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Date: 4/3/2019
CHICOPEE – As of this newspaper’s deadline, former Mayor Michael Bissonnette has not yet announced whether or not he is running for the mayor’s job once again.
Yet political pundits – several of whom have contacted this reporter – are closely watching posts on the former mayor’s Facebook page looking for indications whether or not he will join the race.
This week, Bissonnette posted a television campaign for his 2013 run and listed his law office building for sale. Both posts fueled speculation about his political future.
A long Facebook post soliciting comments was posted on March 23 and a second post urging people to share the first was posted on March 24.
Bissonette served four terms as mayor from 2006 to 2013. He ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Mayor Richard Kos in 2103 and 2015.
The March 23 post read, “Since Rich Kos announced he would not be running again, I have been gratified and humbled by folks who have reached out asking me to consider running again. I am seriously exploring this possibility as there are a number of problems that need leadership, stability and experience for the city to manage. That is what I can bring to the job from the first day with the same kind of results that made Chicopee a leader in many areas.
“There is still a lot of work left to be done and as someone pointed out, an almost entirely new City Council to work with that already supported most of the things I proposed a few years ago. Things need to keep moving in the right direction and I sense a desire to get Chicopee moving ahead again.
“It’s good for everyone to get along. It is called cooperation and it worked very well to avoid bitter labor disputes, fully fund our schools, secure more federal and state grants and find a way to avoid layoffs in the worst economy of our lifetime. Very few department heads left during my tenure and most respected the need for accountability and innovation. We did very well working as Team Chicopee to deliver for the people not just the connected insiders.
“Those successes for people – individual constituents who had a snow or sewer issue or by managing the city finances – are what counts.
“So with that in mind, [his wife] Erin and I are discussing if I should run again. As you know, I take the work very seriously (often more seriously than myself) and we are not huge fans of the nasty side of Chicopee politics. Not everybody has the same motives and some have interesting ideas about what the word ‘transparency’ actually means. (Hint: it is not PR, press releases or social media posts about only the good stuff!) However to serve the people and do more than just talk about making our city better, you have to go through the process if you want to be in a position to influence change.
“As we head into Easter season and spring, we would love to hear from you on issues facing Chicopee and local politics in general. Should we run, it will be a grassroots based, back to basics campaign that would touch every street and neighborhood. That means your help, advice and support would be needed – and about $60,000 lol.”
The second post read, “Thanks to all for your friendship. encouragement and advice since yesterday. Today I am asking everyone to share my post below about exploring running for mayor again. By sharing the post, all your friends will be able to read the message and weigh in as well. ‘Everybody counts or nobody counts.’”