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Date: 4/11/2019
CHICOPEE – Mayoral candidate Joe Morissette told a packed room at the Knights of Columbus Elder Council #69 that “politics may be new to me, but leadership is not new to me.”
The Navy vet who served as a Chicopee police officer and currently is a vice principal at Chicopee Comprehensive High School, officially kicked off his campaign for mayor on April 3.
Campaign officials described the audience as a combination of people from the city’s law enforcement and education communities.
Morissette said he was “thunderstruck” by the turnout.
“Everyone came from the four corners of my life,” he said.
Morissette’s remarks were preceded by those from Elin Gaynor and Judy Corridan Danek.
Danek told the audience, “You’re looking for something new. You want change.”
Change from the political establishment in Chicopee was the ongoing theme of the evening.
Morissette said, “I think it’s time to take on some big challenges … now is the time to start thinking big.”
He said he learned from his Navy service how to work under stressful conditions without giving up.
Morissette said he supports the establishment of municipal broadband and wants to give teachers in the city’s school district more support.
He wants to make the Chicopee Police Department, “the best police department in this part of the state if not the state.”
He wants to see more money used to fight the opioid epidemic and make sure the Fire Department has “everything they need.”
Addressing all city employees, he said, “I promise to have your backs.”
Speaking about his campaign, he said, “I will knock on thousands of doors … we are building a grassroots movement.”
“I will work harder than anyone else,” he vowed.
Morissette then started his campaign very visibly by subsequently making appearances at the flag raising for Autism Awareness Month, the opening of a new business, the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce’s Shining Stars event and the Executive Leadership Event community breakfast at Our Lady of the Elms College.