Copyright The Boston Globe
Van Campen is a city councilor and labor lawyer who took down perhaps the most controversial mayor in Massachusetts in DeMaria. DeMaria, the 17-year mayor, can take credit for a historic coup in landing the Encore Casino. The casino has been the catalyst of a bona fide boom in the city. Even DeMaria’s foes freely admit that the development has transformed the formerly sleepy working-class city on the Mystic River. On the other hand, DeMaria was dogged for many years by unflattering headlines that attested to the heavy-handed, insular, sometimes allegedly sexist, sometimes allegedly racist culture embodied by the mayor and his inner circle. He was an old-school small town mayor who operated under the premise that his word was law. The final breaking point came this year when the state inspector general found that DeMaria had accepted, and hidden, $180,000 in sketchy bonuses. When the City Council tried to make him pay the money back, DeMaria flatly refused. When the council took a unanimous “no confidence” vote after that, he dismissed it as meaningless. Which it was. Until Tuesday. Van Campen, 50, promises to be a departure. He grew up in East Boston and Melrose and didn’t live in Everett until his parents moved there while he was in law school. He spent 15 years in elected office — including a stint as City Council president — before an unsuccessful run for mayor in 2013. He took a 10-year break from elected politics before returning to the council in 2023, quickly emerging as a critic of the administration. He told me that this first priority will be restoring public trust in city government. “I think the culture of collaboration that I intend to bring to City Hall will be new and refreshing for the people of Everett, for the Everett City Council, School Committee, for the school leadership, for our public employees who work hard every day to serve the people of Everett,” Van Campen said. “I’m a bridge builder and a team builder, and I intend to be that person at City Hall every day. So I expect that’ll be a noticeable change.” Increased development has been a blessing for Everett, but it’s something of a mixed blessing. Van Campen told me one of the most pressing issues in Everett is overcrowded schools, as young families flock to the city. He has floated a plan to use space in two closed high schools to relieve the crunch. Van Campen will also have to deal with Everett’s negotiations over the soccer stadium New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is building in Everett. Negotiations over mitigation are currently underway, with a Dec. 31 deadline to avoid binding arbitration. Van Campen said he hasn’t been involved in those discussions at all but is optimistic a deal can be struck. Both Everett and Boston are in talks with the Kraft Group over community benefits. “I’m always going to put the people of Everett first, and my future colleague, Mayor Wu, is always going to put the people of Boston first,” he said, “I think that can be done in a way that mutually achieves the goals of both communities and both constituencies.” If there has been one constant thread in the criticisms of frustrated DeMaria dissidents, it was that his style of leadership left too many people on the outside looking in. For years, its disputes have often boiled down to insiders versus outsiders. Now, an “outsider” will be in charge. “I think there’ll be a dramatic change in relationships with all stakeholders in the city of Everett, whether it be youth groups, our communities of color, our Haitian community, our Brazilian community, our Latino community, all the diversity in Everett, which is its greatest strength.” Perhaps unwittingly, DeMaria brought change to his city. Now the voters of that transformed city have opted to move on without him.
