EASTHAMPTON — Nicole M. LaChapelle has long been active in government and politics, from filling her lawn with signs for municipal election candidates to serving as a delegate from the 1st Congressional District at the Democratic National Convention in 2016.
She has been a member of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee since 2008 and was treasurer from 2013 to 2015. From 1998 to 2009, she served on the Easthampton Zoning Board of Appeals.
Her father, John, told the Gazette that when Nicole was young, she was fascinated with local polling places, and she started volunteering for campaigns when she was a teenager. Until now, though, she has not been a candidate for a local elected office.
“I’m compelled to get off the sidelines,” LaChapelle said when she announced her campaign for Easthampton mayor in June.
LaChapelle, 50, of 123 East St., said if elected she wants to increase government transparency. One of her ideas is to use the data information system Open Checkbook and online budgeting tools to publicly show municipal revenues and expenditures.
LaChapelle spent 20 years working for the Center for School Crisis Intervention and Assessment Inc. in Holyoke, including eight as director. The school supports children and young adults who are faced with challenges and works to help students reach their potential.
In 2016, LaChapelle left to pursue a career as an attorney in private practice with a focus on civil rights advocacy.
She also served as chief of pupil services for Holyoke Public Schools for about eight months in 2016, coordinating special education and other state and federally mandated services.
About 10 month ago, in preparation for her run for mayor, LaChapelle said she wound down her cases in Massachusetts to ensure there would be no conflict of interest with her campaign. She still has cases open out of state, and said she will close them if she is elected.
LaChapelle earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Smith College in Northampton in 1989 and a law degree from Western New England University School of Law in Springfield in 2002.
She said the city needs to be thoughtful about how it moves forward, and it needs leadership.
“Easthampton needs to stay competitive,” she said.
Along with bringing in new ideas, LaChapelle said she will engage regional partnerships, partnering with area chambers of commerce and municipal government organizations. She said her connections with officials across the state will benefit Easthampton.
She lists on her website endorsements from a variety of Democratic officials, including Congressmen James McGovern of Worcester and Richard Neal of Springfield; former state treasurer and candidate for governor Steven Grossman; Hampshire District Register of Deeds Mary Olberding; state Sen. Eric Lesser of Longmeadow; and state Reps. Michael Finn of West Springfield and Daniel Donahue of Worcester.
Her support from outside the city has drawn attention in the campaign.
She raised about $34,000 for her campaign — three times as much as her opponent, Joy Winnie — with the majority of her donors living outside Easthampton. Many are donors from neighboring communities, such as Northampton, Amherst and Holyoke, while others are from Boston, Worcester and Springfield.
At-large City Councilor Margaret “Peg” Conniff said she’s supporting LaChapelle because of her leadership and how she can engage with people across the state.
“I think that her reach is broader and farther than Joy’s,” Conniff said, adding that it will work to the city’s advantage.
LaChapelle has been criticized for enrolling her daughter in the Hilltown Cooperative Charter School in 1997. LaChapelle has addressed her decision at several forums, saying that, at the time, charter schools had a different intent and that Hilltown provided the before- and after-school care her daughter needed.
On her website, she said charter schools “have become a system of private schools that segregate groups of children by their self-designed profit motive, funded by public tax dollars” and that the state’s charter funding formula must be changed immediately.
LaChapelle said she supports building a consolidated pre-kindergarten through Grade 8 school to improve the education and learning environment for students.
She said she finds one of the strengths of Easthampton is the opportunities it offers to those who want to come and those already here who want to stay. It’s a place where people can still affordably live and even start a business, like a Roman-style butcher shop, without the fear of being forced out by higher costs.
“It’s never going to be Northampton. It’s never going to be Holyoke,” LaChapelle said of Easthampton. “Really, the region needs Easthampton at its very best.”
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.