DIXON, MALONEY TAKE SELECT BOARD
Lebeaux wins School Committee race; official turnout 16.5%
CHELMSFORD >> Voters turned out to the polls in Chelmsford Tuesday for the local election that resulted in some new faces on some town boards while others retained their incumbents.
With an official turnout of 16.5%, Patrick Maloney and longtime incumbent George Dixon won seats on the Chelmsford Select Board, beating out challenger Aaron Cunningham in a three-way race for the two seats. Dixon secured a sixth consecutive term on the board, making him possibly the longest serving member of the Select Board in the town’s history by number of terms. Maloney took the most votes in that race with 2,926, while Dixon came in second with 2,563, according to the official results. Cunningham took home 1,820 votes.
After the results came in, many of the night’s winners appeared on Chelmsford Telemedia for its election night coverage. On the air, Dixon commended the campaigns run by his opponents.
“We had fun, it was good, it was well contrasted. Everyone did well, everyone ran a good campaign,” said Dixon. “I could have been third as easily as second, and I take my hat off to Aaron for stepping up and running, and running a great campaign. I think he has a future if he decides to stay involved.”
Dixon said Maloney will also be “a great asset to the board.”
Maloney said on CTM that he felt the Select Board campaign was “positive.”
“I think good messaging got out. It is exciting to be on the board, second time’s a charm,” said Maloney, who had unsuccessfully run for a seat on the board 11 years ago. “Here we are, years later, I was still volunteering and doing all that stuff. With some of the stuff coming up, I said, ‘OK, it’s time to jump back into this kind of fray.’”
The Select Board will now go back to having a full five members after the board had been working with just four members since the sudden resignation of former Chair Mark Carota in September.
For the Chelmsford School Committee, Diana Lebeaux overwhelmingly defeated Rod
ing, “When Health Care Becomes Wealth Care: How Corporate Greed Puts Patient Care and Health Workers at Risk,” exploring the issue and announcing legislation in the Massachusetts State House yesterday.
The hearing follows months of chaos and uncertainty
surrounding Steward Health Care and the future of their nine hospitals in Massachusetts. The private equity company’s millions of dollars of debt came to light in early 2024, and after a push from state officials, they’ve looked to offload all hospitals in the Commonwealth.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren called de la Torre’s absence “cowardice,” noting
he didn’t want to “face the nurses who can’t provide the care people need because he decided to loot the hospital system to buy himself a couple of yachts.”
Testimony from healthcare professionals highlighted the cost of companies prioritizing profits for shareholders over patient care.
“Having spent time at several other Steward facilities briefly, I began to realize
how resources were being dwindled down and pulled from each facility,” said Ellana Stinson, President of New England Medical Association, speaking about her decision to leave the Steward-run Carney Hospital.
There is mounting evidence the for-profit model in healthcare results in harms for patients, said Donald Berwick, President Emeritus and Senior
Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Private equity ownership in nursing homes has resulted in a 10% increase in mortality and 11% increase in costs, he cited, and in hospitals resulted in a 25% in avoidable injuries like falls and infections.
Markey launched a bill called the “Health Over Wealth Act,” which would up financial transparency
and enact safeguards for hospital workers at facilities owned by private equity companies.
Speakers also emphasized the importance of oversight in the the recent proposal from the company Optum to buy Steward’s physician network, which they said may lead back into the cycle of putting profit over patients by a new forprofit company.