Ted Gatsas

Ted Gatsas
55th Mayor of Manchester
In office
January 5, 2010 – January 2, 2018
Preceded by Frank Guinta
Succeeded by Joyce Craig
Member of the New Hampshire Senate
from the 16th district
In office
December 2000 – January 2009
Personal details
Born (1950-05-22) May 22, 1950
Manchester, New Hampshire,
U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Cassandra Gatsas
Alma mater University of New Hampshire,
Manchester

Theodore "Ted" Gatsas (born May 22, 1950) is an American politician and member of the Republican party who had served as Mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire from 2010 to 2018.[1] He was a member of the New Hampshire Senate, representing the 16th District from 2000 until he resigned in 2009 after being elected Mayor.[2]

Gatsas was educated at Manchester Central High School. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire at Manchester with a Bachelor of Science degree. He then started Staffing Network, a PEO, with his brother Michael. Gatsas was elected alderman in the Manchester city council in 1999, and later elected to the New Hampshire Senate in 2000. He became President of the Senate in 2005 by cutting a deal mid-term with the minority Democrats to remove two-term Republican Senate President Tom Eaton. He was elected Senate Minority Leader after the Democrats took control of the State Senate in 2006.

Gatsas was elected mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire in the 2009 Manchester mayoral election.[3] In 2013, Gatsas was again re-elected, defeating Patrick Arnold.[4] Gatsas won reelection in 2015 by 64 votes citywide. Mayor Gatsas ran for re-election in 2017, however lost to Democratic (technically nonpartisan) opponent Joyce Craig, 53% to 47%.

Manchester Under Ted Gatsas

During Ted Gatsas' tenure as Mayor, both violent and property crime was reduced including a 60% drop in the homicide rate his final year[5]. After the introduction of the opioid epidemic into New Hampshire, Gatsas worked to implement the Safe Station program which allowed those who had become addicted to opioids to go to any fire station in the city and be referred and transported to a recovery facility[6]. This is credited with lowering the overdose rate in the city during Gatsas' final years in the Mayor's office and nearly 65% of those utilizing the service came from outside the city which led to Gatsas securing funds from the State to help finance the program[7]. Manchester also saw the implementation of the STEAM Ahead program into its education system while Gatsas was Mayor. This program, which focuses on Math and Science yielded higher GPAs among its students and prepares students for jobs in the Science, Computer, and Engineering career fields.[8]

Executive Council

In March 2018, Ted Gatsas announced his bid for the office of Executive Councillor from District Four, stressing his experience in governing as the focus of his campaign. Gatsas' rival for the Republican nomination is Jane Cormier.[9] Gatsas beat Cormier and is set to face Gray Chynoweth in the election to be held on November 6th, 2018.

2016 New Hampshire Gubernatorial Race

Ted Gatsas entered the race for the Republican Party nomination for Governor of New Hampshire.[10] Having never lost an election, Gatsas was seen as a strong contender in the field, but actually came in third behind eventually victory Chris Sununu and the relatively unknwon Frank Edelbut in the five person field. Gatsas only won slightly more than 1,000 votes than fourth-place finisher Jeannie Forrester. Gatsas lost in every city and town in New Hampshire except for Manchester and the Manchester suburbs Goffstown and Hooksett. [11] A year after his loss, he had to personally repay $68,000 to his campaign contributors due to finance law irregularities.[12]

The contest between Gatsas and Sununu was bitter. When filing for his campaign bid, Sununu accused the Manchester Police Department of failing to adequately fight the drug crisis, which drew a stern rebuke from Manchester Police Chief Nick Willard. Gatsas called on Sununu to apologize.[13]

West High School Incident & Defamation Lawsuit

In June 2017, it was revealed that the rape of a 14-year-old girl had occurred at the city's West High School in September 2015. [14] A public uproar ensued when it became apparent that neither the county district attorney, City Hall, the police department or the Manchester school system had reported the rape of the girl to the public.[15] The rape had occurred while Gatsas was involved in his first election against Joyce Craig. When Craig criticized Gatsas's handling of the 2015 rape, he accused her of trying to politicize the crime.[16]

Then-Mayor Gatsas first told the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper that "we were not told a rape occurred at West,". Gatsas subsequently claimed he was not told of the "severity" of the incident and emails released from a school district employee show that Gatsas was informed of a "sexual assault" at the school.[17] It came to light that the School Board, City Hall, and the Police Department considered it the job of another department to inform the public.[18] The revelation of the rape and the failure to inform the public of the crime led to changes in police and school administration policy.[19] [20]

Gatsas was criticized for not revealing that the rape had occurred, and accused of not revealing the crime as he was in a tough reelection battle. Records show Gatsas subsequently sued two political activists, one of which chaired Joyce Craig's previous run for Mayor, who accused him of covering up the rape for political advantage.[21] The lawsuit was dismissed after Mayor Gatsas lost the election. [22]

Domestic Violence Prosecution

It was found in the final days of the Gatsas administration that City Solicitor's office had failed to successfully prosecute domestic violence cases.[23] The City Solicitor, Tom Clark, was appointed by the Board of Alderman in 1995, well before Gatsas became Mayor, and had be reappointed by the Board of Aldermen multiple times.[24] Police Chief Nick Willard, who had figured in the high school rape controversy, appealed directly to the Attorney General of New Hampshire for help.[25] Chairman of the Board of Alderman, Pat Long, said "As an elected official I feel a sense of responsibility"[26]. The Manchester police department helps in the prosecution domestic violence cases[27] The scandal led to the early retirements of city prosecutors and the temporary take-over of the department by the state. A stand-out in the battle against opiates who had attracted national attention, Chief Willard subsequently was named U.S. Marshal by President Donald Trump.[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-11-04. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
  2. ↑ http://www.tedgatsas.com/news.php?id=111
  3. ↑ https://www.manchesternh.gov/Portals/2/Departments/city_clerk/Official%20General%20Results%20-%20Final%20Citywide%20Summary.pdf
  4. ↑ https://www.manchesternh.gov/Portals/2/Departments/city_clerk/elections/Municipal%20Election%20Results%20%28Citywide%20Races%20-%20Ward%20Summary%29.pdf
  5. ↑ Site, City of Manchester NH Official Web. "Crime Statistics". www.manchesternh.gov. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  6. ↑ Site, City of Manchester NH Official Web. "Safe Station". www.manchesternh.gov. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  7. ↑ "State to grant $150k to Manchester Safe Station program | New Hampshire". UnionLeader.com. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  8. ↑ "Study shows Manchester STEAM Ahead program yields higher GPAs | New Hampshire". UnionLeader.com. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  9. ↑ https://www.wmur.com/article/gatsas-stresses-experience-bipartisanship-in-announcing-for-executive-council/19644063
  10. ↑ DiStaso, John. "Updated: WMUR first: Manchester Mayor Gatsas running for governor". Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  11. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/new-hampshire-governor-republican-primary
  12. ↑ https://www.wmur.com/article/nh-primary-source-citing-oversight-gatsas-personally-repays-dollar68000-in-2016-campaign-contributions/9171315
  13. ↑ http://www.unionleader.com/politics/sununu-sparks-war-of-words-with-manchester-pd-over-drug-crisis-20160608
  14. ↑ {{Cite web|url=http://www.nhangle.com/crime/Manchester-man-sentenced-to-10-to-20-years-in-West-High-sex-assault-06222017
  15. ↑ https://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Parents-Outraged-to-Learn-of-Rape-at-New-Hampshire-School-2-Years-Later-431165793.html
  16. ↑ http://www.unionleader.com/local-government/Gatsas-Mayoral-rival-Craig-is-politicizing-2015-West-High-rape-06292017
  17. ↑ DiStaso, John (2017-06-26). "Gatsas acknowledges receiving email, phone call on 2015 sexual assault from school official". WMUR. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
  18. ↑ http://www.unionleader.com/Officials-speak-out-on-silence-following-rape-at-West-High
  19. ↑ https://www.wmur.com/article/west-high-school-rape-prompts-policy-change-in-manchester-schools/10226011
  20. ↑ http://www.nhpr.org/post/news-rape-manchester-school-becomes-public-officials-explore-new-policies#stream/0
  21. ↑ https://www.concordmonitor.com/Mayor-accused-of-sexual-assault-cover-up-sues-his-detractors-11376220
  22. ↑ http://www.unionleader.com/courts/judge-tosses-defamation-lawsuit-filed-by-gatsas-over-manchester-west-high-rape--20180412
  23. ↑ http://www.newhampshire.com/County-Attorney-Hogan:-We-didnt-know-there-was-mishandling-of-Manchester-domestic-violence-cases
  24. ↑ Enstrom, Kirk (2017-07-01). "City Solicitor announces retirement after scathing report on domestic violence cases". WMUR. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
  25. ↑ http://nh1.com/news/nh-ag-finds-changes-needed-in-how-manchester-prose
  26. ↑ Corwin, Emily. "In Wake Of City Solicitor's Resignation, Gatsas Overseeing Manchester Prosecutors". Retrieved 2018-10-05.
  27. ↑ https://manchesterinklink.com/city-solicitor-retires-amid-allegations-incompetence/
  28. ↑ http://www.nhpr.org/post/trump-nominates-manchester-police-chief-willard-us-marshal-nh#stream/0
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