slides: Ex-Rep. Fresolo Tests Comeback Waters With Fundraiser

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Paige Pihl Buckley, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Is John Fresolo eyeing a comeback in Worcester's 16th District?

Former State Representative John P. Fresolo (D) has set rumors swirling by planning a fundraising breakfast at the Vernon Hill American Legion Post for October 27. Fresolo, who represented Worcester’s 16th District until he resigned amid an ethics investigation in May, first announced his potential candidacy in a letter to InCity Times editor Rosalie Tirella in August.

Fresolo was forced to resign in his eighth term after allegations that he had, among other things, falsified per diem travel expenses and sent lewd photographs of himself to a female staffer. The House Ethics Committee forbade Fresolo or anyone else from publicly discussing the investigation. Democrat Daniel Donahue filled his seat in a special election in August.

Locals React

“There is not much I can say about this other than desperate people do desperate things,” said Christopher Pinto, vice chairman of the Worcester Republican City Committee.

“I am in hopes that he does not do that,” said John Weston, host of WCRN’s Conservatively Speaking, on Fresolo’s potential run.

“He left office for some reason, my guess was to avoid having more be exposed about him. It is shocking to me what the ruling party in this state gets away with,” said Weston. “That being said I am sure if the Republicans were in power to the same degree for the same length of time, there would be issues with them as well. That is why we need a balance of parties here in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not need another Anthony Wiener wannabe.”

Dr. David Schaefer, a professor of political science at the College of the Holy Cross, said he thought it unlikely that Fresolo could win back his seat.

“I have no idea whether Mr. Fresolo plans to seek to regain his old seat, though reports of his holding a fundraiser certainly suggest that ambition,” said Dr. Schaefer. “Given the ethical violations, about which information was never disclosed to the public, that forced him to resign, I consider it unlikely that he can win reelection. Presumably, if he ran again, the information that led to his resignation would indeed come out. But then again, this is Massachusetts’s politics, where, as the French say, everything is possible.”