FLASHING THAT FAMOUS SMILE, President Jimmy Carter waves to people along the motorcade route at Goodwin’s Circle as he stopped briefly at a fundraiser at the Colonial on Oct. 28, 1978. (Dianne Foulds File Photo)
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Late President Jimmy Carter visited Lynnfield in order to attend a political fundraiser on Oct. 28, 1978.
Carter breezed through town as a crowd of 500 people, many of whom were residents, waited patiently behind barricades at George Page’s Colonial to see the commander-in-chief. He visited the Colonial for a political fundraiser benefitting Democratic gubernatorial candidate Edward King, lieutenant gubernatorial nominee Thomas P. O’Neill III and Congressman/U.S. Senate candidate Paul Tsongas’ campaigns. Although Carter did not speak and only waved briefly to the gathering when entering and exiting the Colonial, the crowd warmly received him.
Police Chief Paul Romano and Police Sgt. Stephen Garland led a contingent of 24 local police officers at the Colonial, which included three special police and one extra dispatcher. In addition to the $1,790 spent on police overtime for Carter’s visit, additional costs associated with 10 firefighters and Department of Public Works employees working the event resulted in the visit costing the town just under $2,500. The Board of Selectmen and town officials were not invited to the fundraiser.
In the wake of the town receiving unexpected public safety and DPW overtime costs associated with Carter’s campaign stop at the Colonial, the Board of Selectmen voted on Nov. 6 to send a bill covering all costs incurred by the town to the Democratic National Committee. Carter’s brief stop at the $1,000-per-plate Democratic fundraiser on Oct. 28 cost the town $2,446.21, which was the equivalent to $11,507.91 in October 2024 dollars. The bulk of the cost resulted from police overtime in the amount of $1,790.
In addition to the heavy police coverage, Fire Chief Robert Desmond said the overtime costs for the 10 firefighters on duty at the time of Carter’s visit totaled $350. He said the Fire Department also had to absorb the costs of having a private ambulance cover the town while the town’s ambulance was at the Colonial. DPW Director David Rodham estimated that his department’s overtime costs equaled $285.
The selectmen asked Executive Assistant Roger Gerry to send an itemized bill to the DNC with the goal that the committee might reimburse the town for the overtime costs. The selectmen felt it was not fair that local taxpayers had to pay for the costs associated with the visit since Carter was attending a Democratic Party fundraiser at the Colonial and was not making a formal visit to town.
After the DNC ignored the letter, the selectmen reached out to Congressman Ed Markey for assistance. Markey stated in a letter sent to the Board of Selectmen in early January 1979 that he forwarded the bill to the treasurer of the Democratic National Committee in Washington.
A DNC administrator sent the selectmen a letter in March 1979, which informed the board that the DNC was $1.4 million in debt and did not have the money to pay the bill.
