What’s behind union’s approval of mayoral candidate?

Thank you for the in-depth article on the financial contributors to Everett Mayor’s race (“Sullivan leads race for dollars,” June 8, The Herald). The critical take away: Brian Sullivan is owned by the firefighters union. Sullivan is a professional politician — of course he will deny that he has made any promises to that special interest group, but what other logical conclusion can one reach? Sullivan is “bought and paid for.”

It is unclear to me why the endorsement of a candidate by a special interest group — the firefighters union — would be considered a good thing by a typical voter. While the special interest group will benefit from Sullivan’s election, the rest of us will suffer.

I hope The Herald will investigate why the firefighters union feels the need to weigh in so heavily on the part of one candidate, while other special interest groups are willing to let the democratic process take its course.

And this is what I mean by the democratic process: There is one candidate for mayor for whom the overwhelming majority of her support comes from the citizens of Everett. That candidate is Judy Tuohy. So apparently Tuohy has a special interest group, too: the citizens of Everett.

Deane W. Minor

Everett