By Shawn Regan
The Eagle-Tribune Staff
HAVERHILL — For mayoral
hopeful John Michitson, politics runs in the family.
His late aunt, Theresa Baumann,
was the first female vice president of the City Council and the
first woman to run for mayor of Haverhill. Her nephew is following
in her footsteps, facing off in Tuesday's election against three-term
incumbent James Fiorentini.
Michitson's campaign strategy
is being formulated and directed from the same place that Baumann
launched her many successful election bids — his cousin
Sandra O'Dea's home at 4 Central Ave. O'Dea is Baumann's daughter.
"I remember laying awake
in bed upstairs listening to all the commotion as the results
came in on election night," O'Dea said on a recent afternoon
at her home. "The adults would be downstairs yelling and
banging on this same table."
Meanwhile, nearby in the city's
Riverside section, Michitson would be awake at his home until
2 or 3 in the morning listening to election results come in over
the radio.
"I remember they announced
the results in blocks of 50 (voters) at a time," Michitson
said. "I must have been 7 or 10 years old."
Like Baumann, Michitson, 50,
served 10 years on the council before giving it up six years
ago to focus on his career and young family. With his children
a little older now, Michitson decided this was the time to go
for the top political job that eluded his aunt.
The Michitson clan got its start
in Haverhill in the 1920s, first in the Swasey Field neighborhood
and eventually settling into a home at 89 Broadway shortly after
World War II. George and Sophia Michitson had six children, including
Baumann and John's late father, Arthur. All six served overseas
in World War II and all six returned to Haverhill after the war,
Michitson said.
"When I go campaigning down
Broadway or on Washington Street in that part of the city, whoever's
door I knock on always remembers one of the six," Michitson
said. "I never know which one it will be, but the person
always has a story about one of them."
Arthur Michitson also was well-known
in local politics, though he never sought elected office. Arthur
Michitson, who died in 2006, founded the Haverhill Taxpayers
Association. He often attended City Council meetings when his
son John was president, usually to oppose some proposal or idea
that threatened to increase taxes, even if his son supported
it.
At John Michitson's fourth and
final debate Wednesday with Fiorentini, he pledged that if he
is elected, honesty and integrity will be the foundation of his
administration — characteristics he said he learned from
his father.
"The characteristics I showed
for 10 years on the City Council were honesty and integrity,"
Michitson said. "And that's rooted in the history of my
family, starting with my father."
Michitson said he father was
cautious about his interest in running for mayor.
"He was conservative and
he was concerned about me giving up my job (at Mitre Corp.),"
Michitson said. "But once he accepted it, I think he would
have been proud. I know he would have gone all out to help me
win."
Michitson said his late uncle
Paul was more encouraging.
"He told me, 'You never
know how long you'll be able to do it, so you better go for it
while you can,'" Michitson said.
Paul died Oct. 19 at the age
of 82.
Michitson's brother James is
a chemist in the city's Water Department. Until a few years ago,
he also was Haverhill's emergency management director.
Michitson and his brother grew
up in Riverside and attended Crowell and Nettle schools. John
graduated from Haverhill High School in 1977. He has an electrical
engineering degree from Merrimack College.
In 1994, Michitson founded Danny's
Mentoring and Tutoring program, which served Haverhill children
for almost 15 years. He has said expanding mentor and tutoring
opportunities in the schools will be part of his education agenda
if elected. Michitson also is chairman of the board of directors
of the public Hill View Montessori Charter School, which is part
of the Haverhill district.
Michitson met his wife, Heidi,
in 1993 at an election victory party for then-Mayor James Rurak.
They grew up in the same neighborhood, but their paths had not
crossed since high school, he said.
"After the party I got her
address from (former Mayor) John Guerin," Michitson said.
"I showed up at her door that night with a rose."
The couple married in 1997. They
have two children, Grace, 8, and John, 10. They attend Golden
Hill and Nettle schools, respectively.
"This election has been
good for all of us," Heidi Michitson said. "The kids
are very excited about it. They were very young when John was
on the City Council. (Their son) John introduced himself to his
school principal by saying, 'Hi. My name is John Michitson. My
father is running for mayor,'" she said with a laugh.
On a recent afternoon, Michitson
and his wife, O'Dea and Michitson's cousin/campaign manager Gayle
Eames and her husband, Morgan, sat around the kitchen table at
O'Dea's home talking about elections new and old. They passed
around old campaign postcards from Baumann's runs for City Council
and mayor. A photograph on one of the cards was taken in the
backyard of her home, O'Dea said.
Michitson called Baumann his
inspiration — in politics and in life.
"Theresa had three young
kids and was pregnant with Sandy when her husband, Harold, died
at the age of 40," Michitson said. "She raised four
kids on her own, served in World War II, was a registered nurse,
and served 10 years on the City Council, while being the council's
first female vice president and the first woman to run for mayor.
How can you not be inspired by that?"
