by Sydonya E. Barker

The Somerville businessman, who challenged Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone in last year’s mayoral election, spoke at the Sept. 10 contributors meeting of The Somerville News.

“Politically, the new administration is doing pretty well. As an opponent, I feel that they’re doing a very good job,” said Tony G. Lafuente, the owner of Flagraphics, a flag and banner company.

Lafuente said he was comfortable with the election results. His priority was to remove Dorothy A. Kelly Gay, the city’s previous mayor, from office.

Although he worked hard to win against Curtatone, he felt his race for mayor was over when Kelly lost the primary, he said.

Lafuente said he would continue to work to make sure that Gay’s political career is over. “Dot will never, ever win another community race.”

Gay infuriated Lafuente with her administration’s poor management and her de-funding of special needs programs for parochial school students, he said.

Although his children attended St. Ann’s School, Lafuente lived in North Reading and that town was funding his son’s special needs program.

When Gay cut the special needs funding for the parochial schools, she also prevented his son from receiving help that was paid for by North Reading, he said.

Unable to convince Gay to change her mind, Lafuente said he felt an obligation to unseat her, because unlike other special needs parents, he had the resources and to take her on.

“You can’t be a nurse, mother, grandmother, and mayor and can’t tell special education kids that they can’t go to school,” said Lafuente. “You just don’t do that to kids.”

Lafuente said he moved his family from North Reading to Somerville so he could run against the former mayor, he said. “The best thing I ever did in my life was to get in that race,” he said.

As private citizen, Lafuente continues to work on behalf of special needs students. At a recent local breakfast event, Lafuente said he confronted Gov. Mitt Romney about the MCAS, a statewide test required to graduate from high school, and asked that arrangements be made to help special needs students get their degree even if they cannot pass the MCAS.

When the governor told him that the best the state could do was offer a certificate of attendance, but not anything equivalent to a high school diploma, he said.

“I’m going to beat you on that,” Lafuente said he told Romney.

Now he putting together a statewide initiative for children with special education needs and the MCAS, he said.

Many of special needs student who fail the MCAS can successfully complete college even if it might take six to eight years, he said. “These kids deserve the opportunity to go to college. Typically these are the kids that fall through the cracks.”

The initiative would define a child with special needs as any student who has an individualized education program, he said.

Instead of taking the MCAS, the initiative recommends that teachers and school administrators evaluate children with IEPs based on portfolios of their schoolwork, he said. “This will be a much fairer system for these kids.”

Another weakness of the Gay administration was its terrible record on economic development, he said. The year he rebuilt his house on Sycamore Street, that project was the largest development in Somerville that year. “With all this land and opportunity, how could that be?” he asked.

Gay hurt Somerville developmentally, socially, and community-wise, said Lafuente. “She hurt this city for years to come.

Lafuente said he is disappointed that he does not see as much pro-activeness to build up the businesses of the city as he would like. “This city has always had a problem in attracting business.”

A long-time business owner in Somerville since 1987, Lafuente said, “I have seen businesses come, grow, and leave. We should be very proactive as a community to go out and market to companies to come in.”

“By providing incentives such as tax breaks the city of Somerville can increase development. The lack of development here is a shame,” he said. “This city is so well-situated for business. It’s a fantastic place to be.”

Lafuente said he remains a bit concerned about the current administration’s focus on development.
He has encouraged members of the administration to work harder to develop more of a vision for economic growth, he said.

“Send city officials to development trade shows, find people who are committed to the city, and work backwards: ask what’s the least you can do and still make a profit.”

The mayor should be held entirely responsible for development in Somerville. The focus should also be on the city’s Chamber of Commerce, he said.

“I feel the Chamber speaks pro-business because they feel they have to be pro-business,” Lafuente said.

A member of Chamber of Commerce, Lafuente said that the chamber awards businesses that are not committed to the city. The iRobot company, for example, a leading provider of mobile robots, was granted an award by the chamber right before they announced they were leaving Somerville.

Meanwhile, businesses that stay never get any recognition, he said. “It’s part of the good boy network, and that’s fine.”

As for his future, Lafuente said he has no plans of running for anything because his family is now beginning to recover from his last race for mayor.

Politically, he would like to be involved, but he is unsure of how, as long as the mayor is doing a good job, he said. “Everything seems to be working fairly well, and if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

“But, if an opportunity arises, I will be right there,” he said.