Thursday, January 18, 2007 Older Editions

Race for the gavel

By April Guilmet

Local attorney Lawrence Morse will join the growing race for Andover's Town Meeting moderator.

As former moderator for the town of Ipswich and member of Andover's Affordable Housing Partnership Committee from 2001 to 2006, Morse said his experience makes him a viable candidate.

"While I'm new in seeking office in Andover, I've won other contested races, such as one of two seats on the Massachusetts Bar Association House of Delegates," Morse said.

He is the fifth candidate to announce his intentions. Former School Committee member Eric Nadworny, political newcomer Kenneth Ozoonian, School Committee member David Samuels and Planning Board member Sheila Doherty also plan to be on this spring's ballot, following longtime moderator James Doherty's recent decision to step down.

An Andover resident since 1990, Morse came to his final decision recently after getting positive feedback while attending Deval Patrick's inaugural event at Merrimack College, he said. On Sunday, he stood outside Market Basket in Shawsheen Plaza and collected about 83 signatures supporting his candidacy.

A 1969 graduate of Harvard University, Morse earned his law degree from Boston University Law School in 1975. He currently practices as a small business attorney in Danvers. While in private practice, Morse served as assistant town counsel to Newburyport; a position he duplicated in Wayland while he practiced law in Boston.

"I have to meet payroll and have a good business plan," he said of his current position; traits he considers vital for a town moderator. Morse was also a co-founder and past president of the Ipswich River Watershed Association.

But it was the years spent as Ipswich moderator in the early 1980s that taught him his most valuable lessons, he said.

"There, I learned about impartiality, which is most important," Morse said.

Morse said he made the error of getting involved with a citizens' group attempting to enforce a local bylaw to prevent a McDonald's restaurant from setting up shop in Ipswich.

"The battle came to a head, and the people who wanted McDonald's came out to vote," Morse said. In the end, he said he lost his position of moderator, but gained "a lesson in impartiality."

"And McDonald's didn't end up coming to town," he added, with a trace of irony.

That sense of humor is something he considers another good trait for a successful moderator.

"Our (soon to be) former moderator displayed a great sense of humor. It's a great way to keep business moving and neutralize the strong feelings that arise at Town Meeting," Morse said.

Town Meeting is "the best show in town," Morse said. "It's a great demonstration of New England democracy."

Two decades after his time in Ipswich, Morse hopes for a second chance. "I'm probably older and wiser now," he said. Should he be appointed, he said he'd take great care in appointing members of the Finance Committee.

"I hope the people I'd appoint could ask the tough questions, in a constructive way," Morse said. "Overall, though, the current ones do a very good job."