The rebirth of Everett’s ‘mainstream mayor’ who fought the lies and won
Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria is running for reelection. It would be more accurate to say he’s running to prove bullies don’t win.
He’s staying in the fight for all the supporters who stood by him when nobody else would. He desperately needed that, he said, to defeat a local weekly’s smear campaign. He settled out of court with the Everett Leader Herald last month for a landmark $1.1 million.
It wasn’t easy. This 51-year-old, three-term mayor of a proud blue-collar community was humiliated by the once-a-week rag out to tear him down with blatant lies.
“He was bullied and it was disgusting,” a prominent Boston businessman told the Herald, explaining why he contributed to DeMaria’s political campaign fund to help pay staggering legal fees. “Sometimes you need friends.”
That’s the real story here. DeMaria has 7,000-plus friends. One look at the Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) page tells the story of donors who chipped in $1 to $10,000 to him over the years. It’s not unusual for politicians to seek donations, but his case is different.
This time DeMaria fought for his name. He’s defending his wife, Stacy, and their three kids and everyone who believes in fair play. The truth won.
‘Holocaust’ of lies
DeMaria was mercilessly defamed by the Everett Leader-Herald that had to cease publication last month as part of the settlement. But the lies they printed won’t easily go away.
“My best friend totally supported me when I felt catatonic,” DeMaria told the Herald about Jimmy. “He said how good I was when I was in pain. He helped me, but he never told me about his pain.”
Jimmy, the mayor said choking back tears, committed suicide.
“He was there for me when others were tearing me down. … He saved my life,” the mayor added. “The lies they were printing made me sick to my stomach. It was awful. It caused me depression, anxiety.”
The owner and editor of the Leader-Herald ran with bogus stories about the mayor to promote business interests in a blatant betrayal of the First Amendment. They unleashed what they called a “Holocaust” of lies.
The lawsuit centered on nearly two dozen articles published from 2019 through 2022 in which the Leader Herald asserted that Mayor DeMaria had solicited and accepted kickbacks, including cash kickbacks, that he had committed “extortion,” that he had “stolen” money and had “threatened” people if they did not pay him.
It was all “bull (expletive),” DeMaria said, but he didn’t fight back alone. “It brought me to tears all the people who came to my aid.”
Next to Boston
DeMaria has a vision for Everett that he’d like to see come into focus. He calls himself a “mainstream mayor” willing to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to rid his city of drug dealers and rapists who “need to get the hell out of here.”
The Encore casino is already a destination in the city and a soccer stadium for the New England Revolution is next. But he’s not stopping there.
“I’m running for reelection because I want commuter rail stops, a new high school full of vocational programs, clean up the downtown and bring in new businesses with good jobs,” he said. “We’re right next to Boston and can benefit from that.”
He doesn’t want a lithium battery complex in Everett, especially after news broke this week of a massive fire in Monterey Bay, California.
“No battery farms,” he said. “Biotech would be nice.”
He also wants to “help people combat bullying.”
The late Tom Menino, the longest-serving mayor in Boston’s history, once told the Herald in a newsroom visit that he wanted to go out scandal-free. His legacy mattered deeply to him. He was also a practical mayor who cared about what people wrote and said.
DeMaria, also the son of immigrants, wants the same for his name.
Surrounded by enemies
A lie takes on a life of its own.
The Herald Leader’s smears stuck, sending other outlets at DeMaria. Even today word is spreading that digging into all the donors will somehow reveal a story. Here’s what he says of that: He’s a politician tough enough to take a hit, just make it based on truth.
“We’ve got to find a way to find happiness,” he said, saying eating right, exercising and seeking joy whenever possible should be just as important as beating up an opponent.
This is a story about the other side of depression. When you win, but still have bills to pay, but your name is good again.
“We want better,” DeMaria said of Everett. “I’ve got to do four more years. And I want to do it for Jimmy.”
Crisis and suicide prevention hotlines are available on the state’s website. Or, dial 988 to speak with someone.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/BKQxsyw
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