NASHUA – Held up against certain chief executives of cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Baltimore, New Orleans and now Toronto, Nashua’s mayors appear to be a historically well-
behaved group of public servants whose documented brushes with the law are few and far between.

But there has been a fair share of scandal among Nashua’s chief executive officers, and a number of them have faced recall as a result.

While it isn’t yet clear whether Mayor Donnalee Lozeau, her husband,
David, or anyone else involved in the ongoing exchange of accusations with the Police Department will ever be charged with a crime, the nature of some of the allegations, including bid-rigging and drug use, are serious. Where the flap will end up remains to be seen.

As far as can be determined, no Nashua mayor has been charged with a felony or served jail or prison time while in office, or because of something he did while in office.

The same can’t be said of aldermen, however; at least three – Thomas Magee, Philip Grandmaison and Steve Kuchinski – did stints in prison after being implicated in a 1993 scandal that involved peddling influence, mail fraud and extortion.

The mayor at the time, Rob Wagner, wasn’t involved in the scandal.

But Wagner, who served one term from 1992-95, did have to defend himself against a recall effort, one of four launched against three mayors between 1978 and 2005.

Former Mayor Bernie Streeter is another recall survivor, having prevailed in a 2005 recall initiative brought by former Alderman Claire McGrath.

But Streeter is also remembered in the legal arena for his October 2004 arrest in Manchester, in which he was initially charged with a misdemeanor for leaving the scene of an accident.

The minor crash, which involved Streeter’s city-owned Crown Victoria and a Queen City Taxi cab, prompted the drivers to have words, during which Streeter asked the cabbie the now famous question, “Do you know who I am?” as he pointed at his government license plate.

Several months later, Streeter agreed to plead no contest to a violation-level charge of conduct after an accident in exchange for a $1,000 fine; paying Queen City Taxi about $1,100 in restitution; writing a letter of apology to the cab driver, Eddie Mercier; and completing 50 hours of community service at a Manchester nonprofit agency.

Five months later, Streeter had wracked up 82 hours of community service at three agencies – Manchester Head Start, Girls Inc. of Manchester and the Manchester branch of the Lil’ Iguana Children’s Safety Foundation.

Later in 2005, Streeter got caught up in something of a whimsical scandal brought to light by then-Alderman-at-Large Paula Johnson. On a Saturday morning, Johnson whipped out her cellphone and began recording when she happened to notice Streeter dropping his personal trash bags into a Dumpster behind City Hall. No illegal dumping charges were ever levied against Streeter as a result of the short-lived episode.

Longtime City Hall presence Donald C. Davidson, who filled out the final year of Mayor Dennis J. Sullivan’s third term after Sullivan resigned in 1977 for health reasons, holds the distinction of surviving two recalls, although the first came about when he was Board of Aldermen president and acting mayor.

The attempt in 1992 to recall Wagner, a relative unknown who edged Davidson 50.9-49.1 percent in the 1991 runoff election, was abandoned shortly after its author, beleaguered taxpayer Matthew Gillis, launched it when Wagner refused to grant Gillis’ request to reopen the recently adopted city budget.

Meanwhile, allegations of an attempted power grab by then-board President Davidson sparked the initial recall effort, which, he said later, drained him severely physically and emotionally.

It began when Davidson’s critics claimed he was behind a July 1977 change in the city charter that would automatically make the board president the acting mayor in the event the sitting mayor resigns or dies in office. Previously, the charter stipulated the board would choose, by vote, a sitting alderman-at-large to fill the vacancy.

So when an ailing Sullivan resigned on Aug. 12 – just three weeks after the new provision went into effect – Davidson, as board president, added “acting mayor” to his resume.

Inflamed by what they saw as a Davidson power play, a group of critics drew up what could be Nashua’s first-ever recall attempt of an elected city official. The recall provision was added to the city charter in 1913, and removed shortly after Streeter’s recall attempt in 2005.

Davidson eventually gave up challenging the petitions, setting the stage for an unusual municipal election that featured the president of the Board of Aldermen trying to muster enough votes to prevent his removal, while also battling two challengers – Edward Carter and Leonard Dobens – who sought Davidson’s seat.

“Pulling victory from the jaws of recall” is how then-Telegraph City Hall reporter Claudette Durocher began her next-day story about Davidson’s convincing, 4,785-3,120 victory over second-place Carter.

Meanwhile, former Alderman Maurice L. Arel was in the process of defeating Alice Dube in the 1977 mayoral race, preventing her from becoming the city’s first woman mayor, thereby saving that distinction for Donnalee Lozeau some 20 years later.

Arel faced scandal, but after his time as mayor.

He held the city’s top post until 1984, except for a period in 1980 when he ran for Congress but lost badly to fellow Nashua native Judd Gregg. In 1984, Nashua water company Pennichuck Corp. courted Arel to become its CEO, and he accepted, abruptly resigning his post as mayor.

Under Arel’s leadership, Pennichuck’s core business grew, as did its profits as land was sold off for development along with the real-estate boom of the 1980s.

Arel was eventually sanctioned after a two-year state and federal probe concluded he and his son personally profited while he was CEO by steering construction contracts to prominent builder John Stabile. Pennichuck and Arel were fined a combined $390,000, and Arel received a lifetime ban from serving on the board of any public company.

Arel’s friends and colleagues stood by him through the turmoil, and Arel pointed to his long history of charitable efforts in the community and said he would continue to focus on that.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6443 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Shalhoup on Twitter (@Telegraph_DeanS).