In Wakefield, Outspending Opponents Didn't Mean Victory

WAKEFIELD, MA — Much of the conversation around the election earlier this week revolved around the ballot question, the Town Council race and the two contested School Committee races.

Outraising and outspending the opposition led to victory in only one of those instances, according to campaign finance reports filed by an April 19 deadline — eight days before Tuesday's election.

The biggest spender was Brandon Flanagan, who fell 560 votes shy of one of the top two spots in the three-person Town Council race, according to unofficial results.

Flanagan reported raising $9,375.60, nearly as much as opponents Anne Danehy and Julie Smith-Galvin combined. He spent $8,950, about $2,600 more than Danehy and Smith-Galvin did in total.

The biggest spending discrepancy was for the nonbinding question of whether to do away with the Warrior logo at the high school, though that's largely because no group filed for the campaign to keep the logo.

The "Vote No On 1" committee raised $7,024 and spent $3,299.78 — $3,244.78 of which was on signs. The opposition, while vocal and with plenty of signs, had no official group that filed.

The "Yes" side won, 2,911-2,337.

Greg Liakos outraised Ami Wall $2,565.47 to $1,420 and outspent her $1,153.89 to $526, but Wall outperformed him at the ballot by 70 votes. (Liakos did not request a recount and Wall was sworn in Wednesday.)

The only victor in the major contested races who outspent their opponent was Kevin Piskadlo, who outraised Dawn Millward, $2,779 to $1,289.13, and outspent her, $2,061.93 to $734.13. Piskadlo won at the polls by less than 300 votes.

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi. Subscribe to Wakefield Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook.