(I have endorsed Linda Dean Campbell in this race.)

The Democratic primary for State Representative, scheduled for September 16th, has been a sleepy event so far, but is starting to pick up a little bit. Challenger Chris Dibella has accused the Campbell camp of spreading rumors that tie him politically to former Chief Joseph Solomon. The Campbell campaign issued the following statement:

My opponent’s charges are without any merit. My staff and I are to busy doing our jobs serving Methuen to engage in the juvenile antics Mr. Dibella is now engaging in. What is important to Methuen is not Chris Dibella’s rumor-mongering but building a newly renovated High School, adding infrastructure such as the new on-ramp at Rte 93 and Pelham Street, building a new community center in the Arlington Neighborhood, helping our downtown by getting additional state monies to clean up the Appleyard site, and by making sure that our Chapter 70 aid to education gives Methuen’s school children a fair shake. This year we produced an additional $1.2 million dollars in Chapter 70 money for the education of Methuen’s school children. Maybe as my opponent engages in these tired old political practices somebody can inform him that I carried through the House of Representatives on an expedited basis the bill that removed the Methuen Chief of Police position from Civil Service. This bill, signed into law by Governor Patrick, enabled Mayor Manzi to make the permanent appointment of Katherine Lavigne to the position of Chief. And so while my opponent seeks to re-open old political wounds I choose to try to help the community to move beyond those difficult times.

The Valley Patriot website found themselves in the middle of this brouha, since they started this by printing the allegation about Solomon and Dibella. Since that time Dibella has appeared on the Duggan show on WCAP, and the Eagle Tribune wrote a story on the sniping between the two camps. Campbell will appear on Duggan’s show on WCAP on Saturday, and there may be one of those raucous debates scheduled for WCAP before the primary. Read the Tribune story here.

Link to the Valley Patriot website here.