Why Did Ward 2 Councilor Donahue Decide Not to Run for Reelection?

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The sun did not stop in its tracks at the news, nor did local TV interrupt scheduled programming to issue a special bulletin that might shock its audience. Nonetheless, Ward 2 Councilor Jennie Donahue’s announcement that she was dropping out of her reelection bid was certainly unexpected, to say the least. Donahue is, if anything, pugnacious and a fighter, and her reaction to Stephanie Niketic’s decision to oppose her yet again for the Ward 2 seat was typical. “What does she bring to the table?” she asked dismissively. So the question remains: what gives here?

I don’t have the answer, and nobody who’s anybody is talking about it, but I suspect the word got out that the city’s “Establishment” was abandoning her. The first sign of that was the announcement that Shawn Fenn, a relative newcomer to town, had also pulled papers to run. He is suspected of being a Sean Reardon acolyte, a pretty clear hint that the Newburyport Dems were looking for a change.

It didn’t have to be this way, of course. Four years ago, Donahue was a darling of the Left. It was generally believed that Disability Advocates were barely represented in city government, and wasn’t it time for their voices and concerns to be more broadly heard? That was the Daily News’ position. After submitting a generally negative appraisal of Donahue’s performance to the paper as an opinion piece, this writer recalls that the editor disapproved of the pessimism. It wasn’t a good look. If you read between the lines, the message was if a person has a disability, lay off. And I also recall a former mayor of Newburyport expressing admiration for her. “She tells it like it is,” was the comment. But the gloss, over time, wore off.

To say that Donahue was a divisive influence on the city council cannot be denied. Councilor Zeid was quoted as saying that the atmosphere of “toxic bullying” during council sessions was unbearable and a detriment to orderly debate. The measures most closely associated with her – her crusade against brick sidewalks, her position on parklets downtown – certifiably put her at odds with two stalwart constituencies within Ward 2: preservationists and business owners downtown. At times I wondered what ward she thought she was representing, the Industrial Park?

The low water mark, of course, was Donahue’s meltdown on June 3. The YouTube recap, readily available, records her calling another council member “you sick son of a bitch” and, at another point, someone else of being an “ablest prick.” Hardly edifying and so, emerging from the wings, we have Shawn Fenn, the new “Establishment” candidate.

Some people may call all of this a Greek tragedy of sorts, but it isn’t. It’s human nature. Donahue was so caught up in the issues that mattered most to her that she developed, in my opinion, a crusader complex. Crusaders seldom listen to reason. They bulldoze straight ahead, compromise be damned. Councilor Donahue’s political career thus ends abruptly, for now at least. Whether she learns from this surely bitter experience remains to be seen. If she does not, one wonders about her future in the public arena. Good intentions are generally not enough.

James Charles Roy
Newburyport resident

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