Copyright The Boston Globe
EVERETT - City Councilor Robert Van Campen Tuesday defeated Mayor Carlo DeMaira, a 17-year incumbent who was seeking reelection amid a $180,000 pay scandal. “Change has arrived in Everett tonight,” Van Campen said to cheering supporters, according to video a posted by WCVB-TV. “The people of Everett have decided to write a new chapter . . . that story will be told by everyone in this room tonight, and by everyone at home . . . including those who didn’t vote for me, because I am their mayor, too.” Van Campen received 4,118 vote to DeMaria’s 3,440, according to the city election commission. DeMaria, a fixture in Everett politics since he was first elected to the city council in 1993 while a college student, faced the toughest test of his at times fraught political career. Advertisement Best known for drawing the Encore casino to blighted land along the Mystic River, DeMaria this time around ran against the perception that he took advantage of his office, to the detriment of city taxpayers. Early this year, the state inspector general reported DeMaria had inappropriately pocketed $180,000 in city money by orchestrating excessive “longevity” bonuses for himself and then hiding the payments in the budget. The Everett City Council passed a resolution demanding DeMaria pay the money back and, when he refused, took a vote of no confidence that passed, 9-0. Last month, an auditor brought in by councilors identified other questionable spending, including a lump-sum payment of nearly $32,000 in 2023, ostensibly for retroactive cost-of-living increases, and a spike in charges to DeMaria’s city credit card bill to $25,000 in 2023. Advertisement In a letter to Everett voters last month, DeMaria defended his bonuses and suggested criticism of them was just the latest flare-up in a long-running political witch hunt against him. The allegations and controversy swirling around DeMaria led to at least one angry protest at City Hall. At a council meeting in September, community activists wore T-shirts with messages such as “Deump DeMaria,” the Globe has reported. On Tuesday night, after the polls closed, at least two dozen people waited anxiously outside of the city clerk/ election commission office. Shortly after 9 p. m., two men depart City Hall saying “We all know who won!” Councilor Guerline Alby Jabouin eft City Hall shortly before 10 p..m. She was on her way to Van Campen’s victory party at Village Bar & Grill. “I am delighted,” she said. “I am so happy for Everett. This was a community fight. It looks like we have a mayor for Everett and for the people of Everett.” The Democratic party was quick to congratulate Van Campen on social media. Van Campen, a lawyer and former city solicitor in Melrose, served three terms on the then-Everett Board of Alderman in the early 2000s. He ran unsuccessfully against DeMaria for mayor in 2013. Stephanie Ebbert and Kathy McCabe of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez. Camille Bugayong can be reached at camille.bugayong@globe.com.
