By Rosalie Tirella

… isn’t running for state rep again. In a few weeks I’m still gonna vote for him, write his name and Dolly Drive address on the ballot. Why? Because Fresolo IS the 16th Worcester District! I think I speak for a lot of folks in the 16th when I say FRESOLO DID A SPECTACULAR JOB as our state rep. He brought the money in for street and sidewalk renewal, for senior housing, for fire and police protection, for economic development, for historic sites, for safe streets. Fresolo fought the crime and grime and creeps that desecrated so many neighborhoods in our district. Most significantly, the Union Hill neighborhood, home to so much crime and foreclosures the City of Worcester has installed special police task forces there. Fresolo’s mom lives in the neighborhood. Her three decker was shot up a few years ago. Bullets be damned! Mrs. Fresolo still lives in her beloved home.

When I think of John, I think of a very direct, gritty, no bull shit kinda guy. He has never been one to polish down the rough parts of his personality. I like that. With Fresolo, what you saw was what you got. He didn’t parse his words, he didn’t act like he was coached or handled. If John were still representing us, you can bet your sweet ass the containers being plunked on Greenwood Street or the slots casino being plunked just over the line in Millbury would be doing less damage to the Quinsig Village hood, my beloved neighborhood.

John kept his constituents’ goals at the forefront because they were his goals: safe, clean, user friendly blue collar neighborhoods. Places where schools and families and small businesses could thrive. He worked hard on the 146 Mass Pike connector project. He worked hand in hand with the biz folks in the Canal District. He was always there for Sue Moynagh and her crime watch groups. And the Mayor of Green Island, Lorraine Laurie, adored him She still does. Everyone in the 16th Worcester district liked the hardworking Fresolo.

When the news came out about the per diem mileage problems but, more important, the John Thomas pics that Fresolo allegedly emailed/sent to some State House staffers, I thought, Yeah, he did something a little “nutty” – pun intended – but if she’s 18 or older, it’s legal AND it takes two to tango.

I called Fresolo and left a message on his voicemail: I would stick this out. I would not quit. I would hire myself a great lawyer and fight this. Your constituents love you. You WILL get reelected.

I guess he figured the thrashing he’d get in the T and G and the news stations would be brutal. Yes. Fresolo, because he is Italian American and not Irish American and because he tends to be more socially conservative than his Worcester peers, would be standing alone, naked. No fun. And because he has gotten treated much more roughly when he’s screwed up, as opposed to the Irish politicians in town when they have fucked up royally, Fresolo decided to call it a career.

So now we have boys running for his job. Both kids, Perro and Donahue, seem to lead the very big pack. Donahue because he has the Murray, Petty, union machine behind him. Perro, who despite his family’s sketchy car business on Harding Street (drugs found in the cars), hopes his family’s flower biz and Italian surname and money catapults him to a win. Both kids seem unimpressive. Fresolo would annihilate them in an election. Why? Because he was outstanding on the issues, worked like a dog for his district and had charisma. These two kids couldn’t light anybody’s fire.

As the old saying goes, Don’t send boys in to do a man’s job.

Fresolo was our man. Interesting, hot tempered, passionate, sexy. Stuff like that can get you into trouble sometimes. But hey, if he were still in the race, he would be running for office the same time Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer are trying to woo New York City voters.

I say, we need to act more Parisian. In Paris, everyone, even little kids, know relationships are complicated. Husbands have mistresses. Wives have lovers. The political theatre in Paris is filled with men who behave … the way they want to. They marry their women. They live with their women. The electorate there seems to go with the flow as long as the elected officials are progressive, cool.

What’s good enough for the most fabulous city on earth should be good enough for rinky dinky Worcester. After all, it was only John’s winky! It’s not like he was anti jobs or anti small business or anti old people, a group of folks he’s done wonders for, as in the Ascension Heights Senior Housing Complex.

Fresolo was great for District 16. Hopefully, he’ll realize that sooner than later and run for his seat next election cycle. He’d trounce the incumbent. Any incumbent.