An Ally, Hopefully, Right Next Door

The Issue: Setti Warren wins the Newton mayoral election

What we think: Warren has a track record of public service

As former speaker of the House and Boston College graduate Tip O'Neill once wrote, "All politics is local." Amid looming federal midterm elections in 2010 and Tuesday's off-term gubernatorial races, denizens of Newton went to the polls and elected Setti Warren as their new town mayor.

Warren has a long-standing record of public service under his belt and an innate connection to the town. He was born in Newton, attended high school at Newton North (where he was student body president all four years), jumped across the street to BC (where he was president of the undergraduate government of BC), and now lives in the very same home where he was raised. In an era of rapid mobility, geographic displacement, and childhood disconnection, it is refreshing to see a local boy return home with such a deep commitment and sweeping vision for his hometown.

Warren has worked at various levels of government on myriad subjects, acting as the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs under President Clinton, the New England director of FEMA, and the deputy state director for Sen. John Kerry, and he seems to possess vivacity and energy that is so critical in the operation of local government. While cable news channels and major newspapers consistently focus on federal happenings, and state decisions to a lesser extent, local politics is often lost among yawns and seeming trivialities. However, it is these proceedings that touch our lives so fundamentally. It is local government that repairs the pothole on Main Street; it is local government that monitors the safety of drinking water.

While BC is no longer an institution of commuter students from surrounding neighborhoods, we are a school embedded within communities. Unlike many other American universities, BC is not in a "college town" that exclusively services the school. Chestnut Hill exists within and abuts the jurisdictions of Newton and Boston. As a result, our campus politics are intertwined with those of these cities. That is why Tuesday's Newton and Boston mayoral elections are so important for this school and its students to follow.

We congratulate Setti Warren on Tuesday's victory. We encourage him to maintain the zeal and commitment to public service that led him to run for office, and we hope that as a mayor of a town adjacent to our campus, and a BC graduate, he will serve as an ally in this school's continual campaign to become the most prestigious institution of higher education in the country.