Politics
Waterbury Police Chief Mike Gugliotti, left, embraced Waterbury's mayor-elect, Neil O'Leary, in a private office two floors above O'Leary headquarters moments after the bruising election had been decided. O'Leary had been the Waterbury police chief preceding Gugliotti and the two have been close friends for nearly 30 years.
Story and Photograph By John Murray
Mike Gugliotti was in a tough spot. One of his best friends on the planet was campaigning to unseat his boss, Waterbury mayor Mike Jarjura, a man Gugliotti had a tremendous working relationship with.
"I'm not a political person," Gugliotti said, "and it was difficult to watch these two good men go at it these past five months."
Story and photograph by John Murray
During a post election interview Wednesday morning on WATR radio a caller told Independent Party mayoral candidate Larry De Pillo he had run a terrific campaign, and the city of Waterbury owed him a huge thank you for his decades of public service. Then the caller predicted De Pillo would return to the political arena, "You're like poison ivy," the caller chuckled, " you may not see it for a while, but you know it's coming back."
Photographs By Antonio Gruttadauria
Fran De Pillo watched intently as her husband, Larry De Pillo, checked the numbers coming into Independent Party HQs on election night inside the Franco-American Club in the East End of Waterbury. This was the 8th straight municipal election in Waterbury that Larry De Pillo has placed his name before the electorate. This year the Independent Party ran a shoe-string campaign on $20,000 (1/15th the budget of the Democrats) and still managed to snare 20% of the vote.
Fifteen hours after getting elected mayor, Neil O'Leary went down to WATR radio on Broadcast Lane for an election retrospective, and a peek into the future. WATR host Larry Rifkin posed blunt questions about O'Leary's plans to deal with John Rowland (to be discussed face to face with Rowland), and which high profile city employees would he retain in his administration (there is tremendous talent in place). When the hour interview concluded, O'Leary came outside to discover the Waterbury Observer waiting to wrap up its election day documentary project. A short interview later, Observer publisher John Murray discovered his battery was dead, and he needed a jump. Murray's car battery had died while he was sitting in the WATR parking lot listening to Rifkin's interview with O'Leary. Chelsea Murray used her left hand to hold the hood from clunking O'Leary on the head, and her right hand to photograph Waterbury's next mayor connecting jumper cables to her father's 300,000 mile Ford Explorer. The revitalization has begun.....
Ten-year-old Maggie O'Leary was hoisted into the air and kissed by her father, Neil O'Leary, after he captured the mayor's seat in Waterbury last night. The Observer spent the day shadowing O'Leary, and a chunk of his day revolved around talking to Maggie's class at Blessed Sacrament School, taking Maggie to Kennedy High School where she bubbled in his name for mayor, and scrambling to pick her up at the end of the school day. The image above was made as O'Leary made his way through a raucous crowd of supporters towards a stage. Half way through the crowd O'Leary spotted his daughter, picked her up in front of hundreds of supporters and journalists, and gave her a kiss that neither one will ever forget. The Observer will publish an in-depth feature article about the day with dozens of other images from the 2011 municipal campaign in the November issue of the newspaper next week. Photograph by John Murray
Photographs By Michael Asaro
The end came swiftly for Mayor Mike Jarjura, who conceded the race to Democrat challenger Neil O'Leary 15 minutes after the polls closed Tuesday night.
Neil O'Leary fist bumps Waterbury Police Chief Mike Guggliotti in celebration after defeating five-term incumbent Mike Jarjura, and Independent Party candidate, Larry De Pillo, in a bruising and painful mayoral race. The Observer shadowed O'Leary from 6 AM until midnight to document his historic day. The newspaper will be publishing an in-depth feature article about the experience in next week's edition, and will post dozens of images from the campaign trail on this website. Stay tuned.......photograph by John Murray
Less than 10% of the registered voters in the 75th District voted in the last municipal election. The largely Hispanic population in the South End of Waterbury has historically voted Democrat, but this year both the Republicans and Independents look to take their own cut. The woman above was photographed at an Hispanic rally for Neil O'Leary on November 2nd at the Portuguese Club on Baldwin Street.
Story and Photographs By John Murray
The 2011 mayoral campaign in Waterbury has been a battle, but the trench warfare that has erupted in the South End has triggered an Hispanic awakening that might decide which of the three candidates emerges victorious tomorrow night. The controversy in the South End centers around four-term incumbent Democrat State Representative David Aldarando, and the influence he holds in the 75th District. The district is dominated by Hispanics from a wide array of Spanish speaking countries, including: Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Columbia, El Salvador and Guatemala. And contrary to main stream popular opinion, these groups don't all like each other. Aldarando won re-election in 2010 by winning twice the number of votes as second place finisher Paul Nogueira, and appeared comfortably entrenched in a safe political seat.
Photographs By John Murray
Five-term incumbent Mike Jarjura re-energized the Republican Party in Waterbury after he severed his 25 year tie to the Democrat Party in May, and unexpectedly joined the GOP. Jarjura is pictured above during a Sunday afternoon GOP rally at Jarjura Headquarters in the East End of Waterbury. In the photograph, from left to right, is Lynette Piombo, Steve Giacomi, Jarjura, Fred Luedke and Jason Van Stone. The Democrats cancelled their traditional rally to focus on intensive door to door canvasing, and the Independent Party will hold their rally Monday evening at Hopeville Cafe in the South End of the city.
Photographs By John Murray
Fifteen of the 26 candidates for the Board of Aldermen showed up at Walsh School in the North End of Waterbury, Saturday afternoon, for a hastily rescheduled debate about issues facing the city. From left to right are Independent Party candidates Luis Quince Jr., Robert Petro III, Cicero Booker Jr., Lisa Lessard, Michael Simpson, Vincent Martinelli and Republicans Jerry Padula and Steve Giacomi.