November Showdown: Myers Looking to Take on Basile for Rep. Seat

Celeste Myers, co-founder of the group that helped sway voters in East Boston to vote ‘no’ on the casino question here, has pulled papers to take on incumbent State Representative Carlo Basile during the November 2014 state election.

Running as an un-enrolled candidate, Myers, who founded No East Casino, the grassroots group that opposed building a casino in Suffolk Downs said she is running to give voters another option.

“It was a huge decision to run against Carlo (Basile) but there was this nagging voice in my head that people need options,” said Myers who works as an Operations Assistant at Spinelli’s in Day Square.

Basile and Myers were on the opposite fence of the casino issue. While Myers opposed the casino Basile supported it because of the huge financial windfall that Eastie could have potentially benefited from. However, when the casino failed in Eastie Basile said he stands with the voters and long supported a ‘ward only’ referendum vote and its outcome.

Myers, who worked on Basile’s campaign when he first won the seat left vacant by Senator Anthony Petruccelli during a special election, said ‘there’s been some indication that Basile is not representing everyone in Eastie’. When asked to elaborate or give specifics she declined and said she would soon release a press statement about why she’s running and her platform.

“This is clearly not just a casino issue,” she said. “But that was a catalyst for me and a turning point

Running against an incumbent using only the anti casino platform did not work for Brian Gannon back in November.

Incumbent Ward I City Councilor Sal LaMattina easily beat challenger Gannon during the city election. Gannon ran as the ‘anti-casino’ candidate and the November election included the casino ballot question.

While Eastie residents voted the casino down roughly 60 percent to 40 percent LaMattina received 5081 votes in Eastie to Gannon’s 2381 votes. District wide LaMattina received 10571 votes to Gannon’s 4045 votes.

While Myers said she has the required signatures to be on November’s ballot it will be an uphill battle against Basile.

In 2012 Basile ran unopposed during that election and received 8,081 and was second on the ticket to Petruccelli in Eastie. Both Petruccelli and Basile received more votes than President Barak Obama and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren during the election.

In a statement, Basile wished Myers the best and said he harbored no ill feeling towards her for running.