Sciortino-Trane to be decided next week

By George P. Hassett

There is only one name on the ballot, but the State rep race in the 34th Middlesex district is real.

The novelty of incumbent Carl Sciortino running a sticker campaign against challenger Bob Trane, the only Democrat on the ballot, is just one storyline in a race political junkies have watched all summer.

A stormy history between the candidates, a stack of missing (some say stolen) nomination papers and media depictions of the clash as a mini-culture war between ‚Äúold‚Äù and ‚Äúnew‚Äù Somerville Democrats, has turned the race from a sleepy summer showdown into what could be an exciting and contentious election day. On Tuesday, voters in precincts 1 and 2 of Ward 4 and all of Ward 7 in Somerville and parts of Medford will have the final say when they either check the box for Trane or write in Sciortino’s name.

Trane announced he was challenging Sciortino five months after Sciortino, a Medford resident, endorsed Trane’s challenger for Ward 7 alderman – a position Trane has held since 2004. On the day he announced, Trane told The Somerville News that Sciortino was ‚Äúelitist‚Äù and ‚Äúout of touch‚Äù with the harsh economic realities voters in the district face.

Two weeks later, Sciortino said, he first noticed his nomination papers, 72 signatures on 12 sheets of paper, were missing. But it wasn’t until 13 days later that Sciortino called the State Police and reported the papers as stolen. Now on Tuesday, Sciortino must mount a write-in campaign.

Trane said his opponent’s inability to get on the ballot is not changing his campaign strategy. He said he knocks on doors in the district for hours each night. ‚ÄúI’m running to change politics as usual on Beacon Hill,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúAnd I’m getting a great response in the district.‚Äù

Trane has charged that Sciortino is ‚Äúin the pocket of special interest groups‚Äù because of contributions Sciortino has received from unions and a donation he received in 2004 – the day after his primary upset over eight-term incumbent Vincent P. Ciampa – from then House Speaker Thomas Finneran’s political action committee.

Sciortino did not return repeated phone calls for this story.

In a press release issued yesterday, Trane said 70 percent of Sciortino’s contributions for this election came from outside the district.

‚ÄúCarl Sciortino really should invest in a map of the 34th district,‚Äù Trane said. ‚ÄúIf he did, he’d notice that San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver, New Haven, Youngstown, New York, Cincinnati, Telluride, San Diego, Bethesda, Plano, Atlanta, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Silver Springs, Rockville, Santa Ana, and Washington, D.C. weren’t among the areas he was supposed to be representing on Beacon Hill.‚Äù

In a release from Sciortino’s campaign, Sciortino said he received donations from 302 residents of the district, compared to 65 local donors for Trane.