Hathaway Not Running For State Senate

Candidate Hathaway is back to Citizen Hathaway, at least for now. Norfolk Town Administrator Jack Hathaway said late this week he doesn’t plan to run for state Senate this fall, af­ter

previously flirting with a campaign for the seat once held by United States Sena­tor Scott Brown. Hathaway, a Republican who lives in Norfolk, had told people for the past week or so that he planned to contest the Re­publican

primary in September. He set up a Facebook page online announcing his candidacy last week. The first entry on the web page was dated Friday, April 16.

He attended the state Republican con­vention in Worcester on Saturday, April 17 as a candidate, telling people there he planned to run.

But as of Thursday, he was having sec­ond thoughts. In an interview, Hathaway said he had initially thought about running on the assumption that the Republican Party leadership’s preferred candidate, Richard Ross, a state representative from Wren­tham whose House district includes the town of Norfolk, would likely lose to fel­low state Representative Lida Harkins, a Democrat from Needham, which is at the northern end of the state Senate district. Hathaway grew up in Needham and went to Needham High School, and he thought he might be a formidable candi­date

because he has ties to both ends of the district as well as experience in gov­ernment.

But Harkins was upset in the Demo­cratic primary April 13 by political new­comer Peter Smulowitz, a physician who also lives in Needham.

The general election pitting Smulow­itz (the Democrat) against Ross (the Re­publican) is set for Tuesday, May 11. “I got into the race thinking that Lida likely could win in May, and I think Lida likely could be a tougher opponent for Richard,” Hathaway said. Over the last week and a half or so, though, Hathaway said he has concluded that Ross will probably beat Smulowitz. Hathaway noted that Smulowitz won the primary mostly with votes outside of Needham, where he lives, and Hathaway suggested that Smulowitz is too liberal to be a strong candidate.

“He’s just too far to the left,” Hatha­way said. Smulowitz could not be reached for comment shortly before The Norfolk Boo­merang was set to publish this week. Brown’s election in January to the United States Senate set up an odd tim­ing pattern for the state Senate district he previously held. The special election pri­mary was April 13. The special final elec­tion is Tuesday, May 11. But that election only determines who occupies the seat through early January 2011. The general election in November 2010 determines who gets the seat for the two years after that.

The deadline for filing signatures to run in the September primary is Tuesday, April 27, or a full two weeks before the special final election. So whoever wants to run this fall for the seat has to filesig­natures

before knowing who will win the special election.

Hathaway said he has the 300 signa­tures needed to qualify for the September primary ballot. To make the ballot, he would have to filethem with various town clerks in the state Senate district by Tuesday, April 27, and then file the certified signatures with the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office. But since he has decided against going forward, he said he doesn’t plan to file the remaining signatures. Hathaway said he didn’t mean by his candidacy to undermine the Republican Party leadership’s chosen candidate. Hathaway said he planned to contest the primary assuming Ross would lose the special election in May to Harkins, which would have given him a shot at Harkins in the November general election.

“It was never my intent to hurt the Republican Party or Rich­ard. I looked at myself more as a safety net for the Republican Party,” Hathaway said.

Hathaway said he doesn’t want to challenge Ross in Septem­ber if Ross wins the special election in May. “If Richard won in May, it would be difficult for me to beat him, because he has the support of the entire Republican Party establishment. And I don’t think it will do either of us any good. … So I’ll wait for a better opportunity,” Hathaway said.

Hathaway said Thursday he was attempting to schedule a meeting with Ross, who he said has been kind to him throughout his discernment process. Ross couldn’t be reached for comment shortly before The Norfolk Boomerang’s deadline this week. As for Hathaway’s future in politics, it looks like he won’t have a chance to run until the fall of 2012 at the earliest, unless a seat unexpectedly becomes open before then. “Clearly my interest is there. I wanted to get in,” Hathaway said. If he had run this year, Hathaway said he planned to remain as Norfolk’s town administrator during the campaign but would have resigned if he had gotten elected to the state Legislature.

Hathaway said he will not run for town office in Norfolk.

Norfolk’s three selectmen, who as a board have the author­ity to hire and fire Norfolk’s town administrator, praised Hatha­way’s work running Town Hall in interviews this week but didn’t get into the details of his potential career in politics. All three selectmen are Republicans. All when asked by The Norfolk Boomerang earlier this year about the open state legisla­tive seats immediately said they had no interest in running for them. Selectman Jim Lehan, board chairman, noted that Norfolk town government is experiencing tough financial times, like most towns elsewhere, and he said Hathaway’s experience and judgment are vital to the town

“I don’t want to see Jack going anywhere,” said Selectman Jim Lehan, board chairman. “We need that institutional knowl­edge. It would be a terrible time to lose him.”

The other selectmen sounded similar themes in interviews. “I’d hate to lose him as a town administrator. It would be a loss to Norfolk,” said Selectman Rob Garrity.

Selectman Jim Tomaszewski said: “Jack has been an excellent town administrator and a great asset to the town. It would be a loss, but he has to fulfill his dreams, too.”