Tim Cahill endorses Sullivan for mayor

By RICK COLLINS
The Patriot Ledger

BRAINTREE - State Treasurer Timothy Cahill has endorsed his former state Lottery director, Joseph Sullivan, in Braintree’s race for mayor.

Cahill, who normally stays out of municipal races, said he decided to break with personal tradition out of respect for Sullivan, whom he first met when they were 18-year-olds working at the former Hammett’s school supply warehouse in Braintree.

Cahill, a Quincy Democrat, was scheduled to make the formal announcement at Sullivan’s pre-election rally Thursday night at the Braintree VFW hall.

“I’m endorsing him out of my respect for the job he did at the Lottery and the challenges he will face as the first mayor in Braintree,” Cahill said in an interview prior to the event.

The endorsement was also an attempt to answer speculation among political insiders over the circumstances surrounding Sullivan’s departure from the Lottery earlier this year.

“I don’t want people to think he left on bad terms, or that when he left there was any sort of cloud over his job performance, when there wasn’t,” Cahill said. “He left because he wanted to be Braintree’s first mayor.”

Sullivan resigned his House seat in 2003 to take the Lottery post.

Sullivan said he has great “admiration and respect” for Cahill and the job he does.

Cahill praised Sullivan’s leadership of the Lottery, the state’s ninth-biggest business in terms of sales, including the way Sullivan handled contract negotiations with the agency’s employee unions.

William Damatin, campaign manager for mayoral candidate Joseph Powers, said Sullivan being backed by his former boss should not be surprising.

“It would probably be a bigger story if he didn’t endorse him,” Damatin said.

Damatin also pointed out that Powers is being endorsed by former gubernatorial candidate Christopher Gabrieli, who was the top vote-getter in Braintree during last fall’s Democratic primary.

Powers served as Gabrieli’s field organizer in the town.

Rick Collins may be reached at rcollins@ledger.com.