has great equanimity and never gets upset. . . . A lot of us get caught up in the trees and he sees the forest."