Newton City Councilor Jay Harney has said his surprising Aug. 4 announcement to not seek reelection this fall was made “over the last week” and “the day before I made my decision to withdraw.”
But TAB editor Andy Levin’s interview with candidate Chris Markiewicz (who filed his nomination papers on July 25) this week appears to suggest that Markiewicz, at minimum, knew Harney was considering not running.
Markiewicz wouldn’t go into detail about his relationship with Harney, but said he doesn’t know him all that well and that he had been thinking about running for City Council for a while. He said he collected signatures with an eye on seeing how the field of candidates “played out” and admitted he would likely have left the race himself had Harney chosen otherwise.
Markiewicz, of course, will be the only candidate for the Ward 4 seat on the November ballot and has been endorsed by Harney and his Ward 4 colleagues Councilors Amy Sangilo and Lenny Gentile.
Earlier this week Allison Sharma announced plans to run as a write in candidate.
