NORWICH – This Nov. 7, a mayoral race will be held in the City of Norwich to determine who will finish the current term. Republican Joseph P. Maiurano has been filling the position left when Mayor Robert C. Raphael passed away in late May. This year’s election will guarantee the winner only one year in office to finish out the current term. Running against Maiurano will be Democrat Michael Carnrike and Independent Vince Anthony.
Anthony is a bus driver for the Norwich City School District and an office manager at Norwich Tire. He has lived in Norwich for 16 years, since moving here from New Jersey. Anthony is married and has four children and four grandchildren.
The political newcomer says his run was inspired by his concern for the youth in the city. He said he became troubled after speaking with students last year at career day, and hearing what they had to say about the city. “A high number of kids feel there is no future here for them,” Anthony said.
Anthony says his campaign has no glitz or glamour. He is running a small operation, which so far, does not even have a place to call campaign headquarters. “I’ll be going door to door, introducing myself, and shaking hands,” Anthony said. A small group of friends will be helping him in his campaign, but he asserts “there are no deep pockets backing me.”
The door-to-door plan has been put into effect already. Before last Tuesday night’s city council meeting, Anthony said he spoke with several city residents, informing them of when and where it was taking place. He encouraged them to come. Six or seven people accepted his invitation.
“My goal is to get city residents involved in government,” he said. “It might have only been six or seven people, but that’s six or seven more than were there two weeks ago.”
Anthony’s plan for running the city is to look into everything. “I’ll do what needs to be done to correct what is wrong,” Anthony said. He intends to investigate the city’s financial situation, by looking into what money the city takes in, and what it spends. Anthony admitted that he has no experience running a city, but he says he believes he can do it. “You run a city the way you would run a business or a household. You don’t spend money you don’t have. It’s common sense.”
“We need to increase business within the city district,” he said, adding that he is pro-business. According to Anthony, new businesses in the Town of Norwich are great, but they do nothing to help the city financially. He says we need to build up the business district in the city.
“As a bus driver, I believe in being fair, firm and consistent with the kids. I intend to use the same philosophy with the city,” Anthony said, adding he is running because he knows a lot of people are unhappy with the way things are running in the City of Norwich. He also said he wants to show children, the difference you can make, when everyone works together.
“I think people are ready for a change,” Anthony said.